Jorja Smith – Be Honest (feat. Burna Boy)

Used for vocals on Burna Boy's "Gum Body", as stated by mix engineer Jesse Ray Ernster in this June 12, 2020 MusicTech interview. An image of the settings for the "Jorja Lead" channel can be found here.

JORJA’S VOCAL: “Jorja’s vocals had a wonderful warm quality to them, so it was my job to retain that character while boosting clarity against the instrumental mix.”

First up in the vocal chain was the EQ module from Waves CLA MixHub, high-passing at 94hz to eliminate ground hum, traffic rumble, control-room bleed, and any knocks from into the microphone stand. “I only high-pass the sub information. I don’t allow the filter to reach any of the fundamental warmth frequencies in the low-midrange of the singer’s voice.”

For clarity and intelligibility of consonants, he also boosted some 4.1khz and 7.8khz. Then, also in CLA MixHub, used the “Bluey” 1176 mode, compressing gently at a 2:1 ratio. Next up was Waves CLA-76 with a slow attack and fast release to do some levelling of the signal.

“At that point, I was okay with the feel of the vocal texture, but it lacked evenness from phrase-to-phrase,” he says. And, when he pushed the compressor harder to level out the signal, it sounded worse. Ernster’s solution was fader automation on the source audio tracks before hitting the vocal bus compressor, giving the compressor less to do.

As with Burna’s vocal, Ernster brought out Acustica Amber3 to boost 25kHz, followed by Crane Song Phoenix (in Opal Dark Essence mode, this time). “The EQ boost drove the tape into a state of saturation in the extended top-end and contoured a smooth roll-off of those hard high frequencies. The 25khz boost would have sounded a bit too intense on its own, but the Phoenix provides the perfect compensation by gently rolling off the top end (with a gradual low-pass filter), providing the vocal with a silky, ‘classic’ top end that sounds present, but feels a bit dark, too.”

“After the first mix went out, they asked for more width on her vocal, so I slapped on the Valhalla Space Modulator with a slow rate, a tad bit of depth, and an 18% mix; this pushed a parallel signal of the vocal off to the sides of the mix for a bit of three-dimensional surreality.After copying Jorja’s lead processing to her harmonies and ad-libs, some work was required to get them to sit behind Burna’s voice including panning, effects levels, and some automation.

Conversely, her effects busses were very straight-forward: an 1/8th delay and a 1/4 delay feeding a Valhalla VintageVerb (Plate 1.85s); “all dialled in subtly to fit the ambience of the track. And I did two loud-and-obvious fader throws to the 1/8th delay send on the words “Care to have your own HEART (2:20), If you treat me kind and kept me close, We’ll always still PART”.

Used for vocals on Burna Boy's "Gum Body", as stated by mix engineer Jesse Ray Ernster in this June 12, 2020 MusicTech interview. An image of the settings for the "Jorja Lead" channel can be found here.

JORJA’S VOCAL: “Jorja’s vocals had a wonderful warm quality to them, so it was my job to retain that character while boosting clarity against the instrumental mix.”

First up in the vocal chain was the EQ module from Waves CLA MixHub, high-passing at 94hz to eliminate ground hum, traffic rumble, control-room bleed, and any knocks from into the microphone stand. “I only high-pass the sub information. I don’t allow the filter to reach any of the fundamental warmth frequencies in the low-midrange of the singer’s voice.”

For clarity and intelligibility of consonants, he also boosted some 4.1khz and 7.8khz. Then, also in CLA MixHub, used the “Bluey” 1176 mode, compressing gently at a 2:1 ratio. Next up was Waves CLA-76 with a slow attack and fast release to do some levelling of the signal.

“At that point, I was okay with the feel of the vocal texture, but it lacked evenness from phrase-to-phrase,” he says. And, when he pushed the compressor harder to level out the signal, it sounded worse. Ernster’s solution was fader automation on the source audio tracks before hitting the vocal bus compressor, giving the compressor less to do.

As with Burna’s vocal, Ernster brought out Acustica Amber3 to boost 25kHz, followed by Crane Song Phoenix (in Opal Dark Essence mode, this time). “The EQ boost drove the tape into a state of saturation in the extended top-end and contoured a smooth roll-off of those hard high frequencies. The 25khz boost would have sounded a bit too intense on its own, but the Phoenix provides the perfect compensation by gently rolling off the top end (with a gradual low-pass filter), providing the vocal with a silky, ‘classic’ top end that sounds present, but feels a bit dark, too.”

“After the first mix went out, they asked for more width on her vocal, so I slapped on the Valhalla Space Modulator with a slow rate, a tad bit of depth, and an 18% mix; this pushed a parallel signal of the vocal off to the sides of the mix for a bit of three-dimensional surreality.After copying Jorja’s lead processing to her harmonies and ad-libs, some work was required to get them to sit behind Burna’s voice including panning, effects levels, and some automation.

Conversely, her effects busses were very straight-forward: an 1/8th delay and a 1/4 delay feeding a Valhalla VintageVerb (Plate 1.85s); “all dialled in subtly to fit the ambience of the track. And I did two loud-and-obvious fader throws to the 1/8th delay send on the words “Care to have your own HEART (2:20), If you treat me kind and kept me close, We’ll always still PART”.

Used for vocals on Burna Boy's "Gum Body", as stated by mix engineer Jesse Ray Ernster in this June 12, 2020 MusicTech interview. An image of the settings for the "Jorja Lead" channel can be found here.

JORJA’S VOCAL: “Jorja’s vocals had a wonderful warm quality to them, so it was my job to retain that character while boosting clarity against the instrumental mix.”

First up in the vocal chain was the EQ module from Waves CLA MixHub, high-passing at 94hz to eliminate ground hum, traffic rumble, control-room bleed, and any knocks from into the microphone stand. “I only high-pass the sub information. I don’t allow the filter to reach any of the fundamental warmth frequencies in the low-midrange of the singer’s voice.”

For clarity and intelligibility of consonants, he also boosted some 4.1khz and 7.8khz. Then, also in CLA MixHub, used the “Bluey” 1176 mode, compressing gently at a 2:1 ratio. Next up was Waves CLA-76 with a slow attack and fast release to do some levelling of the signal.

“At that point, I was okay with the feel of the vocal texture, but it lacked evenness from phrase-to-phrase,” he says. And, when he pushed the compressor harder to level out the signal, it sounded worse. Ernster’s solution was fader automation on the source audio tracks before hitting the vocal bus compressor, giving the compressor less to do.

As with Burna’s vocal, Ernster brought out Acustica Amber3 to boost 25kHz, followed by Crane Song Phoenix (in Opal Dark Essence mode, this time). “The EQ boost drove the tape into a state of saturation in the extended top-end and contoured a smooth roll-off of those hard high frequencies. The 25khz boost would have sounded a bit too intense on its own, but the Phoenix provides the perfect compensation by gently rolling off the top end (with a gradual low-pass filter), providing the vocal with a silky, ‘classic’ top end that sounds present, but feels a bit dark, too.”

“After the first mix went out, they asked for more width on her vocal, so I slapped on the Valhalla Space Modulator with a slow rate, a tad bit of depth, and an 18% mix; this pushed a parallel signal of the vocal off to the sides of the mix for a bit of three-dimensional surreality.After copying Jorja’s lead processing to her harmonies and ad-libs, some work was required to get them to sit behind Burna’s voice including panning, effects levels, and some automation.

Conversely, her effects busses were very straight-forward: an 1/8th delay and a 1/4 delay feeding a Valhalla VintageVerb (Plate 1.85s); “all dialled in subtly to fit the ambience of the track. And I did two loud-and-obvious fader throws to the 1/8th delay send on the words “Care to have your own HEART (2:20), If you treat me kind and kept me close, We’ll always still PART”.

Used for vocals on Burna Boy's "Gum Body", as stated by mix engineer Jesse Ray Ernster in this June 12, 2020 MusicTech interview. An image of the settings for the "Jorja Lead" channel can be found here.

JORJA’S VOCAL: “Jorja’s vocals had a wonderful warm quality to them, so it was my job to retain that character while boosting clarity against the instrumental mix.”

First up in the vocal chain was the EQ module from Waves CLA MixHub, high-passing at 94hz to eliminate ground hum, traffic rumble, control-room bleed, and any knocks from into the microphone stand. “I only high-pass the sub information. I don’t allow the filter to reach any of the fundamental warmth frequencies in the low-midrange of the singer’s voice.”

For clarity and intelligibility of consonants, he also boosted some 4.1khz and 7.8khz. Then, also in CLA MixHub, used the “Bluey” 1176 mode, compressing gently at a 2:1 ratio. Next up was Waves CLA-76 with a slow attack and fast release to do some levelling of the signal.

“At that point, I was okay with the feel of the vocal texture, but it lacked evenness from phrase-to-phrase,” he says. And, when he pushed the compressor harder to level out the signal, it sounded worse. Ernster’s solution was fader automation on the source audio tracks before hitting the vocal bus compressor, giving the compressor less to do.

As with Burna’s vocal, Ernster brought out Acustica Amber3 to boost 25kHz, followed by Crane Song Phoenix (in Opal Dark Essence mode, this time). “The EQ boost drove the tape into a state of saturation in the extended top-end and contoured a smooth roll-off of those hard high frequencies. The 25khz boost would have sounded a bit too intense on its own, but the Phoenix provides the perfect compensation by gently rolling off the top end (with a gradual low-pass filter), providing the vocal with a silky, ‘classic’ top end that sounds present, but feels a bit dark, too.”

“After the first mix went out, they asked for more width on her vocal, so I slapped on the Valhalla Space Modulator with a slow rate, a tad bit of depth, and an 18% mix; this pushed a parallel signal of the vocal off to the sides of the mix for a bit of three-dimensional surreality.After copying Jorja’s lead processing to her harmonies and ad-libs, some work was required to get them to sit behind Burna’s voice including panning, effects levels, and some automation.

Conversely, her effects busses were very straight-forward: an 1/8th delay and a 1/4 delay feeding a Valhalla VintageVerb (Plate 1.85s); “all dialled in subtly to fit the ambience of the track. And I did two loud-and-obvious fader throws to the 1/8th delay send on the words “Care to have your own HEART (2:20), If you treat me kind and kept me close, We’ll always still PART”.

Used for vocals on Burna Boy's "Gum Body", as stated by mix engineer Jesse Ray Ernster in this June 12, 2020 MusicTech interview. An image of the settings for the "Jorja Lead" channel can be found here.

JORJA’S VOCAL: “Jorja’s vocals had a wonderful warm quality to them, so it was my job to retain that character while boosting clarity against the instrumental mix.”

First up in the vocal chain was the EQ module from Waves CLA MixHub, high-passing at 94hz to eliminate ground hum, traffic rumble, control-room bleed, and any knocks from into the microphone stand. “I only high-pass the sub information. I don’t allow the filter to reach any of the fundamental warmth frequencies in the low-midrange of the singer’s voice.”

For clarity and intelligibility of consonants, he also boosted some 4.1khz and 7.8khz. Then, also in CLA MixHub, used the “Bluey” 1176 mode, compressing gently at a 2:1 ratio. Next up was Waves CLA-76 with a slow attack and fast release to do some levelling of the signal.

“At that point, I was okay with the feel of the vocal texture, but it lacked evenness from phrase-to-phrase,” he says. And, when he pushed the compressor harder to level out the signal, it sounded worse. Ernster’s solution was fader automation on the source audio tracks before hitting the vocal bus compressor, giving the compressor less to do.

As with Burna’s vocal, Ernster brought out Acustica Amber3 to boost 25kHz, followed by Crane Song Phoenix (in Opal Dark Essence mode, this time). “The EQ boost drove the tape into a state of saturation in the extended top-end and contoured a smooth roll-off of those hard high frequencies. The 25khz boost would have sounded a bit too intense on its own, but the Phoenix provides the perfect compensation by gently rolling off the top end (with a gradual low-pass filter), providing the vocal with a silky, ‘classic’ top end that sounds present, but feels a bit dark, too.”

“After the first mix went out, they asked for more width on her vocal, so I slapped on the Valhalla Space Modulator with a slow rate, a tad bit of depth, and an 18% mix; this pushed a parallel signal of the vocal off to the sides of the mix for a bit of three-dimensional surreality.After copying Jorja’s lead processing to her harmonies and ad-libs, some work was required to get them to sit behind Burna’s voice including panning, effects levels, and some automation.

Conversely, her effects busses were very straight-forward: an 1/8th delay and a 1/4 delay feeding a Valhalla VintageVerb (Plate 1.85s); “all dialled in subtly to fit the ambience of the track. And I did two loud-and-obvious fader throws to the 1/8th delay send on the words “Care to have your own HEART (2:20), If you treat me kind and kept me close, We’ll always still PART”.

Pro-Q 3 was used for vocals on Burna Boy's "Gum Body", as stated by mix engineer Jesse Ray Ernster in this June 12, 2020 MusicTech interview. An image of the settings for the "Jorja Lead" channel can be found here.

JORJA’S VOCAL: “Jorja’s vocals had a wonderful warm quality to them, so it was my job to retain that character while boosting clarity against the instrumental mix.”

First up in the vocal chain was the EQ module from Waves CLA MixHub, high-passing at 94hz to eliminate ground hum, traffic rumble, control-room bleed, and any knocks from into the microphone stand. “I only high-pass the sub information. I don’t allow the filter to reach any of the fundamental warmth frequencies in the low-midrange of the singer’s voice.”

For clarity and intelligibility of consonants, he also boosted some 4.1khz and 7.8khz. Then, also in CLA MixHub, used the “Bluey” 1176 mode, compressing gently at a 2:1 ratio. Next up was Waves CLA-76 with a slow attack and fast release to do some levelling of the signal.

“At that point, I was okay with the feel of the vocal texture, but it lacked evenness from phrase-to-phrase,” he says. And, when he pushed the compressor harder to level out the signal, it sounded worse. Ernster’s solution was fader automation on the source audio tracks before hitting the vocal bus compressor, giving the compressor less to do.

As with Burna’s vocal, Ernster brought out Acustica Amber3 to boost 25kHz, followed by Crane Song Phoenix (in Opal Dark Essence mode, this time). “The EQ boost drove the tape into a state of saturation in the extended top-end and contoured a smooth roll-off of those hard high frequencies. The 25khz boost would have sounded a bit too intense on its own, but the Phoenix provides the perfect compensation by gently rolling off the top end (with a gradual low-pass filter), providing the vocal with a silky, ‘classic’ top end that sounds present, but feels a bit dark, too.”

“After the first mix went out, they asked for more width on her vocal, so I slapped on the Valhalla Space Modulator with a slow rate, a tad bit of depth, and an 18% mix; this pushed a parallel signal of the vocal off to the sides of the mix for a bit of three-dimensional surreality.After copying Jorja’s lead processing to her harmonies and ad-libs, some work was required to get them to sit behind Burna’s voice including panning, effects levels, and some automation.

Conversely, her effects busses were very straight-forward: an 1/8th delay and a 1/4 delay feeding a Valhalla VintageVerb (Plate 1.85s); “all dialled in subtly to fit the ambience of the track. And I did two loud-and-obvious fader throws to the 1/8th delay send on the words “Care to have your own HEART (2:20), If you treat me kind and kept me close, We’ll always still PART”.

Used for vocals on Burna Boy's "Gum Body", as stated by mix engineer Jesse Ray Ernster in this June 12, 2020 MusicTech interview.

JORJA’S VOCAL: “Jorja’s vocals had a wonderful warm quality to them, so it was my job to retain that character while boosting clarity against the instrumental mix.”

First up in the vocal chain was the EQ module from Waves CLA MixHub, high-passing at 94hz to eliminate ground hum, traffic rumble, control-room bleed, and any knocks from into the microphone stand. “I only high-pass the sub information. I don’t allow the filter to reach any of the fundamental warmth frequencies in the low-midrange of the singer’s voice.”

For clarity and intelligibility of consonants, he also boosted some 4.1khz and 7.8khz. Then, also in CLA MixHub, used the “Bluey” 1176 mode, compressing gently at a 2:1 ratio. Next up was Waves CLA-76 with a slow attack and fast release to do some levelling of the signal.

“At that point, I was okay with the feel of the vocal texture, but it lacked evenness from phrase-to-phrase,” he says. And, when he pushed the compressor harder to level out the signal, it sounded worse. Ernster’s solution was fader automation on the source audio tracks before hitting the vocal bus compressor, giving the compressor less to do.

As with Burna’s vocal, Ernster brought out Acustica Amber3 to boost 25kHz, followed by Crane Song Phoenix (in Opal Dark Essence mode, this time). “The EQ boost drove the tape into a state of saturation in the extended top-end and contoured a smooth roll-off of those hard high frequencies. The 25khz boost would have sounded a bit too intense on its own, but the Phoenix provides the perfect compensation by gently rolling off the top end (with a gradual low-pass filter), providing the vocal with a silky, ‘classic’ top end that sounds present, but feels a bit dark, too.”

“After the first mix went out, they asked for more width on her vocal, so I slapped on the Valhalla Space Modulator with a slow rate, a tad bit of depth, and an 18% mix; this pushed a parallel signal of the vocal off to the sides of the mix for a bit of three-dimensional surreality.After copying Jorja’s lead processing to her harmonies and ad-libs, some work was required to get them to sit behind Burna’s voice including panning, effects levels, and some automation.

Conversely, her effects busses were very straight-forward: an 1/8th delay and a 1/4 delay feeding a Valhalla VintageVerb (Plate 1.85s); “all dialled in subtly to fit the ambience of the track. And I did two loud-and-obvious fader throws to the 1/8th delay send on the words “Care to have your own HEART (2:20), If you treat me kind and kept me close, We’ll always still PART”.