The trick is parallel compression. I usually do two things when I get a new beat in to the studio. One is to notch some bad frequencies out of the beat to clean it up, and the other is to parallel compress it. Let me explain.
Not everyone who makes beats is doing so in a great listening environment. This doesn't mean that their beats are bad, it just means that there may be frequencies that they didn't hear and didn't know to take out of their mix. Poorly treated rooms can have null's at certain frequencies, and this means that you will not hear that frequency because it cancels itself out of your listening environment due to bad acoustics. This is why acoustic treatment is so important, and if you can't afford treatment, I recommend mixing through flat headphones (NOT
Skull Candies or Beats By Dre's…although those can be great for referencing the mix, but I wouldn't make any critical listening decisions using them).
Knowing that no two rooms sound the same, the first thing I do is bring the stereo mix of the beat into a single track. I pull out an EQ, and start notching out bad frequencies. This is done by narrowing the Q on an eq band, and spiking it up toward the ceiling. It looks like this.
I then slide that eq band left and right while listening to the source audio. I'm listening for any sound that doesn't sound right, that resonates, or sounds just plain bad. Once I find it, I pull that frequency down.
Repeat this until there are no more bad sounding frequencies in the beat. Feel free to bypass the eq once you're done to hear the difference. You'll hear a lot more clarity in the mix.
The next thing I do is duplicate the track (I call this "cloning"). You should have two channels of the same stereo file instead of just one, and both channels now have the same eq settings.
I solo the cloned track and then bring in a compressor. The goal here is to over compress the cloned track so that it's pumping like crazy. Squash the hell out of it! Then un-solo it and turn it all the way down.
The only step that remains is to blend the two together. Level out the first track so it's not peaking, and is barely poking into the orange on the meters. Then slowly turn up the compressed track until it fattens the beat up just enough. Only your ears can tell you when is the right amount, but your eyes will trick you into hearing a difference when none is actually made. So I typically close my eyes when making ANY fader adjustments, including in this situation. This way, my ears have to tell me when the compressed track is loud enough, and I won't look at the number values on the faders and subconsciously decide it's right based on what my brain wants to see. Taking my eyes out of it leaves only my ears to make the judgement call, and isn't that what you're supposed to use after all? Trust your ears, not your eyes.
Once I've got the two tracks blended just right, I'll group the two tracks together so that if I adjust one fader, the other one moves with it to keep them balanced. I use pro tools, but I'm sure that there are other DAW's with a grouping function. If not, you may consider routing the output of the two tracks to a bus, and adjusting the bus instead.
Now it's time to record your flows on top of a much fatter beat. This really brings more out of the beat, just be careful not to over do it. And remember, use your ears, not your eyes, to make your decisions about levels.
(Brandon S. Hire is the head engineer at Skyline Sound Studios in Grove City, Ohio. Visit skylinesoundstudios.com for more information!)
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