What’s up party people? So todays blog post is just a PSA about the importance of mixing and mastering your music. If you’re going to make beats on a MPC or SP or whatever DAW/device you choose to use, you need to learn how to mix your music. The difference between a good beat and a great beat can be how well it’s mixed. I’ve been guilty of putting out music that sonically is very low par, but that’s because I didn’t really know what I was doing with the mixing part. How to place elements within the stereo soundstage and things of that nature.
The way I’m working on that is by doing my due diligence to read and learn how to mix/master my music. I bought a book called “The Mixing Engineer’s handbook” and it has already greatly improved my mixing and I’m only halfway through the book. I’m learning what Limiter’s and compressors do. I’m learning about the left/right stereo sound field and how you should place elements within that soundstage so they don’t “crowd” each other. It’s really fun and it’s added a whole new element to my music making. I’ve been working on the same beat for some days now, but sonically it has to be the best work I’ve ever done. I can’t wait until I’m finished with it and I can put it on my Distrokid and/or Bandcamp site.
Anything you want to learn, I think it’s good to pick up a book or two about the subject that’s highly reviewed and read to learn. You don’t have to necessarily take notes and highlight things in the book as you go, but just digesting the information, processing it, then applying it to your skill or hobby can help you make great strides in improving. If you want to jot notes and highlight, by all means, go for it, but it’s not required if you have the type of brain that is good at retaining visual information.
I’m very happy I’ve discovered the magic of mixing, because it’s given me a whole new insight into the plugins and tools on my MPC Key 61, as well as something greater to strive for with my beatmaking. I’m enjoying the journey, and once I get to a certain point, I’m going to talk about it more on my Youtube page. I want to share the knowledge with people and bring them up to speed on how to do things correctly when it comes to making good music. I’ve said this plenty of times on this blog, but music is something that keeps me going. When I’m at work having to do things I don’t necessarily want to just to earn a paycheck, it’s the thought of getting home, seeing my wife, her making me a cup of coffee, and me messing around on my MPC Key 61 or DJ setup that keeps me going. I look forward to the music experience each day, and I’m grateful to GOD that it exists.
People like to say that satan is the “father of music”, but GOD created everything including satan. Music is a gift from out father GOD to us and it’s something meant to keep us engaged, entertained, and to bring happiness to us. It’s unfortunate the dark road the music industry has gone down, but hopefully some day that will change and you won’t have to sell your soul just to share your music with a wide audience. With sites like Distrokid and social media, you really don’t have to do that now. Hopefully soon the satanic imagery, and death/murder/mayhem that is being perpetuated in the music nowadays will fall away and we’ll find our good musical talent again. Anyways, be blessed, have a good hump day tomorrow, and enjoy some tunes. L8r!