Inside the Mix of Rihanna's 'Diamonds' with Phil Tan

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Full Sail Recording Arts graduate/Hall of Fame inductee Phil Tan dives into his mix session for Rihanna's chart-topping hit single, "Diamonds," talks plug-ins, and answers questions about his mixing techniques.

As a Graduate of Full Sail's Recording Arts program in 1990, Phil earned some of his first engineering credits working with Kriss Kross, Run DMC and Toni Braxton. Since those early years, Phil has also served as a solid member of Rapper / Producer / Songwriter / Record Mogul Jermaine Dupri's camp in Atlanta. Phil's studio work includes Mix Engineer credits on GRAMMY Nominated releases by TLC, Will Smith, Brandy, Usher, Lil Kim, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Anthony Hamilton, Snoop Dogg & Pharrell, Omarion, Nelly, Destiny's Child, Gwen Stefani, and Mariah Carey to name a few. Phil has also served as a Trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Phil has been awarded three GRAMMYs for his work with Rihanna, Mariah Carey and Ludacris.

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Located in Winter Park, Florida, Full Sail University offers associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees designed for the world of entertainment, media, arts, and technology. Full Sail's creative approach to education provides an immersive, fast-paced, and relevant learning experience that mirrors the workflow and collaboration found throughout today's rapidly evolving industries.
 
Full Sail’s areas of study include music and recording, games, art and design, film and television, technology, media and communications, business, and sports marketing. Full Sail graduate credits include work on OSCAR®, Emmy®, GRAMMY®, ADDY®, MTV Video Music Award, and Video Game Award nominated and winning projects.

[MrCasetanner]

I like how it's feeding back in the recording school, , , ,

[Dante-qfyd]

People are heavily criticizing this guy. I see a lot of unnecessary disrespectful remarks. I would love to hear their work, being they are so much better, yet set up a tutorial as well. He is professional and humble. Some say the most important chain in recording are the monitors. Not at all. It's the attitude of the person.

[goodvibesonly]

This mans credits are incredible. He know what he’s doing! So many amazing songs that he’s mixed. Too many songs

[DaKid]

Phill is, like other Pro mixers, great at what he does, but you'll never learn how to mix from these guys by listening to a few hours of Q&A?! Even though he's being honest in his answers, the real truth is that great mixes are based on DECISION MAKING! It's not just knowing how to compress a Bass Guitar, but it's more about deciding how to compress that bass within the texture of the particular song you're working on. These mixers have seasoned ears, from years of working alongside other great mixers, who took these guys under their wings and passed down the insider secrets that help to mold hit records! U can't learn this stuff even at FULL SAIL! It's like writing a hit song. When u mix, u are basically freestyling, except it's a technical freestyle! When I mix, I'm grabbing plugins based on what I'm hearing, feeling, and envisioning! Not just because I know this needs EQ or compressing. I'm vibing. It's like I'm making this song all over again, by adding my "flavor" to it. That's why Phill said that if he was to mix a song on a different day, it would come out completely different. He's just mixing as he goes along, grabbing whatever plug-in or piece of gear that he feels is necessary to get the vibe across, that he's hearing in his mind! That's artistry in itself! And even though he didn't mention it, these mixes are anywhere from 10, 15 or more hours long! Sometimes across days! Not 2 or 3 hour mixes.

[madandmean]

I really appreciate phil sharing his knowledge on the business and how he mixes the diamond song. The point he is really trying to make is that, don't get caught up in rules of music and every single guidelines, be creative try new things and mostly do what works for u, what sounds good even if u break the rules to get that sound. 

[Rel_YoungLion]

This was amazing man. Really great gems came from this. Thanks to everyone who contributed to make this possible.

[Processor]

Great, valuable, insightful, useful presentation. Thumbs Up

[PrettyLady]

holy crab. this is very very first video ever on youtube that I'm watching 1 shot from start to end almost 1.5 hours. great video Full Sail. thankyou very much Phil! awesome person!

[RichardMedhurst]

The vocals at 20:45, they're titled "COMP" - does that mean they were comped down / rendered from somewhere else, where the real processing was done? That would explain why there's only 3 effects on his chain here I guess

[sorenpaghvonwowern]

Thanks for taking the time to share your skills and experience! :) Much appreciated!! Keep up the good work!

[Punisher]

I see all you talking negatives things about this guys are probably still recording in your bedroom, and probably using cracked pluggins, and and have no respect for people. He may not be the right person to give out a lecture on production or mixing, but he is where you all will never be.
Just be humble, and anything you can learn appreciate it because we all wish to be in his shoes.

[xxxxxx]

Phil Tan walks in the room
Other producers - "why do i hear boss music?"

[rickspyder]

Some very insightfull answers about career objectives and doing your part in the bigger picture.  great interview

[diegorf]

It's amazing how the guy mixed such a huge song with only Pro Tools plugins and a couple more.

[pauline]

I'm here thanks to rilès, I will try to introduce myself to learn how to mix ;)

[lorcarloni]

where does he talk about putting a reverb on the master fader as a "standard thing he does all the time"? I can't find it anymore...]

[revolutionjo]

"stack the layers"

- AcesToAces

[YannisFriedrichX]

The Vocal sample is from John Newman isn't it :D

[theGBsystem]

That microphone is the problem.It picks up well but the gain has to be set to 5 db in order for it not to feedback.Unless of course they would have changed the preamp

[zooted]

Ironic that a video about audio engineering has so much annoying white noise lol