Trying to record is taking up my beat time...

briskisgoodforu wrote:Yeah I would just say, focus on a single piece of software/hardware to mix on. Learn about frequencies and EQ and how to go about piecing your song together from a frequency standpoint so that the frequencies don't clash and the elements stand out.

This says it all right here. Co-sign 1,000,000 times.

Yeah, i'm about 2 years into making beats and the whole time i've just recorded into the line-in jack of my laptop. I'd rather focus and try to perfect the beat making process & the sounds INSIDE the MPC. I think eventually i will buy an M-Audio to track out and maybe learn Protools one day. But first just make it sound as good as you can while its in the Box.

This beat was made today and recorded straight out of my mixer into my laptop. check it!!

CoinOP! wrote:You guys are not answering his question. No matter how much Youtube video you watch, leave the mastering to the professionals!!!!

knowing how to track out a beat does not equate mastering, also by ur rational u may as well leave beat making and mixing to the experts.

but how does one become an expert? with ur line of thinking one could never become an expert

if you are really having trouble with mixing and mastering, and trying to learn is taking up more time than being productive making music, i would suggest paying someone to do it or even asking someone for a free mix of your beat on an audio engineering forum.

although i think you could probably learn how to track your actual mix out well enough for the mix engineers to have something good enough to work with.

*like someone said, keep your levels hot enough but not clipping, think around -2.5 to 3 db at the peaks.
*be sure to add silence so all files start and end in the same spot, you dont want your mix guy to get a bunch of files that are out of sync with each other.
*send them 24 bit 44.1 .wav files

this should get you started.

In addition, if at any point in your process you are mixing without headphones or recording through a mic, acoustically treating your recording space may help.

I recently finished putting up acoustic tiles in my space and it has noticeably improved my recordings and mixes.

just learn to mix with your sources (headphones/speakers) and forget about "mastering" them. Chances are, and not to sound like a d1ck, but you may not be in a situation where you need your tracks mastered. unless your getting somewhere in this business or getting radio play, just deal with getting the mixes down first. to do this, read up on EQ, proper panning and how to get all sounds to sit right in your mix. get a decent pair of monitors and use those. chances are if you get experienced with mixing and Eq'ing, your mixes will sound pretty legit in most systems. just dont overdo things and dont over complicate things.

when you NEED your music mastered, hire somebody, until you learn yourself.

Yeah I been through that stage, too.

If you wanna focus on the music and still want really good mixes you'll have to find someone who has the equipment and skill to make it happen. You need a team, or you'll have to make sacrifices.

jpeg wrote:

CoinOP! wrote:You guys are not answering his question. No matter how much Youtube video you watch, leave the mastering to the professionals!!!!

knowing how to track out a beat does not equate mastering, also by ur rational u may as well leave beat making and mixing to the experts.

but how does one become an expert? with ur line of thinking one could never become an expert

Why overthink? . Most of us are mixing samples that are already treated. All we have to do is make them work together. Yes. Mixing should be left to the expert. They have the experience, knowledge and treated rooms/studio to get the best result. I bet you can't do jack shit to raw live stems with vocals. If you see expert mixers at work you will be amazed.

something that i was taught was not to master your own stuff, its easy to get caught up fidgeting with little things you think you hear in your mixes during the mastering process, but really all you need is a fresh set of ears!

mastering is also pretty cheap compared to mixing.

+1 million on acoustically treating your room, or at least get a good pair of headphones that you can teach yourself how to mix on.

these audio technica m 50S are really good headphones for mixing on, as good as they come anyway. most people will tell you you need monitors and a good acoustic environment to mix in, but mixing on headphones can be done, and it does happen more than you might think.

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-St ... 432&sr=8-1

if you do look at these, be aware taht there are m-50 and m-50s models, the only difference is the m50 model has a curly cord that is said to weigh a ton, the m-50s has a strait cord just like any other head phone in the world. i own these and they are the best headphones i have ever owned.

i got them for mixing on too actually, or at least doing rough mixes. they seem to be the best headphones for mixes that you can get, i did alot of research before i purchased these bad boys.

i havent done a mix on them yet, but i do believe with enough practice/ learning my headphones i could get good mix results on them.

DONT UNDERESTIMATE WHAT YOU KNOW! you prob know most of what you need. you just need patience and practice. its always good to talk to someone who's knowlegeable in person and learn from them. you might know what an eq is, how to use it, and know that you need to use it, but having the experience to do it right is the hard part. the technical part is easy, the experience of knowing how to apply that knowledge is the hard part....thats where trial and error, learning as you go, and learning from others will help.

if you dont know anyone knowledgeable, find a studio, pay to track out a beat, sit in, watch, learn, soakup, and ask qeustions. rethink your thoughts on what you know based on what you learned from the studio......bet you know more than you thought. if it wasnt worth your time, its still a learning lesson.

Always remember that recording is an art and not a chore.

Its about your experiences and learning from mistakes. Do you think the engineers of the 50's and 60's of all those hit records knew what they were doing? They didn't even have books on the subject then, or even a class. They used their ears and if it sounded right to them and the artist then the song got published on wax. All the books and lessons today are just based on a pro's experience in a studio and has proven to be effective methods.

All I can tell you is know when enough is enough. If you spend too much time mixing then you'll never finish anything. Once you hear the sound is great, leave it alone and get to the next track and adjust until its right to you. This is an art of no right or wrong.

Take breaks between sessions, because your ears will get fatigued. And do alot og A/Bin: when you add a comp and think it sounds better, but what it just did was making it louder.

I been producing since late 2009, almost 2 years coming up here. When I master my stuff, I just want it to sound loud. Basically, there's a couple tips and tricks you can use to strengthen or lower the volume, which is what you would need for a complete master. Frequencies are important here, as they bring out the sounds that you want to be "over" another sound. Also, make sure you look at compression as well, as that's a pretty big part of mastering. All in all, get it how you want it to sound out of the MPC, then drop it into the computer. If that's not enough, then I would suggest using Audacity as a free alternative. Audacity is perfectly fine until you reach the professional level. Although I'm not there yet, I do understand what they want. Basically, get your mixdown right in the MPC, THEN move on to the next thing. If you're going for gold here, which I think you are, then just make sure that it sounds like you. If you don't want to take up about 30-60 min on mastering, let someone else do it.

CoinOP! wrote:Take breaks between sessions, because your ears will get fatigued. And do alot og A/Bin: when you add a comp and think it sounds better, but what it just did was making it louder.

Definately rest your ears. I've noticed this from time to time.......even if im just making beats or listening to music, if i take a day or two off, sometimes ive taken a week off, and come back, you hear a shit load more!

Its part ears fatigue plus like when you make a beat, feelin it, but then play it the next day and it sucks! or vice versa.....same thing with mixing. you need to refresh you perspective and yoru ears.

I also read somewhere that spending to much time on somthing can cause problems too, cause you end up with the 'adding too much' syndrome. I find that true in other things i do (not just music). so keep that in mind.

a goal you can have is to teach yourself how to make mixing descisions quickly and accurately - being decisive. Its not just about knowing what to do, but how to asses the situation, 'trouble shoot' quickly, and make the best choices on that.

I dunno, for me, what improved my mixng the most was when i improved my decision making abilities and my working habits. I actually did this first for making beats.

i tend to go off on tangents, get distracted easily while making beats and not really finishing anything. i setup a few rules for myself that has improved all that. simple rules. like, properly naming samples and tracks. being decisive on the quality of the track and either keeping it or archiving it. after a day, my beats need to already be above an '8 out of 10' for me to even continue working on it (this actually makes mixing easier because im not spending t ime fixing a bad track).

I also have a time table for when i make beats, when i do house cleanup, when i do mixing, etc. so i spend a specific amouint of time on 1 task (more like how you would schedule things at work). etc. This helps me be more deicisive because it puts a value on my time.

point is, you can improve you skills in more than just the technical area. and maybe thats why you feel like its "taking up my beat time", you probly need to also improve your work habits.

you prob feel like you'd rather just make beats. cause the other stuff feels like work. right? the solution is to be organized and decisive!

peace

Cyrus your on point getting organized from the get go.

So i've been cleaning up lately and when I open up a old project I'm sometimes lost and spend way too much time figuring stuff out. Especially when there is alot of automation going on or plugins and samples cannot be found.

btw. My hard rule now is to really focus on one track/finish a track and bounce it.

On the decission making part I'm not there YET when it comes to mixing. I know when it sounds good, but I get distracted playing around with different plugin effects.

I've been testing allot with every single plug I have and barely touched. Reading the manual quickly of some. The past weeks my plugs have been reduced by 70%...... This makes live easier because you instantly know where to go and what you need.