 The Way I See It was engineered by Saadiq, Gerry Brown, James Tanksley, and Brungardt, who mixed the album with Saadiq. Saadiq and Brungardt both liked to layer multiple instruments and, prior to recording, had contemplated techniques such as sampling and drum programming. However, they ultimately found live instrumentalists more dynamic and challenged themselves to reproduce older music productions and the Motown aesthetic of the 1960s. To familiarize themselves with vintage recording techniques, they studied Mark Lewisohn's 1988 book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, books about Motown Records, and images of the label's studio personnel, setup of instruments, and microphone placement. They also studied Motown EQs to achieve a tone they found adequate for songs' rhythm guitar parts. Saadiq said that he had to disregard "about 85 to 90 percent of the new techniques ... People used to take recording very seriously. They used to wear lab coats at Abbey Road. So I got serious with what I was trying to do, both mentally and physically." Brungardt said in an interview for Mix that he abandoned the approach learned on previous records he had engineered, where "they wanted it clean with no distortion. I was taught to make sure it was polish, polish, polish, and to make sure everything fits right, the bass hits and things are clean for the big pop vocal."
