Episode 8

Since its inception in the heart of Dallas, Texas, Snarky Puppy has ignited the music world with their genre-defying creativity and masterful musicianship, garnering a list of awards that could fill a book.

In early 2022, four-time Award-Winning artists Snarky Puppy returned to the city where it all began to record the masterpiece "Empire Central." Since the band started releasing singles from the eight days of live performances recorded at Deep Elm Art Company in front of a live audience, the comments sections continue to flood with praise for the quality of the recordings and mixes.

 

At the helm of the production is Snarky Puppy veteran engineer, Nic Hard, assisted by Snarky Puppy's touring engineers, tasked with recording the nineteen-plus musicians in the one-room music venue with little to no isolation.

We joined the group to document the entire process, from load-in at the venue to the intimate live performances, the stereo mix, and finally, the Dolby Atmos mix with Fab Dupont.

 

In this Puremix exclusive, you'll join Snarky Puppy, Nic Hard, and his team of audio ninjas as they record the performances, travel to Spain for the stereo mixing sessions, and New York City for the Dolby Atmos mixing sessions.

 

In part two of this series, watch as Nic Hard:

 

• Explains how mixing music that will be married with video can change the approach to the mix
• Cleans up the audio from the 50 microphones on the floor to minimize bleed
• Calibrates his mixing room by listening to references and using Sonarworks Sound ID
• Goes through each of the drum tracks cleaning up extraneous noise, checking polarity, and EQing each mic to speak better in the overall picture of the drum kits
• Reamps the bass DI through an Ampeg B15 amp
• Reamps Maz's solo for a different tonal option and adds room mics to the live room for more ambiance
• Shapes the tone of the Rhodes using Gullfoss
• Chooses between multiple mic options on the horns and resolves resonances using Soothe 2
• Sets up his mix bus using the BAX EQ, SSL Bus Compressor, Slate Virtual Tape Machine, Gullfoss EQ, and Fab Filter Pro-L2 Limiter and explains his thought process behind each plugin
• Automates elements of the mix to add unique moments and differentiate the sections of the song
• Reviews the mix with band leader, Michael League, and makes the final tweaks to the stereo mix of "Coney Bear"

 

This is your chance to see how Nic Hard captured the iconic record "Empire Central" and how the team accomplished a true feat of mastery in audio production from Start to Finish.