Tchad Blake Inside The Track #75

by MixWithTheMasters

Tchad Blake takes the stage for our debut series filmed at the MWTM flagship studio in Paris! In this installment, the extraordinary mixer continues to push sonic boundaries as he shares techniques applied to a recent project — the 2022 single ‘I Know Who You Are’ by Queen Kwong. The experimental indie rock piece is well-suited to Blake, who left his recognisable sonic imprint on the record and shares exactly how he did so, working entirely ‘in the box’. Tchad gives an overview of the artist and project, plays the rough mix, and explains his typical approach to any session he receives. He states how he is unafraid to follow his own vision, often deviating far from the rough mix then making changes later upon client request. He also emphasises the difference he sees between A-B’ing and referencing, and why it’s important to distinguish. Aside from discussing his general workflow, Blake goes into detail on creative processing, revealing how he adds presence with harmonics, increases ambience, enhances transients, and much more!

  Part 1
19 min  
Project background, improvisation, rough mix, arrangement, A-B vs. reference, panning, samples, resonance    

Part 2
20 min  
Toms, distortion, EQ, drum buss, compression, multi-band limiting, transient design, phase relationships    

Part 3
23 min  
Harmonic presence, colour coding, gating, de-essing, bass & electric guitars, filtering, modulation, reverb

   Part 4
11 min  
Synthesizer, stereo spreading, increasing ambiance, framing the vocal, cassette emulation, delays     

Part 5
15 min 
Vocal excitement, sibilance control, dynamics, mic & amp emulation, magnetic tape character, effects    

Part 6
11 min  
Workflow discussion, typical approach, pre-mix groundwork, experimenting, communication with artists   