Mixing & mastering on mpcs

I got qustion mpcs like 4000,5000 is all in one production center am I right?
How would you mix & master your songs on them?
I know they got mixing p.g but how can you tell if you mix it right?

Thanks

id rather multi-track my beat out and mix it in a daw or on a console. mpc's lack a "real" mixing ability, i might be wrong about this on the 4k and 5k tho. and you cant master in them, you need specialized rack gear or plug ins to do that. like multi-band compressors and stuff. this is what you do before you put it on a cd to be distributed, not after you track a beat, because it would be dumb to master it before you even put vocals on it, if you were gona put vocals on it.

I was thinking to get a console but not yet
I have sonar 8 studio but I dont how mix & master tips would help?

I dont have 4k are 5k i was gonna trade my 1k in for 5k
if you cant mix & master than i buy sumthan else for the money
know what I'm saying?

sense it sounds like 5k be wast of money I'm looking at sound modules
& i wanted opions.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/M3-Module
How is this one?

mordecai1989 wrote:I was thinking to get a console but not yet

You shouldn't buy a console in the first place, cause if you wanna get a quality which is a competition for what you can get when mixing inside Sonar you'd really have to spend quite some money. And your console would be limited concerning channels. 16 or 24 is standard with home recording consoles. When you want more you even spend more cash! So as a beginner invest your money in books or DVDs that show you how to track beats and mix. They even have them at MPC tutorials. You will be surprised what a good quality you can get out of Sonar's mixer and plug ins!

Do you have a quality interface? Cause a lot can be lost with cheap AD/DA converters!

mordecai1989 wrote:sense it sounds like 5k be wast of money I'm looking at sound modules
& i wanted opions.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/M3-Module
How is this one?

Keep your 1k! It will serve you well! Since you have Sonar and want a sound module take a look at this: http://www.sonarvstudio.com/

It's a controller for Sonar, and an I/O box with integrated Roland Fantom synth! That might be a costly, but interesting
option.

yeah, i would stick with sonar, just get some plug ins, and an audio interface, you dont really wana mix in your mp, i wouldent anyway, you can be more precise with the use of sonar and plug ins, mastering is more of a thing you would do after you cut a whole album it prepares your audio for its intended medium, ie. cds or viynl. think of mixing as striving to make it sound as good as you can on the monitor speakers you have, and mastring as making your mix sound as goood as you can on ANY speakers anywhere, and it also adds "loudness" to your mix, you will realize that your mixes arent up to the same volume as a regular cd after you mix them, that is what masterings main purpose is for. but everything in mastering is a compromise, when you master, you have only a two track audio file, so when you add compression or eq to something, you are applying it to everything.

check out some plug ins like the c4 multiband compressor, l3 ultramaxamizer, rcompressor, they are all in a waves mastring bundle i dont remember what it is called,

this is how i learned how to master. you might need to do some research on this stuff if you dont know what im talking about.

basically its broken down into 7 steps.

1. normalize (but you should never have to do this if you have adiquete levels for your mix, only if it is under -6dbfs) becuase in a digital system, (like your sonar) the more amplitude you utilize while recording, the higher the resolution or bit depth you get, thus a better dynamic range, when you reach -6dbfs while recording, it utilizes all of your resolution if you are recording at 16 bit 44.1k ( i might be mistaken here, but this is the jist of it)
2. dynamics processing (compressors and such) dont add make up gain when you use compressors in mastering becuase you do that at the end of your signal chain.
3. eq, remember that every boost you make adds gain to the entire system, so be careful not to clip.
4. spectural processing- things like bass enhancers and high frequency exciters, dont use them, they are only "shelving" eqs that are found on things like the bass boost on your home stereo, they will just muddy up your mix, there are some sepectural processors you can use, but i dont remember what they are.
5. spacial processing- things like the s1 shuffler, alters the phase relationship in your mix, look up the s1, it widens up your mix, but too much can ruin it. i usually use 1.2 max.
6. peak limiting, this is where you make your track loud, but be careful not to over do it, because you could squish all your dynamic range and not have as much "feel" to your song. it seems to be the trend nowadays to over limit your mix becuase everyone is listening to .mp3s on ipods so they dont care about the sound quality, they just want loudness.
7. finally, at the end you dither down to 16 bit, if you recorded in 24 bit, or something, you have to have it 16 bit if your gona put your track on a cd at the end. look up dither if you wana figure out how it works.

i just use plug-ins in logic to mix with becuase they are expensive, but you can find some alright deals on them, just search for some. look for convolution reverbs, they tend to be pricey, but they are really realistic sounding.

sorry i kinda went overboard on this, but i have a test today in one of my classes and that is a question in the test. what are the 7 steps to mastering. lol. hope this helps dude.

damien907 wrote: check out some plug ins like the c4 multiband compressor, l3 ultramaxamizer, rcompressor, they are all in a waves mastring bundle i dont remember what it is called

I have the Waves Diamond Bundle, which has the Plugins your refering to, but I think the other Bundles from Waves also include them.

And mordecai1989, definately Mix/Master in your DAW, the results will be much better and there are various Mastering Suites available in a VST format. T-Racks 3 is new and is quite cheap, and the Waves Bundles are great, but as always, a bit pricey. I also use the Waves SSL 4000 channel strip on each Channel in my DAW as it brings a warmth to the parts.

PSP audioware also do decent Plugins, I use the Vintage Warmer 2 and it sounds great!

Just do loads of research on Google, Forums and Youtube (although dont make a descision based on the sh*tty Youtube audio quality lol)

And if your not sure about mastering, then make the best Mix possible and look at Mastering Companies online (or offline), who allow you to send your tracks via email, and then they send back the finished product.

appreciate it.. well T-Racks 3 is the cheapest LOL so i try get that one..
would it get most of it done for right now?

Yes! It's a cpu hog though so make sure your computer can handle it... mine can't unfortunately.

oh dang sux.. I see if it can..But what if I got a Focusrite Liquid Mix
tho I cant afford it yet LOL..

Focusrite Liquid Mix would be great, Im saving for one myself

And the LM obviously allows EQ and Comp on each channel (upto 32 i think),but there was a video on Youtube where some1 says it only works with buffer settings of 512 and less, so I aint to sure if thats true, but for what your getting a little extra CPU usage would be fine

also,go on to Focusrite's website and do the comparison test for the Liquid Mix against the originals, they sound great!

is there any video on the web how to master rap song,game song,motown song?

You need to learn how to mix before you even think about mastering. And yes, there are shit loads of videos on the net about mixing and mastering. Just hit youtube and you'll be away.

apprciate it..well mixing not hard i kno how do dat but mastering is diffrent story