General art form question

[u/Nervous_Swim1107]

I'm a lyricist who gets his beats off you tube. Sometimes I go in the studio and the song exceeds my expectations. Recently though a song did not sound the way I imagined, but I believe it is the mixing. Any advice for how much dough or energy to spend on making a song come to life when it could be or could not be the mixes fault. I guess I'm starting to realize the mix and beat are the most important part of rap song. The rapper is just the annoying lead singer lol. Like is mixing so nuanced that rappers will have to get different mixing engineers to be able to bring different songs he raps to come to life? Like do you have to find a mixing engineer who sees your vision for certain trickier kind of beats? Like beats where the voice doesn't meld as well for whatever reason? Thanks

[u/DaringUnderdog_1625]

mix can absolutely make or break a track, you're not wrong about that

sometimes the beat and vocal just dont sit right together no matter what, but a good engineer can carve out space for the vocal. different engineers definitely have different ears, some are better with busy beats or certain textures. its not that you need a new one for every song but when something feels off its worth getting a second pair of ears on it

dont go crazy spending dough before you know the problem though, sometimes its a simple fix like eq or leveling

[u/hjhjrrrr]

I've definitely been in the same boat with how I see my own shit, but personally I've been trying to get to learn the ins and outs of mixing my own vocals, just because it feels like there's a right answer at the end of it compared to opening an empty FL and not knowing where to even start with a beat

[u/ratfooshi]

It really takes 2 to tango.

The best engineer in the world can't save a bad recorded take and the best rapper ever can't save a weak ass mix.

Shoot it over if you want, I could tell you right away.

[u/Electronic_Slice9448]

If you're just rapping over YouTube beats there isn't much to mix. It's just vocals and a stereo beat. I wouldn't worry about any of that until you're ready to buy/make beats and actually release songs. Just have fun and do the best you can for now.

[u/Financial-Koala6995 → u/Electronic_Slice9448]

There's still plenty to mix with a stereo beat: vocal level, tone, doubles and effects. Having only two beat channels limits how much you can change the instruments, not how much work the vocal needs.