 Ocean and Malay mixed Channel Orange at Studio for the Talented & Gifted , and engineer Spike Stent mixed parts of the album at The Mix Suite in Los Angeles . It was mastered by Vlado Meller at Masterdisk in New York City . Malay said that he and Ocean focused on sonic " intricacies " such as interludes and skits on tracks when mixing the album , which he referred to as their " art project " . Ocean said that he admires " the anonymity that directors can have about their films " and explained his use of interludes on the album , saying that " the work is the work . The work is not me ... Even though it 's my voice , I 'm a storyteller . " According to Malay , Kanye West helped Ocean during the album 's final stages by providing " a mentorship situation " and connecting him with his " visual people " . Malay recalled in an interview for Complex how he and Ocean were " somewhat oblivious to how quickly everything happened " as they were finishing the album , as Ocean 's name was " continuing to get bigger and bigger . " To downplay himself from being " the focal point " of the album , Ocean did not want his name on the cover and had Everest , his Bernese Mountain Dog , credited as the executive producer instead . 
