Vybe Beatz Sound Design, Mixing & Mastering Techniques...

AceMuzik

New member
So I noticed that in order to have hot beats, it's definitely a HUGE combination of things
rather than just being able to create/orchestrate melodies & instruments. It also requires the ability
to design your own sound effects, instruments, mixing & mastering, etc (so many different little/big aspects)..

To me, I noticed that it's easiest to create melodies & arrange instruments that go
well together, but the sound design, mixing & mastering tend to be the most difficult (I think
that most producers agree on this topic). Also, most people haven't been professionally trained.

So I was listening to many of Vybe's beats & noticed that he has a lot going on even though
his melodies sound very simple. He has a lot of sound effects that I'm sure he designed himself
& really clean, crisp sounding mixes. I also noticed that he uses a lot of cutoffs in the measures
of his verses & choruses.

So I guess my question is, after listening to Vybe Beatz mixes & mastering, does anyone here
know how to mix & master with this same quality? I use FL Studio & was trying to get my mixes
as clean as his. I like the low end especially with the punch in his kicks & deep 808 subs.

Here's a video of one of his rnb type of beats (this isn't a deep low end like some of his other songs though):



Listen carefully & try to pay attention to all of the effects, cutoffs, & mixing/mastering he's used
.

---------- Post added at 09:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:31 PM ----------


NOW HERE'S MY MIX/VERSION!!!

Here's a remake that I did to this song, but I added my own unique melodies, drum pattern, etc.
I would like for you all to critic my version as opposed to Vybe Beatz version. No disrespect to Vybe
as I'm just trying to learn how he gets those high-quality mixes & mastering...



WOULD APPRECIATE THE HONEST OPINIONS FAM!!! :4theloveofgod::4theloveofgod::4theloveofgod:
 
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I heard there were a lot of morons on this forum offering shitty sarcastic advice because they don't possess any knowledge...

He replies sarcastically because this question has been asked a million times already...

The answer is simple though - Vybe uses a lot of hard compression on his drum sounds.
As far as mixing melodies - he doesn't really do a lot. I remember him saying 75% of time he just adjusts the volume of certain instruments and barely mixes.
He most definitely hi-passes all of his instruments because his mixes needs space for those big 808s he tends to use most of the time.
Speaking about him using various effects - try using VSTs such as Effectrix or Gross Beat on your tracks.

He also layers his sounds heavily. I remember recording artists to one of Vybe's beat which happened to be tracked out. He had about 4-5 layers of different brasses forming 1 brass melody.

Last but not least - he buys his VSTi instruments so he has more advanced/better sounds (especially that's noticeable with Nexus vsti) than people who don't buy their stuff. And for mixing he uses Waves and default FL VSTs.

Hope i could help.
 
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Ill try and help you as much as i can...
try downloading one of his songs and open it in "edison" or similar program and study the mix by looking at the wave form...you can clearly see what is the loudest in the mix, how does the mix responds when the bassline hits etc. thats pretty much how i learned how to mix :)

btw. the way you mix your beats helps you create your own signature sound ;)
 
He replies sarcastically because this question has been asked a million times already...

The answer is simple though - Vybe uses a lot of hard compression on his drum sounds.
As far as mixing melodies - he doesn't really do a lot. I remember him saying 75% of time he just adjusts the volume of certain instruments and barely mixes.
He most definitely hi-passes all of his instruments because his mixes needs space for those big 808s he tends to use most of the time.
Speaking about him using various effects - try using VSTs such as Effectrix or Gross Beat on your tracks.

He also layers his sounds heavily. I remember recording artists to one of Vybe's beat which happened to be tracked out. He had about 4-5 layers of different brasses forming 1 brass melody.

Last but not least - he buys his VSTi instruments so he has more advanced/better sounds (especially that's noticeable with Nexus vsti) than people who don't buy their stuff. And for mixing he uses Waves and default FL VSTs.

Hope i could help.

Thanks my friend! Now where getting somewhere! It's cool that you know this info & you actually sound like
you have some experience. Thanks again! :)
 
yea your mixing definitely needs help... sounds harsh.. keep practicing mixing and use different methods and eventually shit will click.
 
yea your mixing definitely needs help... sounds harsh.. keep practicing mixing and use different methods and eventually shit will click.

This isn't helpful at all bro. You just come in & leave a negative comment saying "yea your mixing definitely needs help... sounds harsh..", but then you really don't elaborate on what you mean. What "sounds harsh" about it? I don't believe that it's distorted or that anything sounds too muddy.

Also saying "keep practicing mixing and use different methods and eventually shit will click." is common sense that I should keep practicing, but you can practice all you want & never accomplish the right sound without understanding how compression, eq, etc. works.
 
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Mostly whats already been said...Sound design can be hard to grasp at first you gotta really get into your synth and effects...I recently said this in another thread...but dont be afraid to mess with everything in front of you...I watched tons of tutorials and learned how stuff works but my music still wasn't good...With sound design you need to try stuff out first hand.

Amp ASDR envelopes is like one of the first things you should probably get down if you haven't.

Then maybe filters like HP, LP, BP, comb etc...in correlation to cutoff and resonance.

After move on to filter ASDR envelopes. You may find yourself with things like low end sweeps, ramps, rises, falls, wahs.

LFO is another thing that helps for something more unique...Usually there is a way to link/assign stuff to it like pitch, cutoff, pan, for example...then there is like somewhere you adjust the speed "rate" and the loudness "amount"...sometimes they even have a list with waveforms like ~~~~ or /\/\/\ kind of like a preset of automation depending the virtual instrument. LFO can give you a lot of sounds I already mentioned for an ASDR filter, but then there's things like sirens, helicopters, birds lol.

I'm not saying you must do anything in that order it just makes sense to learn the concept of the basic controls when more advanced methods come from basic methods. Also sound design and mixing go hand in hand...You'll never get the sound designed right without some form of mixing when putting it together. I'm not the best at explaining stuff like this so you may get confused somewhere...but its key to experiment...most of the best sounds come from not knowing and experimenting and most people wont regret experimenting when they know how to use what they learned effectively where it should be used.

---------- Post added at 03:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:17 PM ----------

^^^Wrong tab lol but it kind of fits here so ill keep it.

I think either 1 his highs roll off more compared to your mix giving it more of a low mid fullness and more subtle at the top...or two he boosted in his low mid and scooped around 2.50 khz idk i hate to throw out numbers because each song is different. I also think he filters his drums before they get EQ'ed....if they get EQ'ed at all. Its easier to achieve depth with filters than EQ'ing for me at least...then Eq'ing is just adding seasoning.
 
This isn't helpful at all bro. You just come in & leave a negative comment saying "yea your mixing definitely needs help... sounds harsh..", but then you really don't elaborate on what you mean. What "sounds harsh" about it? I don't believe that it's distorted or that anything sounds too muddy.

Also saying "keep practicing mixing and use different methods and eventually shit will click." is common sense that I should keep practicing, but you can practice all you want & never accomplish the right sound without understanding how compression, eq, etc. works.
The brass and that saw synth are clashing a lil. I would hard pan that saw synth. Try to work on sum of the levels. Like the transition snares. Overall, mix didn't sound too bad to me. Just a couple of stuff.....For the vybe track mix I would say eq your instruments and cut off all the low end of in your instruments that don't need it. Compress and eq your drums....Im guessing on what he did, didn't seem like he was doing a lot in his mix...
 
The brass and that saw synth are clashing a lil. I would hard pan that saw synth. Try to work on sum of the levels. Like the transition snares. Overall, mix didn't sound too bad to me. Just a couple of stuff.....For the vybe track mix I would say eq your instruments and cut off all the low end of in your instruments that don't need it. Compress and eq your drums....Im guessing on what he did, didn't seem like he was doing a lot in his mix...


Thanks for your advice caycay! I still really don't understand all of the terminology yet. I really don't understand what "EQ" & why you're telling me to "hard pan the saw synth". Also, what do you mean on the "transition snares"? How do you advise that I go about compressing & eq-ing my drums? Can you give me an example? I use FL Studio, but I'm sure it's all the same concept regardless of what DAW that you use... Thanks again...
 
This isn't helpful at all bro. You just come in & leave a negative comment saying "yea your mixing definitely needs help... sounds harsh..", but then you really don't elaborate on what you mean. What "sounds harsh" about it? I don't believe that it's distorted or that anything sounds too muddy.

Also saying "keep practicing mixing and use different methods and eventually shit will click." is common sense that I should keep practicing, but you can practice all you want & never accomplish the right sound without understanding how compression, eq, etc. works.

you asked for critic.. i critiqued it lol... and that's the best way to get better... use different methods cause obviously what your doing right now is NOT right ... if you do something different.. it MAY work.. don't be stuck where your at.. you should be thanking me for this advice instead of getting butt hurt...

So you have problems understanding compression eq and how it works.. READ THE ****ING STICKY'S BRO ... THEY ARE THERE FOR A REASON SMH
 
Thanks for your advice caycay! I still really don't understand all of the terminology yet. I really don't understand what "EQ" & why you're telling me to "hard pan the saw synth". Also, what do you mean on the "transition snares"? How do you advise that I go about compressing & eq-ing my drums? Can you give me an example? I use FL Studio, but I'm sure it's all the same concept regardless of what DAW that you use... Thanks again...

With compressing drums you have to think about "shape". You can use a compressor and depending on how you set it get exactly the opposite results!

The key to drum compression is the attack and release speeds. Drums are very fast instruments, the attack initial attack is only a few milliseconds, and the decay off the attack is generally not much longer. The sustain of a drum can go a lot longer, but it's rare to hear anything except a long 808 kick that goes more than half a second. So you're operating within a very fast/precise window of time that our ear hears as "shape" rather than timing.

Compressing can either exaggerate the initial attack of a drum (that first pop), or suppress it. Or you can use compression to lengthen the initial decay without effecting the sustain, making the attack "thicker". So the first step is to figure out what you want! My next suggestion would be to then try different things, keeping "shape" in mind, and make mental notes of how the drum changes.
 
Yeah, I asked for honest criticism, NOT for someone to come in & say "your mixing definitely needs help", I'm thinking NO SHIT! "Sounds harsh" & telling someone that their "mixing needs help" is not helpful at all. Maybe if you went into detail as to why you believe this way would have been helpful, but like I said before, you don't know how to elaborate (look up the definition "SwagFoolProductionz") because you still don't get it...

Also, it's not called "butt hurt" you fool, it's called having respect for people & coming into this forum to help each other out, not put each other down. You really didn't come to help because if you did, you would have said in more detail what you think could be better about it, but you didn't. What "sticky's" are you talking about? Im new here & didn't see them yet.....???




you asked for critic.. i critiqued it lol... and that's the best way to get better... use different methods cause obviously what your doing right now is NOT right ... if you do something different.. it MAY work.. don't be stuck where your at.. you should be thanking me for this advice instead of getting butt hurt...

So you have problems understanding compression eq and how it works.. READ THE ****ING STICKY'S BRO ... THEY ARE THERE FOR A REASON SMH
 
Thanks for your advice caycay! I still really don't understand all of the terminology yet. I really don't understand what "EQ" & why you're telling me to "hard pan the saw synth". Also, what do you mean on the "transition snares"? How do you advise that I go about compressing & eq-ing my drums? Can you give me an example? I use FL Studio, but I'm sure it's all the same concept regardless of what DAW that you use... Thanks again...
Weising touched on compression, im saying eq everything so that your instruments have more room to "breathe"...With eq-ing you cut off the frequencies where an instrument shouldn't be in. I use fl too and there's something called fruity parametic eq. Put that on a track...You can do what you want with the synth, it just seems to be in the same frequency as the brass(cant remember what instr you had) and its relatively the same type of sound, So its clashing. And it seems to be the lead so you want to keep the "driving elements" centered" and everything else do what u want, (ie the synth). If you eq-ed the synth a lil more maybe it can sound better all together, but eq suppose to be the last step....The transition snares are the snares you have at the end of I think your 4 or 8 bar pattern. They're just loud in comparison with the rest of the track. I would turn them down....
 
Weising touched on compression, im saying eq everything so that your instruments have more room to "breathe"...With eq-ing you cut off the frequencies where an instrument shouldn't be in. I use fl too and there's something called fruity parametic eq. Put that on a track...You can do what you want with the synth, it just seems to be in the same frequency as the brass(cant remember what instr you had) and its relatively the same type of sound, So its clashing. And it seems to be the lead so you want to keep the "driving elements" centered" and everything else do what u want, (ie the synth). If you eq-ed the synth a lil more maybe it can sound better all together, but eq suppose to be the last step....The transition snares are the snares you have at the end of I think your 4 or 8 bar pattern. They're just loud in comparison with the rest of the track. I would turn them down....


So Caycay, if you are at least a decent mixer (like you seem to be), is it possible that I could send you the FLP & let you make a few small edits to make it sound like the low end on Vybe Beatz? In particular, I like how he has a lot of pop/punch in his kick & his subs have a lot of low end on it. The 808 subs & kick do not collide/crash at all. Can you make a few small edits if I sent you the sounds?

Also, would it be possible to make a tutorial for mixing in FL Studio for the kick & sub & put it on YouTube? I have Camtasia Studio if you need it... Thanks again for the advice that you've given thus far...

---------- Post added at 08:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:36 PM ----------

BTW Gluee, how do you know this information about Vybe's production style & techniques? Did you actually discuss this with him in person
or did you see this in some article or interview? Just curious...



He replies sarcastically because this question has been asked a million times already...

The answer is simple though - Vybe uses a lot of hard compression on his drum sounds.
As far as mixing melodies - he doesn't really do a lot. I remember him saying 75% of time he just adjusts the volume of certain instruments and barely mixes.
He most definitely hi-passes all of his instruments because his mixes needs space for those big 808s he tends to use most of the time.
Speaking about him using various effects - try using VSTs such as Effectrix or Gross Beat on your tracks.

He also layers his sounds heavily. I remember recording artists to one of Vybe's beat which happened to be tracked out. He had about 4-5 layers of different brasses forming 1 brass melody.

Last but not least - he buys his VSTi instruments so he has more advanced/better sounds (especially that's noticeable with Nexus vsti) than people who don't buy their stuff. And for mixing he uses Waves and default FL VSTs.

Hope i could help.
 
So Caycay, if you are at least a decent mixer (like you seem to be), is it possible that I could send you the FLP & let you make a few small edits to make it sound like the low end on Vybe Beatz? In particular, I like how he has a lot of pop/punch in his kick & his subs have a lot of low end on it. The 808 subs & kick do not collide/crash at all. Can you make a few small edits if I sent you the sounds?

Also, would it be possible to make a tutorial for mixing in FL Studio for the kick & sub & put it on YouTube? I have Camtasia Studio if you need it... Thanks again for the advice that you've given thus far...

---------- Post added at 08:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:36 PM ----------

BTW Gluee, how do you know this information about Vybe's production style & techniques? Did you actually discuss this with him in person
or did you see this in some article or interview? Just curious...

I'll tell you even more - I've collabed with him on a couple beats and i talk to him pretty often
 
So Caycay, if you are at least a decent mixer (like you seem to be), is it possible that I could send you the FLP & let you make a few small edits to make it sound like the low end on Vybe Beatz? In particular, I like how he has a lot of pop/punch in his kick & his subs have a lot of low end on it. The 808 subs & kick do not collide/crash at all. Can you make a few small edits if I sent you the sounds?

Also, would it be possible to make a tutorial for mixing in FL Studio for the kick & sub & put it on YouTube? I have Camtasia Studio if you need it... Thanks again for the advice that you've given thus far...
You can look up some of the stuff I mentioned on youtube, I've partially learned how to mix and produce through youtube. There's hundreds of tutorials, and most of them should apply to the mix that vybe uses, because he doesn't seem to be doing anything special to his mix....If you still have problems with getting that punch in your kick, I would maybe try a transient shaper to boost the initial attack, without making the sound louder. Compression and eq are good, but they are more of a "dull" way of doing it, they get very close to getting more punch, but the transient shaper gets much closer....
 
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How about in this beat, what do you think he's doing in his kick & sub? :

MP3 Player SoundClick


I noticed his kick sounds more like a low knocking sound rather than real poppy or punchy like some of his other beats.
Also, I like the effect that he has on his bass as it slides out at the end of each measure. It's like a quick glide/slide effect
he has on it. Also, his snare stands out with a nice knock as well. This is a simple beat, but his has nice sound design effects,
mixing & mastering done on it...
 
How about in this beat, what do you think he's doing in his kick & sub? :

MP3 Player SoundClick


I noticed his kick sounds more like a low knocking sound rather than real poppy or punchy like some of his other beats.
Also, I like the effect that he has on his bass as it slides out at the end of each measure. It's like a quick glide/slide effect
he has on it. Also, his snare stands out with a nice knock as well. This is a simple beat, but his has nice sound design effects,
mixing & mastering done on it...
Exact same snare and kicks are in one of his drum kits. I think the second one
 
Im not sure how he got that knocking sound, but to me it sounds like a really fast release and mabye a little low reverb.

If you want really clean, crisp sounding mixes, the most important thing is that each sound has its own area to play. And that starts before the mix with picking sounds that are not going to clash. Then you need to eq everything into its own space and boost them in there most prominent frequency. But dont boost too much, i only boost up to 3 db on most sounds.

In fl studios parametric eq 2, right click on the first point and click high pass filter, then on the last point do low pass filter, and take out the frequencies that are not needed. I do this with every channel, then make a whole separate eq for boosting.

Like SwagProductionz said check out the stickys, they have a LOT of good info that with help. Good luck man, dont give up, once you get through the learning, frustrating as hell stage, and get all the basics down you can really start making the kind of music you want to make.
 
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