Mixing

Blow for Blow

Tee Grizzley & J. Cole

Teezio

Song : Blow for Blow

Duration:55 min Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean

Description

Step inside the mix of ‘Blow for Blow’, the heavyweight rap collaboration between Tee Grizzley and J. Cole. In this series, Teezio breaks down the sonics of this gritty rap joint, revealing the tools and techniques behind its explosive drums and vocals.

Teezio dives straight into the instrumental, using a combination of EQs, compressors, and saturators to enhance the drums and synths. He unpacks his signature approach to clipping and compression, layering multiple processors to create a sound that’s both tight and controlled.

Once the beat is locked in, he zooms in on the artists’ iconic vocals. He explores the differences between raw and pre-mixed takes, sharing strategies for achieving consistency and contrast from verse to verse. He also reveals his go-to presets and channel strips – essential tools that enable him to capture the ‘in your face’ character of hip-hop without sounding harsh or unnatural.

The series wraps up with a look at Teezio’s trailblazing career. He reflects on the value of community and mentorship, offering real-world advice on building a sustainable, long-term career in the music industry.

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09 min

Part 1

Mix template breakdown, drums

Fabfilter Pro Q 3, Wavesfactory Spectre, Fabfilter Pro C 2, Soothe 2, AVID Lo-Fi, Waves MV2, Izotope Neutron 3
06 min

Part 2

Synths, Samples

Fabfilter Pro Q 3, Oeksound Soothe 2, Fabfilter Pro C2, Kush Audio Silika, Waves R Comp
09 min

Part 3

J. Cole vocals, EQ, de-essing, feedback

Fabfilter Pro Q 3, Izotope Ozone, Fabfilter Pro DS, Lindell 902 de-esser
15 min

Part 4

Vocals, Tee Grizzley,

Fabfilter Pro Q 3, UAD UA 11765E Legacy, iZotope Neutron 3, Waves Audio Track Channel Strip, Waves R Vox, Waves R Comp, Oeksound Soothe 2, AVID EQ3 7-Band, Valhalla Vintage Verb
05 min

Part 5

Mix bus processing

Slate Audio Fresh Air, Brainworx bx digital V3, Venn Audio V Clip, Schwabe Digital Orange Clip, Kirchhoff EQ, Shadow Hills Industries Mastering Compressor, The God Particle, UAD Oxford Limiter
07 min

Part 6

Community, mindset, business affairs, creative process, work ethic
02 min

Trailer

Comments

(15)

Carlos Morillo November 26, 2025 at 4:01 AM

Least favorite video. I felt like I didnt get much from this.
Rayzo De Armas Cerda September 26, 2025 at 10:31 AM

“I wonder why on this platform they never teach one of the most important things in a mix: BALANCE. They never show where they placed each fader on the virtual or analog mixer — it doesn’t matter which. The important thing is that it’s something we paid for, and it seems like they’re hiding it from us!! Mix with the Masters ?!?!?!?!?
Guilherme Ramos October 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM

Because they do it naturally, their focus its to get everything sounding good, they are so used to it that at the end its all balanced without even thinking about it.

Guilherme Ramos October 9, 2025 at 8:53 PM

Oh and another thing, they get things loud as possible with less db possible, like, if you see the low end is always super saturated, kicks, 808, so that it sound loud without being at too high volume, its about playing a game with human perception on frequencies..

Stuart O Riordan October 20, 2025 at 4:03 AM

Every video I wish there's a proper gain staging section but yet to see it.

Jordan Pass October 26, 2025 at 9:01 PM

I believe a lot of balance, clip gain, grouping, clip fades, taking out breaths, etc, is already done by Teezio's assistant who preps most of the sessions before he works on them.
Rayzo De Armas Cerda September 26, 2025 at 10:30 AM

Me pregunto por qué en esta plataforma nunca enseñan una de las cosas más importantes de una mezcla : BALANCE “” Nunca enseñan donde colocaron cada fader de la mixer virtual o analógica no importa . Lo importante es q es algo por lo que uno pagó y tal parece que te lo ocultan !!
Alex August 17, 2025 at 11:16 PM

Literally the only reason I'm watching this is to understand what the hell went wrong with the vocal level. Edit: Got it. Cole sent pre-mixed vocals. Should have just stuck to rapping.
Alex August 17, 2025 at 11:23 PM

This comment has been deleted.
Juan Rodriguez August 16, 2025 at 9:23 PM

more advice like the last video I don't think operating within the industry gets spoken about enough or working outside of the biggest records, burn out, the progression of business beyond being an engineer, splits, scope of work quoting, hourly's etc. I think is a different perspective especially for beginners of not just engineers but successful freelancing
LANDO August 9, 2025 at 9:34 AM

GOAT
Marten Thielges August 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM

Part 4: Trim ain't doin anything, +6 is just the reference that was used for older HD systems, +12 is standard now with HDX systems but it don't matter because the gain is at 0dB. Usually you have Trim as DSP in the first slot if you want to record monitoring non-dsp plugins, that might be why the left it in tracking the vocals with the telephone effect on monitor.
Marten Thielges August 8, 2025 at 1:49 PM

Trim ain't doin anything, +6 is just the reference for the maximum gain boost that was used for older HD systems, +12 is standard now but it don't matter because the gain is at 0dB. Usually you have Trim as DSP in the first slot if you want to record monitoring non-dsp plugins, that's most probably why it's left it in, they wanted to hear the radio effect while tracking the vocals.
Oliver Young August 6, 2025 at 7:20 PM

Very glad to see Teezio here again!
Saori Cano August 6, 2025 at 7:19 PM

Al those notches bro is just ridiculous!
Daniel Velez August 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM

yeah i cantr really understand!

About Teezio

Patrizio “Teezio” Pigliapoco is a 44x platinum, Grammy-winning mix engineer based in Los Angeles, CA who’s fresh off of a 2024 Grammy win for Best Engineered Album for his work on Victoria Monet’s “JAGUAR II”. Back when he was just eighteen taking classes at the LA Recording School, he met Juicy J at a house party and soon put school on hold to record Juicy full-time. After nearly a decade of steady work with blog-era rappers, Teezio got a call to start tracking Chris Brown in 2016, and it wasn’t...

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09 min

Part 1

Mix template breakdown, drums

Fabfilter Pro Q 3, Wavesfactory Spectre, Fabfilter Pro C 2, Soothe 2, AVID Lo-Fi, Waves MV2, Izotope Neutron 3
06 min

Part 2

Synths, Samples

Fabfilter Pro Q 3, Oeksound Soothe 2, Fabfilter Pro C2, Kush Audio Silika, Waves R Comp
09 min

Part 3

J. Cole vocals, EQ, de-essing, feedback

Fabfilter Pro Q 3, Izotope Ozone, Fabfilter Pro DS, Lindell 902 de-esser
15 min

Part 4

Vocals, Tee Grizzley,

Fabfilter Pro Q 3, UAD UA 11765E Legacy, iZotope Neutron 3, Waves Audio Track Channel Strip, Waves R Vox, Waves R Comp, Oeksound Soothe 2, AVID EQ3 7-Band, Valhalla Vintage Verb
05 min

Part 5

Mix bus processing

Slate Audio Fresh Air, Brainworx bx digital V3, Venn Audio V Clip, Schwabe Digital Orange Clip, Kirchhoff EQ, Shadow Hills Industries Mastering Compressor, The God Particle, UAD Oxford Limiter
07 min

Part 6

Community, mindset, business affairs, creative process, work ethic
02 min

Trailer