Technical question for rappers, producers and engineers in the bay

We use the sessions unless I lose em like a dumbass(which happens frequently). We try to have them break the beat down as much as they can good engineers in good studios are not cheap.

i know great engineers from 150 per track to 3500 a track to mix...depending on credentials. also most of the time when the beat is tracked out during the mix the engineer and you will do break downs on beat or what not to create drama in the track

at least track your music out if you want quality. if your rappin over one track, your hands will be very tied in post production.

if you track out your beats you're basically leaving it up to someone else to decide how your beat will play out. whether or not you're ok with that is entirely up to you.

Thats y its so hard to find an engineer that u are 100% comfortable with imo.

im sure some of those engineers steal sounds and ideas. especially if they're tracked out. i would think trackin out beats would be a big nono for beatmakers. too many snakes in the grass. so ur right about not bein comfortable.

he could (and should) tell the engineer how he wants his beat layed out. he can do the same structure layout that he would've done if his producer burned the track to a cd. and take shit out that doesnt fit right under recorded vocals. he can get a way better sounding final product tracked out.

a rapper needs to be fully involved in his project. if you go into a studio and dudes aint doin what you want done, or changing shit up with out your knowledge, i dont know why you would fuck with those dudes anymore. and the producer and engineer should be letting you know that tracked out is the way to go. you cant mix a cd burn too good. and with unlimited tracks, theres no excuse.

a lot of producers/beatmakers wont fuck with a rapper if he aint putting effort into his music or if the shit sounds like shit. its a reflection on the producer/beatmaker. but you can find a million producers who wont care if their music sounds ike garbage due to how the rapper wanted to record it.

at the end i guess its the producer and engineers fault because they are the like the last line of defense before the shit gets the ok to get pressed up and shipped out straight to the back of trunks and mom and pops stores. but ofcourse the artists is to blame cuz the artists might not have given the producer and the engineer anything dope enough to really work with. just take the little studio bill and lie to the artists face and tell him its good enough just to get his sorry ass outta the studio. i dont know im just guessing here. i never even been in a real professional studio before. lol

engineers actually go in and switch shit around? i thought they r just supposed make the beat sound more crisp and cleaner. but i never met or talked to engineer before. so i will b asking more engineering for dumbo questions later

are you using like a song mode on your keyboard/workstation? cus that would take long. if your using an external or computer based sequencer, you can use MIDI from the keyboard/drum machine and it shouldnt take long to track them out. figure how many sounds you have. figure they're 4 bars or 8. all you do is loop them. it dont take long at all. and you can mute sounds when your done tracking them to make the beat layout. or add them in later. if your worried about the mixing engineer and what he's gonna do, you need to pay him to make the "sounds" sound good. thats his job. his job is to make what ever you laid sound cleaner. you wouldnt give a mixing engineer a stereo track of all you vocals. you shouldnt give him a stereo track of all the instruments.

now if your talking about the recording engineer that dont mix, then he should still be recording the music as the producer/rapper wants it. either way, recording vocals over a CD track will limit what your shit coulda sounded like. back in the day if cats had to use tape 4 tracks, or digital 8 tracks, or 16 tracks, you had no choice but to clump all your music to make room for vocals. multi track recording is way cheaper nowadays so take advantage like you have it in front of you.

its all about your position over your project. if your "producing" your own album, but purchasing your music, the guy who did the beat has nothing really to do with how you record his music, since you know what your gonnna do with it and how to use it. if your going to hire someone to record it, then he may have tips for recording while your in the process. but he's there to engineer the recording process, which can be pretty technical. then you may pay some one to mix your shit. which is technical. but all they have to go off is what you recorded. then you may pay some one to master your shit. a good mastering job from all stereo tracks would sound like shit. a good mastering job from half an album worth of stereo tracks would sound like shit. if your creating your album, lyrically, conceptually, and financially, then your the last line of defence. its your baby. its how much care you put into your album. you work with who you work with to get the sound you want to bring your lyrics and concepts to life. then you release your album independantly or you shop it or what ever your plan is. hopefully you have a plan.

mixing and mastering (and quality of) makes a big difference in how ones album sounds. mastering eats off mixing that eats off recording.

good engineers do it all themselves without you physically being their! GREAT engineers will have numerous revisions to make you feel comfortable with it and meet all expectations. i suggest sending it to the engineer first let him edit and what not and then when it comes to heavy mixing sitting in on the mix to express your point of view

how much does a good engineer charge and how much does a mediocore one charge?

Even if someone miraculously had that knowledge, they probably wouldn't tell you.

Good thread tho.

as a producer, your gonna be involved in the musical arraingment. everything you dont want to do and much much more.

as a beat maker, you can basically do what your tryna accomplish and just buss'em out real quick. the rapper might ask for it tracked out. he might want it fresh off the press to a stereo track. you'll discuss the available options with the rapper. theres no real rules. it just depends on what your tryna do with your music and where your tryna take it. theres no rules, but there is somewhat of some industry standards as far as sound quality.

Diddy is a producer and dont play any boards, boxes, or instruments. Dr. Dre is a producer and he can do every thing from making a beat using vinyl records, to mixing an album. Kanye came up as a beat maker. now he's a dope ass producer/beatmaker. and he'll produce a dope song that he may not touch musically. but he can touch one musically better than most.