Editing A Track

Time to put in work. Today we are going to talk about the most critical point in a track before the mix, the editing stage. There are three stages that I take when I engineer or produce a track: the tracking stage, the editing stage, and the mixing stage. For you hip-hop beat makers out there editing is the most important stage for you. Editing ensures that everything flows right and you do not have any click, pops, or audible complications. When you make a beat always work with the desired tempo instead of the default 120 beats per minute or bpm. Not every song is going to be 120 bpm. The next thing is to work with a grid so that everything lines up and is on time with the track you are making. This makes it easier when you start your edits after you lay down the track. Not only will working with a grid helps in editing but breaking down the track into sections, such as the chorus or hook, verses, intro/outro and drops. Hip-hop music is about how unique that beat sounds once you get ready to lay that vocal down over the beat. The best tip is to change up the song so it doesn’t become repetitive and boring. Making the listener hear different sections will keep the listener engaged in the song. The next tip is to use quantization on everything. Quantization helps keep everything in time and ensures that no instrumentation sounds off which can destroy a track. To avoid clicks and pops in your track use fades. This helps so your transitions can sound clean without those audio clips and pops. This can be very time consuming when adding in fades on each instrument. In the end you will definitely be grateful when you get ready to mix. Lastly, take your time don’t rush this process. Make critical edits and take frequent breaks. Most importantly have fun and be creative. Mix Master Rozay out!!!