With the release of The ArchAndroid, singer/songwriter Janelle Monáe has accomplished a rare feat in contemporary popular music: creatively fusing a variety of musical genres (including soul, R&B, funk, rock, and classical) into a sound that’s as ambitious as it is accessible. She’s been endorsed by Sean “Diddy” Combs, earned rave reviews from Entertainment Weekly, Urb, Spin, and the Los Angeles Times, and she’s probably the only artist who can collaborate with Saul Williams, Big Boi of OutKast, and Of Montreal singer Kevin Barnes all on the same project.

Full Sail Recording Arts grad/2009 Hall of Fame inductee Phil Tan has worked on top-selling records by artists like Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Ludacris, and Outkast – but the GRAMMY®-winning mix engineer counts his experience working on The ArchAndroid as one of a kind.

Phil worked closely with the Wondaland Art Society (the creative team comprised of Monae and producers/songwriters Nate “Rocket” Wonder, Chuck Lightning, and Roman GianArthur) for over a month while mixing The ArchAndroid.

“They had a very specific vision of how they wanted this record to be. Ideas were pretty free-flowing,” he says. “Even when they thought they were ready to mix, new ideas would come about and we’d debate whether or not we should implement them or leave the songs as they were. And most times, the ideas were just too good to leave out.”

It was a definite change of pace for Phil. “I was a little bit worried in the beginning,” he admits. “I remember thinking, ‘maybe we’re making this record a little too weird. Maybe we should corral these crazy ideas.’ But the process became about just letting things happen. I was over-thinking things. Sometimes, you need to stop listening to yourself.”

Instead, the focus became about listening to one another – and drawing inspiration from the music that had inspired the creative team as they spent over a month perfecting the mix. “Nate would come in and say, ‘Phil, take a listen to this Stevie Wonder song. See how it makes you feel?’ We weren’t concerned about how things sounded so much as we were focused on how music makes you feel,” he says. “We spent a good amount of time discussing philosophies and how we were going to go about making the record. It wasn’t a very cut-and-dry process at all.”

“Tightrope,” the album’s James Brown-soul-inspired first single, sticks out as Phil’s favorite tune from The ArchAndroid. “It was the first song that we went to mix. What’s interesting about that song is that it isn’t necessarily reflective of how the rest of the album sounds. But when you listen to it, it’s obvious why it would be chosen as a single,” he says. “It’s a song that doesn’t really sound like what’s popular on radio and television today. We debated about whether we should make a very commercial mix, do an alternate mix, or just maintain the vision. We did several different mixes, but we ultimately just stuck to the original.

“So much of what we hear today is very manufactured. Most of what I hear on the radio sounds like people made records to sound like other popular records, and then plugged an artist in to do a vocal,” Phil continues. “It’s a formula that works, but it can feel a little cookie-cutter. The ArchAndroid was just about making the best record that we could make. It wasn’t about how many units we could sell, and that’s what really sets Janelle Monáe apart from the rest.”