Jaycen Joshua Ultimate Mix Tips

Career Overview:

- **Background**: Started at Larabee Studios, mentored by Dave Pensado.

- **Artists Worked With**: Mary J. Blige, Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, among others.

- **Notable Works**: Gained fame for mixing hits like "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé and "Despacito

Jaycen has been an engineer I've admired for years. His cross-genre mixes rank among the most well-balanced I've encountered. His insights on low end and saturation have reshaped my views on music production. Here are some tips I've adopted from him, which have become integral to my workflow throughout my career.

1. **Bob Powers Kick Drum Effect**

   - **Tools Used**: Pull Tech EQ and dbx 160x compressor.

   - **Process**: Duplicate the kick drum and apply heavy compression. Blend it with the original kick after boosting at 60 Hz by 7 dB and attenuating 8k, you should only be able to hear a ‘thump’ — that should be parallel with the original signal.

2. **Vocal Presence**

   - **Tools Used**: Rvox with Heavy compression.

   - **Process**: Duplicate the vocal track and apply heavy compression to make vocals stand out

3. **Kick Precedence**

   - **Tools Used**: soothe 2 or automation

   - **Process**: Delay the 808 transient to allow the kick drum's initial transient to take precedence. This creates a perception of increased loudness on the low end, and carves space.

   - Instead of using plugins or outboard gear for compression, Joshua uses the trim tool.

   - When the kick and 808 bass hit at the same time, he trims down the front part of the 808.

   - This gives about 2 dB of headroom, making the mix louder before even hitting the compressor.

Uses a plugin called "Soothe 2" for faster sidechaining.

   - The key input is fed by the kick, making it the fast sidechain comp.

   - For super-fast and on-point sidechaining, he recommends setting it to one-time oversampling.

4. **Reverb Delay**

   - **Tools Used**: Reverb with delayed onset.

   - **Process**: Delay the onset of reverb by up to 60 milliseconds to keep the vocal upfront and immediate.

5. **Saturation and Harmonics**

   - **Tools Used**: Specter by Waves Factory.

   - **Process**: Use saturation plugins to add weight and harmonics,

6. **Bass Width**

   - **Tools Used**: Frequency band splitting.

   - **Process**: Duplicate the bass track, split it into two frequency bands. Keep the lower end central and add width to the high-frequency parts.

7. **Front-to-Back Panning with Wave's True Verb**

   - Uses only the early reflections setting.

   - Automates the distance to create a front-to-back effect.

   - Adds movement and depth to the mix.

8. **Adding Width to Mono Guitar**

   - Uses the BX Stereo Maker plugin.

   - Expands the sound of a mono guitar track.

9. **Adding Movement to Harsh Synth**

   - Uses the Tremolator plugin.

   - Utilizes a go-to preset called "Dynamical" to add subtle dynamics.

10. **Enhancing Dynamics with One Knob Pumper**

   - Adds more movement and bounce to the sound.

   - Especially effective when used subtly.

Final notes:

Vocal Mixing Template

1. **Spectred by Waves Factory**: A harmonic parallel EQ that brings attention to specific frequencies.

2. **El Rey by Acoustica**: A modified version of a classic compressor, great for controlling vocal dynamics.

3. **Pro Q3**: Used for EQ adjustments, sometimes substituted with Airborosis for the top end.

4. **MC404**: Another EQ plugin, sometimes used, sometimes not.

5. **C6**: Old school compressor for contouring the vocal.

6. **Soothe**: Used for protection, generally set and forget.