Mastering your demotracks

[chris carter]

I put a limiter on it and call it a day. Nothing else is required.

[voicegenius]

Originally Posted by mgthefuture

Maybe I mis-worded that.

They WERE drop-outs who turned to drugs. But music saved them from that lifestyle and helped them get clarity (since most of them started at 16 and are 25ish now). Art has a way of doing that.

And 5k a month is very easy to make if you're selling exclusives for 500-1000 each. There's so many independent mixtape artists in america...let alone other countries. And if you're visible, they will find you. I cant count how many times i hear the "vibes" or "joooohnnny" voice tag on a mixtape i get locally.

And those guys in result, get work from majors for mixtape work as well, or artists in the "circle" who are upcoming..who pay 5k minimum for a track.

Even if you're leasing 25/50 a track and get 10,000 hits a day..you can see 500 a week..which is just 2k a month...but...the leg work is in promotion and delivering what that audience wants.


Which is why the final product/master is so important when you're competing with the TOP 25 on any given site.

Wow, so you make 2-5k a month just off beats? Must be nice considering the state of the music industry....

[beanface]

Originally Posted by chrislago

And it shows! Everything is great, but always dither at the end! Don't ever dither at the beginning, ever.

Definitely, but adding dither at intermediate stages may be preferable if the bit depth is reduced (eq working in 24bit, using an fp48bit dsp and returning to 24bit after that stage)

[mgthefuture]

Originally Posted by voicegenius

Wow, so you make 2-5k a month just off beats? Must be nice considering the state of the music industry....

I've peaked at half that number over several times. Anytime I've been able to keep a solid flow of traffic..soundclick finds a way to piss me off and harass m e with "inappropriate genre" "unsuitable image" "song MAY contain sample" which freezes your page for weeks until they feel like answering your email.

This way, your ranking drops.

Instead of me waiting i just create new sites, and take 1-2 months to build the buzz again. Thankfully to mailing lists and good friends who own websites.

This is my 3rd soundclick page in the last year....unlike the other guys who are top 5 DAILY....they actually make that figure. And they come close to 50k plays a day.

Note: soundclick dont harass them for they PAY for advertising monthly..thats something i dont pride myself in doing since im already paying for VIP...although thats not required to be charted.

[mgthefuture]

Originally Posted by Say

So u mean ur making 5k? Or 2k? Or just the rest of the guys on sclick...?

@ Say...Yeah i think i know who you are talking about in reference to "local dealer". Alot of the better rappers/known in my city are supported by extra-curricular activities.

Hell word has it in VA...that pharrell is supported and has come up by THOSE very means.

LOL...but I mean it's hard to really put a grasp on the concept unless you deal with these people directly. I'm just gathering date by asking questions when i can and get to know these guys. And I'm rounding of course (down).

Other guys who i been talking to every week for 7 years, don't feel threatened in telling me what the latest figures have been. And what's the going rate on placements.

And I don't mean EVERY week or EVERY month. I know sometime back in 2005, one of the most POPULAR dudes on soundclick had a dry spell for atleast 3 months straight...where as he was leasing every week..it slowed down to 1 exclusive every few weeks.

And alot of cats were charging solid rates back then..and that's why they made so much. 500$ MINIMUM.

Now you can get your whole album produced for that rate. So it's alot harder it hink. But with proper exposure and clout...you can charge those rates and make that 2k-5k income a month (on the good months).

We also have to take into consideration any given producers ability to adapt to trends and changes in the "sound" of commercial music as well.
I haven't found too many success online who just had their "own sound" and stuck to that for all their years. Those who CAN and DO, usually dissapear and pull th eir beats offline to do work in the REAL world. And sell far less, but make far more.

That's the goal to keep in mind. Rock with the sales for 2-3 years, get your rep up, and pray that you cross that deal or ANR who helps you migrate to the "big boys".. And keep that drive and ambition to make it a career.

I myself...Have sold beats from 100 to 1000...and its just been a blessing for whenever that person crosses my path. But on average...I may see 10 people a week who ask about a beat..but only 1 or 2 who actually follow throw. And Seldomly do theypay right away.

I had one beat i put up, that was a runners interpolation and it sold the next day after it peaked in the charts.

I have beats that peaked the charts for 3 months straight..and didnt sell until a year later. (especially to people in foreign countries).

[Mr.Amokk]

I just wanna say THANK YOU to everybody who was telling me about the "iZotope Ozone". That plugin gotta be the best "throw it on track and dont worry"-tool Ive ever seen!

[Cheta]

im gonna check out this ozone since everybody has been praising it.

[Micah Tolentino]

The thing that a lot of people should understand is that a great mix will have very little mastering needed.

If you are finding you have to "do too much" after the mix. I would double check your mix.

[.T.]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Voxengo Polysquasher + Elephant.

You can have the two plugins for less than Ozone4! Not to mention both Voxengo plugs are geared towards a punchy sound (there are specific 'punch' compression settings on polysquasher).

Also, there's a group buy for Voxengo products going on... (so I may be a little biased when I recommend it).

I highly recommend people A/B ozone 4 and the voxengo plugs... you will be pleasantly surprised.

[rhodesp04]

when sending out beats/productions/demos i put this on my master to give it that extra 5-10% it needs

(after experimenting with many other combinations, this is a blend of a Tony Shepperd/Charles Dye/P.Rhodes approach that i happen to like):

Waves SSL Buss Comp (adjust threshold so that i'm hitting around 4db GR)
Massey L2007 Limiter (loud mode, normal release, threshold 1-2, output 2-3)
DUY Wide: 15-17%

[Chris Lago]

Originally Posted by Mr.Amokk

I just wanna say THANK YOU to everybody who was telling me about the "iZotope Ozone". That plugin gotta be the best "throw it on track and dont worry"-tool Ive ever seen!

Hey no problem, it's actually a serious mastering tool. I use it a lot and I get great results for my clients.

[LMCASES]

+1 for Ozone, it works really well. I also like the Oxford Limiter, for a demo either one is great

[Mr.Amokk]

I'm still using Ozone btw. Very great stuff!

[synth]

For beats, keep it simple, get the mix as good as you can and then throw a Ozone 4 CD master preset, deactivate the Paragraphic EQ and Multi-band Harmonic Exciter and play around with the Input Volume

I find this way keeps the mix sounding the same, just more in ur face...

leave the real mastering to the pros

[G. Kaye]

Originally Posted by mgthefuture

And 5k a month is very easy to make if you're selling exclusives for 500-1000 each..

This is such BS. Who the **** is paying 500-1000 for some shitty soundclick trap beat?


You'd be lucky to find one sucker in a year that you can pull that scam on, let alond 5-10 a month, lol.

[3rd Degree]

I can't speak for myself here but I know more than a few people who had various business ventures happen based on demo/unreleased material. Most say the two things are make hot music and push it hard, no matter how it sounds. Someone will see through the "glitter" of everyone spending thousands on a demo and really hear what you are doing. Again, not my advice, advice given to me by successful people who came up like that.

I hate speaking through other people but I have heard this more than a few times, just with a different face and voice.

[Colin McCabe]

Buss comp
Pultec eq low+highs
Pultec eq mid
Eq cutting below ~30db
Multi band eq
Another eq cutting below ~30db
Oxford limiter

And sometimes multiple buss comps

[Upright]

Originally Posted by Chris Lago

I think it's very subjective, since you don't want to do this for every mix you do. It really depends what the mix needs, and sometimes it doesn't need that much EQing if it was mixed right. I've been liking Ozone for Loudness and Exciters as of late, and I use the Density MKII plug for 2buss compression (Until I get my Alan Smart C2 or another quality comp!).

I actually like the Density MKII it's one of the best free comps out there. Actually there are quite a few good free comps out there now....but yeah, solid advice.