We always talk about producers, but did you know top mixing engineers charge $4,000-$5000+ per mix?

[DJDONTNOBODYPAYME]

Engineering is maybe the next frontier in Hip Hop. I'd elaborate but I don't wanna give away too much game.


I will say tho as I've been saying for over 10 years now. "I'm a student of Dr. Dre". I always paid close attention to what that man was doing #Pause. Ever since "detox" got announced I always wanted to be ahead of the curve. My mind went wild when I first heard about it

 

[Tetris v2.0]

Honestly, Im surprised they aint getting more. Mixing is such an integral part of the final product. A good mix can turn a weak beat to a decent record, and a bad mix can ruin a classic beat like we've seen time and time again in rap

 

[Insensitive]

All I know is I have immense respect for engineers.
If you want your final product to sound great then you need a good engineer.

Also I think the little jabs at Hip Hop are lame, depending on the artist they're pursuing
great sound quality on top of well written songs. You can find people that want to skimp on quality
in just about any genre. I should post up some vids from one of my favorite youtube channels that
supports this.

 

[ManBearPig]

Go to Dr.Dre for a discount.

 

[Drones]

I'm not going to pretend to know the difference between a mixed and unmixed song, can someone explain with audio examples?

 

[PRVLG Sound Studios]

Outside of the Coli, we charge $1100 a track on average.
It sounds nice, but if you knew how much it cost to run a studio in NY you might change your mind.
Nice thread op!

 

[CodeBlaMeVi]

I'm not going to pretend to know the difference between a mixed and unmixed song, can someone explain with audio examples?

If you cannot notice anything then it is a good mix. Great mixes are very detailed.

 

[CodeBlaMeVi]

Honestly, mixing rap is not a challenge or worth spending $5000 for a song. Most of the sounds are digital and beat makers are better at mixing their sounds and effects. A good vocal recording is the true difference maker.

Mixing is about the bells and whistles.

 

[DJDONTNOBODYPAYME]

Go to Dr.Dre for a discount.

I wanna say but I can't

 

[DJDONTNOBODYPAYME]

Honestly, mixing rap is not a challenge or worth spending $5000 for a song. Most of the sounds are digital and beat makers are better at mixing their sounds and effects. A good vocal recording it the true difference maker.

Mixing is about the bells and whistles.

Not necessarily. If you're an artist then you know how to twerk your canvas

 

[CodeBlaMeVi]

Not necessarily. If you're an artist then you know how to twerk your canvas

Twerk or tweak?! Lol

An artist should but I believe in specialization. Just know what one wants to hear.

 

[L&HH]

I'm not going to pretend to know the difference between a mixed and unmixed song, can someone explain with audio examples?

Listen to a lot of chief keefs stuff. It's mixed terribly

 

[scuba]

respectable thread... mixing is probably too super technical... i mean i know exactly how they do it in theory, in reality its super technical and takes a long time to learn how to do it well...
cant really provide good audio samples... its something you have to experience, recorded someone rapping on your computer and then compare it to a real song and its a big audio difference

 

[DJDONTNOBODYPAYME]

Twerk or tweak?! Lol

An artist should but I believe in specialization. Just know what one wants to hear.

Lol. I definitely meant Twerk.


And I won't elaborate but I know what to listen for. I've studied Dre's craft for years. There's more to it than adding live instruments on a 4/4 scale. Atleast that's what I took from it

 

[PRVLG Sound Studios]

Honestly, mixing rap is not a challenge or worth spending $5000 for a song. Most of the sounds are digital and beat makers are better at mixing their sounds and effects. A good vocal recording is the true difference maker.

Mixing is about the bells and whistles.

I was gonna disagree but I understand why you say this.
You're right to some extent. The problem is sonically hip hop is moving in a direction that's lowering the quality of the music.
Most clients care more about a record "going hard in the whip", then being sonically correct and organic.
A lot of modern rap is mixed poorly due to artists and producers asking it to sound that way. Trust me i experience this on a daily basis.
Even with that said, There still are a lot of great dynamic hip hop mixes out there!