Help me out please

Joey020

New member
Yes, i am just another producer who going nuts, i've been producing for about 2 years now on FL studio, what a ride it has been. Right noe i've reached a stage where i eanna move on, i wanna expand, not only do i want to make good beats, i want them to sound as clear as possible, i've been told that its impossible to make a studio quality beat if you're not in an actual studio, i couldn't believe it at first but now that im starting to realize that that kick isn't knocking as hard as they would do on one of these commercial trap songs
and the synths aren't as phat. And the bass isn't as.. Well ...present. I know my way around the EQ's and the compressors a bit i know how to mix my tracks and i even invested about €660 on a set of monitors, but to be really honest... It didn't do much and that really striked me. I can tell the difference between my old little speakers and such.. But im still having a hard time getting everything out of these mixes. It is really really really frustrating me because i really have a passion for this music thing, but the theory behind it seems to be so overwhelming. Right now i really am stuck, i have no idea what i should do, i mean i try to get as much info from the internet but i never really get the results i want, all these little shitty tutorials on "hoe to eq bass and kick" don't help for shit and if you want some real info you need to talk money. When i talk about quality mixing and mastering i mean for example "skyfall" by travis scott, when i listen to songs like those and after i put one of my beats on its one big disappointment especially when i export it and listen to it through my earphones, i dont know what to say no more but the bottom line is THIS SHIT IS ****ING DEPRESSING ME AND I NEED ANSWERS, REALLY HOW HATD COULD IT BE TO PRODUCE A HIGH QUALITY TRACK? I appreciate all the info i can get!
 
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Joey,

The first thing I will tell you from 14 years of experimenting with this whole music thing is that you must come to the understanding that you will never know everything. The possibilities from the techniques and theories out there can definitely feel, as you said in your post, "overwhelming." We've all been there trust me. Whoever told you that you cannot make a "studio quality" beat unless you're in an actual studio was quite mistaken. The gear is not what's important, it's the user my friend. However, good flat monitors are definitely recommended.

There are many stages/decisions that takes an idea from someone's head and transforms it into something you would hear on the radio. First it's the idea which is usually a drum beat or a melody that just comes out of nowhere. After that it's the recording/arranging process as in "How do I want my song structure to be? Do I want an intro, a verse, a chorus, then another verse, then a middle 8, then a double chorus, and finally an outtro?" This is just an example, I would encourage you to review some videos on song structure for whatever genre of music you're creating. Also, do not forget that what makes great sounds are great instruments. I definitely understand the concept of money so no pressure, but if you're serious about making great music but your library is garbage, you're swimming against the current.

This point is where many bedroom producers stop. They never learn about mixing because it feels foreign, and strange. I'm guilty of it myself, I REFUSE to learn synthesis. Not because it wouldn't be beneficial for me to learn it, but because it feels foreign, and strange. And being a Native Instruments user, just the presets alone have been enough to keep me busy. Understand though, that an unmixed track will NEVER sound good. Hopefully you've at least heard of the concept of masking/clashing frequencies. This is a very real problem that can only be handled in the mixing process. The human ear can hear from roughly 20hz to 22k hz. This is the sonic space you have to fit ALL OF THOSE INSTRUMENTS you've got. Somewhere in there, something's got to give.

Unfortunately I can't give you much information about mastering. I don't do it personally, as it's a completely separate process in and of itself.

I have a homework assignment for you if you're truly stuck and want to learn something new...learn as much as you can about the following concepts.

- Choosing instruments (knowing how to tell if instruments will clash by where they sit in the frequency spectrum) if you don't like the one in FL Studio, check out (Blue Cat's FreqAnalyst Pro - Real Time Spectrum Analyzer and Audio to MIDI AU, RTAS, DX and VST Plug-in)

- Pitch correction (if you're ever recording vocals pitch correction can be as subtle as fixing one word in a recording or as drastic as the infamous "T-Pain" effect)

- Quantization (pretty basic, but EVERY producer should have this concept mastered)

- Groove (using the groove from a drum loop and applying it across each instrument to make them more cohesive)

- Printing to audio (yes, your system resources matter and the more instrument tracks you have playing at the same time, the more processing power is required)

- Fades/crossfades (learn how and when to use them, these will eliminate unwanted clicks and pops in the beginnings and endings of your printed audio clips)

- Time stretching (if you're ever trying to do a remix of something and don't have the original BPM, this can come in handy)

- Metering (Learn exactly what those pretty bars mean. Learn the difference between pre-post fader metering. Learn WHY digital recording doesn't allow clipping; this is a difference between digital and analog tape recording)

- Gain staging (Adjusting the levels of your tracks individually before you even start to mix will give you a rough balance of where you're trying to go. The goal is first no clipping, after that clarity of each channel. You have to be able to hear each element of the mix clearly)

- Insert vs send effects (Understand the difference between the two)

- EQ (frequency sweeping, hi-pass filter, low pass filter)

- Compression (learn how to use a compressor first, but after that I'd check out parallel compression as well) P.S. your drums will thank you

- Reverb (Understand that many times "less is more")

- Distortion (same principle as reverb, soft distortion can completely change the sonic texture of a track if it's boring)

- Tuning Drums (especially the kick drum, tuning the kick drum to the root note of your music i.e. the first note you play can help the kick sit better in the mix)

These are just a few tips and things to learn. Hope this has been helpful, and keep at it!

~Schoe
 
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