Mixing down/mastering. Advice/questions.

[Star2D2]

So, I've been making beats for nearly 3 years now on/off. I've finally gotten to the stage where I'm comfortable with creating a beat in FL studio (8) but there's one thing which really baffles me, how to mix down and master.

It's like a science or something with a different language I just can't seem to grasp, so I've shunned it which means my beats don't sound as good as they could. For instance, they somehow sound worse when played through soundcloud, compared to within FL studio.

So, does anyone have some good advice, videos or whatever. I remember people saying "It can't go over XX db or it clips"...wtf does all of that mean for instance?

And most of all how do I know if a beat is finally done. It all seems really subjective which I don't like. One analogy I heard was mixing down is like putting all your sounds into a nice fit, but isn't it like that anyway? Then, what's the point of mastering after a good mixdown? I heard Soulja Boy's crank that (multi platinum hit) wasn't mastered, nor was Dizzee's bidc. So is mastering a bit pointless when compared to mixdown, and should I learn the mixdown first?

I am too tired to google, key videos etc would be helpful, or simple explanations. thanks.
EDIT: How different is sampling with this, e.g. vocals and noises.

[WOTZiT]

Mixing down is a fairly simple process, I'm about to head to bed so cba to look up videos and websites etc but here's a simple breakdown.

You were right about getting everything to fit, to make things fit you use these tools:
Volume, pan, EQ and compression for things like sidechaining.

You need to decide what you want to be loud and what you want to be quiet. I was taught to listen to a reference track and make a diagram of how they've used volume and pan across different frequencies.

[didge]

Creating a solid mixdown takes years and years of practice and tbh you need to concentrate on it solely if you want to be great at it, so for example, although Timbaland is a sick producer, he still has his mixdowns finalised by someone else. That said you should obviously get your track sounding as close to perfect as you can from the start.

So a good beat starts with a strong sounds and good arrangement, you obviously wouldn't have two bass lines competing with each other because neither would sound distinct but the same goes for the rest of your sounds, if you have a lead fill and a drum fill going at the same time and you can't hear either that well, take one of them out.

After that you should get used to using an EQ. The best way to use one at first is to take about the bits of the sound you don't like/need. So for a hi-hat say, you don't need or want to hear any frequencies below 600 Hz (at least, I would probably high pass around 1000 Hz tbh.) A lot of tracks sound "muddy" because there is a build up around the 200-500 Hz region from a whole bunch of different instruments, really get in there and cut that shit out. There's also a lot of build up around 1000-2000 Hz, you should try scooping that region out of your instruments too.

Yeah, so maybe post one of your beats to get some feedback.

[critic of musical arts]

For instance, they somehow sound worse when played through soundcloud, compared to within FL studio.

Are you sure this isn't due to the bitrate at which your exporting the beat from FL?

[didge]

Are you sure this isn't due to the bitrate at which your exporting the beat from FL?

Soundcloud converts audio to 128kpbs mp3 which is then streamed so it will sound worse on Soundcloud depending on how good your mixdown is though.

[Star2D2]

Thanks so far. Critic, I always make sure I import them at the best quality and it makes sense if soundcloud play them at 128kpbs.

Didge, that EQ stuff kind of makes sense. Is there any general rule? Why can't hihats go over a certain hz? Is it cause their pitch is so high? so the rest of there 'noise' is just waste?
Thanks.

[didierpogba]

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Buy these

[didge]

Thanks so far. Critic, I always make sure I import them at the best quality and it makes sense if soundcloud play them at 128kpbs.

Didge, that EQ stuff kind of makes sense. Is there any general rule? Why can't hihats go over a certain hz? Is it cause their pitch is so high? so the rest of there 'noise' is just waste?
Thanks.

I'll try explain it a bit more...

So, imagine you're in a room hearing a bunch of dudes playing instruments; guitars, drums, singing, whatever. They can play as quiet or as loud as they want/can and that's it...nothing ever happens (apart from you might get sore ears.)

But when you want to *record* into your computer (a digital recording) there is a limit to how loud you can record before things start fucking up; the upper limit is 0dB and the lower limit is (generally) -120dB. So if you can't record every single tiny bit of sound that is created, you'll only want to record the best bits: so, there would be not point in trying to capture the bassy bits of a hi hat because there's no point; it would sound shit and by the same principle, you wouldn't try to capture the real high end of a bass drum or a bass guitar because again, there is no point, it won't addanything to the sound.

So now skip to FL and you're not recording live instruments but you've got a whole load of VST synths and drum samples *but* you do have the same upper limit of 0dB; you can't go over that or things start fucking up; so, what you do is you take out all the bits you don't need or want to hear and leave the bits you do. So come back to that hi hat, there is no rule for what frequencies you take out, but generally, you won't need bass frequencies, so take them out and leave more room for another instrument.

Now, once you have each individual instrument sounding the way you want it, is to make them sound good altogether, which is where it gets tricky. Your kick drum might sound good on its own and your bass synth might sound good on its own but when you play them together, it just doesn't sound right; that's when you have to make subtle tweaks to each to try improve the combined sound. But you should be thinking about that before you even get to the mixdown: decide whether your kick or bass is going to take up more of the low end; pitch your kicks up/down depending.

Yeah, there's plenty more to learn but get working on that for just now.

[mossmade beatz]

I just try to make everything clear and audible, and making the track seem as if it fits together.

[HiTMAN22Productions]

Good sound choice from the start= less problems, easier mixing.
You need to read up on eq's, compressors, reverbs, delays, limiters etc. Find out what they do and how you could apply them to your mix if they're needed. When mixing you need to always understand what you're doing and why.