Making Beats Louder

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D-Funkdafied

Guest
How do I make my end product louder? I always have to turn the computer volume up more than usually... How do I make the outcome louder without messing up the mix, compression or anything.. Need tips on mixing and mastering in REASON !
 
Beats aren't the final step in production. Until the mix including voices is finished, no mastering job must be done.
You have already found the best way to make them louder, turning up the volume knob.
 
Maximizer - you'll probably have to touch up your mix after you add one but its not a big deal. And yes you can perform a mastering a job on a beat before vocals have been added.
 
so you are saying that the professional mastering engineer who posted before you is wrong?
 
Thanks. I use to add a lot of compression but not any more as my beats were sounding squashed... So I will alter the maximisation too
 
Over compression of the beats doesn't help the whole production quality. It's just a good trick for vendors.
 
A proper mixdown is the only way you are going to get a loud master. You can use either a Maximizer or a Brickwall Limiter to get the most out of it. I for myself don't like maximizers tho as you don't know what they are doing exactly. A bl is sorta more controllable
 
^^^Howso as long as no clipping is involved?

Laurend gave the correct answer in the second post, but for the sake or the DIY world we're in now who all need instant gradification, on the master fader use a limiter(for boosting the signal)behind an eq(for taming elements and giving emphasis to frequencies that may be drowned out by the limiter).

The second someone goes to record over that beat, it's gonna go to shyt, so when it's time to record, remove that limiter and EQ, and mix the beat to correspond with all the other elements to a song.
 
I usually does all my mix and master in Reason in one go. By adding a mastering suite then adjusting the presets then adding a final maximiser if necessary... Or do I need to export it and then use a different software to master?
 
You guys do realize for example...if the song peaks at -6db you can turn the master vol up 5.9db without compromising anything, right?

So why is turning up the master gain fader bad advice?
 
one way that I've heard is best.. Is you can mix the beat, them master it in whatever DAW of your choice, but leave space for the possibility of a final master (after vocals are added). So you can master the beat up to probably -4db to -6db... so that way when an artist adds vocals, then the beat would not be as overpowering because there is room to play with. On a side note, if there is a problem with the artist (vocal wise) there is a reason why most producers offer trackouts so that they can have their sound engineer mix the sounds around their vocals.

But yea, this is my method..
 
^^^That doesn't make sense. If you master it to -0.1db, export it and reload it, all you gotta do is turn it back down to -6db using a gain knob. It's still a shytty audio clip to add vocals over. Elements and dynamics are gonna be compromised by the use of a limiter for pumping, you should have it all done once to a finalized song. Not once to a beat, then once again to a finalized song over the beat. You guys are basically saying it sounds better to compress a beat to commercial release "loudness", turn it down and then compress it again. That's alot dumber IMO than using a master gain fader. Lol.
 
unfortunately, Correct me if I'm wrong... Artists like to hear beats mastered.. they don't know that its mastered, but they like a beat sounding loud and full.. Honestly, If you mix the beat correctly and master it correctly, it will sound clean and full.. when the artist applies vocals, honestly it should sit in the middle. The mix by the producer pans all the sounds and what not.. let an artist hear a beat that is not mastered and they say "hey, that beat sounds low, can you turn it up".. if you work with an artist that you personally do work for.. then yes.. you will have the artist record on the beat, then you would mix the sounds around the vocals. But when selling your beats, artists respond better to fuller, louder sounding beats.. loud does not mean distortion.. and does not mean to just boost.. mastering in itself is not just boosting sound.. but thats another post in itself.
 
What you're describing isn't mastering. It's just applying a buss processing on the instrumental section without having any clue to what the voice track looks like. Of course a loud beat is more appealing than a flat one. But I'm sure your clients will thank you if you propose both straight and "mastered" versions. This manner they will have a preview of how the final product will sound without compromising the production quality.
 
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