MAKE OWN RAP BEATS

During the tracking phase of the recording process you are/should be focusing on capturing the best recorded tracks on an individual basis, making sure each recorded element is of good quality & recorded at an optimized level with no clipping/distortion. The mixing phase is all about making all those recorded elements blend together & sound good with each other to provide a great sounding & interesting song mix as a whole. At the mixing stage you should focus on how things sound along with each other more than how a piece sounds by itself. If you were to solo an element & tweak the EQ, it may sound better when by itself but when placed in the mix the adjustment might be clashing with another part so always make adjustments in the mix while paying attention to the mix as a whole.

When setting up the mix a good way to make panning choices is to visualize your track separated into each instrument being played by a live musician on stage with the main/lead vocal usually panned in the center. Adjust the panning of each instrument around the stereo field in the locations that you visualize the virtual musician standing while playing the instrument sound. Use reverb effects at various decay/feedback settings to add distance & space to parts while keeping some sounds free of reverb to keep the mix up close & personal. It is a good idea to check your mixes on good quality headphones as this give you an idea of how the different panning setting are working & will let you know if there are any sounds that are not showing up too much on either side of the stereo field.

The bass drum & other bass parts are usually served best in the center as bass tends to be perceived in a mono style so may as well place it so. Lead vocals should be panned in the center with over dubs & adlibs panned at varying locations with slightly lower volume than the lead & with subtle EQ differences. You want your instrumental to be like a form fitting foam bed that your vocal is able to "lay" down into & be embraced by. You do not want your vocal to sound like it was just placed on top of a flat beat. You want your mix to have changes in dynamics, with ups & downs that will build anticipation then release it & so on. Be sure to check your mix on a mono playback device as well to make sure all parts are still heard, if you have any very wide instrument panning you may lose the sound when heard in mono so make adjustments to sound good in mono & stereo. The level on your stereo mix should be Peaked at about -3db on the meter without hitting the red. This will give the mastering engineer the headroom needed to maximize the sound of your song & mastering will bring the level up to the max.

The final mix of all parts should be listened to on as many different types of sound sources as possible such as ear buds, laptop speakers a bookshelf system, and/or a car stereo. The more different sources the better as this will allow you pinpoint any re-occurring problems that may then be fixed "in the mix" Once you have a completed mix that you have done A/B comparisons with commercial tracks and you believe your mix is close enough, you will be ready to enter the mastering stage. If you are a beat maker that has no vocal tracks, you can still mix your beat/instrumental using the same tips/techniques above while saving the vocal mix tips for later.

The information in this article has given you an overview of the Hip Hop song mixing process in the home studio that I myself tend to follow, you may adjust your procedure to fit your own tastes as what I have intended was to give you a kind of mixing roadmap to follow when you are not sure how to proceed.