{"id":4806,"date":"2018-05-04T11:06:15","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T15:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=4806"},"modified":"2023-06-13T15:12:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T19:12:32","slug":"how-to-master-hip-hop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/how-to-master-hip-hop\/","title":{"rendered":"How to master hip hop"},"content":{"rendered":"
Illustration: Inkee Wang<\/a><\/h6>\n

Mastering to many is a “dark art” that’s often viewed as a difficult process.<\/h1>\n

In this blog post, we uncover a few techniques to get you started on mastering hip hop in your bedroom.<\/p>\n

1. Understand the genre<\/h2>\n

Mixing and mastering, or in fact music production of any kind, will be so much easier if we understand what makes a genre unique. Every genre out there has certain musical and sonic elements that define it. For example, most hip hop songs have an extended low end and crispy highs (you know, those trap hats) and rap vocals that are dry. In general, most hip hop productions have boosted low and high ends that you should take note of and respect when mastering. Knowing what hip hop sounds like also comes with its challenges – having a big low end poses a problem with compression, limiting, and loudness, as low end takes up a lot of energy in a mix. But don’t worry, we will address this later on.<\/p>\n

2. Get a reference track<\/h2>\n

You should always<\/em> have a reference track<\/a> if you are just starting out trying to master. A reference track is a song that you would like your master to sound like sonically. When picking a reference track, I’ll try to pick one that has similar instruments and frequency components to the mix that I’m mastering so that I know I’m not trying to do the impossible. There are plenty of tools out there such as iZotope’s Ozone 9 Advanced<\/a> that make it easy to a\/b between your master and your reference track. I highly suggest you check it out – the Tonal Balance Control feature in particular is a game changer.<\/p>\n

3. Know your target levels<\/h2>\n

Mastering is all about getting a mix ready for listening on different streaming platforms and mediums. To ensure that your master is loud enough for each platform, you will need to know the target levels for each. Unfortunately, each streaming platform has a different target level<\/a>. For easy reference, here are the target levels of some common platforms:<\/p>\n

Apple Music: -16 LUFS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spotify: -14 LUFS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tidal:<\/strong> -14 LUFS<\/strong><\/p>\n

YouTube: -13 LUFS<\/strong><\/p>\n

You may be wondering how to reach these target levels. For beginners, Ozone 8 Advanced has a “learn threshold” feature<\/a> on their limiter that automatically adjusts the limiter’s threshold to reach the target LUFS. This makes it easy for you and leaves out all the guesswork.<\/p>\n

4. Equalization, compression, and limiting<\/h2>\n

There’s a lot to be said about the process of mastering a track, and not everything can be covered in this blog post. That said, here are some takeaways specific to hip hop that you should know when equalizing, compressing and limiting.<\/p>\n

Equalization<\/strong><\/p>\n