RAP MUSICIAN need MASTERING HELP

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realestninja

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I know this a pretty big favor, but I need mad help with my mastering. It sounds awful cruddy. I need help mastering the top 2. Can someone give me tips for rap music. I recorded the top 2 tracks in Nuendo. What should I master with?
go here to listen. www.myspace.com/mcnameless

Heres what I did per 1verse. (1 adlib, 2 voice overs, 1 regular) I need mad tips but don't bs me. If you don't know how to master rap music, don't message me. To the cat that helps me, I'll pay you.

Message me on aim messenger: Aloneatsupper
 
I think you're sort of barking up the wrong tree to a point... No one can really give you tips on what you want the sound to be like. And certainly, if anything needs to be changed, it should be looked at in the mixing phase - Anything after that is second-guessing your own mixes.

That all out of the way, no one can really tell you much of anything with the horrible sound of MySpace's MP3 player. I couldn't tell you if there's even any high end in those mixes through that thing.

Any chance you can post the raw MP3's (something hi-res - 256kbps perhaps?) somewhere?
 
can you get on aim messenger because i don't even know what that is
Any chance you can post the raw MP3's (something hi-res - 256kbps perhaps?) somewhere?

that -256kbps im confused boss.
 
Massive is talking about the bitrate of the mp3 you posted... 256Kilobits per second. The "Kbps" is the sample rate per second, the higher the sample rate the higher the quality.

If you re-encode the mp3, by exporting from whatever app you are mixing with, choose a higher bitrate (normally defaults to 128Kbps methinks...) and then post it on a website where massive can actually download the file instead of streaming it from the said website, then he will be able to listen more aptly :)
 
i like massive and all, but i went to his site, im not that rich. he charges more than i can make in 3 years.
 
Well if it sounds "awful cruddy" you don't need to think about the mastering right now. Mastering should not be a tool for fixing cruddy tracking and mixing.

And regarding Massive Master's rates....you're kidding right? They seem like a downright bargain to me! You obviously have a seriously slanted viewpoint about these sort of things...how strange. :rolleyes:
 
I too think MM's rates seem reasonable, considering the work... After all, he is a dedicated mastering engineer... Anyhows, I do believe he wouldnt charge you for opinions, and observations ;) Unless of course you are looking for someone to do it for you....
 
MASTER how much are tips. i bought a program called wavelab today and i have nuendo
 
I GOT THIS INFO OFF OF THE INTERNET, TO MAKE RAP VOCALS SOUND REAL GOOD
IS IT REALLY TRUE THOUGH? BECAUSE IT WAS MADE FOR COOL EDIT PRO, BUT I NEED TO APPLY IT ON NUENDO, AND IM A BIT LOST.

High Quality Vocals w/ Cool Edit Pro

Do this for high quality vocals:

Your sound quality depends on your mic technique (staying away from the mic and controlling your syllables) and your SOUNDCARD.
*Highlight the entire waveform*

1)Transform... Amplitude... Dynamics Processing... "Vocal Limiter" This will boost your mid-range and allow you and the beat to blend better at a lower vocal volume... caution... this will even out your sounds so your breathing will be magnified... you might want to edit your breaths down to 25% volume

2)Transform... Filters... Graphic Equalizer... "Vocal Presence (cut)" This will clarify the mid-range on your voice so your shit can be bumped

3)Transform... Filters... FFT Filter... "Bass Cut" This will take some of the unnecesary rumbling out of your voice and you will be more audible

4)Your choice of a light echo.

5)Make sure all sizable gaps in your verse (such as the intro and and end) are silenced

6)Make sure you strategically allign your acapella and the beat. To do so with as much precision as possible, zoom in closely and make the small moves necessary to perfect your production.
 
Hrm... if you're using presets I doubt you're getting the best out of the vocal. The best vocal sounds are completely custom because no two singers, performances, songs and so on are alike.
 
Can any of you pros get on aim messenger? Whats so hard about helping out a fellow musician?
 
delivery man..its all about delivery.

buy Bob Katz' book mastering audio and learn yourself, maybe take classes..

otherwise, save some bones and pay a ME. MM's rates are VERY good. I can show you engineer rates that ARE expensive.
 
Do you need help with MIXING or with MASTERING?

Mixing is adjusting the relative levels, adjusting eq, etc... of all the different instruments and voices together to make a stereo mix.

Mastering is the process of taking all the different songs that will be on the same CD, and attempting to make the sound cohesive together so that one song doesn't sound louder than another, have drastically different overall tonality, etc...

It sort of sounds like you want help with mixing?
 
Yes sorry sir. Yes mixing. I'm playing with the EQ but its very confusing. I'm comparing it to eminem's songs and trying to make the sound, sound similar. I'm a rookie mixer. Help me out ford, I've heard a lot of good things about you.
 
Also I have my instrumental track on a separate track, if I wanted to make that louder do I just put the db up on the mixer?
 
Hey guy, eminem has some pretty serious dawgs working the mixer on his productions. We are talking guys that have been engineering for many years, and/or who have apprenticed under other big named engineers to learn their skills.

They also have spend HUGE amounts of time mixing music.

They also probably start out with better sounds than you did.

I would estimate that I have spent at least 10,000 hours in my life at a mixing board mixing music in either studios or doing live sound.

Do the math on what that translates into full days!

You need to put YOUR hours in my man. I could tell you what I might do for a certain mix, but that might not be what YOU WANT!

It is all subjective.

You should should start out with some specific questions about what you are hoping to change.

I listened to those first two songs. They don't sound that bad. They don't sound big time, but I have heard MUCH worse too! So, you have done "ok" for being a total newb to mixing.

You aren't going to learn it all overnight, and you probably at this point haven't yet figured out what you DON'T know yet.

You have to learn about what eq does, what the different parameters of an EQ does, then experiment with different eq's and see what they do well for any particular part you are applying it to.

Then you have to learn all of that for compression, limiting, reverb, echo, etc....

It is a life time of learning.

If you want it to all sound GREAT RIGHT NOW, hire a professional who has done work that you have heard that you like.

Otherwise, be prepared to spend the next couple of years doing mix after mix after mix.

Mixing is really not something you can teach a person, and few are going to go into too much detail about what they would do for your mix unless you pay them. Trying to do it over the internet is VERY hard to do because you can talk a hell of a lot faster than you can type! ;)

Good luck.
 
Thanks boss, I'm messing with everything right now. So far I know that compressors make the sound from going too far and clipping. Reverb gives some echo, limiters make the sound go away, shit like that.

I'm reading a big ass book on mixing, it talks about EQ can you explain to me a little what the heck is going on.
Basically its a table

Frequency Sound Characteristics
20 to 100 Hz Warms an instrument or adds boominess to it
100 to 200 Hz Is muddy for some instruments but adds fullness to others
350 to 450 Hz Sounds boxy
750 to 850 Hz Adds depth or body
1 to 2 kHz Adds attack or punch to some instruments and creates a nasally sound in others
2 to 5 kHz Increases the presense of instruments
5 to 8 kHz Sounds harsh in some instruments
8 kHz and above Adds airiness or brightness to an instrument





Basically my question to you is Nuendo 3 has:
lo, lo mid, high mid, high
And the book doesn't tell me where to add it. It also has two knobs, one that shifts the dots from left to right, another knob that moves the dots vertically.
 
I am SURE the Nuendo users manual explains in detail what the center frequency of the eq's are, how wide of a Q bandwidth they have, and what direction to turn the knobs for boost and for cut.


NO book is going to tell you where to add eq. It is totally dependent on what the audio NEEDS. Until a person can hear the audio, it is impossible to advise what it NEEDS for eq (if it even needs anything!)

Compressors control how DYNAMIC the audio can be, meaning the softest to loudest in volume. Limiters do the same thing, only a little more extreme. Basically, a limiter puts a cap on how loud something can be by reducing audio that is louder than the threshold. You can use make up gain to increase the overall output so that the audio is overall louder. Compressors and limiters are good for audio where the volume levels go up and down more than you want them to.

Reverb add's MANY echo's!
 
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