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thinking about getting some tracks cut to dubplates later this summer...

I searched the production forum, but haven't really found exactly the info I'm looking for...

When the track is going to be cut to a dubplate...
1. What should I avoid in a track's mix?
2. Where should my peak dB be?
3. I've noticed that the max time per side on a dubplate depends on the output level... what's the advantage of a higher output level/why does it shorten the amount of time per side?
4. Any master EQ suggestions?
5. Other tips/tricks?

cheers,

I'm not completely clued up on this but from what I gather, everything below 40Hz needs cutting out, also make sure all the bass is in mono.

The reason that tunes are louder is something to do with the size of the grooves, for instance two tunes on one side of a record would be louder than one.

Hope thats some help mate

Ive been wonderin the same thing.

vizzie wrote: 3. I've noticed that the max time per side on a dubplate depends on the output level... what's the advantage of a higher output level/why does it shorten the amount of time per side?

I believe this is down to the fact that if the shorter the song is, the less grooves you need per inch, allowing you to cut a groover that has greater room to move back and forth. The more the stylus moves back and forth, the stronger the signal that gets sent on down the path to your speakers. This is beccause that signal is generated by two magnets moving inside the cartridge, generating an electric signal that goes to the preamp and onwards. The larger these movements, the greater the strength of said signal.

and louder is always better

vizzie wrote:thinking about getting some tracks cut to dubplates later this summer...

I searched the production forum, but haven't really found exactly the info I'm looking for...

When the track is going to be cut to a dubplate...
1. What should I avoid in a track's mix?
2. Where should my peak dB be?
3. I've noticed that the max time per side on a dubplate depends on the output level... what's the advantage of a higher output level/why does it shorten the amount of time per side?
4. Any master EQ suggestions?
5. Other tips/tricks?

cheers,

You should probably call up the cutting house where you are going to cut, as they will probs offer the best advice

quote:for instance two tunes on one side of a record would be louder than one.

Wrong, one track per side is louder than two tracks on one side. If your track is less than 7mins, you will get the loudest cut.

if ur gonna fork out on dubplates why not pay to get ur tune profesionally mastered? it dont cost much now days and they will know exactly what needs to be done to get it "dubplate ready"

if you're getting your tunes cut at a half decent cutting house, they will master it too the dub anyway unless they are complete idiots who shouldn't be taknig your money in the first place.

I would reccomend leaving out any sort of master eq or other processing as they will probably have nice analogue gear that will do the job much better...

like ramadanman said though... call the cutting house and talk to them... they know the job best innit...

and i would seriously consider using Transition (www.dub-plates.org) to get em cut... they know dubstep much better than anyone else and the quality of plates they cut is second to none...

peace

just realised your not UK based so Transition isn't an option...

sorry

Wil Blaze wrote:just realised your not UK based so Transition isn't an option...

sorry

they will mail it worldwide I'd imagine.

here's some tips:


mixdown your tune to the best of your abilities, but don't use any mastering plugins or anything like that - any good cutting house will give your tune a bit of mastering before the cut, and this will be with much better equipment than anything you have unless you've got some serious kit. The ideal is to just bounce the track down from your sequencer and leave it clean.

Record your tune out as loud as possible, but give them a bit of headroom to work with so don't whack it up to 0dB or anything silly. This will allow them to work the bass and cut as loud as poss.

You can roll off everything below about 30Hz (ish), although again any mastering/cutting house worth their salt will do this anyway.

All low-end (about 500Hz ish and below) should be in Mono.


all this is in my own experience - maybe J from Transition or someone else will bless us with more detailed info.

When the track is going to be cut to a dub plate...
1. What should I avoid in a track's mix?
Sibilance, Out of phase audio, Flat topped mixes, Excessive digital peak limiting and or compression, Excessive high frequencies (you don’t want to wake up the dogs) too much sub harmonic frequencies, Narrow Q parametric EQ settings with more than 2db of boost,
2. Where should my peak dB be?
24bit =-6dbfs/16bit = -2or3dbfs
3. I've noticed that the max time per side on a dub plate depends on the output level... what's the advantage of a higher output level/why does it shorten the amount of time per side?
10’’ = 6-7 Mins.12’’ = 10mins.
You can always get longer but the level will be reduced. More level = wider grooves and wider swings which takes up more land.
4. Any master EQ suggestions?
Just make a balanced mix that sounds good on a couple of systems.
5. Other tips/tricks?
You should never need to use a multi band compressor on your mixes that’s pure laziness. Ask the cutting engineer what you can do to your mixes to make them better. LISTEN TO WHAT HE/SHE SAYS, if he/she is unwilling to comment choose another company.
Contact the company before you go to find out which formats they accept or prefer, assumption is the mother of all f*** ups.
Do not take to many people with you because they are an unnecessary distraction.
Do not be disheartened if the engineer is not complimentary on you mix just try harder next time.
Do not ask the engineer what he thinks of your track from an artistic point of view, He or she is a cutting engineer not an A+R person.

Thats a few things off the top of my head.
Jason

respect for that!

Thanks for the tips ThinKing!

Interesting post Jason. Thank you.

Because Ableton Live 5's metering is so poor, what does -6dbfs mean in Ableton. If I used PSP Vintage Metering on the master track as a guide, what should my peak be hitting for a 24 bit WAV. -6db or more like -3db ?

didn't mean to bring this back from the dead, but looking at getting a dub cut and had a quick question about bass being in mono.

my bass samples were in stereo. i just converted them to mono and re-imported them into my sequencer. is this sufficient for getting a dub cut? i wasn't sure if everything, including the mono bass samples, would be converted back to stereo when exporting the whole track out as a wav. asked the place i'm getting it cut at, but figured someone here could get back to me sooner.

relik wrote:didn't mean to bring this back from the dead, but looking at getting a dub cut and had a quick question about bass being in mono.

my bass samples were in stereo. i just converted them to mono and re-imported them into my sequencer. is this sufficient for getting a dub cut? i wasn't sure if everything, including the mono bass samples, would be converted back to stereo when exporting the whole track out as a wav. asked the place i'm getting it cut at, but figured someone here could get back to me sooner.

if they have been converted to mono (and if you want to make 1000% sure are sitting in a mono channel) i suppose you can't go wrong

thanks for the reply. actually even though they were converted to mono, they were still being reconverted to stereo when i would export the whole track. couldn't actually test it out until i got out of work. panning the sample channels all the way to the left in my sequencer seems to do the trick.

not sure if that's the proper way either though. i'm using FL.

nevermind...found the stereo separation knob under the mixer track properties. for those that use FL, just turn that knob all the way to the right for mono.