Recording Studio Tips #1

How do I get a Hip Hop ‘mix tape’ vibe from my recorded studio beats?

A few people were after this effect and it can be achieved very easily. The low quality mp3s found on youtube have something cool about them, something 'in the box' and 'punchy', especially the hip hop beats.

Try this on your recorded studio mix. Before you mix it down, try putting a stereo expander over the whole mix. There are several free ones on google if you do a search for “free stereo expander”.

What is a stereo expander?

A stereo expander will take a mono or narrow spectrum mix and widen it so your music will sound ‘spread out’. If you set the expander to between 0-15% narrow mix however, you will get the opposite effect.

The instruments and vocals will centre with no stereo expanse. In other words you are turning your stereo mix (left and right) into a mono mix (centre).

The Audio Effects

The effect is a tight, punchy/boxy mix tape or lofi vibe and in some instances can make the track sound better, depending on the music style.

Hip Hop lends itself to this technique as it produces punchy and hard edged mixes, but this is an ‘effect’ and in most instances you would want to keep the traditional stereo mix so don't do it on every song you have!!

You may have to remix the levels your track as the stereo expander will change the balance quite dramatically.

Mixing

Something else that is worth mentioning in this article is the use of stereo expanders as a mixing tool. A lot of producers will test their mix in mono as this highlights problem areas in the mix.

If you have a mixed song, take a listen to it with a stereo expander set to 100% mono and notice how some instruments seem way too loud and others are lost.

The instruments that are lost may be smothered by frequencies in other sounds. EQ is vital to a good mix, so when you set your track to mono you are effectively putting everything on top of each other. The only way to clarify the individual parts is to fix EQ issues and volume. There are no hiding places in a mono mix!

Once you have sorted the mix in mono you can switch back to stereo and see how clear your mixes are!

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