Captain Rugged

Keziah Jones

(14 min / 1h33)

Russell Elevado

  • Mixing

Step inside Red Bull studios NYC to witness analog purist Russell Elevado mix a song from scratch! Using a SSL 9000 J-series console and an arsenal of fine outboard equipment, the fabled engineer crafts an all-analog mix of 'Rugged' by the artist Keziah Jones. Starting from the beginning of the mix process, Elevado explains his initial patching, comments on his choices for particular gear, and demonstrates his approach to getting an initial balance. He then elaborates on his methods and dials in on EQ, parallel and direct compression, re-amping, effects, and more. While mixing, he sheds light on a variety of areas including the benefits of analog summing, creative tape effects, impedance, and transformers. Upon finishing the mix with final EQ and level automation, he enlightens us to why he avoids the common practice of master buss processing.

Subtitles in English, Spanish


Russell Elevado

About Russell Elevado

Russell Elevado, is a recording engineer and record producer based in New York City. Elevado's achievement for recording and mixing contemporary R&B recording artist D'Angelo's critically acclaimed Voodoo album, earned him a Grammy award in 2000. Voodoo is now considered a classic album in the contemporary R&B genre and paved the way for the neo-soul movement. Elevado's "old school" engineering techniques and preference for using mostly vintage equipment gave the album a sound reminiscent of a...

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