I can't get my beats to sound the way i want em to

J

Joey020

New member
Yes, i am just another producer who going nuts, i've been producing for about 2 years now on FL studio, what a ride it has been. Right noe i've reached a stage where i eanna move on, i wanna expand, not only do i want to make good beats, i want them to sound as clear as possible, i've been told that its impossible to make a studio quality beat if you're not in an actual studio, i couldn't believe it at first but now that im starting to realize that that kick isn't knocking as hard as they would do on one of these commercial trap songs
and the synths aren't as phat. And the bass isn't as.. Well ...present. I know my way around the EQ's and the compressors a bit i know how to mix my tracks and i even invested about €660 on a set of monitors, but to be really honest... It didn't do much and that really striked me. I can tell the difference between my old little speakers and such.. But im still having a hard time getting everything out of these mixes. It is really really really frustrating me because i really have a passion for this music thing, but the theory behind it seems to be so overwhelming. Right now i really am stuck, i have no idea what i should do, i mean i try to get as much info from the internet but i never really get the results i want, all these little shitty tutorials on "hoe to eq bass and kick" don't help for shit and if you want some real info you need to talk money. When i talk about quality mixing and mastering i mean for example "skyfall" by travis scott, when i listen to songs like those and after i put one of my beats on its one big disappointment especially when i export it and listen to it through my earphones, i dont know what to say no more but the bottom line is THIS SHIT IS ****ING DEPRESSING ME AND I NEED ANSWERS, REALLY HOW HATD COULD IT BE TO PRODUCE A HIGH QUALITY TRACK? I appreciate all the info i can get!
 
All part of the learning curve. When you bought your new equipment, did you spend any time and $$ on treating your mixing environment? It's really hard to tell from vague text what your problems might be, but if you can post some examples, I'm sure you will get some helpful (and perhaps not-so-helpful) feedback. One thing for sure though-- if you haven't treated your room and haven't set-up your speakers properly, they're not going to be much help in making your mixes better (which might be where your friends are close, but not completely accurate, with their "only in a professional studio" comments). Are you using reference tunes to mix to? Do you really know what your speakers sound like in your room?

Don't forget that most major label tracks (whether on CD, vinyl, or Mp3) have been mixed by a professional who only does mixes/re-mixes for a living, in a purpose-built room. Then those tracks are sent to a mastering engineer who only masters music for a living, in a purpose-built
room. If you are on a budget (like most of the rest of the world), your task is to emulate what they do to the best of your ability with the best tools you can get your hands on. That takes time, and believe it or not, two years isn't that much time.

GJ
 
Your using the not having a studio as justification for mixing downfalls. When people talk about "studio quality recordings" and not being able to recreate it at homes they are usually talking about live recordings, utilizing all of the studios mics, pre amps, etc... Im assuming you're working all digital...not the studio still has better digital stuff to run your mixes through...but working in a studio will not make your kicks and synths fatter. Thats upto you and your mixing skills.

You need to take time off producing and STUDY the hell out of mixing techniques if you havent yet. Learn everything about mixing. People dont realize how much book study there is involved in mixing. Nothing gives you more confidence than knowing mixing theory. Then you just have to apply it and keep learning as you go..trying to figure it out on the fly is just going to discourage you..go into the work knowing what you need to do. And thats going to take traditional 'paper' research before finding your own mixing style.

You dont need school, you just need to know what they teach in school. You can learn it all online.
 
I always thought of 'learning curve' as an odd expression but there's definitely been peaks and plateaus in my own beatmaking development.
I recently started doing an exercise called 'drop the needle' which has greatly improved my sample chopping and flipping skillset...
But my biggest development this year has been my with drums... Copying my groups, making slight (subtle) edits to the copied groups and then interchanging them with the original patterns...
Sometimes it's not the mix that's at fault but that the arrangement needs subtle changes in order to maintain momentum...

But whether it's the mix or the arrangement; Practice is absolutely key. There will be gamechangers and the will be plateaus... But even during those plateaus you will undoubtedly be making progress (even if you don't realise it)
 
Man, first thing you need to do to get high quality beats, you need to download high quality drum kits. You need to learn how to use effect plugins, like soundgoudizer, and EQ plugings. i recomend you to download a plugin called dada life sausage fattener, it makes your beats sound fat and crisp after you master them. In my case, after I purchased nice speakers, my mastering skills sky rocketed and happy and proud of how my beats are sounding. Practice man.
 
koollord said:
Man, first thing you need to do to get high quality beats, you need to download high quality drum kits. You need to learn how to use effect plugins, like soundgoudizer, and EQ plugings. i recomend you to download a plugin called dada life sausage fattener, it makes your beats sound fat and crisp after you master them. In my case, after I purchased nice speakers, my mastering skills sky rocketed and happy and proud of how my beats are sounding. Practice man.
Click to expand...

man I followed your advice and just got the sausage fattener, this shit is dope!! thank you!
 
I feel like it took me around 5 years to get a good enough understanding of how to mix properly. Mainly cause I was focused on learning the elements of music theory (chords/melody) and also picking a good sound selection (drums/instruments), all while doing very minimal EQ/Compression knob tweaks on the fly.

Doing it everyday while making beats and also from just opening a clean/blank/new project to experiment (I would get lost in, and do this for hours at times and hardly notice the minutes fly by) is probably how I learned how to use the tools and further understand what everything actually does.

Once you you know that much, challenge yourself by sitting and listening to some professional/industry produced songs. Listen to the tracks and analyze what you hear. Where are certain sounds panned to? Are they left? Are they right? Is one louder than the other? Does it sound thinner? Does it sound fatter? Write/type it all down. If you can't identify these terms/traits individually, you're better off starting somewhere like "intro to music production terminology". Do research on the steps you need, understand what you're looking for. Read.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top