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Luca Pretolesi

How To Make Your Hip Hop Mix Sound Bigger

13 min

Remember when Luca Pretolesi worked on Drake's album "Honestly Nevermind"? That was one of our proudest moments, and now we're diving back in to revamp the pre-master for "Jimmy Cooks" feat. 21 Savage. Originally cooked up in Studio I on a hybrid system with analog gear, we're taking on the challenge to rebuild this masterpiece entirely in the box in Studio M. Pushing the boundaries and bringing you a sound experience like never before!

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How to Make Your Hip Hop Mix Sound Bigger
Luca Pretolesi

How To Make Your Hip Hop Mix Sound Bigger

13 min

Remember when Luca Pretolesi worked on Drake's album "Honestly Nevermind"? That was one of our proudest moments, and now we're diving back in to revamp the pre-master for "Jimmy Cooks" feat. 21 Savage. Originally cooked up in Studio I on a hybrid system with analog gear, we're taking on the challenge to rebuild this masterpiece entirely in the box in Studio M. Pushing the boundaries and bringing you a sound experience like never before!

About

Luca Pretolesi

Luca Pretolesi

Luca Pretolesi is a world-renowned mixing and mastering engineer with a wealth of professional experience and a reputation as one of the best in the industry. With multiple Grammy nominations and wins, as well as Platinum, Diamond, Billboard, and Golden Melody awards, he has mixed and mastered some of the most streamed songs of all time. He is also the founder and creator of Studio DMI, a state-of-the-art facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. Luca has worked with top artists such as Drake, Skrillex, Diplo, Chiquis, Major Lazer, Alan Walker, Dillon Francis, David Guetta, J Balvin, and many more. Luca’s Grammy nominations include Chiquis “Abeja Reina” for Best Regional Mexican Music Album, Diplo “Diplo” for Best Dance/Electronic Album, Diplo & Miguel “Don’t Forget My Love” for Best Dance/Electronic Single, J Balvin & Willy William’s “Mi Gente” for Record of the Year, Steve Aoki’s “Wonderland” for Best Dance Album, Snoop Lion’s “Reincarnation” for Best Reggae Album.

Related videos

45 min

Step inside Studio I, where the Mixing and Mastering magic truly comes to life! Luca Pretolesi will be showcasing the Bettermaker Master Limiter 2.0. He will explore its new features, elevating the game in terms of quality, functionality and control within your DAW. Joining Luca on this journey is none other than Maro from Bettermaker, the visionary and creator behind this hardware. Let’s get ready to dive into the next level of audio mastery!

Luca Pretolesi is taking it old school with one of the oldest techniques in the book with a modern twist: gluing compression on your stereo bus. Watch him showcase this using SSL Compressor for that perfect polished sound!

16 min

Explore the power of mastering with just one plugin as Luca Pretolesi showcases the versatility and efficiency of Ozone 11 by iZotope. Using Artsy Moods track to highlight its comprehensive suite of features to fine-tune your tracks and ensure optimal sound quality, so that whether you're in the studio or on the go, you can test your master with ease!

Luca Pretolesi

Studio I Tour

11 min

Take a tour of Luca Pretolesi’s personal mixing and mastering console in Studio I at Studio DMI Las Vegas. Learn about how he mixes and masters artists like Drake, Diplo, Major Lazer, Skrillex, and more in this complete guide to analog gear, signal flow, and hybrid setup techniques. This exclusive look into his workspace will help you better understand the tools used to mix and master 11x Grammy Nominated hit songs and more.

21 min

Introducing Magic Flow, a collaboration between Josh Gudwin, Acustica Audio and Studio DMI, developed by Francesco Pellegrini. Sit down with 11x Grammy nominated Engineer Luca Pretolesi as he dives into “Need Your Love” by Silk City and Ellie Goulding while showcasing some of the plugin's most exciting features. From resizing the plugin to the stereo bus, dynamic EQ, preamp, and vocal processing, this plugin takes your sound to a whole new level. Don't miss out on this game-changing tool for your mixes!

18 min

In this course, 3x Grammy Mixing & Mastering Legend Luca Pretolesi teaches you how to use SpaceControl. SpaceControl is a stereo width plugin by Hardwell, Luca Pretolesi & Studio DMI, and Acustica Audio. This plugin tutorial by Luca Pretolesi shows the multiband width features that make this plugin great for mixing and mastering EDM.

In this course, Reid Stefan teaches you how to use SpaceControl. SpaceControl is a stereo width plugin by Hardwell, Luca Pretolesi & Studio DMI, and Acustica Audio. This plugin tutorial by shows the multiband width features that make this plugin great for mixing and mastering EDM.

Learn how to restore lost punch, clarity, and depth in your mixes by regaining dynamics and separation from an over-compressed master using Ozone 12. This course walks you through practical techniques and tools to breathe life back into flattened tracks, improve transient detail, and rebuild musical balance for a more open sounding master.

9 min

This course shows you how to use Spacecontrol Pro 2 to make your synths sound wider, bigger, and more immersive, covering practical settings, creative techniques, and mix-ready workflows.

This course introduces Luca Pretolesi original technique of mid-range compression, a method he developed to enhance presence and clarity in your mix. The technique focuses on compressing the mid-range frequencies to achieve greater definition, ensuring that important elements in a mix stand out without sounding overly harsh. Since its inception, this approach has been widely embraced by other engineers, with several online videos and discussions further exploring the concept and its applications. The course provides a detailed breakdown of how this technique works and how it can be used to improve your mixes.