The Warning 'Money'

David Bendeth has been making records that break records since 1977. He is the producer behind rock megastars like Paramore, Beartooth, All Time Low, Breaking Benjamin, Red Jump Suit Apparatus, and a first call for projects as large as Elvis’30 #1s. 

Enter, The Warning. In 2014 (at ages 9 and 14), the Villarreal Vélez sisters started making waves in the independent rock scene by releasing their cover of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. The video went viral on YouTube and gained the attention of Metallica themselves. After creating their first full-length in 2017 and touring with bands like The Killers, the band signed with Lava Records in 2020, who recruited first-call rock producer/magician David Bendeth to help craft their first major label release. 

In this Puremix exclusive, David takes you to the incredible lakefront studio, where he has helped create countless hits and loads up the original session for “The Warning.” From the recall process to printing the final mix, David explains the process behind every move on the giant SSL console, his signature outboard gear, and the Pro Tools session.

See how David Bendeth:

- Recalls an analog session with a massive arsenal of outboard gear

- Explains the entire story of the recording, from preproduction to the final mixing sessions

- Stays fresh throughout a long mixing session

- Explains his approach to room mic techniques

- Discusses the bass guitar setup

- Explains how they achieved a massive sound while tuned to 440 and when he chooses alternate tunings

- Breaks down his approach to doubling guitars

- Explains when he uses his outboard vocal stressor in parallel to accentuate individual words and detail on the lead vocal

- Deconstructs each of his effect returns and workflow for automating effects throughout the track

- Discusses why he didn’t use stereo bus compression on this track

- Talks about the importance of changing the vocal mic for the background vocals versus the lead vocals

- Gives the story of how they played the verse guitar part backward and then reversed it to add dimension to verse 2

- Mixes the song from scratch and explains every automation move

Watch David Bendeth, mix “Money” from The Warning. Only on pureMix.net