Mastering these 4 common producer/beat-making mistakes is key to improving your music. Learn how to make small adjustments that make a big difference!
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0:00 INTRO & BEAT 001 (MINAZ)1️⃣
All 4 problem areas mentioned in the video can be heard in this particular beat so here is approximately what was done to fix it.
- [MELODY] - Musical elements pitched down -6 Semitones (808s sound nice in the keys around "C") Counter melodies and textures were added, helped keep the tracking moving and added ear candy.
- [KICK & 808] - Replaced 808 with distorted one and layered a clean kick because distorted sounds tend not to be punchy because distortion eats up transients.
- [HIHATS] - was eventually replaced when using a gate didn't work. Notice the laziness on my part trying to fix a problem with more plugins rather than a better-suited sound. Replace when all else fails.
- [SNARE] - replaced the 4 snares with 2 of my own that both sounded similar to each other and heavily processed them to bring the focus on the body around 200-300hz.
- [SFX] - added modern SFX. The right SFX can give your track a very polished sound but setting good levels here and remembering that they serve a "background" purpose is important to remember.
4:34 BEAT 002 (JULIAN)2️⃣
Of the 4 common beat-making mistakes, this one had only 2. The Mix and the sound selection.
- [MIXING] - before putting plugins on, I listened to all the elements of the song and just set levels. Usually, my first two tracks are the Main melody and bass. This helps me set the foundation for the whole mix.
- [SOUND SELECTION] - Tuned one of the out-of-key sounds (I've done this too lol its okay, it happens.) 💎I stacked the horns with more horns in higher ranges and blended those instead of EQ'ing them.💎
- [DRUMS] - Hihats went crazy, too many fx, too bright, too busy. Replaced, simplified pattern, lowered volume. at 6:12 you can hear the hi-hat pattern is simple and repeats.
- [Joe Barresi💎] - compressor threshold at lowest, the ratio at 1:1, attack at 15-30ms, release at 100ms. Turn up the Ratio knob VERYYYYYYYY SLOWLY, you likely won't go past 1.2:1
Then my favorite part, think of the threshold has an AMOUNT knob that at 100%, just turn it back up slowly being sure to listen (make it extreme if you don't hear it!)
- [SFX] - added SFX, this helps let the listener know what's happening next and helps build energy in the track.
7:43 BEAT 003 (ZUZU)3️⃣
This beat overall was great, to begin with but I wanted to show you that you can still improve on individual things subtly that would still make a noticeable difference.
- [MIXING] - 808 was made mono, levels of everything was reset and small EQ cuts were made to create space.
- [SOUND SELECTION] - The sound selection here was good but I focused on finding the right pitch range for each sound so they had good separation between them. ie pitch the kick, clap, hi-hat snare etc.
- [CLAP] - was made shorter but you'll see me tweaking the smallest tweaks here because this sound is very hard to get right with compressors and transient shapers.
- [HI-HAT] - the pattern was chopped up and made super simple. 💎My pattern here was built with the melody soloed because the bounce has to complement that instead of overshadowing it!💎
- [KICK] - was filtered to remove the square wave distortion you can see and hear in the audio file. Making it darker means that when we play the song with a soft clipper on the master you won't double the distortion that the original kick sample already had to begin with because now you're soft clipping it AGAIN. Made it shorter, and cranked the volume into the master.
- [SNARE] - is replaced with a darker and heavier snare.
- [VOX] - volume automation was added to create a more choppier rhythm that added to the bounce of the song without it standing out.
- [SFX] - added modern SFX.
TH-CT: 47
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