By Frank Lubsey


You might invest a lot of money buying the perfect beat for your next hip hop track, but if the vocals don't match the beat quality, you might just end up creating a track critics will enjoy tearing apart. Hip hop is as much about great vocals as it is about beats and instrumentals. You can never find the perfect excuse for buying great beats only to mix them with horrible vocals. It can be difficult producing high quality hip hop tracks using the cheap equipment found in a home studio but it is not entirely unachievable. Here are 4 audio changes that will set you on the way to creating great hits.

Tweak #1. Use Noise Gates. This is actually a no brainer. One fact that you need to accept is that there will always be noise and you can't prevent it no matter what you do. So, you have to learn to deal with it. Luckily, modern recording software has tools that will help you deal with noise. The first tool that you should use is the noise gate. This is available in most programs including Audacity, an open source recording software. With noise gating, the noise during silent intervals, when no voice can be heard, will be eliminated. But when the voice speaks, the noise is still there. This tool is especially useful when you are only dealing with fan noise or a little hiss. But be careful in using this tool because the record might sound unnatural when the gates open or close. If the noise in the ambiance is quite loud, the intervals might seem to be too quiet and too unnatural.

Tweak #2. Employ Noise Reduction. Just like noise gate, this tool is present in most recording programs but you have to use this with caution and ONLY when necessary. Noise reduction makes a record sound as if it was taken underwater. To make this tool work for you, you have to indicate how noise sounds like, but this only works well if noise is not that audible because if it's pervasive and loud a huge portion of the record will sound bad.

Tweak #3. Learn the wonders of Compression. This tool can make whispers and yells clearly without the need to constantly adjust the volume. But, it is important to exercise diligence with this tool because with too much compression, you can ruin your mix. This tool will allow you to choose the maximum loudness and adjust the volume of parts that are over the identified volume. This gives over the volume of the voice recording while regulating the loudness of the track. When using this feature in a recording tool, you will see the track as wave forms and your goal is to make sure that the voice occupies the maximum portion of the lane without touching the sides. When the waves touch the sides, it distorts and that can ruin the mix.

Understand normalization. The normalization feature can be used to increase sound to its highest point without any distortion. This feature is useful in instances where the track volume is low and, volume faders or gain can't be effectively used to increase track volume. In such instances, track recovery is the only option to get the right volume. This tool is also useful when you want to set the peak level of your recording.

Before using these tools, it's best to consider whether they are really necessary. It all depends on the recording you are working on. Use these tools with caution and this way, you will ensure that your beats and instrumentals blend in well with the vocals.




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