Mixing/Mastering beats for presentation!

S

StanleySteamer

New member
Hey guys, I have a few beats done and I am really looking for some tips and what not on how to mix/master a sample based hip-hop beat so I can showcase it on my sound cloud and send it to artists to hear and see if they like. I have been stuck on this mixing phase for a while and I could use any advice given lol. Basically just how to get a nice clean mix on my beat and master so it will be as loud as it possible so people can really hear my stuff. Feedback always appreciate

Edit: My setup is Maschine2/Pro Tools. I make my patterns in maschine 2 and export them to pro tools using new drag and drop tool. So I lay out/sequence/arrange in Pro Tools as well as mix, just in case my setup pertains to this question somehow.
 
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1) Learn what you are trying to do. If you've been stuck learning to mix for "a while" and still aren't doing a decent job, then keep at it. What you are doing right now is asking someone for a shortcut. Mixing is an art. NOBODY is good at it right away. NOBODY.

2) You do not know how to mix; DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT MASTERING. Get that thought out of your head.

3) Even when you eventually gain a modicum of decency at mixing, have money set aside to pay a proper mastering professional.

4) Mastering is NOT about making tracks loud, much less "as loud as possible".

5) https://www.futureproducers.com/forums/production-techniques/getting-started/ This site is full of great advice. You are a beginner. Begin.
 
hey thanks for the response. I used to mix and master for my sound cloud to a certain degree on fl studio back when I used it but those just came out weak tbh lol. I will definitely take your advice and read the article. But do you think it would be better for me to just stay a beat maker and focus on the beats and keep all my tracks raw and have an engineer mix them one day? O
 
very well said RedBeerd.

Today's day and age I believe a producer/mix engineer roles have cross contaminated. Mixing is half the fun of getting an awesome beat. However mastering is not even in the same ballpark of mixing.

A good master engineer enjoys the challenge of making audio sound as good as possible. NOT as "loud as possible". If you're music needs to be loud, it means it's not good. Keep working on production, learn to mix as you produce. Every track you will get a little better each time. Music engineer isn't for the impatient. It takes years to even have good enough years to attempt mastering.
 
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it means that if you are using loudness as a measure of quality you have missed the point and need to go back to basics....
 
well guys i got my beat mixed down pretty well. i spent all week since this post really going in and researching a lot about mixing and eqs and compressors and other things. I would like to say I feel like I have a pretty good mix. Now I'm just curious about where to begin mastering in pro tools 11. I want to make the beat loud and clear(and yes i know loud is not always better lol) so I can put it on sound cloud and people will really be blown away. I'm sure this won't be a professional engineer mix as I hear them say all the time producers stop mastering your tracks(unless you just want to present them on sound cloud or something like I do.) Any tips or advice on where i can start and what not to get a good clear master?
 
The reason you don't want to master is that if an artist decides he likes it, he might want to drop a verse or two to get an idea of how the final product will sound before purchasing the stems. The mastering process locks the track and makes it very hard to eq or mix anything into.

That being said, you want to remain competitive as he or she will be comparing your track to dozens of others (who have done it wrong).

For this reason I prefer to use a limiter as more like a normalizer, only having it apply 1 or less dB of gain reduction at certain points. This for me is the perfect balance between workability of the track and human perception.
 
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out of interest what are the rough costs of having your track mastered and are you garenteed to be happy with it?

ive had a play around with Izotope advanced 5 which seems to be a popular choice but like said mastering is a whole different ball game, some decent tutorials on Izotope on the net to see whats involved
 
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