- ALI: Songs are getting mixed differently nowadays, you know, what I'm sayin'.
Before... it was, you know, really just a kick-snare heavy type situation.
Now, they're in a way texturely... they're super tough.
So, you know, if you can't adapt to the times
then you're gonna really, you know, fall behind.
When I start to mix on my way to the studio
I kinda just don't listen to anything.
You gotta treat every song an-- and every sound accordingly and with fresh ears.
The first thing I hear for the day sonically
is when I hear the reference track.
Labels don't wanna pay big budgets to get into the studios, why?
Because they feel like a kid can do it better or do it faster
or more efficiently at home.
You know, they're just gonna sound like shit.
'Cause we mix analog, you know, these are our plug-ins.
You know, there are physical things that we can touch
rather than the mouse that's scrolling around on a computer screen
where we can actually go in and touch the music.
My boys! How you doin'? - MAN: Hey!
- Ali's... We from the same place. You know what I'm sayin'?
We from LA.
Um... My music represent West Coast on every level.
So having somebody that's from where you're from...
- ALI: Hey!
- YG: ...that knows about everything from the past...
You know what I'm sayin'? The Drake shit, Snooke shit, all that.
Knowing how that supposed to sound is very important.
- The low end of a lot of records it sounds super dark
so they're trying to find, like, a nice blend
with this nice sample that's super textured...
Now, we've know each other for years.
I'd say go back to 2009,
2010.
I mixed one of his first songs.
It was YG - "Bitches Ain't Shit".
- YG: I come into the studio, like, Ali...
I hear the mix and I'm, like, I need this to sound darker
or I need this to sound brighter.
And if I say that he knows what bars to punch...
- ALI: The producer obviously, he produces the music,
he, you know, puts the drum patterns together,
he gets the sample together.
Then there is a recording engineer
that takes the, the final product that the producer had made,
uh, sits that artist down, he records that artist over that beat,
the mixing engineer takes the elements,
the, the broken down stems to kick, drum, snares,
uh, base lines, samples, whatever is involved with creating that beat.
He starts to adding in cues, he starts doing what he does.
I would mute all the vocals first...
and then I'll go up to each sound...
and I'll kinda just listen to 'em,
kinda see what type of energy it brings to the track
and find how I can make every sound blend together.
Just think of a mix as, like, a painting
and all your plug-ins are, are your different colors
and paint brushes, you know.
And I scored ideas from Tyga, shit, crazy reverb shit make em kinda flow.
- YG: It's important Ali mixes my music because
a bad mix could turn a song that is a hit
into a song that is not a hit.
All that... how you grew up, and where you're from
that shit play into your mixes in your everyday life
and how you do what you do. You know what I'm sayin'?
You will say our mixes is not perfect.
That like represents where we're from.
We from Compton wise, gotta ding along DC or south central, wherever.
Ain't nothin' perfect. You growin' up in the streets is rough.
- ALI: I mean, it's noisy. It's not quiet.
I've always kind of wished that I could do what I do in a studio
with all the stuff that I'm hearing around me.
You know, just make everything sound a little more beautiful.
Man, having that kind of power in the real world...
that would be amazing.
People think that the school way of doing it
or one way thinking of one track mind
that of the book way of doing it of engineering is the one way to do it
when, you know, the more creative you are, there ain't...
there's no limits to creativity,, so...
Like what colors you see...
This shit like mad purple like
and lavender be like... You know what I'm sayin'?
- Lavender... - Lavender...
- ALI: Imagine like a block of ice and I'm trying to chisel it down
to, like, to get it to a circle.
I'm, like, taking certain frequencies out and I'm adding certain frequencies
to make things fit into these sound spectrums that I'm talking about.
Yeah, it's a little tight, it's a little more aggressive.
T-- Try to tone it down a little bit.
- Hey, Ali? - Huh?
- You're probably the only nigga that can, like, fix that shit
and make that shit work, you know that, right?
- ALI: There's just certain tricks you can do, like,
for example, if you need some vocals to sound more aggressive
boost up the lows, take out the highs,
and add just a little bit of distortion.
- WOMAN: Fuck you, you motherfucking piece of shit!
- ALI: Then other times you might need stuff to sound less aggressive.
- Damn, she's trippin'.
- ALI: So you turn the volume down,
add some reverb just to soften things up a bit.
In my mixes I use a lot of delays, and a lot of panning,
there's a lot of, like, reverb throws
and just finding ways to make it sound like kind of shoot out the speaker
and kinda just touch you in a way.
- Also understand the club
to understand new people. It's very important...
like, I just can't handle a random person
from the studio mixing my music because...
that is, like in the studio all day... or they probably grew up
livin' another type of life.
- ALI: I feel like this is one process in music that can't be streamlined
or shouldn't be streamlined, you know?
Every song has its own identity, every song has its own thumbprint.
Find a passion, find a love for it first...
you know, be greater, put your 10,000 hours in,
and, you know, then everything else will follow.
I basically try to listen to my mixes back o-- on devices
that people are, like, listen to their music in everyday.
So, you know, iPhones, I listen from my earbuds on the airpods,
uh, laptops, speakers, my iPad.
Any and every other way I can hear the mix.
I always try to listen to it
just so I can hear different imperfections and to see if the mix translates.
The thing about mixing, brothers, is not is... you're never done.
The thing is when you are ready to walk away from it.
All you're really tryin' to do
is to make that song jump out the speakers and grab people.
And once it's out there in the world...
you know, you get to see the real effect that it has on people.