Why I Provide the Unmastered Version of my Beats for Sale

Mastering is the final step before uploading a mix. It ensures that a track is loud and clear, So, why wouldn’t I include a mastered version when I sell beats? The answer for me is complicated, but the reasoning behind it is rather simple. Let me explain.

First of all, I do provide a “mastered version” of my beats in the trackouts I sell (the $49.95 version). This is in case someone wants the exact track I use for the beatstars player: the preview version that I upload so people can listen to the beat they’re buying prior to download. I upload the stems in a zip folder and I include the mastered version also in the zip folder. I don’t include it with the mp3 only tier (the $29.95 level). But, technically speaking, since you’ll be adding a vocal to the mix, you really want the unmastered version of the track anyways.

Think about it like this: the beat is there to have vocals added to it. Once you record your vocal part, you then mix your vocals and master the final version. Once that’s complete, you’d upload the track wherever you need it.

You really want to start the vocal recording process on a beat that hasn’t yet been mastered. There are steps you can take to reverse the mastering process, ie using Waves Smack Attack plugin to add transients and reverse engineer what a track sounded like prior to having a limiter (heavy compressor) placed on it. Overall, it’s better to start out with an unmastered track, and that’s what I provide, whether you buy the $29.95 mp3 or the $49.95 trackout.

Another thing to consider is when to dither when you output a track from a DAW. Dithering is something you only do once at the end of a track export. I’m not exactly an expert on dithering; I just know it happens at the final export of a track. This means I don’t dither prior to uploading the unmastered version that I sell for adding vocals on Beatstars.

While we’re on the topic of recording vocals and using my beats to add vocals to, be sure to set your DAW to the BPM I provide in the description of the track(s) prior to importing the track into your DAW. This way, any tempo-based effects will work flawlessly with your vocals and the DAW will show an accurate measure (bar) count as well. All my beats are in 4/4 time, fyi.

If you need me to mix a track, shoot me an email at Bensprint87@gmail.com I’d be happy to hear from you and I’m sure we can work something out. I don’t set the terms of mixing or give a price here prior to hearing from people first since it depends on the project and what you need done. I obviously have no problem quoting a price once I know what it is you need done, even if you need something mixed that doesn’t involve one of my beats. Just be aware it may take some time for me to mix your track; that is, I spend at least a few days on the mixing process. If starting with a 2 track (stereo audio track) and vocals, all I’d be mixing is the vocals, which takes less time (and is less of a headache) than mixing a full trackout with all the instrument tracks. It gives me less to work with and doesn’t allow me to sidechain the vocal to a synth to duck the synth when the vocal comes in. I definitely prefer full trackouts when mixing, but I’ll work with whatever you send. I can then send you a mix either mastered or unmastered depending on if you want to master the final version yourself or have someone else do it, or if you don’t have anyone to do it, I can master it. Once upon a time, mixing engineers didn’t really master tracks, but that’s a topic for another post.

I think we’ve covered everything I have to say about the mastering process, so this is the end, but it doesn’t have to be forever. Reach out anytime (spammers not needed).