Full video available exclusively on mwtm.org/f-therefore-i-am-vocals
A sneak peek from Finneas' 'Inside The Track" series in which he shares some of the vocal production secrets behind Billie Eilish's single "Therefore I Am"
We're thrilled to release our first video series with the multiple Grammy-winning artist, songwriter and producer, Finneas O'Connell! This instalment focuses on the creation of 'Therefore I Am' - the 2020 single by his superstar sister, Billie Eilish. Finneas uncovers how he co-wrote the song, recorded Billie's vocals, produced the record and prepared the stems for mixing by Rob Kinelski. With the multi-track production session open in Logic Pro, he revisits the process of programming drum grooves, layering percussion, forming bass lines and creatively mangling samples. He explains his workflow in detail, such as his philosophy of mixing as he produces, capturing impulsive vocal harmonies and creating a rough master for reference. Furthermore, O'Connell reveals his revered vocal chains and elaborates on the duo's unique chemistry and workflow!
Full video available exclusively on mwtm.org/f-therefore-i-am-vocals
♥
What software does he use?
Billie: sneezes* Finneas: I thought it was cool so I just threw it in the recording
LMAOO bruh ong
Literally ahaha and it works
😂😂
Nothing wrong with that! 😂
honestly thats part of why i like Finneas' production/billie's music/ lots of weird little tidbits/samples that you dont hear in every other song that exists. It's what made Bury a Friend stand out when I first heard it even though I'm not a huge pop fan
He's gotta come out with a reverb plug-in called Finneas and Verb
genius
Yo
Love it!
* *starts a slow clap* *
I hope you get royalties for this comment.
Title: Vocal production Finneas: Continues to explain the entire instrumental. *We liked that*
hahahah true
i looooove when he breaks down billie’s songs. whenever i listen to them after he does this.. i pick up on the tinyyyy background things. it’s dope af.
Me too! Like in bury a friend he talked about that drill sound Billie recorded at the orthodontist and now every time I listen to that song I hear it
@@mackenziezara8168 And the Australian crosswalks in bad guy
dude when youre a producer this is just how you listen to ALL music lmao i cant help but visualize what the session looks like or how someone did something whenever i listen to music now. it becomes a curse because im not even listening to music for the music anymore im listening to try to figure out how they did something 😭😭
@@kyju7093 it'll never be the same ever again (in the best way) 🙂
@@kyju7093 That's what happens when you're a musician. You stop "enjoying" the music, you'll just hear it in a different way
I could watch anything with Finneas. No ego at all. Just honest and simple and humble
YESS
Agreed!
Agreed
there is no human being without ego.
@@akagerhard you know what they mean
"And then Billie had a different idea and it was way better anyway" is about all you need to know about how to be a good producer
💯
he’s so selfless.
@@parker.collective exactly that’s I wanted to comment
@@zionherbert love him
EXACTLY.
2:58 woah even without the music, that sounds so good. I love harmonies
Me too!!!
It's surprising how open-doors he and Billie are about their recording secrets. There wa a time when some producers would kill you if you dared to leak their recordign sessions. Of course, knowing the ingredients of one dish doesn't make you a chef.
Cuz artists today vlog and no one expect the weekend and few other major acts are secretive. Studio session vlogs are common today. It’s not easy to become a producer so you can’t just copy it
@@NR-gp2il I like how secretive the weeknd is, it adds to his artistry
Just getting into her music, but it's pretty obvious that a huge portion of the sound is his. Sibling melding their creativity can create some really cool stuff and as a duo they hit gold. Love this
I think there are the Ying and Yang of each other. One wouldn't be complete with out the other!
@@oeunouch like the Lanisters!
They say themselves that their sound is 50/50.
Finneas solo music is a lot more bland and nondescript to me, so I think Billie must be a big creative and conceptual voice, while finneas has more musical knowledge and ability.
@@scopeworth7781 Yup. He is the producer of some of her songs, after all. Really great duo.
Finneas is very good, but I think he should give Ferb more credits
i am booing and clapping simultaneously
HAHAHHAAHHA
you mean pherb? hahahaha
Ferb was always the quiet one anyway
💀💀
I actually like how many times you say, "We..........." that says a lot about both your creativity and relationship. Its amazing.
It's really impressive to see a sister and brother who revolute the music industry by ignoring them all! Thank you for giving an old man so much hope for the future. Best productions for the last 20 years!
5:25 “and then we added this bass sweep” my phone speaker:
thankful for this comment bc I got so confused
@@carolynchen317 The frequencies are too low for a mobile device to pick up on
@@ludwig.mp3 Mine plays it tho
If I listen closely I can hear it
It literally sounds like a fart
I hope everyone here appreciate how incredibly invaluable is to have one of today's top producers to open up the session of such a succesful hit and just show it all to us. Back in the day aspiring producers would kill and could only dream to have access to information like this. Put it to good use! Is a good time to be producin'.
That’s what I was thinking about !!!!! This is gold
All thanks to the pandemic haha. These videos were around before but even more producers are now streaming since the pandemic started on how they make their tracks like disclosure for example
Dude the notes I was taking on everything in this logic file.....
I know! I was thinking about this too. The merge of celebrity culture with social media is so intertwined now and so publically open, you get access to people's art so much more readily than years before. I remember youtube before all this and some people may look down upon social media but I find it so exciting the possibilities that are opening up for musicians looking for exposure and ways to improve their craft.
@@kickinitwithjess i consider it the bright side of social media. While there is much to critizice it for, these kind of things represent gigantic steps forward on a discipline. Imagine Phil Spector opening up some Beatles sessions, and that information being inmediately available for kids worldwide months after the release of Let It Be. This is unheard of until the present and (Hopefully) it could represent a massive amount of quality music in upcoming years. All is not lost in today's world!
Loved this series! We go hard with Logic Pro, even mix and master in Logic! Love the way Finneas goes in on production in Logic... We're obsessed!
It’s pretty crazy how simple his songs seem but then you start peeling the layers back and they’re endlessssss.
Finneas just gives off this vibe that he's just your average guy who happens to work in audio production (obviously so talented at what he does)
Yeahhh, there's no way I wasn't going to click on this.
So....
Yo mama
@@70mjc wdym?
100%
literally
I could literally sit 24 hours just to listen finneas explaining billie’s production
I think it's the sweetest thing how even he fangirls over Billie
More of finneas pls
he has a full masterclass on his for I think $40
@@tristanstaffordmusic8311 on what and where?
YS PLS
I want one with Ferb
he looks like a british bussiness man who became an artist and hasnt had a shower since las year, i love that
The accuracy 😂😂
Some people are clean and smell nice but just don’t comb their hair in the morning or do their makeup/shave. Looking natural doesn’t = to uncleanliness
@@nextl3v3l99 yas ik! and i love him
A British business man who’s quarantined for the past year and half
@@MikeJones-oe3do lmaooo
if anyone is asking, Program or in Audio terms DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is Logic which is an Apple program and simply is the bigger brother to Garageband. In the Audio industry Pro-Tools is the most complex and main standard but Logic holds its own with what it has and can do. Obiviously many other programs out there with different preferences for everyone like rap, trap or hip hop on FL Studio, EDM on Ableton, Cubase, Presonus Studio One slowly getting popular. I'm a Logic user as well and glad its one of the simpliest being a garageband upgrade but has what you need and one of my favorite producers Kygo is on Logic
Great to hear Billie's vocal takes in acapella, very revealing and beautiful to listen to. Thank you for sharing Finneas!
What a crazy time we're living in. It's amazing how we get to see what's going on under the hood in such great detail.
Can't stop watching his hair
Gay
Gay
Smooth
@@saintg1121 🏳️🌈
SAMEEE
2:59 is angelic
Insane producer. The rawness and fearlessness is so inspiring. I love that they are just double recording the backing vocals in the classic way and hard pan them, instead of using a fancy plugin doing the job. Oh and thanks reminding me of Trilian.
This guy is underrated cmon, he needs more credit!
He’s got 5 Grammys for his work already. I think he’s perfectly rated.
Uh he has been awarded many various awards for his work, i dont think hes that underrated
Exactly. Got the grams
@@jalensera yeah but i think he is talking about his career not producer of Billie
@@riosmicaela7794 his career as a producer. Because that’s what this video is about lol. Fans want him to have a solo career as big as billies. That just won’t happen.
I never understand what he’s talking about but it’s so interesting to see him breakdown how he makes the songs. Everytime he’s just like we thought of this and I’m like how???
When it’s all you do, it’s what you do baby!!
I truly hope you never stop making these videos with Finneas, both he and Billie are so incredibly talented it feels almost illegal to see how they produce their masterpieces. I love it and it gives even more meaning to each song when you get to see what they went through to make it. THANK YOU!
Thank you! The availability of amazing first-hand stuff like this really is a blessing of our day... Still, that cool stuff just wouldn't be there without people sharing it. So thanks again!!
How does that vocal sound so good with just a high pass and a single stock compressor wtf
Neuman TLM
yeahh it’s a very nice mic, and the preamp they used is probably very nice as well. curious what they used
Really good mic technique and voice control is probably a big part of it too
Mic positioning and acoustics.. I know people mentioned specific mics or premaps and all. Not saying those won't help but you can even get away with a USB mic now a days.
With a vocalist as good as Billie you really don't need much.
Gotta love how logic changed one of the track names, which is supposed to be "analog strings" or something to "anal rings". Classy
Best comment I’ve seen in a long time
3:39 lmaooo just saw that
OMG I wouldn't have noticed thanks thanks so much 🤣🤣🤣🤣❤️
lol I was gonna comment on this too
lmao i noticed it too and i was trying to figure out what it stood for
He is very humble and such an inspiration for me as a producer. I like the 'simplicity' of this arrangement, not many elements but working together perfectly.
he is so good at explaining what he does which shows how much he is into it and surrounds himself with it. so cool to see
I think Billie is a real talented singer and can really sing, that's why she doesn't really need a lot of editing on her vocal track.
yep, also their rule. "no pitch correction"
@@molochz may I ask which songs of hers you find boring
@@ulasonal the majority except of lovely
@@isasecret it's ok if you don't like the songs but you know that's a pop song with the most boring and basic chord progression right? you either haven't heard enough of her songs or just don't know very much about music if you think that's her "not boring" song.
@@ulasonal I know few things about music since i produce for quite a while I meant vocal wise she has catchy melodies but nothing that hadn't been heard before as the other people commented most of her songs are monotonous dead whispery quiet slightly melodic like she has taken multiple xanax and recorded the songs it sounds like she doesnt even try to sing while in lovely she certainly sang very well imo it wasnt boring or anything like that hence the success of it
"...which was really appealing to me so I just threw it into the recording". It is so incredible to watch him go through the process. Just these incredibly innocuous things that they so effortlessly put together. It's like watching a world class athlete making something look easy that you think, 'yeah, I could do that' which, of course, you cannot just 'do that' lol
I can
I think everyone is underestimating the amount of talent Finneas got and how much work he puts into his and Billie's music so give this man some respect ❤️
I think both have changed the music world. Both inspire me on a completely different level!
finneas is a fucking genius and i’m soo excited to see how his own music and billie’s music evolves in the future
i need that "go to billie vocal" template so bad
He’d said before that he just puts a Channel EQ and a compressor on it
but you'll also need an expensive mic setup to sing that quiet and turn up the gain so high without noise
@@meriwoo7382 lol youre prolly right but still. Its probably just some comps and eq
Or probably just do your own thing and make it cool, instead of doing a mediocre version of what they already did.
@@meriwoo7382 There are a lot of affordable mics with low self noise. I believe they did that entire first album with a tlm103, which is fairly expensive but not compared to the one they use here, but you could still get a fairly decent mic in the 500 range and pull it off, but she’s probably also singing fairly close to the mic, so you probably wouldn’t even have to turn it up that loud. I commented on here before I actually watched the video and saw he said they did use a 103 on this specific song. I’m an idiot lol
i love how he knows exactly which part was recorded on which day... amazing
This is very helpful for getting better at track production and editing, especially with respct to vocals and layering harmonies. I also like how he goes into the creative thought process rather than pure technical aspects and shows how he blends the two in real-time as he's thinking and their recording. Definitely helped me get better, thanks Finneas!
This guy woke up 5 minutes before shooting this vid. Lol
it’s called bedroom production for a reason 😂
@@roadchord true talk!
hahahaha
He never went to bed
True😂😂🤦🏻♀️
Finneas and Billie is the perfect pair of modern producers. maybe an episode when Billie talk more about her production vision ?
find these so inspiring: not dependent on fancy plug ins and not regurgitating the same pop production as everywhere else. + a genuinely real, nice guy, this is what we need to stay inspired as artists!
Thank you Finneas for sharing that. It will help me and I believe many other musicians with mixing!
all the things you can’t hear when everything is out together but it makes the song better
I can’t get enough watching the magic behind their music, how can a brother and sister duo be so talented lol they’re unstoppable
Man I can listen to this series all day
I love that he mentions the other line having better internal rhyme. Noticing little subtleties that make some lines work better.
God she sings such brilliant parts.
I don’t know who this William Eyelash fellow is, but his hair is fantastic.
@@idk-bt2wt #thatsthejoke
Lmaoooo
thank you for uploading this, it seems so crazy to find it for free
So interesting to hear some of the behind the scenes stuff! You guys make a great team! Keep up the good work!
love watching finneas and billie's production thoughts explained
Finneas is a real one. Billie is amazing too. I'm glad they're humble and they play off of each other. I really do feel that each of them is elevated by the other. Good stuff.
Major vocal stacking. Also, he has very good taste in sound selection for his basses and beats. Well done. Also, seems like a humble guy.
He's such a musical genius. I hope to work with him one day.
I keep giggling at 3:41 track three from the top... I can't unsee it...
i don’t see it
Is that the sabrina clip??
It's so fascinating to watch an artist in his element, just creating and talking about the process. I am obsessed with the two of them and the synergy they have
It amazes me how many layers of sound are there in each song they’ve made.
Finneas is so talented, I CANNOT. The way he produces song is always so smart, it’s always sooo complete, he is AMAZING. And he still always listens what Billie says, he’s humble, he lets his sister do whatever she wants (or almost ig 😂), and the end result is always a freaking masterpiece.
I love how is so chill when he talks and open.. He literally is the best
Absolutely love this, the continual output of informative music production videos by Finneas is amazing, and extremely helpful to other artists trying to produce their own music!
Thank you so much Finneas for showing us the bounce behind it.
Super interesting to see behind the scenes, thanks for sharing Finneas
This guy is inspiring. Great to see people doing it for themselves.
Finneas, you are brilliant, so simple, yet what comes out of your creative process is Magic, love your Tove Lo work--- just awesome watching this! I do voiceovers not music, but your process is inspiring! thanks for sharing your work and not being closed off in discussing your process.
absolutely incredible behind the music. loved this.
listening to the song again after this session is so cool
This episode helps a lot and is pretty informative, thanks again for these!
It's super interesting to see how many layers and components are mixed together to get this song. I have no clue on how to make music but I really get inspirierend for my own work by watching people in their very own profession. So thanks for this great insight.
Her harmonies are incredible
thank you mix with masters for this tutorial video finneas is really an amazing talented person he should get recognised more ❤️🥰
Does anyone know what brand of static electricity Finneas is using on his hair? Would love to get some similar for myself! 😬
I believe it’s the static electricity from his pure musical creativity
this comment made me spit laugh thank you 🤣🤣
It’s called Super Saiyan 🌟
So glad to see such a young music producer on MWTM. Truly motivating and inspiring! Rock on Finneas.
Yeah, I think they know that there is a such a larger producer / wanna-be producer crowd vs. folks that only want to mix / engineer.
So talented. He's so down to earth. So cool too. Respect ✧
I really love him and Billy as people on top of of course as artists/producers
Pretty awesome we can see this and his process.
So cool to see it done on Logic.. not these mixing engineers that spend hours putting everything under the microscope. I’ll never make any $ with music, but I’m obsessed with listening, creating, trying to mix etc. Its beyond addictive.
hey don’t say you’ll never make money, if you keep working at it you def could. Even through something like fiver if you offered cheap mixes, production, stuff like that you could make some money and get better at whatever your doing too! Best of luck to you.
@@Dane537 thanks for your kind words. it's been disappointing more than being rewarding. i walked away from music last year when engineer #5 didn't get it either. getting it to sound how it plays in my head is impossible. $30k of very hard earned dollars has been spent between two cd's. I gave up on the second one. It's exhausting..like a dog chasing its tail. Even if I had good mixes, I wouldn't know where to start to try to make $
@@J1Z06 try to do the engineering yourself or as get as good as you can, that might help with getting the sound that you want. Don’t get discouraged there’s lows and highs in this business
@@J1Z06 come back bro
@@RoodyCall I tried to do it Myself. NG. Ran out of headroom. My goal is to have EVERYTHING audible. There are mixes out there I love. So it can be done. It’s simply an arm and a leg for Me and it’s like walking barefooted uphill on broken glass. Truly.
Favorite producer. Amazing talent
Finneas is probably my current favorite pop music producer. Focuses on the music to groove while being unique and doesn’t try to be extra.
They are such an amazingly talented team. Mind blowing talent. Both of them.
Ah...No! There are so much more talented musicians in the world, they are not grown up in a rich family with art and actors background. and they not got the luck with age of 13 of an A&R manager who breed them to that what they are today. it is not only talent, it is also a lot of luck and meeting the right people at the right place and the right time.
@@svenlorenz9429 they didn’t grow up wealthy. They were homeschooled, which gave them a lot of time to make music, and then when Billie had to stop dancing she started releasing music, and then when it started doing well she got a manager and started A&R sessions etc etc. Don’t try and take any credit away from them, they are undeniable talents.
This is insanely cool. And when he solos bits, I only suddenly realize they were even there in the song! It's magic.
NGL PERFECT WORK. IT'S TOO CLEAN.
He's so freaking cool, genius, grounded, and talented.
I love when Phineas breaks down everything and talks about it I am blind so I obviously can’t see the picture that’s going on the video should say but down his voice and the way he talks about music is the way I feel inside about music and now that I can’t do what he does because of my visual impairment I love how he explains everything and I just sit here in amazement at how things come to him and Billy are used dictation so apologies for any typos when he talks about music like this and breaks down everything and goes through all the beats in the creation of the sounds of the track it is like porn to a blind man!
I'm curious- how did u write it?
Oh- I just realized they can't read my comment ooohh-
@@seez6963 they can read it, theres speech to text keyboard (not blind but i have it on mine) plus u can have ur phine ro read out stuff for u.
@@lithiumberilium1956 omg ty for educating me I never knew about this thing. 😃😮
@@seez6963 hey there sorry for the delayed response I’m still trying to get used to commenting back on KZhead videos. Being a blind person I have an iPhone that allows me to dictate everything and then my phone reads it back to me including surfing the Internet anything you can do on your phone my iPhone reads everything including what’s on the screen instead of just tapping things I have to double tap on things to activate it one touch on something on my phone reads it out he double tap activates what I’m trying to do. So for me to respond I dictate everything and my phone reads out your reply to me. Thank you for asking I do appreciate it. And yes I can answer back. LOL
Incredible TALENT! So fun to watch. Thank you!❤❤
So simple but effective. Good work.
I need a Billie acoustic harmonised song
What a legendary producer. I would love to work with him in the future if I ever got the chance, but I know that may seem unrealistic at this point 💯💯🤝
thanks finneas for sharing your daw techniques!
This is all done on logic!! My mind is blown, I need to start learning more techniques
omg billie's harmonies
Imagine sitting in at one of their session!
This guys a master at what he does and they both make a great team :)
As a producer this is so amazing to see this thank you for sharing!!!