Quick Hip-Hop/Rap Tip

Time to put in work. As most of you know I am working on a hip-hop album for one of my friends being his first EP. As I breakdown the tracks into sections I then look at how to make it better. Mixing is going to be involved but I won’t mix fully until I have the whole song recorded. In the editing process I make everything sound clean and crisp by cutting out clips and pops. After everything is cleaned up I begin to level and pan the tracks to get a main balance. Once the song is balanced I give this to the artist to write to. This gives him an idea of what the song will sound like. Once the recording process starts I record main verses at least three good takes. I record two different adlibs. And anything other recording the artist wants. In the chorus I record about five good takes, which gives room for creativity in the song. I like to make my songs sound really big and in your face so people can really vibe to the music. The mixing part of a song gives you the control to make the song your own. I would suggest using some modulation to sounds during the chorus or adding in some drops when the artist says a line that’s really catchy. These little things give the song some excitement to it. Besides adding modulation and drops, add some volume change automation to the song so the listener distinctly knows the chorus and verse sections. Once you mix the beats down then add extras to it including the vocals being mixed in will change the song for the better. Using imagination is the half of it. Hope you guys use some small techniques like these to help your songs create excitement. Mix Master Rozay Out!

Drum Microphone Selection

Time to put in work. Hello all, this week I am going to talk about microphone selection. I got the idea after I had a session this past Friday. I was recording a band and had to decide how to capture the sound of drums, guitars, and bass sound. When recording a band it definitely takes awhile to setup and get the microphones placed. Now microphone placement is for another post since that is one of the most important parts of a session. However getting the correct microphones will only make it easier for yourself when you are ready to record. As we should all know the three main types of microphones dynamic, condenser and ribbon, each play a factor in live recording. Before I get ready to choose the microphones I look at how many pieces the drum set has. This gives me an idea of what drums ill capture during the recording. In my session I recorded 4 piece cymbals, kick, snare, high tom, and low tom. Now I did some research and used some of my friends experience to get the best out of my recording. This is how I did it. Note that the studio I was recording in has about 20-25 different microphones so I have a lot to work with. First I placed the drummer in the isolation booth to contain the sounds of the kit. I didn’t know what to expect I was just experimenting. I then started to select and place the microphones. I used a Beta 52 on the kick since the AKG D112 was in for maintenance. I used 2 Beta 57’s one behind the kick and one on top of the snare. I used 2 Sennheiser 421’s on the high tom and low tom. I used 2 Neumann U87’s as the overheads. After using that setup and placement of the drums it worked out better than I expected. The recording was the best I ever had on recording drums. Everything sounded crisp and clean; the isolation booth reduced the room reverb, which makes it easier for mixing. So if you have a studio and record bands try this setup or a similar one and see how the recording comes out. Mix Master Rozay out!!

Pro Tools Automation

Time to put in work. Hello all back with some more information regarding a special parameter in Pro Tools. This week I will be talking about Automation. Automation is a great tool in any style song or genre of music. Automation lets you have total control from panning, fading, gain, plug-ins, among many other options. When you set automation in Pro Tools it automatically alters the parameter you set, hence automation. I never really used automation until the past 3 months. Automation is my go to when I am done editing to help give the track life. Automation is set by drawing in exactly what you want to happen in the song. In hip-hop, the verses and chorus are definitely distinctly known. In my own mixes I have started to do the same. Once you know where the verses and choruses are in each track, you can raise the volume in the chorus and lower the volume in the verse. This lets the listener know when each section is happening. Also, the stereo image of the chorus needs to be big, loud, and in your face. Another case where automation is used is drum fills or rolls where they pan from left to right very quickly. This helps when you are getting ready to drop the beat or drop into a verse. Plug-in automation has a whole lot of ways where it can be used. Most recently I have used it for a master bypass. I like to turn the plug-in on and off as I like after I set it. With automation you can do that and it helps saves time when you mix. All you future engineers I would dabble around with automation and use it. This is a low down quick post on Pro Tools automation, now go enjoy. Mix Master Rozay Out!

Samples

Time to put in work. Hope everyone had a great week. Today we are going to talk about samples that are used in hip-hop. This is for beginner producers that are making beats in the hip-hop world. Samples are the most important part of a beat. Now when I say samples I mean sounds and drums that you use to create the beat. There are so many programs that you can use to create beats that have stock sounds in the banks of each program. There are alternatives to just using stock sounds. You can also buy expansion packs that have more sounds added to a specific program. Now I know a lot of producers are using the Native Instruments Maschine to make their beats. What people have done is buy Komplete and then you have an entire library of sounds. With Komplete you have over 110 Gigabytes of sounds and drums that are nice sounding. I would suggest producers to find a bundle deal with Native Instruments Maschine and Komplete combo and buy it. It’s definitely pricey but you won’t go wrong with the awesome sounds. Enough about that what I really want to talk about is drum samples. This is the bread and butter of any hip-hop beat. Drum samples are great to use but you have to get really good quality drum samples. Komplete however is ok but I have a better solution. When engineers get the beat of a track they more than likely switch out the samples with better one that the industry uses. Two of the best samples are Modern Beats and Sounds in HD. These packs come in .wav format so it’s easy for any program to use. These have the best drum samples for hip-hop and rap style beats. So stop having your beats come up short with dead drum sounds and check these kits out. I am definitely still figuring out the best solutions for myself. I will post the sites where you can find these and check them out. You can also demo a few of the samples so you know what you are buying. Good Luck and keep making heat. Sites: Modern Beats http://www.modernbeats.com/ Sounds in HD http://www.soundsinhd.com/

Pro Tools Shortcut Basics Tutorial

Time to put in work. Hello all my last post I explained what Pro Tools shortcuts were. I am now showing and explaining how they work. These are just a couple commands to get you future engineers going. However if you have not read my last post, please do before watching this so you understand why I am doing the tutorial. Alright that's enough from me lets get right into it, hope you all enjoy. Mix Master Rozay out!

Pro Tools Keyboard Commands

Time to put in work. Hey everyone hope you all are having a good weekend so far! This week I want to talk about shortcuts or hot keys. This is one of the most important elements for an engineer. Most programs have shortcuts or hotkeys but I am talking about the industry standard Pro Tools. So what are shortcuts or hotkeys? They are premade commands within the program to help you work faster and not use your mouse for everything. Now these are very important to use because once you get clients you may not have all the time in the world. You need to be able to work fast and be able to use the keyboard for almost everything. You can learn the Pro Tools shortcuts from a free PDF that Avid has put up. This PDF explains every single shortcut for the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. It explains what the action is and the keyboard command(s) for it. I am suggesting that you download it and open a blank session and practice some of the basic shortcuts first. After you feel comfortable with the basics, move onto the more advanced commands. Now you will not remember every single command because there are way too many to memorize. This is just to help you have a more efficient workflow and they are good to know. Another option is to get a skin or stickers that are custom made for a mac or windows keyboard. These are color-coded and go right on the keyboard with the shortcut so you don’t have to memorize the shortcuts. I think that it is very useful and that is how I started with a custom made Pro Tools keyboard shortcuts skin from Amazon. They are fairly easy to find and price is good for what you are using it for. The link below is where you can find the Pro Tools Shortcuts. Hope this helps and enjoy. Mix Master Rozay out! Link: http://akmedia.digidesign.com/support/docs/Pro_Tools_Shortcuts_74634.pdf

Reverb Part 2

Time to put in work. This blog is a video tutorial on reverb. I explained reverb before and gave screen shots. I feel like that didn't do justice so here is a video tutorial with a full explanation. This is in Pro Tools 10 on a track that I am currently working with. I hope you all enjoy!!! Mix Master Rozay out!