Producer & Audio Engineer | Custom Beats & Mix/Mastering Services | Pro Wrestling & Hip-Hop Historian. Book A Free Consultation Call
Nova Scotia Canada
Joined December 2016
- Tweets5K
- Following2.6K
- Followers921
- Likes7.9K
my hat rolls don't stay on the same note. i drop them a few semitones under the main hat so the roll falls into the next bar instead of just buzzing in place. small thing, but it pulls you right into the hook. i make beats, program drums, mix and master. mix with me and you walk out with the master too.
15
saturation on an 808. i use it to shape the front of the hit so the transient stays controlled without just turning the 808 up. a little grit on that first hit and the low end stays locked instead of getting soft when you push it.
what it actually does is round the peak of the transient so you can push the 808 harder before it spikes the bus. i make beats, program drums, mix and master. mix with me and the master's in the same session.
1
37
you rap right up on the mic and the verse comes back boomy, like the bottom of your voice is sitting on the 808. being that close builds up extra bass in the voice and it crowds the beat down low. fix: high-pass the vocal, roll the bottom off til it thins out, then ease back a touch. mix with me and the master comes on top. two for one.
1
22
you drop the mixtape and song 4 is louder and brighter than song 1. each track got its own master and nobody lined them up as a project. fix: master the whole tape together so every song sits next to the others. i master full projects so the sequence holds from the first song to the last.
23
🎚️ FabFilter Pro-L 2. this is the limiter at the end of my master chain, the last thing that touches the song before it leaves. here's what's actually on it.
gain is the big fader on the left. push it up and the song gets louder while the limiter holds the peaks, so you're moving one thing instead of juggling threshold and makeup gain.
style picks the algorithm. there's eight: transparent, punchy, dynamic, allround, aggressive, modern, bus and safe. modern is the default. bus isn't trying to be clean at all, it's built for drum buses and single tracks.
lookahead is how far ahead it reads before it grabs. shorter keeps more of the hit and sounds louder but can distort. longer is safer but the hits can sink back a little.
attack and release run the slower stage that follows the overall level, not the quick peaks. straight from the manual: long attack with short release brings out loudness and presence, short attack with long release is safer and cleaner but can pump.
channel linking has two knobs, transients and release. fabfilter says start release at 100%, and transients can sit under 100% so a peak on one side only gets pulled down on that side.
unity gain lets you hear what the limiting is doing at the same volume. i'd rather a song be a little too quiet than too loud, so i want to hear the limiting for what it is, not just louder.
1
7
304
people see the beats and think it's only rap over here. i mix country, rock, metal, R&B, and indie, to name a few. vocals up front, guitars, live feel, all of it. if your songs are already tracked, i'll mix and master them. the master comes with the mix either way.
2
1
65
bx_masterdesk - brainworx is one plugin that runs a whole mastering chain.
i only use it for the mono maker.
mono maker: everything from 20 Hz up to the cutoff goes mono, and it makes up for what it takes out of the sides so you don't lose anything. around 100 Hz is safe. the 808 and bass come out tighter and punchier and hold up on club and car systems.
tone:
bass makes the low end softer or tighter.
mid pushes vocals and instruments in your face or lays them back.
treble adds perceived loudness without actually turning anything up.
presence works the very top, brings out the nice highs and smooths harsh cymbals and hats.
bass, mid and treble only move 3 dB either way, presence 6, so it's hard to wreck a mix with them.
stereo enhance: not a plain width knob. it goes after the instruments with an automatic eq, so synths and guitars get wider without pumping up drum room or muddy reverb tails. i barely touch it. sometimes 1 to 2 percent, most times not at all.
also on the board, straight from the manual: four analog-modeled tmt compressor modes, thd for a bit of harmonic grit that softens peaks before the compressor works as hard, a mastering de-esser for harsh s and cymbals, and a limiter at the end of the chain. i leave those alone unless i have a reason.
@brainworxaudio
i don't just turn the same drums up for the hook. verses stay simpler, then the hook adds weight so it feels like a jump, not the same loop getting louder. i make beats, program drums, mix and master. song's done? send it over, mix and master come together.
45
right before the hook i cut the drums for a bar and leave a laser ringing, then bring everything back together. that one bar of space makes the hook hit harder when it lands. i make beats, program drums, mix and master. mixing with me means the master's covered too.
2
160
This is my go-to drum bus and mastering compressor. 30 attack on the drums, one release for punch, auto release for glue. On the masters I put the sidechain the whole way up so the 808s and the kick and some of the snares don't get into the low end. For drums, I usually look for two to three dB of compression. For masters, I usually stick to one or two dB. The SSL G Bus Compressor is legendary for making mixes bigger, more powerful, and punchy, all the while enhancing cohesion and clarity. It sticks your mix like audio glue.
transient shaper. it doesn't care how loud a sound is, it turns the hit at the front up or down, and the ring after it. more attack and a snare jumps out, less sustain and a roomy hat gets tight. i make beats, program drums, mix and master. master's part of every mix i take on.
57
open hat ringing over the closed hats sounds messy. i put them in a choke group so the closed hat cuts the open one off, like a drummer closing the pedal. top end stays clean. i make beats, program drums, mix and master. any mix i do, the master rides along with it.
1
169
🎚️ SSL X-Saturator. This is the plugin I put on everything — vocals, drums, the master, the whole mix. Here's what each knob actually does. Drive is how hard you push the signal into the saturation stage — more drive means more saturation, more grit, more attitude. The harmonics knob sweeps between 2nd order harmonics on the left, which are smooth and warm, and 3rd order on the right, which are gritty and aggressive. I run it 50/50 for a blend of both. Depth controls how loud those harmonics sit in the mix — turn it up and the saturation becomes a character, not just a texture. Output is your makeup gain so you can match levels before and after. I keep it around +6dB because that's the headroom button — it gives the saturation stage extra room to push before it clips, and that's where the aggression lives. It's basically hot sauce for your session.
