The Story

I had the honor of mixing “Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?”, the 2021 Grammy-Award winning album by Fantastic Negrito.

Chocolate Samurai was the first song I mixed from the album and, in some ways, most of the tones and mixing ideas for the whole record came from this one. The song has many layers between guitars, stacked organs, drum loops, and drum samples. The background vocals are also a big staple of the sound of the record. I wanted to make them feel like they are coming out of the speakers, feeling polished but also keeping the vibrancy and aliveness. There is not a single tuned vocal in the album!.

Mixing the album was a big challenge and a big source of inspiration at the same time. I wanted to make it its own thing, sonically. I had to come up with specific and new (at least for me) ways of dealing with some mixing scenarios so I could make things move in a certain way. I wanted things to feel powerful and in your face at times, but also have the ability to breathe and interact with each other in dynamic ways.