Getting Beats mastered before selling them?

P

Peter Pan

New member
I've been making beats for a year now, I'm at the stage where I want to offer my beats up for sell....My mix game is fairly good but was wondering do I have to master the tracks before I shop/submit my beats to artist(local/online)?

I understand the buyer will most likely get the track mastered him/herself but I really dont know the answer to this...As they say, "no question is a dum question"..........

basically, should I leave Compression,Limiters and all mastering tools alone and just focus on Vol, Panning, EQing and FX?

Thanks
 
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Mastering before the recording phase is a waste of money and time.
 
Just assuming you'll be selling your beats to people and giving them the entire session tracked out?

If you were to 'master' your beats, you would be sending the ME all your songs in stereo tracks or possibly stems ,to level and blend together to sound like one cohesive collection. He'd give give you them back as stereo tracks. So it might be a good idea if you're trying to make a good impression to a major A&R. Loudness tends to be intitially percieved to the ear as better, without being blaring. But you wouldn't even be using the mastered version for anything accept the A&R's ears and passing it to artists to listen. So unless your extremely confident your goiing to get a major placement, It's gonna be a big waste of money on your part.
 
I advise you get something like Izotope Ozone and just put that on to give your beats a little more selling power. That way you can give out the un ozoned version or stems on request.

Off topic... Random police helicopter flying over my neighborhood and keeping me awake :(
 
Great advise the artist is going to change SOMETHING about the track after the fact and u can't do that without remastering the song.
 
It doesn't make sense. When you sell the beat to any artist the beat will be tracked out and rearranged according to how the artist wants to use the beat. Mastering is to be done as the final stage of the complete song.
 
get a dope mix on your tracks and youll be good, no need for mastering, make sure the drums knock and all the instruments have its own space, making the beat feel big and youll b good

ya dig
 
deanlofts said:
I advise you get something like Izotope Ozone and just put that on to give your beats a little more selling power. That way you can give out the un ozoned version or stems on request.

Off topic... Random police helicopter flying over my neighborhood and keeping me awake :(
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Yeah, this.

"Masterize" it. They have an idea what the potential for the finished product will be when they put their vocal to it, and have it actually mastered.
 
Although it's not necessarily the best practice as far as the quality of the end product is concerned, the reality is that if you want to be competitive at all shopping beats they must be solid mixes and be "mastered". I put that it quotes because most hip-hop people have twisted ideas of what mastering is. In realilty, you should have a hot mix, then slap a limiter on it (the 'mastering' part) and call it a day. There is no way on earth you are going to compete with me and all the other bozos if your beats aren't at the same volume as commercial CDs. You don't need to go crazy making them louder than everyone else, just in the same ballpark.

As for what happens when you sell a beat... Generally speaking, if it's a major label artist, or a smart unsigned/indie artist, they will also pay for the tracked out beat. however, nobody doing a mixtape (even major label artists) are going to bother with tracked out beats. As well, a lot of cash-strapped artists (even indies) will often just roll with the 2track. Sometimes for cash reasons, sometimes out of stupidity. In these cases the limiting and 2buss compression with hurt the end product, but whatchagondo? You'd be suprised how many major label projects are just vox on a 2track because the producer can't find the files, so they just roll with it anyway.

Last, you must understand that when a major label artist likes your beat, they are going to track over it. Once they like what they've done, THEN they will buy the track from you. So if it doesn't sound good as a 2track, then it's an uphill battle. If you need mastering to make your 2track sound 'better', then do it (although that's a BAD situation to be in!). But regardless, you do kind of need to put a limiter on it for volume just for shopping purposes.
 
I agree with this... its not like you have to PAY to do some serious mastering like: exciters, multiband compression, stereo wideners, etc.

Just slap a limiter on there and make it comparable to what's already out there.

We always do this before sending it to anyone.
 
make a version with the l3 maximizer on it then when they actually want the beat give them the normal one without the maximizer also if they want it trackedd out you would need to take off all the effects
 
I think it is good to get your beat mixed and mastered if you are constantly selling your work. You want to show your client great stuff.

However(in response to the above posts), keep in mind that once your beat is purchased, your client will most likely want the session so that whoever they're paying to mix the final product can do his job too.

I just want to use this time to rant about how many sessions I get with just a 2-track instrumental and a few vocal tracks to mix. I HATE IT SO MUCH IT MAKES ME WANT TO BURN THE HARD DRIVE ALIVE WITH THE FILES ON IT TO EXORCISE THE IDIOCRACY FROM MY COMPUTER! Ok..I feel better.
 
chris carter said:
Although it's not necessarily the best practice as far as the quality of the end product is concerned, the reality is that if you want to be competitive at all shopping beats they must be solid mixes and be "mastered". I put that it quotes because most hip-hop people have twisted ideas of what mastering is. In realilty, you should have a hot mix, then slap a limiter on it (the 'mastering' part) and call it a day. There is no way on earth you are going to compete with me and all the other bozos if your beats aren't at the same volume as commercial CDs. You don't need to go crazy making them louder than everyone else, just in the same ballpark.

As for what happens when you sell a beat... Generally speaking, if it's a major label artist, or a smart unsigned/indie artist, they will also pay for the tracked out beat. however, nobody doing a mixtape (even major label artists) are going to bother with tracked out beats. As well, a lot of cash-strapped artists (even indies) will often just roll with the 2track. Sometimes for cash reasons, sometimes out of stupidity. In these cases the limiting and 2buss compression with hurt the end product, but whatchagondo? You'd be suprised how many major label projects are just vox on a 2track because the producer can't find the files, so they just roll with it anyway.

Last, you must understand that when a major label artist likes your beat, they are going to track over it. Once they like what they've done, THEN they will buy the track from you. So if it doesn't sound good as a 2track, then it's an uphill battle. If you need mastering to make your 2track sound 'better', then do it (although that's a BAD situation to be in!). But regardless, you do kind of need to put a limiter on it for volume just for shopping purposes.
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U are totally wrong...

"But regardless, you do kind of need to put a limiter on it for volume just for shopping purposes"

aha and how will rapper record and mix vocals properly on 2 track when u (with limiter) didn't left him no headroom for it?

"You'd be suprised how many major label projects are just vox on a 2track because the producer can't find the files, so they just roll with it anyway."

Yeah thats true but they had "unmastered" beat with enough headroom.
Other whey how would they master track when u already have limiter on? Limit it again? lol i mean cmon.

Not just u shouldn't master it u shouldn't have any compression on master channel also.

Read my f.a.q.
hqmastering. net/F.A.Q..html (bout compression (btw limiter is compressor also)

Also -3db headroom is needed how will u "make" -3db headroom when u record vocals over it and already limit beat to -0 or 0.1 ?

U need mastering for "show" tho. But when u sell it (2 track) u should send mastered and unmastered version.
If mc knows whats hes doing hell record on unmastered version. If not he will record on mastered and then send it to mastering where hell be rejected and he will record on "right" version after all
 
Macky2003 said:
U are totally wrong...

"But regardless, you do kind of need to put a limiter on it for volume just for shopping purposes"

aha and how will rapper record and mix vocals properly on 2 track when u (with limiter) didn't left him no headroom for it?

"You'd be suprised how many major label projects are just vox on a 2track because the producer can't find the files, so they just roll with it anyway."

Yeah thats true but they had "unmastered" beat with enough headroom.
Other whey how would they master track when u already have limiter on? Limit it again? lol i mean cmon.

Not just u shouldn't master it u shouldn't have any compression on master channel also.

Read my f.a.q.
hqmastering. net/F.A.Q..html (bout compression (btw limiter is compressor also)

Also -3db headroom is needed how will u "make" -3db headroom when u record vocals over it and already limit beat to -0 or 0.1 ?

U need mastering for "show" tho. But when u sell it (2 track) u should send mastered and unmastered version.
If mc knows whats hes doing hell record on unmastered version. If not he will record on mastered and then send it to mastering where hell be rejected and he will record on "right" version after all
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Hahahahha. Wait for it.....

You're trying to 'preach' to a well seasoned engineer with probably more board time under his belt then you. Not picking a fight, you just come off pretty arrogant without even knowing who you're quoting, or even the comprehending the point he's making...(btw a limiter is a compressor also.) Good comeback
 
Not to mention I'm sure he has had more top 10 songs on the bill board charts then him.

My opinion. Go ahead and do some DIY mastering for beats you hand out or are sending to people/labels, But any SERIOUS artist will ask for the stems anyways so its no biggie. :cheers:
 
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