Akai MPC Tutorial. Mastering in the MPC. Is it possible to get a Radio Ready Master in Standalone?

[@larrytan73]

You are doing godly work! I have no comment. I'm just sitting here with a cigar! Smerking at Akai! Nah great job!

[@TheCratesMotel]

Haha I’m visualizing that mate

[@yenthesage2717]

Thanks again for these videos man. You have been an invaluable source when it comes to learning the ways of the MPC.

[@TheCratesMotel]

Ah that's great to hear mate.

[@TheNathtube]

Knowledge money can't buy, awesome advice as always Conan.

[@strangerhertz5687]

Akai should pay you, you had me buying the soft clipper, but happy they don’t pay you so you only say the ”right” things. Great video mate!

[@TheCratesMotel]

They can pay me if they like, but I’m still going to say it how it is haha

[@InsideOutBeats]

I master everything in my MPC Live and with headphones on. I’ve had good feedback on my mixing before however someone like yourself would probably hear more than most who aren’t too bothered and find many places I can improve on of course. Finishing a beat and will watch through this as it’s popped up and I can’t get distracted 😂👍🏻

[@TheCratesMotel]

It’s good that you actually finish things mate. That’s the hardest part in my opinion.

[@philippebackprotips]

Woah, you are on a roll. We are blessed to get this education. Many thanks! ❤

[@TheCratesMotel]

You are welcome P

[@drenolynbeats]

Bro your templates were a game changer for me thanks!🙏🏾

[@TheCratesMotel]

Ah that's good to hear mate

[@paulwarhurst9935]

Another great tutorial, thanks for sharing the knowledge, I’ll be dipping in to it again. It’s amazing what you can do with these MPC’s, they really are a bargain.

[@TheCratesMotel]

I wholeheartedly agree mate. Thanks for watching 🙏🏼

[@Dikkker]

Vintage lens looking good, nice and smooth.

[@TheCratesMotel]

@@Dikkker yes I’m a little in love with it lol

[@baileyhouseproductions9182]

Hey big fan of your page. Great tutorials that have taking me from zero to hero as an mpc one user

[@TheCratesMotel]

You are welcome. Thank you for watching.

[@chickenv2314]

Love the lens, I use a ton of vintage Voigtlander and FD glass, really brings out the character of a shot. Keep experimenting!

[@TheCratesMotel]

Nice, I need to get me some Voigtlander glass.

[@oakkleys]

You’re basically the Bob Ross to my MPC

[@TheCratesMotel]

Haha I’ll accept that compliment.

[@beatsandsamples]

You are the GOAT brother thank you

[@TheCratesMotel]

Thanks for watching mate

[@ceetronic]

That is a cracking demonstration Conan! I learnt a ton and also heard words I'll never understand 😀fully. One big take away was the swapping of mixing and mastering hats. I created a mastering template to ensure I step away from the main mix and enter a different phase. Thanks mate, your experience really shines through and plenty of great advice.

[@TheCratesMotel]

You are welcome mate. Yes, that step away attitude is invaluable.

[@Aeuss-music]

Just find you, man. Great channel, subscribed and looking for your future content. Thank you

[@TheCratesMotel]

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@phanganmixlab2155]

Your video are the best on YT...no faff no frills just the info that's needed! Plus dsre I say it , no over the top American bravado!! 😂

[@TheCratesMotel]

Haha I was born in the East End and brought up by a Yorkshireman, so I tend to just say it as it is mate. Plus I know how to pronounce Beta properly.

[@MIAMI-CASUAL]

Great content fella 👌🏽👍🏽

[@TheCratesMotel]

Thank you mate

[@dracul74]

Enjoyed and subbed

[@TheCratesMotel]

Thank you mate

[@dracul74]

For home studio, I have a little mastering rule of mastering on a different day from mixing… similar to things you mentioned… give yourself and ears some time to have a fresh take on the task.

[@TheCratesMotel]

Yes that’s an excellent tip mate

[@Reggi_Sample]

Even if I try not to, its 100% going to need refixing in the morning 😂 nowadays I know when to leave it haha breaks / fresh mindset are everything

[@TheCratesMotel]

@@Reggi_Sample Exactly mate

[@Harlem-Instrumental]

The MPC master was dead close! Thanks for show how powerful the tools Akai gave us.

[@TheCratesMotel]

Yes it was just a few very small differences, mostly in the stereo field overall and the sparkling of the high end.

[@Harlem-Instrumental]

@@TheCratesMotel I feel like that it was so close that if you wanted to you could've got it to be the same or better than the other master. All the we know is a better reverb & a better to visually see what going on with the levels.

[@ZZEROO99]

The mixing and mastering video! Highly anticipated this video!

[@TheCratesMotel]

I hope there’s something in there for you mate

[@ZZEROO99]

@@TheCratesMotel Thank you so much, got a ton out of this video. I had no idea about the separation of thinking between tracking vs mastering. Also the types of limiting and clippers used on the master bus. I have been getting lucky with decent mixes so far just using my ears and a bit of compression. Every bit of this video was helpful for me. I'll be going back through some recent tracks of mine and trying everything learned out. I know your primary focus for this channel is MPC hardware. But some MPC being tracked/mastered with some outboard gear and a daw would also be interesting to see from your point of view. Using rack/hardware like JV-1080, JD08,DR-660 drum machine. Looking into real hardware compressors/limiters/gates/side chain like the DBX1066 has really caught my eye. I also enjoy running my tracks out to Yamaha mt4x 4 track tape recorder or print my master onto a VHS tape or the 4 track tape deck. So my next question would where would you apply the hardware/tape deck into the tracking/mastering process.

[@TheCratesMotel]

@@ZZEROO99 I guess if you want to imprint the character and sound you could print the finished master onto tape and then print that back into the digital domain. The best thing to do though is experiment in my opinion. Try it both at the start and at the end.

[@originaljungle]

instant like

[@TheCratesMotel]

Thank you

[@TheStaubzauger]

Best video to hit on a Sunday!

[@TheCratesMotel]

Thanks mate.

[@casaterris4527]

Thank you so much for this great education, mate!

[@TheCratesMotel]

You are more than welcome mate

[@gregbigwood4532]

this is great! learned a lot from this!

[@TheCratesMotel]

I’m glad to hear it mate. Thanks for watching.

[@rnfr]

Can’t wait to watch this!

[@TheCratesMotel]

🙏🏼

[@RobertDryer]

As someone from LA, I appreciated the hat choice 😊

[@TheCratesMotel]

I’m sorry to say, I’m a Yankees fan. I have been since the 70s, but I lived in LA for a while in the 90s so it always has a place in my heart.

[@leogolive]

I don’t think people use their ears enough. A lot of people let what they see tell them what to do musically instead of what they hear. I know there are benefits to having visual references but ultimately how does it sound? That’s really all I care about. That’s why your master sounds great even though it has a bit of “imperfection”.

[@TheCratesMotel]

You’re right. I actually like the lack of visual reference with the EQ in the MPC for instance. You have to use your ears.

[@Trioptic3D]

It's really good! My goal is to one do a song solely in the MPC; production, record, mix, master. Thanks for the video!

[@TheCratesMotel]

You’re welcome mate

[@LatirDownesThomas]

Lens = 👍🏽 Thanks for the great content!

[@TheCratesMotel]

I’m going to use my Helios next.

[@HijakMC]

one of the best creators in the mpc community. underated because your'e not making drill beats lol.

[@TheCratesMotel]

Haha thank you. I do wonder sometimes if people will look back in years to come at all the drill videos and think “what were we thinking” lol

[@trulyors]

Amazing! Thank you for the info 😊

[@TheCratesMotel]

You’re welcome mate

[@Pastryarchy]

Awesome video thanks man

[@TheCratesMotel]

🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@Ramblingdads]

Fantastic….👌🏻🫡 might have to watch that one at least 5 times….😂😉🎹📽️🎥

[@TheCratesMotel]

Happy to help mate. Thank you for watching.

[@cazalorganism7020]

Tube drive is goated man. Great for snares too.

[@TheCratesMotel]

Yes it’s definitely a bit of secret sauce.

[@tom22333]

Masterclass. Thx so much

[@TheCratesMotel]

You are welcome.

[@spiralminus]

Haven’t watched all the video because I’m about to drive to work. But I will later. I’ve purchased an MPC X and Im curious to see if I can do complete productions with this device.

[@TheCratesMotel]

Thanks man. Drive safe.

[@ThatBonsaipanda]

Lens draws nicely. I also have a bad habit of messing around with vintage lenses, my favorite being the Vivitar Komine 35mm f/1.9. I'm always looking for lenses that flare like crazy \o/ 28:00 - Could the peak clipping be a result of rendering the track internally? I haven't used the internal render, so I can't say, just poking in the dark - there might be some different behaviour, especially with the Tube Drive, if the rendering rate is other than the default 44.1kHz (EDIT: just noticed that the render IS 44.1kHz, this kind of level offset shouldn't happen). EDIT: One thing could be adding the limiter (without any boosts etc) instead of the soft clipper and setting the lookahead to the safe 20ms.

[@TheCratesMotel]

Yeh man, it needs to flare uniquely. It’s also so different when you’re looking for lenses for video rather than photography. You want those imperfections in video.

[@davidrausch861]

Is this a remastered one?

[@TheCratesMotel]

I have the original premaster in the MPC which I master in the MPC and I have the actual mastered version that I did for a client as a reference.

[@tayatoyo1]

Been looking for a while for this type of explanation on mastering in the MPC. Most video's I've seen were pretty vague about it and people didn't seem like they actually knew what they were talking about to be honest. Super nice to have such a detailed and well thought-out demonstration! Really been enjoying all your MPC video's. One question that came to mind: is it also possible to reference during the mixing stage? Or is that only possible if you have a pre-master available of the reference song?

[@TheCratesMotel]

What you can do is load up a few songs you think have a good mix down and reference against them. Also before you start mixing, bounce your track. You then have a raw version of your track to reference against to see how far you’ve come in your mix.

[@tayatoyo1]

@@TheCratesMotel Ah yes good one, thanks!

[@tom22333]

As someone who's done this a long time at a high level, what do you think about ozone and specifically the mastering assistant?

[@TheCratesMotel]

I love izotope plugins. Ozone is good and can really help you get a good master. My only advice would be try to understand what it’s actually doing rather than just using its A.I. It will help you more in the long run.

[@dillipphunbar7924]

Nice one...subbed for more...can you suggest a "plugin" to mitigate my tinnitus....I could hear the subtle changes earlier in the chain but not towards the end there.... I see you're using the 3.0..mine worked for one session and then when I switched it back on the next day, machine didn't recognize (authorize) so I've gone back to 2.15. Is 3.0 better for "mastering" on the MPC?

[@TheCratesMotel]

I can’t help with tinnitus I’m afraid, I’m really sorry about that. In terms of sound, there is not any difference between the two firmwares, to my ears. Just a different layout.

[@michaelwashington5479]

Appreciate you and thank you for sharing learning a lot from watching your Videos Salute

[@TheCratesMotel]

Thanks for watching dude.

[@zanza_the_rewolverine]

Great! and about that Neumann mt48 better than Rme Ad2? Thanks

[@TheCratesMotel]

Hmm I don't want to say better. I like the sound of both, but obviously the advantages are the inputs on the MT48 and the fact I can run it off a power bank if I am mobile.

[@zanza_the_rewolverine]

@@TheCratesMotel great!

[@shadezondabeat]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@TheCratesMotel]

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@tomdunn6416]

Sorry for my not knowing but when you refer to "amp tube or tube amp" is it in the amp sim? Or the flavour pro? Thanks again

[@TheCratesMotel]

Tube Drive it’s the actual name of the plugin mate. It’s in the Harmonics section.

[@Antonio_Ortiz]

I love the depth and expertise in your videos. And, how much of a quality boost would you have if you bounced out your MPC master through a higher-quality audio interface, Rather than using the stock converters? Cheers, mate!

[@TheCratesMotel]

Exactly. That can also add to the final result.

[@livingmoneypolitics]

I know yours staying total in the MPC, but what if you were to use the Standard Clip Plugin? Will that particular plugin stop any overage?

[@TheCratesMotel]

Definitely. I use Standard Clip on a daily basis. I love it.

[@Might-Be-Ai]

Hey, I have a few questions, If you build your song in song mode and click Export, there is no option to export individual tracks still, I can only export a single stereo output, is there another way to do this? or is track out not possible yet, maybe you can do it from the arranger? (which I don't use). I know you can probably export each track individually but would prefer to have all exported at once like in 2.xx Nevermind I think I found a way to do it, it's slower than the 2.xx way though and it doesn't even show progress, it just keeps showing 0% as it plays each track to save them, then the MPC crashes at the end 🤔

[@TheCratesMotel]

Hey mate, to be honest, I never use Song Mode so I’m probably not the guy to ask. Did you sort it out?

[@Might-Be-Ai]

@@TheCratesMotel Yes I sorted it, but it is much slower and it also puts each track in it's own folder whereas in 2.xx each track was placed in the same folder, so now I have to go into each folder and drag them all into another folder so they are all together... I know it's only a minor thing but... yeah.

[@TheCratesMotel]

@@Might-Be-Ai Yeh that's a bit of a ballache.

[@Might-Be-Ai]

@@TheCratesMotel Lucky for me I had the project saved before tracking out, otherwise I would have lost everything at the end, every time I tried to track out it crashed the MPC at the end. In 2.xx I didn't always save before tracking out because I never had this issue. So don't forget to save before tracking out 👍 All tracks get saved but MPC crashes afterwards*

[@YETlbeats]

Every time I try to mix it gets muffled and sounds kinda muffled. Any Tipps on mixing with hig bass „cheap“ speakers?

[@TheCratesMotel]

It’s a bit difficult to give you conclusive advice but my best advice would be to reference. Get a bunch of tracks that you know sound good. Not necessarily your favorite tracks, but tracks that are sonically good. Listen to them through your speakers and then try to emulate how those mixes sound. Keep cross referencing throughout.

[@sl2125]

Hi Mr C, is it still possible to "Export" complete track in song mode after bouncing to audio?

[@TheCratesMotel]

Hey mate, to be honest, I’ve never actually tried it.

[@philippebackprotips]

I saw someone mentioning the Akai Custom Distortion being a clipper. Looks like a pretty decent one indeed. Insights?

[@TheCratesMotel]

I’ve not used it that much to be honest mate. I’ll look a bit deeper.

[@marvinramseyjr.9014]

So the limiter would come AFTER the clipper?

[@TheCratesMotel]

Yes mate. There are no definitive rules, but as a mastering engineer I will always have a limiter at the end of the chain. Sometimes two limiters.

[@marvinramseyjr.9014]

@@TheCratesMotel got you. Thanks for the reply!!

[@TheCratesMotel]

@@marvinramseyjr.9014 You’re welcome mate. Holla if you have any more questions regarding mastering.

[@TheRealKeetHarris]

if you can buy a pair of headphones for mixing mastering what would you recommend. money not an issue.

[@TheCratesMotel]

I have used a ton over the years and I settled on Audeze in 2017, but honestly mate, everyone is different. It’s really about finding your own “best”. Focal are very good. Also Hedd.

[@stacystacksbeats999]

Your ears are the real test!

[@TheCratesMotel]

I agree 100000%

[@thundersnow819]

GYEAUH

[@mnlrbeats]

can you do the same with hip hop beats?

[@TheCratesMotel]

Of course mate. Mastering is mastering, whatever genre. I master rock, dance, reggae, hip hop, jazz, orchestras. The fundamental processes are all pretty much the same. Hip Hop is perfect for the MPC obviously.

[@JBWozEre96]

Need to get my pen and paper out 🧐

[@TheCratesMotel]

@@JBWozEre96 🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@adilbakhsh4327]

Please make a track like this wann learn how to lay drums voices chords I have Mpc 61 I know how to play keys just wanna learn how you set the drums effects things like that please and thank you No rush

[@TheCratesMotel]

Noted mate

[@chosenonebeats]

It would be sooo much better if Akai incorporated VU, Peak, LUFS meters.

[@TheCratesMotel]

It would be useful for sure.

[@espacemaxim]

Ah "Cinematic"...whenever you hear this, be prepared somebody wants to sell you something :)

[@TheCratesMotel]

Hahaha exactly

[@JermaineLowden]

I’ve learned so much about the MPC just from watching your videos

[@TheCratesMotel]

I’m happy to hear that mate. Thank you for watching.

[@nienienie7567]

It is but why would you want to do it to yourself ?

[@TheCratesMotel]

A lot of people like to do it themselves mate. I get asked on a daily basis how to master in the MPC, that's why I made the video. Some people are happy to send their music to a mastering engineer like me, but it doesn't do any harm if you can understand the process yourself. Who knows, you might end up becoming a mastering engineer haha. That's how I ended up being a mastering engineer. I just started mastering my own music, and then the next thing, people started asking me to master their music. And here we are. Thanks for watching.

[@nienienie7567]

@@TheCratesMotel i missformulated my question. Why would one want to do it on MPC? I love mpc but it's (was? V3 maybe changes that) not the best tool for such shenanigans. I love your vids tho

[@TheCratesMotel]

@@nienienie7567 ah got ya mate. Sorry I misunderstood you.

[@TheCratesMotel]

@@nienienie7567 No it’s definitely not the best tool for the job. But I wanted to make people aware that it can be done and not to be disheartened if they don’t have a big studio with lots of gear etc

[@nienienie7567]

@@TheCratesMotel of course! If you have an mpc, a microphone, couple of cables and a link to any torrent website you have literrally everything you can ask for to do whatever music you want in super high quality BUUUUUT it won't necessarily be easy :D

[@88keyz]

🫡🔥🫡👍🏾

[@TheCratesMotel]

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@Aeuss-music]

Just find you, man. Great channel, subscribed and looking for your future content. Thank you

[@TheCratesMotel]

Thanks mate