When Yáng Tan moved to the US from Guangzhou, China, in 2014, she wanted to learn the secrets to producing the greatest records. And after a stint at SAE in Los Angeles, she worked as a runner at Paramount Recording Studios. She quickly worked her way up and was able to apply her background in orchestral music to mixing vocals for artists like Kanye West, J. Cole, and Kid Cudi.
Born into an artistic family, she had a peculiar upbringing for an Asian kid. Her parents were visual artists and expected her to do the same.
“I actually wanted to do biochem when I was in middle school, but my mom wouldn’t let me which is backward for Asian parents. They wanted me to be an industrial designer, designing for cars or products. But I fell in love with music. I listened to tons of records.”
Before she had stable internet at home, her weekends were spent at the marketplace, digging through stacks of illegally imported CDs from the US. There was a secret language to gaining access to these coveted audio escapes. “The stores have hidden codes. You have to know someone or know the code to see the CDs.”
With few reference points for American music, she followed her gut (and the most captivating cover art) to make her selections. And that’s how she first fell in love with the psychedelic rock of Pink Floyd. She admits that her first find spoiled her and set the tone for her musical taste.
“I listened to a lot of records that are not very mainstream. I didn’t listen to pop music until I worked in the industry. I had a stereotype in my head about pop music. I thought pop music was dumb. But I was also young and rebellious. So, I wanted to listen to the things no one listened to. Which was great because it opened up a lot of worlds to me.”
Rummaging through stacks of CDs spurred a love affair with music that led her away from the path her parents envisioned for her. And after a study abroad program in France was cut short due to a family emergency, she saw an opportunity in a gap year. Unfulfilled with visual art, she started taking music classes in secret.
“My parents didn’t know. I had to teach English to make the money to pay for my music teachers,” she explains. “In China, if you want to change [your] major to music, you have to be able to sight read, you have to know how to play piano, and you have to also choose one more instrument or sing. So, I did opera singing. I was eventually accepted by a music conservatory, and a university with a music and technology program. I chose to go to the University in Beijing.”
With a move of over 1000 miles to the North of China looming, it was impossible to keep her music education a secret any longer. Tan says that her mother didn’t speak to her for months.
Despite breaking from her parent’s visual arts background, she still seems to have some of it mingling within her musical DNA. She chose mixing when deciding what her focus should be because “Mixing makes sense to me. When I hear sounds, I can see colors. That’s how I remember keys. Different keys to me have different colors. So, when I listen to a client’s music, I paint a picture in my head before I mix it. And then as I mix, I try to match that image… I definitely think my background in arts training is helpful for making music. Developing aesthetic, taste, and the ability to make you feel something.”
This innate understanding of how slices of audio fit together is at the core of her work. In China, her work was complex. She worked with the Chinese National Orchestra. And while those years of training were pivotal for her, learning to trust her intuition was one of the biggest lessons she learned when she moved to the United States.
“It was a big aha moment when I realized that a lot of producers were making hit records and didn’t know any music theory. They don’t even know what key they’re producing in. But they have great taste. They have a vision and can put things together that are marvelous.”
Learning to let go of the rules has allowed her to adopt a process in the studio that, while seemingly counterintuitive, ultimately yields her the best results.
“I don’t always start with drums,” she laughs. “I have a very weird way of working. I love doing vocals first. I usually monitor at the same level, so I know exactly how loud I’m mixing. I’ll put the vocal exactly where I want it to sit, especially if I’m mixing an EP with different songs. I try to let the vocal to be the guide for how loud the record should be.”
She explains that starting with vocals lets her connect with the emotional weight of the project. Of course, she lets her clients help guide the conversation, but what’s made her such a sought-after engineer is her ability to create texture, enhance emotions, and understand the qualities that make each record unique.
Working in some of the industry’s most pristine studio environments has helped. And when she can, she prefers to work on an SSL board. She explains, “The image sounds wider for some reason. I don’t know if it’s psychological. And the EQ on an SSL is so much easier to work with. When I cut or boost, I don’t get the artifacts that I’m trying to avoid. So I can go very aggressive on the SSL EQ versus when I use the Pro-Q 3.”
However, she reveals that working on a professional console is not always a forgone conclusion, even for someone who has worked on platinum projects. And 90% of the time, she works in the box, and when she does, she’s perfected a process that includes Output Frontier Studio Monitors. Designed and engineered by Barefoot Sound, Frontier monitors have the flat response and wide dynamic range she needs to achieve that perfect mixdown.
“I have the Frontier speakers and I love them. I’ve been using them to produce music because the high end is very crispy and bright. They get me very excited to make music.”
As we continue to discuss her process, it becomes clear that even when working with top-tier names, all creatives struggle with similar roadblocks like knowing when a project is done.
“I don’t always know. That’s the struggle for all creatives, right? I can work on a painting for weeks or for months, and still call it unfinished. I try to fix all the issues all at once. And I don’t overthink it.”
Test Heading
It’s also not lost on her the tremendous opportunities she’s been offered in her career. And when we ask where she feels like she can best be an advocate, she says that supporting other women in the industry is of paramount importance.
I can work on a painting for weeks or for months, and still call it unfinished.
Yáng tan
“As a woman in the industry, we get less opportunities, especially when we’re starting out. When I started out, very few people gave me trust with their projects. I am very grateful for everyone who helped me in my path and gave me the biggest opportunities…We don’t get equal opportunity to get trained and get the knowledge. I want other women to know that there are a lot more spots for us. When we help each other out and pass knowledge over we are stronger. I want to be the person who can help create space and let other women know there is more out there.”