the "this isn't mixed/mastered" excuse

A lot of great stuff in this thread!

I have a few things to add and some of them could be a repeat :shrug:

I know you've heard it a million times but it's true... "less is more".

Mix engineering skills are important, yes.. What it comes down to is this...


1) Choose, sample, or create high quality interesting sounds and you won't need very many to make the track sound good.

2) You only have so much audible frequency range available. Any two or more sounds occupying the same frequency range are going to fight to be heard.

When you decide that your track needs another sound, think about what space you have left, what frequencies are not occupied. If they are all occupied, don't add another sound, improve the ones that are already there, or exchange them for a new one if you don't like it.

a good quote (I can't remember by who)

"I would not give a fig for simplicity this side of complexity, but I'd give my life for simplicity on the other side of complexity"


The idea is that you create something complex and then you simplify it as much as possible without loosing the feeling, groove, or idea. An example would be that you have a melody with a bunch of notes playing almost constantly. Remove notes from the sequence a little here and there and keep doing it as much as possible until it's a very simple thing that still conveys the same emotion and idea. It's simplicity on the other side of complexity.

If you do this and some very basic audio engineering then you're tracks will sound huge, full, clear, dynamic, and loud

Cheers,
~Airyck~

I work with live bands at my day job. The best sounding bands allow me as a live mix engineer to simply correct the audio for the room. Bands with good guitarists and key players understand that they can't be occupying the same frequencies. Listen to a modern song, and you'll hear for example the keys occupying the mid/low mid range, and the lead guitar occupying the high mid range frequency. Often, they will switch roles for the chorus....but they are always trying to fill the entire frequency spectrum. If I don't have a good source signal or good performer, no amount of EQ and effects will make it sound good if every guitar/keyboard is playing in the same frequency range. People will get turned down in this instance and then the song sounds hollow. Same principle goes for mixing recordings(as stated above). Do you want your kick or bass to occupy the low low end around 60hz? Make the other sit on top at 100-120hz. Make your other instruments fill the rest of the spectrum in the sample and rest on the side of the stereo image. This allows the vocals to be up front and present in the middle of the mix. I am still learning....I am just a beginner, but the more you think of it as making the pieces fit together, the easier it is to get a mix that sounds full and robust.

If you have mastering software like Izotope, setup your limiter first and then mess with mid/side EQ. Usually doing a 200hz roll off on the side EQ of -1 db will create a V for the stereo image. Mess with the middle eq to bring out the bass and snare(usually a tight Q curve with +.5dB). Your kick, snare, and bass will sit in the middle, and the other frequencies on the sides will "V" up allowing you to further EQ a place in the beat for the vocals to sit. The track is a V, and the vocals are a "O" that can rest inside of that V. This way you get a full sounding mix but can distinguish what's going on in every aspect. This probably made NO sense, but checkout some videos on mid/side EQ and you will understand what I am trying to say. I used to just two track my beats out....but how can you get better at mixing if you never mix? I make myself try to mix every beat now. I learn something from every session. Sometimes it doesn't turn out how I'd like, but I learn what to do next time in the recording/sample selection stages to help me with a better sounding mix. Just because you mix doesn't mean you can't still sound grimy!!

I guess that's a delicate topic. However I know a lot of people (some personally too) which use reaaally minimal equipment (mpc, microkorg, krk, honest mixing board, eq, compressor and condenser mic, preamp and that's really it), and mix and master themselves without any experience, just by ear and experimenting. A lot of time beats are made just with mpc's stereo outs, no multitracking, vocals are layered once... so you know really basical process, nothing wrong but also nothing fancy at all. .and what can I say? I love their music. It's genuinely crafted, it sounds good on every device I play it, sometimes it makes me wanna nod my head and sometimes it transmits me emotions. It's purely music and nothing is wrong with it. So that's "professional", even if no swollen-headed fancy and costy professional guy had been involved (and to me this is a plus but that's personal).
I think that for people who are too much in the business and into making music the whole idea of someone or something being "professional" starts to become distorted.

An unmixed and unmastered beat MUST sound already nice and there's no excuse to it. But then, you should always work on it to improve it, even out frequencies etc., but, from what I have read here it's seems like that either you mix it and master it in some 10000$ dollars studio or you're no hope and I thing that's wrong..
my two cents

I tend to agree with most of what has been said in this thread... except when it comes to the sp-forums mixtapes. I dont think any mixing should be done to those... my favourite part about those is how filthy and unbalanced some of those beats are... the only exception is when the album (mixtape) is compiled... someone should do some volume regulating so every song is in the same volume ballpark.. I hate turning it up on that gritty but quiet beat and then the next track is blasting out the speakers.
haha...


Also, maybe the excuse is actually a warning... not to make excuses for those people who say that every time they post a beat..... but probably it isn't mastered... at best it's "mastered" (in quotes... picture the dude doing the finger gesture when saying that) Though, at the end of the day... im not really expecting to hear that when listening to a home made mix tape. It should obviously be decent... some effort at least... but I wont not listen to it just cause it hasn't been sent to a mastering engineer that costed the dude 5k a track.

Ian Canefire wrote:PS some background on me:- "I was a young kid at those parties with my older siblings and cousins. I remember hearing Busy Bee as a six year old. Those same cousins, who I will not name, have won awards and have married and divorced professional rappers and musicians. Another family member in the game(in Jamaica) has won an award for mixing one of Sean Paul's songs. Sean Paul Henriques and I went to Belair High school together. In college in Philly, I became friends with Amir (?uestlove), Jill Scott, and far too many other professional artists to name. I am a lawyer now, I'm in a band and occasionally still dj a party or two."

I figured it out!!! you're DJ Jazzy Jeff!