I want to make a mixtape. (Quality I need?)

Drange

Drange

Artist
Hello everyone, I am working on a mixtape that I plan to release soon for free. However, I have a question regarding how much money I should put into the quality of the mixtape.

This is my microphone I use:

Blue Microphones | Snowball - The World's First Professional USB Mic

I do not have a pop-filter, but will invest in one if it's recommended for mixtape quality. I have had thoughts about renting a studio, even though I have never been in one before. I'm envious of artists that get to spend days in studios for free. Hopefully after creating a buzz with this mixtape I can get a studio interested in me, I have some really good lyrical content.

My DAW of choice is ableton live. I plan to get instrumentals from already popular songs and producers.

I do not know much about mixing/mastering, but this is what I do know.
  • Add reverb to vocals
  • Compress vocals
  • Equalize THE WHOLE TRACK.
  • Make sure the db never exceeds 0.
  • Make sure singing is on key using Melodyne and correct pitches and pitch drift. (I'd like to learn more advanced vocal editing techniques. Also, how do I tell which key an established song is in?
OPTIONS

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Here are my options, please recommend a path for me in which you think i'd get the best results.

A) Record vocals at home. (With / without pop filter / upgrade to a better mic? / Buy a pre-amp?). Master everything at home (or have/pay someone on future producers).

B) Record vocals at home. (With / without pop filter / upgrade to a better mic? / Buy a pre-amp?). Pay to get all tracks mastered at guitar center for near ~$200. (Does anyone know how intricately they master vocals?)

C) Record vocals at studio (Does the studio offer mastering for free? I could use some insight as to how studios work as well). Master everything at home (or have/pay someone on future producers).

D) Record vocals at studio. Pay to get all tracks mastered at guitar center for near ~$200.


As usual, all advice is appreciated. Thank you in advance!


 
Go out all guns blazing, doesn't matter if it's a mixtape, use good mics that have GOOD quality. Trust me, if it's shit quality then noone will like what you have to offer.
 
you can do it all yourself honestly. I've never used a USB Mic personally but what is your budget? And if you're going to be doing the mixing/mastering what are you doing all of that on? Do you have monitors already? Since you aren't rapping on "tracked out" beats I would think it would be quite pointless to spend money on letting anyone else record, mix and master it.
 
Yes guitar center does do mixing and mastering...at least the one in my city does. I'd like to do it all myself, with maybe some help with mixing / mastering. But besides that, maybe I should look into building a home studio? Is my mic capable of producing commercially viable sound? Or should I invest in a better mic?
 
I would focus on getting a pretty good mic. Nothing ridiculous and read up on info to get your vocals sounding good. Vocal booth, acoustic treatments. Nobody wants to listen to music that doesn't "sound" good.
 
As a few others have suggested, I might skip paying to have tracks for a mixtape mastered; particularly at that price. I've actually heard a lot of great recordings from USB mics- keeping in mind that you should pay careful mind to recording room treatment and that will be (as ch0p suggested) the first thing that gets to everyone's ears. I'd be glad to help with the key of the tracks if you'd like to email/message me a list of what you're thinking you'll use. Bottom line- with a mixtape, you're perfectly capable of spending very little for a very big result.
 
There's theoretically nothing wrong with USB mics, it's just that they're usually in the cheap end of things and you'll have to understand that the price includes not only the mic, but also a mic preamp and a/d converters - which is to say that the already low price includes all these things, and you can't really upgrade any of them, nor use the mic with other preamps or interfaces. So if any of the parts in the USB setup sucks, there's nothing you can do about it.
 
A, buy a pop filter (should be 10-30 dollars) - don't know about ableton as a DAW, i use cubase. - enough mixing and mastering tutorial videos on youtube that you good enough quality - make sure your mic setup is standing somewhere near a wall and perhaps cover that wall off with empty egg boxes (isolation)

it's a mixtape, great quality can be achieved with shit budget. trust me.
 
Alright. So I'm working with my blue yeti mic, I will probably go buy a pop-filter next monday if I don't end up making one myself. I feel like I don't have a good place to set up a home recording studio, but of course, I shall try my best.

The hardest part about all of this is mixing and mastering. I'm looking up tutorials for ableton / melodyne, perhaps someone can give me some tips when it comes to mixing / mastering? (Do I need to mix / master more than just vocals? Perhaps eq and compression on the entire track?)

Also when I master, do I edit in melodyne and THEN add effects? Or go through noise gate, eq, compression, delay, and reverb, and then use melodyne?
 
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eugen1cz said:
and perhaps cover that wall off with empty egg boxes (isolation)
Click to expand...

That doesn't work and will just make your room look tacky .. there are ways to make your own acoustic treatment for cheap, but I'd just go buy some Auralex treatment.

---------- Post added at 12:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:57 AM ----------

And honestly, if you have the money to pay someone to mix and master (I had no idea Guitar Center did it .. that's pretty cool) you might as well just invest into your own little spot, then you'll be able to record as many mixtapes you want ... the first couple will probably be shitty due to lack of not knowing how to record, but the more you read on it and the better you get at recording and mixing you'll find yourself glad you invested in your own shit .. that's what I'd do if I were you at least.
 
I would like to attempt a more "do it yourself approach" and see how far that gets me before I invest in someone else's editing.

If I got a dry recording of one of my songs, could anyone skype me and teamview and show me how to take it from a dry recording(s) to a finished track? You could give me advice like, "Re-record this part of the song. Make another vocal track, but this time whisper." etc. I'm really looking for a mixing / mastering mentor.

Perhaps we could go through and master my song together with ableton and melodyne? I would be willing to pay a bit for this if you were good at this task.

And if you're great at mixing and mastering and making the track sound complete from dry vocal(s) and an instrumental, then I would certainly return to you for other songs on my mixtape.
 
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I don't have my iMac yet, or I'd just mix it down for you .. but that would defeat the purpose of "do it yourself" ... the only thing I could say is just trial and error man... just get out and record the hell outta stuff, and read as much as you can.. there are a lot of useful threads in the "Recording & Mixing" part of this site .. read all of the stickied threads .. they'll help you.
 
Cleo said:
Go out all guns blazing, doesn't matter if it's a mixtape, use good mics that have GOOD quality. Trust me, if it's shit quality then noone will like what you have to offer.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, if he's aiming for a high production value, he can aim for a high production value, but as long as the sound he ends up with isn't harsh, distorted or a pain to listen to, then he'll be fine at this stage.

Low-fi is a genre in and of itself that's been wildly popular, some of the greatest tapes ever made have been recorded entirely through portable tape recorders, without a decent external microphone at all, that should be enough proof for anybody that low fidelity sound is still absolutely acceptable from a musical standpoint and can be made use of, if his stuff is truly good, it'll produce it's own qualities.
 
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Alright guys, let's say I made a song for my mixtape and the song was done to a pre-made instrumental. I wrote lyrics to the instrumental and then recorded it.
Obviously, you can see that I paid no attention to the:
1. Chord progressions of the instrumental
2. The key of the instrumental.

Are these things I should pay attention to in order to make a song "worthy" or "commercially viable?"
Should I go into melodyne and correct my vocal pitches to the same key as the song?

Any feedback regarding making a song to a pre-made instrumental would be incredibly helpful. Thank you in advance everyone.
 
Honestly, you don't need to get it mastered in my opinion. It's just a mixtape after all and I'm assuming you don't have rights to the beats. Mastering it would be a waste of money. Instead I would invest in a different software to record and mix instead of ableton. Try pro tools or logic. I mainly use ableton only for sequencing(putting tracks together). But everything else is a must: pop guard, I'm not sure what a blue microphone is, but I would invest in a condenser mic that uses xlr cables instead of connecting through usb, get a mic pre, some studio monitors for mixing, and you should be good to go. Oh yea and some good headphones as well. I personally have some audio-technicas. Thats all you really need to have a simple home studio. As far as mixing goes, that's as much of an art form as the music itself. You gotta figure that out on your own and find your mixing style. I could share more of my knowledge in mixing. Just let me know what you wanna know. Also if you need some stuff mixed shoot me a message. I'll be happy to mix it for you for free. As far as making a song to a beat you should know how to sing or rap to it. You don't gotta put it to a key unless you're using autotune. But if you are interested in notes, I would suggest reading up on music theory.
 
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I have read up on music theory, but I feel acquiring this new knowledge actually hampers my music making ability. Back before I learned theory I listened to the beat, then just made words to it, and I was just going with what sounds good. Now with theory I worry about notes, rhythm, melody, key, chords, etc. Anyways, I'm getting more back into my roots and am attempting to put out a mixtape soon. I am actually working on a song on it TONIGHT.

I shall get a pop guard and invest in a better microphone if I must. How much would a "mixtape worthy" pre-amp and studio monitors for mixing cost? I'm familiar with the price of microphones only. However, even though I'm lacking a pre-amp and studio monitors, I am going to release a mixtape even if some of these aren't attainable at the moment.

I'm certainly down to LEARN mixing and I have some ideas of how to do it already. Some knowledge that I have (Which may be of mixing or mastering) is using eq and compression on the tracks. Would I put those effects on my individual vocal tracks, the beat track (The beat will be all in one track if it's not my beat), or should I do it on the entire song? Or...?
After doing that and adding effects, what more would I need to do? That's about as far as I am in mixing. And I'm not even proficient at using eq or compression. Although I do think I could get through it.

Is ableton not efficient enough to produce my songs on? Is reaper any good?

Thank you for answering me DroSoCalifornia619. ^^


EDIT:
I began using reaper and am loving it. c:
EXCEPT, when I hear my audio played back to me as I have the track armed it sounds distorted, any idea why?
It records fine, and it plays back fine as well, it's only when these two actions are done together...?

So far I have my instrumental track inside of my reaper DAW.
I also have another track that I have armed and ready to record my vocals. I have adjusted the input levels so that I do not hit the ceilings with my waveforms (or have them too small)
I also applied noise gate to the point where if I don't speak the microphone doesn't capture anything.

Now then, once I record my track what effects should I use on my vocal tracks? Reverb, delay, eq, compression? Is there an order that I should put effects in? Should compression / eq be applied once to the entire song (master fx), every track, or...? Like for instance I know that my chorus may have different reverb or effects, etc. than my chorus, i'm not too dumb. v.v
 
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I agree and disagree with you on the music theory thing. it really depends on what you are trying to do. if you want to sing, play an instrument, or produce then it is handy to know music theory, but generally rappers dont need to know music theory in my opinion rappers need to focus more on delivery and lyrics.

as for the equipment i would do my research. check out a couple sights and google those equipments. go on musician's friend or guitar center's website. read up on it and get to know these equipment and what they do and the purpose of them because you will be working with them alot. i use a fasttrack and an mbox as my mic pres. occasionally i like to hook a tube mic pre to give vocals a warmth depending on the circumstances. mbox is typically used with pro tools and fasttracks and tube pres work with almost if not all daw. and when it comes to mixing...quality headphones and monitors are a must. if your music doesnt sound good. it wont matter how good you are if nobody could hear it. it will just downplay your whole project. also a quality mic would help. an akg mic is not hard on the pockets and are prettey decent. also i wouls really consider a better daw. i strongly recommend pro tools or logic. and theres the performer. all of these are factors into making quality sound and/or music. remember good singer/rapper/performer + good equipment + good acoutics + good mix = good sound as i was told if i remember it correctly.

as far as daw goes...im not too familiar with reaper. i never actually used or even heard of that daw. i started off using cool edit way way back in the day and from there graduated to using pro tools. i use ableton mainly for sequencing, live sound, diogital mpc, etc. never actually used it to record or mix. but if you like send me a song through my email ill mix it down for you and you compare the difference. hopefully this helped. do research and teach yourself. i prolly didnt answer all you questions but let me know if theres anything else youd like to know. and again this is just my perspective. other producers on here might have a different opinion.
 
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