Aaliyah

Used for "Try Again", as stated anecdotally by engineer Jimmy Douglass in this transscribed March 2005 interview about Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River".

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

"Cry Me a River"

Producer: Timbaland

Engineer: Jimmy Douglass

"Justin came to me with his microphone in his case, and didn't actually take it out because he decided to see what I could do first," says Jimmy of the first session. "He was very happy, so he didn't get into that. I guess he has his mic with him just in case he runs into trouble. He works with a lot of different engineers and everybody has their secrets about their great mics. The thing about the [Neumann] U 87 - I used it because it's really kind of a neutral mic. All the other microphones have characteristics to them that don't work on everybody's voice. The U 87 seems to work on everybody."

"I look for Jimmy to tweak my vocals and make them crisp," adds Timbaland. "That's what I look for - that tone. With Justin, his vocal tone just came. Justin does his own thing."

Signal Path: Tracking

Jimmy explains: "The U 87 went to the Neve VR channel strip in mic position - I used the preamp on the board, and then inserted the [Universal Audio] 1176 across that particular path and then I sent it out to all my individual buses. I tracked Justin's vocals to Pro Tools. That's it. I've found that this is the chain of least resistance; it doesn't effect the vocal as much, and you can always do more creative things later in the mix. It's the most natural signal path I can find. I use the 1176 because it's a very fast limiter and it works well as a limiting tool as well as compressor.

"The reason I don't do anything coming in on the EQ side," he continues, "is because you can always EQ it later, but you can't take away EQ you've messed with on the way in. That gets recorded and you can never take it away."

Missy Elliott received the exact same signal treatment for her Timbaland-produced hit "Get Ur Freak On", as did Aaliyah on "Try Again," Jay-Z "Big Pimpin'," Snoop Dogg "Last Meal," Lil' Kim "The Jump Off," and Bubba Sparxxx "Deliverance," among others.

Used for "Try Again", as stated anecdotally by engineer Jimmy Douglass in this transscribed March 2005 interview about Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River".

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

"Cry Me a River"

Producer: Timbaland

Engineer: Jimmy Douglass

"Justin came to me with his microphone in his case, and didn't actually take it out because he decided to see what I could do first," says Jimmy of the first session. "He was very happy, so he didn't get into that. I guess he has his mic with him just in case he runs into trouble. He works with a lot of different engineers and everybody has their secrets about their great mics. The thing about the [Neumann] U 87 - I used it because it's really kind of a neutral mic. All the other microphones have characteristics to them that don't work on everybody's voice. The U 87 seems to work on everybody."

"I look for Jimmy to tweak my vocals and make them crisp," adds Timbaland. "That's what I look for - that tone. With Justin, his vocal tone just came. Justin does his own thing."

Signal Path: Tracking

Jimmy explains: "The U 87 went to the Neve VR channel strip in mic position - I used the preamp on the board, and then inserted the [Universal Audio] 1176 across that particular path and then I sent it out to all my individual buses. I tracked Justin's vocals to Pro Tools. That's it. I've found that this is the chain of least resistance; it doesn't effect the vocal as much, and you can always do more creative things later in the mix. It's the most natural signal path I can find. I use the 1176 because it's a very fast limiter and it works well as a limiting tool as well as compressor.

"The reason I don't do anything coming in on the EQ side," he continues, "is because you can always EQ it later, but you can't take away EQ you've messed with on the way in. That gets recorded and you can never take it away."

Missy Elliott received the exact same signal treatment for her Timbaland-produced hit "Get Ur Freak On", as did Aaliyah on "Try Again," Jay-Z "Big Pimpin'," Snoop Dogg "Last Meal," Lil' Kim "The Jump Off," and Bubba Sparxxx "Deliverance," among others.

In the image, Aaliyah is seen using a Shure U2/Beta 87A microphone.