Listen AND, don't start shoveling that "you don't know me" line; it only makes you sound like a guest on Jerry Springer. The fact is, if you had the ears, you'd know the problem and you wouldn't have to ask the question. That's how we know where you're coming from. And if you knew the answer, you wouldn't be asking the question, so don't be assuming you already know more than we do about what the right and wrong answers are.
No. That makes no sense whatsoever. At the end of the day, someone can recognize a problem but not know how to fix it. It's like somebody who knows little about repairing a car but knows there's something obviously wrong with the engine. It's pretty obvious but that doesn't mean they'll automatically know how to repair it, would it?
Do yourself a favor, dial back the attitude for a minute and read this and think about it before you respond:
If there is going to be such a thing as a "pocket" (really a misnomer, but we'll run with it for a minute anyway, just for sake of explanation) in a commercial beat, it's either going to be pre-engineered into the beat, or you gotta chisel one out for yourself. In real life it's usually going to be some combination of both of those possibilities.
I already explained that you have to "chisel one out yourself". That's why people actually EQ the beat and drop levels inside the mixed down beat to create space for the vocals to fit.
Now, for the first part, the only way to find a pocket that exists is with your ears. There's no technical visual way using frequency analysis or spectral analysis or by looking at waveforms or any other such way to find it. It takes what is typically called "critical listening" or "analytical listening" skills. This requires having the ear to recognize the parts of the beat, their purpose in the overall arrangement, and which parts of the spectrum they are meant to dominate, and designing your vocal(s) - sound profile and arrangement - around them.
Thank you. That's the type of advice I was looking for.
Nobody can tell you in a forum post how to do that; it's a skill that has to be tapped (if you're a natural) or learned and developed (if you're not a natural).
As far as the second part, usually any "pocket" has to be stretched and massaged, because there is no way that the creator of the original beat can predict just what your voice and intentions actually are like. One common way to attack that is via the use of differential EQ to emphasize the strengths and weaknesses that are already there. This means taking the frequencies where the pocket(s) seem to want to be (based upon part 1), slightly de-emphasizing them in the beat (gentle slopes of just a couple of dB) and slightly emphasizing them in your main vocal track 9again, just gentle slopes of just a couple of dB).
That's what I was explaining. I've been in pro studios with pro engineers who've done it for over a decade doing this. I'm just trying to figure out how to do it and make it work.
Note that it's not necessarily one big pocket that you're working with, it may be a couple or more mini-pockets spread across the spectrum. And it's not the same for every beat, meaning you gotta go back to part 1 and *use your ears* to figure out just where such "pockets" should be. There's no way around that, and no way we or anyone else can answer that for you.
Yeah... I've tried to sweep across the spectrum and find where frequencies needed to be dropped but I still have a hard time fitting my vocals in there.
Now, it's also important to remember that those "commecrial beats", if they are pre-mastered, are not something that you just lay vocals on and you're done and on the radio, like you think. If you want it one right and want it to sound good, some level of de-mastering of the original beat is usually in order so you can properly re-mix with the vocals and then have the mix re-masterd. The differential EQ only scratches the surface of that process.
I've heard underground artists who don't know these big name artist get on major label/commercial beats and sound damn clean on them. AGAIN, not the same as a track that the beat was tracked out and they fit the vocal in but it still sounded damn clean. That's what I'm looking for. It's honestly pretty easy to find a pocket if you have every sound tracked out.
Getting vocals to fit on a premastered beat is a pain in the fuckin' ass. And I know it can be done. That's the entire point of this thread, for me.
And finally, no matter how good your ears may be, they are only as good as your room and your monitors, and even then your mix will only be as good as your ears' ability to "translate" - i.e. to know that if it sounds like "A" in your studio, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will sound like "A" out in the real world. The trick is learning whether it really will sound like "B", "C" or "D". The better your monitoring situation and room, the easier that translation will be.
Thank you. I pretty much knew this but it still is good advice. It's the same thing as when you mix a track down in the studio and it sounds good in the studio but sounds bad in the car.
In short, by deciding to make your own music instead of actually taking on an engineer and (real) producer to assist you, you have taken on a task that has much more to it than just ripping a beat and rapping over it and being done with it. You got some work, some learning and some practice ahead of you. Any attitude otherwise is just going to hold you back and not get you ahead.
I understand that. That's why I'm trying to learn this. And don't take it the wrong way... I DO appreciate you taking your time to inform me. I just didn't agree with some of the things said because I've seen what you said couldn't be done, done before. But this was a much more informative post so THANK YOU (no sarcasm).
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