By Odin Smith  |  Send to Friend

Receiving promotional material is a part of life when you are involved with hip-hop. Whenever I’m at a show, in a record shop, at another studio or even at a club or bar, there is always some fresh-faced rapper with a feigned cocky smirk on his face, approaching me with his demo, mixtape or street album in hand. (As annoying as it is, it’s still better than the days of people rapping loudly into my ear in the middle of a crowded bar. If I wanted someone’s drunken breath on my neck, I’d get my girl a bottle of Grey Goose and put on "Desperate Housewives".)

You can’t escape it at home, either. If you have a MySpace page that mentions rap or hip-hop at all, you probably receive a couple of friend requests a week from random rappers with a message attached asking you to check out their new “single,” latest collaboration track with their next-door neighbor, or verse over whatever the hottest new beat is that week.

Some of us have the luxury of being able to toss the CD in the trash as soon as this future superstar goes back to his drink or of not approving the request. But, the day will come when the rapper is your neighbor, your co-worker, your barber or -- God forbid -- your sister’s boyfriend. Or, if you are into the scene deep enough or are involved in the media, there are times when it’s unavoidable.

These days, if you have a computer and a RadioShack microphone, you can make a CD. As frightening as this sounds, that is all you need to become an “artist.” Lack of talent, proper equipment and resources doesn’t stop people anymore. It’s hard to offer up generic advice on how to improve someone’s skill on the mic or behind drum machines and samplers, but it is a little easier to drop a few meager jewels on the recording process to at least make things more listenable.

I’m not claiming that I am the master. I didn’t attend any kind of music or recording school and never had someone to teach me how to use my equipment properly. Basically, I’m just a producer who had to get some equipment in order to make some things happen and learned on the fly. I have a pretty modest set-up, but I’ve come across some basic recording and mixing principles that have made my songs sound better. Sound quality matters, kids. All jokes aside, I’ve heard CDs from some really talented artists, but the sound quality was very poor and sadly, most people probably wouldn’t give their music the time it deserves.

Obviously, if you want your music to sound the best, get some professionals involved. They probably have better equipment, are more experienced, have a more refined ear and will give an honest listen because they are not as convinced as you are that your work is genius. Even if you record in your home, you can send .wav files out to be mixed and mastered by some experts.

But if you are like me and have Moët dreams with an Andre budget, you are going to have to work with what you have. So for starters, here are a few basics on equalization for the uninitiated:

EQ: If you don’t know what EQ is, then stop reading this article. It's pretty much game over for you, son. UPS is hiring.

Hopefully your equipment has more than just a bass, midrange, and treble knob. You should be able to pick a specific frequency and raise and lower that.

Most EQs have a “Q” setting that determines how much surrounding frequencies rise and fall when you cut or boost a specific signal. if you turn the Q all the way up or “narrow” it and boost the 700Hz range, only 700Hz is affected. If the Q is turned down or “widened,” 500Hz-1Khz is effected. Confused yet? Peep the mnemonic device: “If the Q is turned down, it affects everything around. If the Q is turned up, only that frequency is what’s up.” Not my words, thank God.

Bass: 20-60 Hz is where “Sub-bass” is. That’s where the 808 and Miami Bass Rap lives. It’s hard to mess with this because most people don’t have a sub-woofer in their studio. If something sounds too muddy, it’s a good idea to cut some sub-bass out. Plus it keeps you from having to borrow money off of mom when you destroy your speakers. (Thanks Mom!)

Between 60 and 300 is the regular bass range. Same rules apply, although it’s more “boomy” than muddy here. I’ve found that adding a little 100Hz to a bass drum will give it a nice thump.

Actually, 100Hz is a good place for cutting most sounds in a beat. Cutting the bass out of a sound goes against the rap grain, but if you have a sound in the mix that isn’t the bassline, kick drum, or 808, strategically filtering out everything else below that might help let the main low-end ingredients shine through.

100Hz is also the bottom end of where the male voice is and where plosives rest.

Plosives: Plosives (stops from a pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism, if I may get technical on you snitches) are the low popping sounds that occur when lyrics meet microphone. Unless you have a set of pipes that rival Barry White, you can probably cut all frequencies below 90hz; it won’t effect your voice, but it will help cut out the sound of accidentally kicking the mic stand, the vibrations of a truck driving outside, light buzzing or plumbing.

A pop filter will also help eliminate the low, hard air sounds of your voice. Not only does it protect the mic from getting spit on -- (Don’t act like ya’ll don’t do this. You do. I have to clean it off, you savages!) -- it keeps those plosives away.

I went and got myself a Stedman Pop Filter (word to Oprah) that works great, but if you can’t afford that, don’t be afraid to be ghetto and use your girl’s stockings to make a cover. Just make sure she knows what you are doing with them and doesn’t think you are wearing them. That’s not a rumor you want getting out.

*The 300Hz-4Khz area is midrange and is usually the most difficult one to manage, being that we live in a world where there are bass and treble knobs on stereos growing up, but no midrange knobs in sight. This is usually the area where something sounds tinny, crunchy, and honky (not like Scott Storch rapping; like a car horn or honky tonk piano.) Add a little 1 or 2Khz to a snare drum to give it some snap and help it push through the mix.

*Between 4-20Khz is the treble range, basically your key to clarity. Cats spend a lot of time getting the bass perfect so their beats can knock in a system or their expensive speakers, they neglect the treble and their mixes become mismanaged. There is a lot to deal with in this range; a gentle boost at 16Khz can really add some “air” and “shimmer.” A boost at 10Khz can really help brighten up a keyboard part; a cut can help it blend into the mix or make it sound more like a sample. And perhaps the most important treble issue; sibilance in the vocal track.

De-essing: (Super-technical name, right? Someone should get the pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism cats on that.) Sibilance is the piercing “s” sound in the human voice that microphones amplify, making it sound all kinds of nasty. You can smooth that out and make the vocals sound more listenable with some EQ cuts. The offending frequency is usually between 3 or 9Khz, in the upper-midrange/lower high area. The best way to find the offending frequency is by starting down at 2 or 3Khz, Slimfast the Q, boost the gain way up, and move between the 3-9Khz range. Once you start twitching or your roommate starts crying whenever an “s" sound is heard, you found it. Go the opposite direction with the gain to cut that sound out, and now your vocals will sound a lot smoother.

But the most important lesson is to learn how to receive constructive criticism. In hip-hop, we have a built-in ego that causes us to think that everything that we do is perfect and above feedback, but I’ve really benefited, and still benefit, from people who are serious about mixing and give me pointers about how to tighten my game. Seek out knowledgeable people and have them listen.

Odin Smith is a producer who works with Icon the Mic King, Has-Lo, Fade Money, Mikey Spitz, Scizzahands, Postal, and Matthue Roth among others. He is also a hermit who never leaves the studio. (myspace.com/odinsmithlabs)