Dr. Dre has been the latest trending topic following his iconic and unforgettable NFL Super Bowl half-time show. Since his classic 1999 album 2001 has re-entered the Billboard charts, he’s now revealing some details behind the album.
During an interview with the FAQ podcast, JAY-Z’s engineer Young Guru, talked about using 2001 to set the tone in a room. During the interview, show host Fuzzy called Dre, sparking a conversation on how 2001 came to be. “Dre put that clarity and more importantly, he put that depth into the music. So I have to praise and thank you for that, because that’s my go-to,” Guru said.
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Dre followed up Guru’s praise with some details on how he approached the sound for the album. “That particular record, I was really going bass-heavy with it, but trying to keep the mids and the tops right. But still trying to make sure it sounded like some gritty sh*t. You know what it is trying to get that balance,” he said. “A lot of times, at least back then, I was mixing the vocals a little bit too loud because it’s a little trick you learn along the way, once you get into mastering if you want to add bass to your sh*t the vocals calm down. So I would always mix the vocals just a little bit loud, that way, you can add bass, and the vocals would still sit on top of it comfortably, “he continued.
2001 released seven years after his debut album The Chronic. Produced heavily by Dre, his sophomore album debuted at no. 2 on the U.S Billboard 200 Chart, selling well over 500K copies its first week. The album would go on to be certified 6x platinum by the RIAA and has sold more than 7M copies since its release.
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