What Makes This Mix Great? Britney Spears "Toxic"
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- Опубликовано: 17 сен 2024
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Justin Colletti analyzes the mix, production and arrangement for Britney Spears' smash hit "Toxic" to show what makes it work so brilliantly well.
Big thanks to Soundtoys, Lewitt Audio and Ultimate Support for making this episode possible.
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Oops: I misspoke for a second in the beginning of the breakdown!
I said the strings play a 2-bar phrase in the intro. That was me having a brain spasm. The strings play a 1 bar phrase. (The whole call and response pair is a 2-bar phrase.)
After I get warmed up, the analysis gets better and better I think 🙂
-Justin
PS: If I look like I'm out of sync with the music when I'm gesturing on screen, you're not crazy. Apparently the Pro Tools feed and my camera feed have different amounts of latency. I'll look into how to fix that in future livestreams.
On the topic of how her voice gains more prominence in the pre-chorus, I think it also has a lot to do with her phrasing and where her vocals are falling onto the beat.
In the verse she comes in on a second eighth note, and proceeds to sing staccato eighth notes. In the pre-chorus she comes in on a quarter note and proceeds to sing quarter notes.
I think this has a massive effect on how we perceive her evolving attitude. In the beginning, she's merely reacting to something happening, whereas starting with the pre-chorus she's gaining more agency and starting to take control of the situation herself.
Great video as usual. Thank you!
This song is a certified bop for sure 🔥
🙌
This song really is brilliant, it's nice to hear an analysis of it. :D Another Britney songs I like is Gimme more and Radar, people don't really talk about Radar but I think it's really catchy and unique sounding.
yes. this record is brilliant.
Such a well done track. Really odd for a pop song to be like this. Thank you!
Awesome, Justin. Great point about how dance songs give listeners cues.
I always thought this mix was standout. Yay for validation! 😂
I love these critical listening breakdowns.
I always imagine this track is theme song for a cold war movie or tv show or KGB spy type. Also it fits Tom Clancy plots :)
Nice. (We discussed this at AES..!)
Growing up as a kid in the 90s with MTV and growing up to be a complete music freak I can definitely concur Britney's, BSB's, Nsync's producers sold their souls to the depths of hell just to get us hooked on their stuff. I feel there's a dark place in my memory that can perfectly recall every single detail of these songs the millisecond they start playing. It's a master at its work and just like with the Pyramids, they didn't do it on their own, aliens came and gave them technology and wisdom we humans are not supposed to achieve.
Do Antichrist Superstar then pleaaaaaaase
Hi, Justin!
Great video, as always!
I'm sure you must've seen Rick Beato's analysis on pop songs like "Into You"- Ariana Grande (Max Martin).
That's a really good format especially because we can see the intricate mixing and production details on each vocal and instrument track.
What I mean is that it would be amazing if you could get the whole project, the tracks, or even the stems for the song in the next episode.
I'm sure it's more work, but it bight be worth it?
Have a great week!
I have not seen any of Rick's analyses yet! I totally could do something where I open multitracks or stems of tracks, and may do more of it so someday.
...HOWEVER, then I would have to focus on tracks where stems are readily available-thereby rehashing the same ground that others have before-or I have to wait for a producer to agree to make previously unheard stems available, stopping me from just focusing on the tracks I want to focus on.
That said, yes, opening multitracks can be fun! But I like the idea of exclusively listening in context and reverse engineering from there. It's a smaller niche, not as flashy and probably won't have as many viewers, but I think it's a nice alternative, and actually more productive for developing one's ear and instincts than primarlily focusing on things in solo.
-Justin
@@SonicScoop That's a really good point!
Thanks for the reply!
I respect the fact that you often take time to answer these questions in such a thoughtful manner.
🫶
Thanks for posting this, Justin! A great way to spend an hour of studio maintenance time.
Great to hear Benny. Thanks for tuning in!
-Justin
Cathy Dennis…who also co-wrote (“I Kissed a Girl” and “Can’t Get You Outta My Head”) initially offered this record to Kylie Minogue for her album Body Language, but she turned it down.
These video in podcast form rather then a tutorial that requires my undivided attention are pure gold. thanks !
I concider this to be one of the peaks of the "ultra-pop" era. Every instrument/synth/sample playing its own mini-story
Definitely.
-Justin
Thank you so much for this amazing analysis
The bollywood string sample plays a massive role
Yes, that is a big focus of the analysis!
I'm not surprised one of the producers was a metal guy...there is an intensity to this song that is absolutely rare for a pop hit.
The spaceyness makes me think of 70s classic rock like Free
You should listen to her “Blackout” album from 2007…its mostly produced by the same Swedish duo. Im not a typical Britney fan either but the production on it is pretty epic!
wtf, Toxic is Cathy Dennis. She wrote it, recorded it finished, complete and BS just added her weaker vocal.
@@meisterlymanu5214 No, Cathy wrote the vocals, not the production
OMG Thank You!
Thank you for tuning in! I hope you enjoyed the video!
-Justin
All britney records were brilliant
cathy dennis wrote it, recorded it, her original is a better version, and Britney just replaced Cathy with her skanky weak ass voice.
Evidently even as a professional musician (whatever that means lol) I somehow had never heard this song until a few days ago when I had to learn it for a show I was playing. I had the same “Holy crap, this song is great!” response as a lot of other non-target-audience people like this gent.
Another song that is produced ridiculously well is Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus. The song is pretty cookie-cutter but the production is crazy good IMO. The low end on that track just sounds expensive, and the jump from the low-fi guitar at the beginning to the ultra-slick production has been done many times but on that track seems done especially well.
I'll check it out, thanks for the recommendation!
-Justin
Do Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out of My Head. Love to hear a breakdown of that banger
yes because cathy dennis wrote toxic and Kylies biggest hit.
@@meisterlymanu5214🤯
Heyyyyy justinnnnn . I saw that you went to the namm you find a sponsor for Jason goldenberg to the mix con of this year ?
Working on it! We'll see :-)
-Justin
the chorus has a James Bondian semi-chromatic descent, hence the spaghetti western guitar with the spring reverb
Dang man I have to watch this again -and I got called out. I wasn’t able to enjoy the whole live event - dadgummit.. i’m gonna catch this again… Watch the whole thing over -likes, subscribe and share
Thanks Tanner, glad to have you watching.
-Justin
Are you kidding me? I hate missing your shows bro.
One of the producers is still very successful with his Galantis project.
This song made me realize FM radio is minor brainwashing because after hearing it so many times it grew on me , then I downloaded it. The video is an entirely different conversation 🤣
I never heard the kind of banjo in the back😂 untill now
Given the proclivity of today's producers to quantise and pitch correct every track to within a micron of the last of its humanity, saying that this 20 year old track could have been made today isn't the compliment you think it might be.
Well that’s cynical.
-Justin
I find the track brilliant . However i really dont like the sound quality. I find it sounds like the vocal is distanced and like there is a veil covering the mix.
The guitar sounds very „contained“ . In general i would like a more „open“ mix if that makes sense. The only thing that i really like is that that from what i remember it was at around -6 rms which for me is the upper limit of „Dance music loud with a bit of transients left„ before it sounds like contemporary „headache loud-Fatiguing sausage“.
But all in all it is a brilliant track that always manages to create a driving groove and amazing and clever composition
Yes, the vocal feels veiled, particularly in the verses. But that's part of what gives so much weight to the rhythm section. This is a key part of the analysis.
Similarly, having relatively more emphasis in the bottom and midrange than in the top end helps shift the weight of the track toward the "1" rather than toward the vocal and the accessory percussion.
What so many of these super successful mixes do is focus on what makes the song work, rather than focus on making it sound "pretty" from an EQ distribution perspective.
Out of the two, the former is far more important in crafting a mix that is heard literally billions of times. The last song we looked at, "Happy" by Pharell, is very much the same way.
-Justin
@@SonicScoop i agree with some of your points. To the billions of times played i dont think its cause of the mix. lets not forget who wrote the song for example . I find Cathy Dennis pretty impressive tbh for example. It is actually a deeper song than it seems at first glance. For me personally and of course it is only my theory that i cant prove but this is an example of „if the music is great it will be heard even if the sound quality is not the best“. If i may add, the two songs you mention did not become such success cause of a successful mix but because they simply are based on brilliant infectious ideas. Brilliant songwriting , songwriting as in it does not depend on the mixing. Thats why they sound good even with completely different mix versions or completely different styles of music backround . Even a capella works with these. But as i said , its my personal theory.
The bass obviously doubles the kick, plus the flourishes in between.
It’s all in the eq - as you showed, both the bass synth and the kick got a lot of hi-mids
So it's not really a mix breakdown but an arrangement breakdown?
The two are inseparable. At least 85% of good mixing is good arranging.
It's important to know WHY we can't do certain things in the mix we are working on.... Because the arrangement won't allow it.
The biggest part of mixing is figuring out what you can do to respect and enhance what works about the arrangement and the song.
I call these "mix" breakdowns, because that's where my audience lives. But the reality is that you have to look at both together.
And looking at arrangement/mixes like this closely can give us ideas about what to do in our mixes, what we can't do, and what would have to change in the arrangement to achieve what we want.
-Justin
Its a Cathy Dennis record, there is virtually no difference between her original version and Britneys. Dennis wrote it, her team produced it, in UK, and Britney just stole it and made v few changes.
Britney Spears? Seriously? Bye!
Really?? You haven't heard this track yet??? This is the track that people who hate Britney Spears love. (It was actually written by metal musicians.)
GO LISTEN! I'm not a Spears fan either, but If you don't like this track, you're just wrong :-)
-Justin
LOL
@DayBeforeTomorrow No biggie. Not like you were doing any mixes worth listening to anyway
Lmfao
The ignorance!😂 😂