Mega-producer and west coast hip-hop icon Dr. Dre recently revealed the secrets of his impeccable sonic quality on his 1999 release, 2001, to Young Guru on William “Fuzzy” West and Quincy Harris’ FAQ Podcast.

While discussing how Dr. Dre’s attention to detail in mixing his sophomore effort, Young Guru was given the opportunity to talk to Dre via FaceTime after Fuzzy called the legendary producer.

Dre told Jay-Z‘s long-time engineer, “That particular record, I was really going bass-heavy with it, but trying to keep the mids and the tops right. But still trying to make sure it sounded, like, some gritty shit. You know what it is trying to get that balance, he said before adding, “A lot of times, at least back then, I was mixing the vocals a little bit too loud because it’s a little trick you learn along the way, once you get into mastering if you want to add bass to your shit the vocals come down. So I would always mix the vocals just a little bit loud, that way you can add bass and the vocals would still sit on top of it comfortably.”