SOS (Rihanna Song) - Production and Mixing

Production and Mixing

The background vocals in the song were compressed using a compressor program called Waves Renaissance Compressor, which was used in order to create an enhanced polished effect. In an interview with Sound on Sound, mixing engineer Phil Tan, who carried out the audio mixing on "SOS", explained that he compressed the background vocals because "SOS" is a "high energy track", and he wanted the vocals to complement it. Tan also noted that the background vocals were pitch shifted to increase tonal quality and create an enhanced effect during the chorus. The pitch shifting consisted of making the left vocals flat and the right vocals sharp, with varying degrees of delay, and later mixing them together. When asked about the production of the lead vocals, Tan explained that "'SOS' Is a pounding type of song, and the lyrics are a cry for help, so the vocals need to be 'in your face', almost aggressive," and said that he wanted the vocals to remain constant. As with the background vocals, the lead vocals were compressed using the Waves Renaissance Compressor. Tan continued to note that the lack of reverb included on "SOS" was largely due to the fact that being an uptempo song, there was not a lot of room left to add anything else. Tan explained the production process of sampling "Tainted Love", as well as the changes which were made:

This song uses a stereo two-bar loop from Soft Cell's song 'Tainted Love' as its basis. JR played the additional parts with a combination of soft and hardware synths. There were probably 30 to 40 tracks in total. JR tends to give you Sessions that have a clear direction: there's not much guesswork. I didn't change or add much, just a bass drum and taking out the loop a couple of times for additional breaks. There was never any doubt that it was going to be a clubby song, so it had to be very immediate and hard-hitting.