Eminem’s longtime engineer and producer Mike Strange has described PMC monitors as ‘a friend that’s way too honest’ after a pair of PMC6-2 monitors saved the day during the creation of Eminem’s latest album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)
During the album’s final mixing sessions in Eminem’s Detroit studio, Mike Strange, Tony Compana, and Eminem realised that things weren’t quite sounding right. Mixes that were fine in the studio didn’t translate when they were played elsewhere.
“Certain things just sounded… off,” Mike explains, “so we called Tony Terrebonne, who’s helped many artists get their playback systems figured out. He came in and was like, ‘Dude, your room is really messed up.’ A lot of components had gone bad over the years, things were out of phase, all kinds of issues.”
With the album due shortly, they had to figure out something fast. An artist of Eminem’s calibre leaves no room for half measures – after all, the man has worldwide record sales of over 220 million and is the best-selling rapper of all time, as well as one of the best-selling artists ever.
Luckily, Mike Strange had an idea. Years before, Mike collaborated on several Dolby Atmos mixes with Grammy-nominated recording engineer and Atmos expert Nick Rives. The pair met in a studio Nick knew well—a PMC-equipped Atmos room in Berry Hill, Nashville—and began listening to Mick’s tracks.
“First, we played back a stereo track on the PMC6-2s. I was like… ‘Oh my gosh, the vocals sound amazing.’ I pulled up some old mixes and was hearing stuff for the first time that I might have mixed differently. I mean some of these tracks are twenty years old, but you know what I mean.”
The impact of hearing his tracks through PMC monitors stayed with Mike, and when Tony Terrebonne said the monitoring system in the studio had to be replaced, he thought back on that moment.
Maurice Patist
“I connected with Maurice Patist [President of PMC USA and head of Pro Global at PMC] and told him what was going on,” he says. “Maurice flew out on a red eye and helped us set everything up. We got the album mixed and delivered just in time for the release.”
The monitors installed in Eminem’s studio are a pair of PMC6-2s with XBD subs, which Maurice was able to ship out quickly from PMC USA’s Los Angeles office. At first Mike wasn’t sure about installing subs but after listening to them in the studio, he was so taken with the whole system that he decided the subs could stay.
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is Eminem’s 12th studio album and the 11th to reach the top of the charts. The production team included Dem Jointz, Fredwreck Cubeartz, Cole Bennett, DJ Premier and frequent collaborators Dr. Dre and Luis Resto. It also features collaborations with White Gold, Sly Pyper, Bizarre, JID, Ez Mil, Skylar Grey, Big Sean, Moe Men-E, BabyTron and Jelly Roll.
Of course, Slim Shady is Eminem’s alter ego, who first appeared in songs like My Name Is (1999) and The Real Slim Shady (2000). At the time, Time magazine described Eminem’s provocative bleached-haired persona as a ‘nightmare projection’ and ‘raging fantasy id’.
Dr. Dre revealed that this new album was on its way in March on Jimmy Kimmel Live! In April, he shared a short video that asked the question, “Who killed Slim Shady?” and listed possible suspects. The pre-release promotion also included a fake obituary for Slim Shady and a cryptic post on Eminem’s social media pages with fans expressing their concerns and theories about the star’s potential retirement.
Those concerns were proved unfounded when the album launched in July and immediately went to No.1 in countries worldwide, including the US, the UK, Australia, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand.
PMC’s role in sorting out the sound of those initial mixes can’t be underestimated, and Mike Strange is delighted that a solution was so easy to find.
“I’m not one of those people that has a set way of achieving a sound. I just listen and start tweaking stuff until it sounds ‘right’ to me,” he explains. “I always start with vocals. They’re the headliner of the show; they’re the thing the people are here to see. I know the sound I’m going for in my head and I start working until it sounds right. So it’s extremely important to me that I can trust the tools I’m working on. With the PMCs I know what I’m hearing is what the audience will be hearing. They’re like your friend that’s way too honest sometimes. They’re not gonna flatter you; they’re going to give you the facts.”
The Death of Slim Shady is available on all platforms through Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.
View the PMC6-2 and PMC6-2 XBD