Mixing & Mastering tips on MPC Renaissance please.

Hi all,

I bought pretty much everything (e-Books, etc.) from MPC-Samples concerning EQing, mixing, mastering (Mixing Simplified, etc.), and I have to say, I don't have the patience to go through all of it; I feel like all I do is read stuff I really don't understand and never actually do music.

I am a graphic designer, a graphic design teacher, and a beatmaker, meaning I don't have a lot of time to put on music. And when I do, I want to MAKE beats... Not spend countless hours reading and testing stuff that give me headaches.

I am really confused and frustrated with everything mixing and mastering. I don't want to become an expert, but I would love to have enough knowledge to be able to a have decent mixed beats.

I'd be really happy if someone could do a video tutorial (or something else) that gives good tips on how to mix, EQ, and compress the different tracks (and the master) specifically on the MPC Renaissance using the MPC software plug-ins.

I've read multiple times that each instrument and/or track needs to sit in its own range of frequencies. Cool. But how? With filters and EQs? How do I know which track/instrument uses what frequency?

I've also read that we should shave everything that is below 20 Hz. But how?

In what order should things be done? Compressing and then EQ?

EQ on the master or just on a few instruments/tracks?

What should be the levels of the bass compared to the drums?

How to compress/EQ individual tracks properly?

On the software, what should be the level of the main master?

How to make the overall sound of our beats louder. How to avoid the beats from distorting, etc.

I know each beat is different, but there are still some universal rules... Especially if the tutorials take in consideration that the beatmakers use drums like the ones in the Infinity Kits, basses from MPC Bass, and that the beatmakers sample from records.

Seriously, I'm sure I'm not the only one that would LOVE that.

I'm tired of not knowing what I'm doing in that department. I'm tired of having weak sounding beats (compared to anything else that comes out). I'm tired of guessing all the time what I should do when it's time to mix my beats.

I know a mix must be clean, clear, separated, etc. BUT HOW ON EARTH DO YOU DO THAT?

Thanks for everything.

While you're getting to grips with all that stuff, you could really benefit by using an analyser plugin on your master outs. It's easier to visualise your mix and quickly see what's going on that way.

Coz wrote:While you're getting to grips with all that stuff, you could really benefit by using an analyser plugin on your master outs. It's easier to visualise your mix and quickly see what's going on that way.

Thanks! Will check that out. Any you recommend?

krissserz wrote:Any you recommend?

I've used the PAZ Analyzer for years, but I've heard there's much better out there if you look into it.

Coz wrote:I've used the PAZ Analyzer for years, but I've heard there's much better out there if you look into it.

Thanks for your input!

(Now, another thing to learn on my loooooong list of things to learn. Maybe I'll do music again one day )

If someone could simply answer me this, I'll be happy:

On the master, how do you shave everything below 40 Hz with the MPC Renaissance plug-ins?

Is one of the images below good?

(Just couldn't put "40" on this one... It jumped to 336 all the time...)







Thanks!

The bottom one, HP filter set at 40. Keep the resonance at zero like you have it. It will work better if you have an HP shelf, it will cut a more narrow band instead of "rolling off" the bottom reducing other frequenies.

Spend an afternoon reading up on Eq's - no matter what you do that info will be useful.

m56p87 wrote:The bottom one, HP filter set at 40. Keep the resonance at zero like you have it. It will work better if you have an HP shelf, it will cut a more narrow band instead of "rolling off" the bottom reducing other frequenies.

Spend an afternoon reading up on Eq's - no matter what you do that info will be useful.

Thanks! Very nice of you.

Concerning the HP Shelf... Is this High Pass Shelving Filter? If so, to cut the 40 Hz, it seemed to work with the Low Pass Shelving Filter (like in the first screenshot)...

Am I wrong?

Yeah that's right lo shelf!, just woke up : ) will work better than the hi pass.

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Universal advice at an affordable price.

m56p87 wrote:Yeah that's right lo shelf!, just woke up : ) will work better than the hi pass.

Not sure about working better.

The low shelf will reduce/increase everything below the cutoff frequency, by the gain amount.

The high pass filter will cut off everything below the cutoff frequency, the amount of cutoff determined by the filter design/number of poles/etc.

If the OP wants to remove everything below 40Hz, the highpass might do it better.

If the OP only wants to reduce the gain of what is below 40Hz, the low shelf allows you to choose the amount of reduction, and may or may not do it better.

Just try them both and compare the results.

Can you double click on the numbers below the plugin knobs, to enter more exact values from the keyboard?

@simon

It depends on the slope of the HP filter, I find a a heavy handed LP shelf will be a bit more surgical than the gentle roll off of most generic HP filters, and most HPF's that are above -12db/oc have personality that I don't want in my mix. In fact I use parametric EQ's to remove the low end, extremely precise.

I will concede though that in general practice it really dosnt matter...

m56p87 wrote:In fact I use parametric EQ's to remove the low end, extremely precise.

Like in my second and third images?

I would recommend using the HP filter or a low shelf with the gain at 0db, just to simplify things. You can use a banded parametric eq like in your 3rd photo, but its extremely precise so if your working by the numbers and not a visual indicator you might not be doing what you think your doing.

Like I said, start with the HP filter and go from there. How you cut your bass isn't a huge deal, everyone just kind of develops different methods.

Experiment.