Analytical focus – Mixing techniques

Met Gala is a melody trap piece produced by 3 producers/co-producers, involving popular producers like Wheezy, Justin Glass and Bobby Raps.

The tempo of the song moves at 117BPM in the key of C# Major. The flow of the song is very unique, as it is centred around the main melody played by a clean electric guitar moving through 4 chords throughout. This is then layered mainly by a trap drum kit (including hi hats, kicks and 808s). As the song progresses about 0:16 seconds in the vocalist Gunna joins in.

The song includes an ambient noise running in the background throughout, which sets the tone and mood of the piece as quite laid back yet confident. It is mixed in a way to allow and create space for Gunna’s vocals. Speaking of mixing, everything is mixed to be heard and articulated clear and separate each track from each eachother.

The most noticeable mixing techniques used on Gunna’s vocals is the reverb. It is a small room sized reverb with a low-cut. The producers may have likely used popular reverb plugins such as FabFilter Pro R-2 or Valhalla Verb. These are professional plugins which can give off similar effects to the reverb on the vocal achieved in this song. Auto-tune is also quite noticeable in Gunna’s vocal however it’s applied in a way that enhances the melody rather than creating an overly synthetic sound. Also the way that his vocals are EQ’d through the song varies. Although as I mentioned his vocals don’t start until 0:16 in. There are sort of floating ‘ad-libs’ at the beginning of gunna seeming as if speaking through a radio speaker. This is usually achieved by cutting both the high and low end of a vocal whilst boosting the mid range.

The guitar has a notable amount of reverb and delay applied to it, creating a sense of space and atmosphere. These effects make the guitar sound distant and ethereal, blending into the background without becoming overpowering. This treatment enhances the dreamlike, ambient vibe of the track. The guitar tone is also clean, which adds to the calmness and flow of the track, this sound may have been achieved using amp VST effects to recreate a real life amplifier.

The melody lines that are more noticeable in the track are eq’d with cut low end, which gives rooms for the drum kit, such as the 808 – which has a thick and boomy texture, can have space and fill up most the low end of the track. The drums also involve mid range hiatus and claps which adds significantly to the rhythm and flow of the track.