PS : When you have a lyrical theme that carries throughout the album like you do on God Has Nothing to Do with This , do you find maintaining that thread is helpful or an obstacle when it comes to simply writing a good song ?
Backxwash : Yeah , it is kind of a challenge . But , you know , I ’ ve reached the point where I don ’ t think I can rap about anything else right now . When we were recording Deviancy , before I came up with the tracks that I was going to use for God Has Nothing to Do with This , I was thinking I ’ d maybe do a [ Deviancy ] part two . But I was writing and the lyrics sounded like trendy political tweets [ laughs ]. It ’ s like , “ Yeah , you ’ ve got the message , but there ’ s no passion behind it .”
PS : Will , what was recording set up in your apartment when making this album ?
Bennett : Basically , I ’ ve got an [ Audio-Technica ] AT4040 condenser mic and an API Lunchbox . The preamp I used was a Vintech 1073 clone that I usually run pretty hot . There are definitely some parts of the album where Ashanti didn ’ t clip my converter but she just clipped my preamp and it sounded great … Like , I remember on “ Into the Void ” when she ’ s yelling “ fuuuck !”
Backxwash : Oh yeah !
Bennett : It was super , super clipped and I was like , “ This is fucking awesome !” But Ashanti was saying , “ Maybe it ’ s a little too much ?” So , I was like , “ Okay , okay , I guess ” [ laughs ].
So , I ’ ve got that and I have this 500 Series RNC compressor [ from FMR Audio ]. It ’ s just a cheap 500 Series compressor that I found , which is okay . I use that to shave off a couple dB before I hit my converter . For converters I ’ ve just got a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 and I ’ m running that into Pro Tools on my Mac Mini .
Speaker wise , I ’ m mostly mixing on my pair of [ KRK ] Rokit 8s . I think I ’ ve had them for maybe six or seven years now , so it ’ s definitely not the newest generation of them . I also have an old pair of Beyerdynamic DT- 770 [ reference headphones ] that I ’ ve also had for about seven or eight years . So that ’ s mostly what I ’ m mixing on .
PS : A song like “ Black Sheep ” has a cleaner vocal sound on it than a song like “ Black Magic .” Can you speak to the approach to recording and mixing the vocals across the album , and how you settled on different sounds for different songs ?
Bennett : Especially for Ashanti I ’ ll use a lot of parallel vocal chains . So parallel compression , plus a bunch of distortion and stuff like that . That ’ s kind of nice for a song like “ Black Magic ” because for the crazy demonic sections , I can bring that up and it gives her a little bit more presence . Plus , it kind of adds a little bit more vibe or distortion if I really want that .
For something like “ Black Sheep ,” there ’ s a lot less going on so I don ’ t need as much to get Ashanti to cut in a mix like that . Also , the whole way that the song is set up is a lot simpler . So , it ’ s about feeling , “ What is really happening in this song ? What is the point of the song ?” Whereas in “ Black Magic ,” I ’ m asking , “ How can I create these different vocal characters ?”
“ Into the Void ” is kind of a similar thing where it ’ s like , “ What is the character of the vocal on this track ?” With “ Black Sheep ,” I remember that being a little bit more like normal hip-hop . I guess that would be the way that I would think about it . So , it ’ s really about the lyrics and the flow and getting this beat to just bump a little bit . So , with something like that , I don ’ t necessarily need to transform the vocal . With Ashanti ’ s delivery , I think it works as is with a little cleaner sound .
So , again , it ’ s about whether it serves the music for me to heavily affect it . I guess if that ’ s a yes , then cool , and I can go down rabbit holes in terms of , “ What if I try this ?” Otherwise , why would I affect this vocal if there ’ s no purpose within whole point of the song ?
PS : Ashanti , being the lead producer on the album , what kind of direction were you giving Will ?
Backxwash : It was more about feeling . Like , I wasn ’ t there going “ raise that 2dB up .” I was just literally being like , “ I want this to sound devilish ,” or “ I want it to sound like it ’ s coming out of a shitty PA .” That ’ s the sort of stuff I was saying because I really trust Will ’ s ears .
Bennett : When we ’ re recording the song , we ’ ll talk about , “ Okay , what ’ s happening here ? What ’ s going on here ? What ’ s the whole point ?” But a lot of it is very general . I remember specifically with the song “ Stigmata ” from the Stigmata EP , Ashanti was like , “ Just make this sound majestic ,” and I feel like I know what that means .
Or as we ’ re going through the vocal , with something like “ Black Magic ,” it ’ s kind of like , “ Let ’ s try putting on this kind of character for this section of the song .” Or , “ Let ’ s have you whisper these doubles here and I think I ’ m going to try some reverse reverb thing here and it ’ ll be kind of cool . And in this section before this last hook , I want you to sound really vulnerable .” So , I think as we go through with recording the vocal , a lot of that gets figured out based on , you know , “ What ’ s the vocal doing here ? What ’ s the vibe here ? What ’ s the point of this section ? What ’ s the idea of this section as it relates to the entirety of the song ?”
And one thing I just want to add about Ashanti being technical as a producer is , I think an integral part of why her productions work so well within her songwriting is the fact that she ’ s not going crazy about ensuring that , like , “ You have to make sure this bass is sidechained to this kick .” I feel like the rules that producers learn would hold you back , Ashanti . I think part of the whole aesthetic of Ashanti ’ s music and this record and the previous record is that the goal is not for it to be super clean and really polished from a technical standpoint . There are things in there that are sort of no-nos from a production standpoint , but it ’ s still giving this energy and vibe and this aggressive wall of sound . I think that ’ s an integral part and the music would not be the same thing if Ashanti was more technically minded . That would distract her from making these awesome productions that no one else would make .
Backxwash : Oh yeah , the cleanness wouldn ’ t work for me ! [ laughs ] I ’ m definitely inspired by heavy , dirty things . Like the way Death Grips approaches their stuff and it ’ s just this chaotic mess . Like , “ Why are you doing that ?”
PS : Will , there are songs where there ’ s a lot going on atmospherically and effects wise , but still a very clean mix . What was your approach to mixing this record ?
36 PROFESSIONAL SOUND