Make Beats - Ask The Producer

Q: How do I get my shit to sound like the records I hear everyday? What separates (the sound of) a basement producer from a pro? Will mastering help?

A: Mastering will help but if the mix of the track sounds like crap it will sound like mastered crap. The overall professional sound will come from having a good mix.

A/B ing or comparing two sources is the best way to improve your mixes. Listening to tracks that sound good to you is a very good way to help you get your sound together.
What I suggest is taking 3 or 4 songs or that sound banging everywhere you play them and learning the sound of them inside and out, like he said listening to ever detail. Panning , Levels, Delays, Reverb and other things. It’s also good to do this because eventually you'll be working in all kinds of rooms with different speaker systems. Having a recording or album that you know the sounds of will help you learn each room you work in. For example Your favorite track might sound great in your car or an ideal mixing environment but might sound funny at your girls house cause she has got one speaker in the corner with a chair in in front of it. At this point you would know well its not the mix that sound bad its the room or the speakers. The same things would go for one of your mixes. If your in a studio working on your mix and it sounds like shit and then you compare your favorite track in the same environment. If it sounds good... your mix sucks... if it sounds bad it could be the room making everything sound like crap.

Also listen to other kinds of music then just hip hop when your trying to find good quality mixes...
Here are some of the CDS i listen to that have insane mixes... Grab one of these tracks and dont listen to the music. listen to the mix...

Biggie's Life After Death
Eminems's The Eminem Show
Maddona's Ray A Light
( I have listened to this more than a hundered times and everytime i hear something new in it... The mixes on that album are insane)
Staind's Break The Cycle or anything mixed by Engineer Andy Wallace
Mariah Carey/ Boys To Men - One Sweet Day - a crazy mix with tons and tons of vocals.

There tons of albums with good mixes but those are some of the ones I use and i know in and out.

Bottom line is you need to give your ears a benchmark to what good sounds like. This way if it doesn’t sound like that at least you'll know to keep on trying.

Mixing to say the least takes along time to learn how to do. Just keep at it.

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