Importance of Track Separation
The first thing I would like to clear out is that our website’s purpose is not just selling hip-hop beats. This blog section represents a precious source of information, ideas and advice that will surely support you in your music career. An argument that I’m often asked about by the artists is that of track separation. Questions like “Is track separation important? Are the tracked-out files a worthy thing to invest in when leasing a beat?” are very often. The answer to this depends a lot on your purposes as an artist. But let me begin by explaining what track separation is.
Track outs Tracked-Out WAVs or Tracked-Out Files.
WAV Separation or Track Separation Stem Files
Individual WAVs Separated Tracks or Separated WAVs
All these names belong in fact to the same procedure. The simplest term that can be used is “track Separation” for balancing this article.
What does Track Separation mean?
Exporting every single individual sound in a beat as its own separate file means track separation. For instance, in a combination of piano, guitar, bass, a kick drum, a snare drum, an open hi-hat, a closed hi-hat and orchestral strings from which I obtained a beat: all the instruments get exported in separate audio files being solo and separated when tracking this beat out. 8 different audio files would finally result, equal by length, each including one instrument/sound only. Every track must be aligned at the “zero” mark in your recording software and play at the proper time automatically as there is no need of a manual alignment of each track, this is why every track has the same duration. This way, things are much easier for you.
Each producer can use a different term when referring to track separation, and you must be able to notice this. Here are some examples:
What is the importance of Track Separation?
The MIX/MASTER of the final song is a step that many artists skip, although it is the most important part of a recording. Even though in the end the beat has a good balance to the extent of composition and that of db intensity (under 0 db), they only use MP3 format file that cannot be very well mastered for the final mix. .MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer 3) has the only advantage of low disk space occupied; by the rest, sound quality is poor when compressed. This kind of format is an audio coding used for digital audio, by a lossy process of compression. You can include all the song elements in the box as well as your vocals if you possess the track outs of the beat. The reason for this is that track outs are first pre-mixed and mastered. You can work with your engineer to mix the song the right way, and in the end you will have your voice incorporated in the mix in a more natural way. By doing this you will not master the beat twice! Once you purchase a beat that doesn’t have track separation, you get one file of the entire mixed beat that is either in .WAV format or in .MP3 format. Due to the fact that it’s just a single mixed file, you will not have the possibility to adjust the equalizer, the volume or panning of any beat with one instrument. Any change that you make alters all the single instruments in the same way because it’s all one mixed file. Do not forget that the whole mix of the beat modifies after you insert your voice in it. Oftentimes the instruments used in the beat must be modified to balance your vocals after they are recorded and this is a crucial factor because your vocals are the most important part of the song. If you separate the track properly, you will ensure that you have total control and you will create the best song sound possible.
Is it better to purchase track separation when purchasing a beat?
Most of the times track outs cost double than a cheap licensing option. You must decide for yourself if you can improve quality this way, but I believe that audio quality is the most important criteria that offers credibility to your music. So it is up to you to decide. If you consider yourself a true artist that seeks only the best sound out of your music then you should not avoid track separation. You should buy it without hesitation if you really want to have a nice sound. On the other hand, if you are just creating a Mixtape or you create music as a hobby then it’s not really necessary to buy a track separation. If you have a beat that is well mixed, you can still obtain a nice sound without track separation, but you should know that you cannot get the optimal sound if you don’t buy the track-outs. I believe that after you’ve read this article you can make a better choice when it comes to track separation. Once you understand what you need for your music you can click here to find out more info about our beats for sale.
How to lower your costs
There are a couple of tips you should know so you can keep the costs down. One of them is that you should purchase in bulk. Many producers offer big discounts when you acquire a large number of beats. You should talk to the producers and request a bulk discount if the final checkout prices is too high. If you work with an engineer to mix or master the beat, you should ask the producer if he provides these services. There are numerous producers who provide discounts for mixing/mastering when utilizing one of their beats, so don’t forget to solicit this. You can combine these two secrets to obtain a price that could be cheaper than an entry-level license. Don’t be afraid to talk to producers about discounts because until now I haven’t seen a producer that refuses discounts for these kinds of services. Feel free to submit any questions or comments you may have.
