Beatmakers/hip hop producers why do you guys master your beats?

[sswmastering]

Im ranting and venting here and trying to get a little understanding.
Just trying to figure out why you guys out there make attempts at mastering your beats or instrumental tracks???

What happens when the artist cannot pull off a proper mix because you've given them a section of their song that has been sealed off to any further enhancement or editing or obtaining a good balance between vocals and music?

What happens when the artist wants a song that is equal in sound quality to someone who took the time and proper steps of production and you've just prevented them from achieving this because you were only trying to deliver nothing more than a loud beat in hopes somebody would buy it?

What is this thing about a mastered beat? Is the right way of doing things just completely out of style or is there something else going on as to where bad quality is the in thing with Hip hop music?

I have rejected SO MANY hip hop mixes from artists looking to have their music mastered and the reason is because you can hear how they've recorded over a superslammed volume maximized beat that was stripped down to an mp3.

I guess it's ok because Lil Wayne recorded over an mp3 beat that helped his sales reach platinum status. Is that the justification for it?

In my day, well even rarely today, the beatmaker would create the beat, the artist would write to it, have his vocals recorded to the beat, the engineer would mix the pieces together to achieve a good balance and then someone like myself would master it to finalize the process which is the correct way to do it.

Help my old a-s understand what happened and what is going on here in the Hip hop genre because no other genre of music disrupts the process of production like hip hop does.

[exelmuzik]

Im ranting and venting here and trying to get a little understanding.
Just trying to figure out why you guys out there make attempts at mastering your beats or instrumental tracks???

What happens when the artist cannot pull off a proper mix because you've given them a section of their song that has been sealed off to any further enhancement or editing or obtaining a good balance between vocals and music?

What happens when the artist wants a song that is equal in sound quality to someone who took the time and proper steps of production and you've just prevented them from achieving this because you were only trying to deliver nothing more than a loud beat in hopes somebody would buy it?

What is this thing about a mastered beat? Is the right way of doing things just completely out of style or is there something else going on as to where bad quality is the in thing with Hip hop music?

I have rejected SO MANY hip hop mixes from artists looking to have their music mastered and the reason is because you can hear how they've recorded over a superslammed volume maximized beat that was stripped down to an mp3.

I guess it's ok because Lil Wayne recorded over an mp3 beat that helped his sales reach platinum status. Is that the justification for it?

In my day, well even rarely today, the beatmaker would create the beat, the artist would write to it, have his vocals recorded to the beat, the engineer would mix the pieces together to achieve a good balance and then someone like myself would master it to finalize the process which is the correct way to do it.

Help my old a-s understand what happened and what is going on here in the Hip hop genre because no other genre of music disrupts the process of production like hip hop does.

i do master my beats but i make sure that the frequencies where the vocals would lay are brought down to have the vocals blend well into the track.

[J1oNE]

Maybe it's the generation gap but see it this way... As a beatmaker (and these days most beatmakers in general) you're making most of your music on a computer, and maybe a keyboard, sound card... but the essentials.. for me and most of the beatmakers I know anyway... I assume (from your name) that you're a mastering engineer and by your age comment that you've been in the business for a bit so it's probably safe to assume that you have an above decent set up as a mastering engineer.... Mastering stuff is an expense, and as a beatmaker with bare essentials, you're not going to send every single 16 bar loop for mastering.. You gotta know your selling that beat first obviously ye. So the ARTIST should be buying the beat, receiving the session file (or an mp3 and then sending the vocals back to the beatmaker, or you might wanna call him a producer maybe now, w/e) and then when everything's done then, think about mastering and such...

BASICALLY, we (me really, and a lotta other b/makers I know) just throw on a couple compressors/limiters and eq's into the master channel, som fades and throw it online, FOR PRESENTATION PURPOSES... Don't worry we're not hating on mastering engineers, just that mastering engineers SHOULD be the last step so whether or not we're "mastering" our own music, it doesn't matter, so long as the final mix down hasn't been attempted to be mastered...
I hope that calms your curiosity...

Lastly, in general I do agree, it's a much better idea to find an (experienced) mastering engineer to take your final mixes and turn that into a releasable product.

[themixspace]

I'm a mixing engineer and I receive a lot of hip hop mixes where the beat has already been mastered. Sometimes, I can use a side chain compressor to duck the beat when the vocal plays but there has been numerous times where I've refused to mix a track because the beat is mastering terribly. It even worse when they reach -5db RMS!

I understand the reasons behind mastering your own beats for presentation purposes, but why do so many producers send a mastered beat when they make a sale? Even worse, an mastered MP3!

With today's broadband speeds and fibre optic speeds, why do we need to be working with MP3?

I could imagine that a producer could earn more money from their work if they sold .WAV files only. Firstly, it instantly lets the artist know that you care about the quality of your music and secondly, people like myself and sswmastering will be able to do our job properly.

[FCNYJordan]

iMaster With Only An L2 Because iDont Want Clipping On An MP3, Which Most Artists Want If Your Sending Beats. If You Dont Know The Artist That Well On A Business Level You Cant Really Send .WAV's.

[Oh4Re△L?!]

I never master any of my joints for the simple fact that it's not part of my expertise. I'm great at creating my beats and mixing them but I never ATTEMPT to dive into the realms of mastering because it takes a whole different knowledge to be great at it. I think it's a competitive thing though, producers hear other producers sh*t hitting and they want to be on par.. which leads to horrible DIY mastering jobs. I'd rather just have a dope mix that can hold it's own. If I sell a joint.. there's not much the artist needs to do mixing wise, even on a two track recording.

[RedBeerd]

YOu'll find that a majority of the rappers using .mp3s are doing so because they are not spending money on proper product.

They're making "mixtapes", which is just an imaginary justification for using hot beats, without going through proper licensing channels, although, I can Understand the reasoning...shyte's expensive.

They're also spending hours and hours, sifting through online instrumentals, which are free, and in .mp3 format.

And there's a ton of beginner beatmakers who haven't yet Learned that exporting to .mp3 isn't conducive to great, workable product.

Peace.

[J1oNE]

^^^ Oh ye that's another thing.. We're not always in control of where our beats are or who's using them.. For instance I released my beattape (free on band camp) and I googled it sometime later and I found it uploaded on rapid share and all kinds of shit where the tape wasn't even linked to my band camp or sound cloud... They pirated my free shit basically... I think that's what happens a lot to other cats too...

You're just gonna have to stiffen up (no homo) and prepare to explain to every single artist that they can't bring you an mp3 to master... in the same we have to teach artists that you can't just throw their laptop microphone recorded vocals on our beats and expect us to jump up and down, clapping like Jay-Z is asking to put money in our pockets while they get beats for free.... You should be happy that they're actually paying you lol, we fighting to get paid for our own beats..

---------- Post added at 03:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:17 AM ----------

I'm a mixing engineer and I receive a lot of hip hop mixes where the beat has already been mastered. Sometimes, I can use a side chain compressor to duck the beat when the vocal plays but there has been numerous times where I've refused to mix a track because the beat is mastering terribly. It even worse when they reach -5db RMS!

I understand the reasons behind mastering your own beats for presentation purposes, but why do so many producers send a mastered beat when they make a sale? Even worse, an mastered MP3!

With today's broadband speeds and fibre optic speeds, why do we need to be working with MP3?

I could imagine that a producer could earn more money from their work if they sold .WAV files only. Firstly, it instantly lets the artist know that you care about the quality of your music and secondly, people like myself and sswmastering will be able to do our job properly.

No that's wrong... The way I see it, internet access is (generally) really only efficient (cost being a big factor to consider too) in first world western nations... I mean, I live in South Africa and I have to think long and hard before I upload beats lol.. especially because I prefer to post .wav files... which is risky still.. And S.A is pretty much supposed to be heading Africa in this respect coz we have most of the continents biggest service providers and they ripping us the **** off... I can only imagine what the rest of the land has to pay for shitty isp's.. So no.. It's not as simple as it may seem...

[TAGG Productions]

for me personally its just a want to take my music to the next level, i spend counting hours creating the beat, breaking it down mixing it and from there its either pay to have it worked on or do it yourself even if you cant, i agree with what your saying completely tho it does end up hurting sound quality if not used properly

[~X~]

If you need more than a limiter when "mastering" your instrumental for presentation then you're doing it wrong. Have good sound selection and learn to mix better. If you can mix your beats decently then a vocal recorded on top of a mp3 of it won't sound terrible, given the artist has a decent engineer. Just learn to mix better, and everything will be okay.