She’s pregnant, and we got to shoot all these videos. They were like, “Dude, we got to make this Cardi B album in a week. I think you’d be perfect for her and her temperament.” I didn’t hear from him for a while, and then I got a call in March 2018. Even the people with the most ideas still leave room for me to do my craft and insert my ideas, though, because they value perspective.Ĭraig Kallman, the head of Atlantic Records, called me in 2017, and said, “Hey man, we signed Cardi B, and we want you to mix her album. And it’s like that with the more established artists, too, but they tend to have more guidelines with what they think will work for the mix.
They want my input, and they want to know what I think. They’re coming to me knowing that I have so much knowledge. The more inexperienced artists let me do my thing. “They were like, ‘Dude, we got to make this Cardi B album in a week.’ I went to Miami, and we mixed the entire album in a week and a half.”ĭo artists normally come to the table with an idea of what they want it to sound like, or do you get creative liberties? A lot of times, the song in its raw form can’t really communicate what it’s trying to communicate unless things are put in the right context. It’s necessary because the song and the music won’t sound as polished otherwise. If an instrument needs tuning or if somebody can’t sing that well, I can help fix that up a little.
I’m the one that decides if the bass is going to be in in this section or out in another section. I’m the one that balances out the levels. Once the artist and the musicians and the producers and everyone gets together and records all the material, I have to sift through everything and make decisions like which vocal take is the best? How loud is the vocal going to be? How loud is the kick drum going to be? Is the bass going to be a little thicker or thinner? What exactly does a mix engineer do, and why is your job necessary for a song or album?
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. In the post-Grammys glow, he talks with The Verge about what a mix engineer does, what it was like to work with Cardi B on Invasion of Privacy, and he shares some of his favorite studio tips, tricks, and plug-ins. In the past, he’s done the same for T-Pain, Rick Ross, Travis Porter, Gucci Mane, Beyoncé and Jay Z, Future, and Lil Uzi Vert (to name a few).Īfter last Sunday’s Grammy Awards, Brathwaite now has seven Grammy nominations under his belt. One of his latest accomplishments is mixing Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy, which recently won Best Rap Album at the 61st Grammy Awards, making her the first female rapper to win the category as a solo artist.Īs the mix engineer for Invasion of Privacy, it was Brathwaite’s job to take all of the recorded material for the project - from vocals to instruments to individual sample hits - and craft the nuanced balance and relationship between every element before the music heads off to be mastered and then released to the world. Leslie Brathwaite is a name you might not know, but he is integral to bringing music to life. “So sorry, had to come make some tweaks on a Pharrell mix upstairs in my room!” the message says. Minutes before I’m supposed to meet mix engineer Leslie Brathwaite for the first time, he texts me to reschedule.