Pro Tools Engineer talks about how he has to start using FL Studio more and more in the industry.
Dacota G has mixed for Donald Glover, Diplo, and more, and holds a Grammy for “This Is America.” He’s a lifelong Pro Tools engineer. So when FL Studio sessions started landing in his inbox, it broke his brain a little.
In this episode we get into why FL Studio feels like total chaos to someone coming from Pro Tools, how Dakota preserves an artist’s original vision instead of stripping plugins, the Gopher automation trick for applying stock plugins across multiple tracks, and his come-up story from interning at a top Atlanta studio to engineering for Usher three months into the job. We also get into the wild “This Is America” studio stories, a session gone very wrong with a deleted feature verse, and the real difference between a recording engineer and a mix engineer.
Dacota G: https://www.instagram.com/dacotag/?hl=en
John Phelps: http://itsjohnphelps.com
Larry Ohh: http://instagram.com/larryohh
Must Have Producer Tools: https://yahelpme.com
IG: http://instagram.com/LarryOhh
0:00 “FL is a very complicated DAW to learn”
0:17 Welcome to the show, meet Dakota G — Grammy on “This Is America,” Gambino & Diplo credits
1:13 Sessions coming in as FL Studio files, and the Gopher automation trick for bulk-applying plugins
3:09 Why Dakota preserves plugins instead of stripping the session
4:14 FL Studio’s routing and channel rack confusion — “this is chaos right now”
5:48 Other producers who still use Reason — Ko and Ilmind
6:49 Why learn a new DAW if FL already does everything
7:50 Pro Tools hotkey speed, customizable shortcuts, and the stream deck setup
9:01 Real-time plugins and instant printing in Pro Tools
9:58 The FL vs. Pro Tools side-by-side speed challenge idea
10:46 Inside the “This Is America” sessions with Donald Glover
12:13 The Jamaica sessions, meeting Jasper Cameron, and Parhelion vs. Silent Sound
13:50 Needing a college degree just to get in the room
14:24 Miles Walker mentorship over TeamViewer, then meeting Ralph
15:51 Five-star hotel level client service standards
16:32 The call that changed everything — engineering for Usher
17:48 Why communication matters as much as technical skill
18:34 The real career ladder — intern to mix engineer, and what he misunderstood about it
20:06 The Rick Rubin “taste” story and why speed is everything live
23:00 The deleted session, data recovery scramble, and the feature that never came out
24:17 Wrap-up, part two teaser, where to find Dakota G
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