This is a follow-up to my previous post on finding the right beat making software.

Once you’ve established which software program you’re going to use as your sequencer, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got the necessary plugins to create a clean, hard-hitting, radio-friendly sound that hip-hop artists love.

Without the proper plugins and the knowledge of how to use them, your beats are in danger of sounding like every other wanna-be producer out there who thinks they can get away with using stock drum sounds and a lot of gain.

I’m going to recommend 3 mastering plugins that you can use with your beat making software or recording software, to get your tracks really smashin’ with the best of ‘em.

The challenge for producers in today’s hip-hop industry, is figuring out how to get each of your sounds to come through loud and dynamic, without clipping or distorting. A lot of amateur producers think it’s as simple as just turning up all of the instruments or the master track in your beat making software. They try to enhance their dynamics by boosting the gain, only to blow someone’s speakers out with clipping and distortion. Wrong move.

It’s not about volume…it’s about compression and limiting!

You’ve got to have a good mastering compressor or multi-band limiter to run your beat through, in order to give it the dynamic, hard hitting sound without distorting or clipping it. You may be thinking “I have a stock compressor that came with my beat making software or recording program,” but the type of compression I’m referring to is more than just basic compression. You need a compressor designed specifically to maximize the dynamics of all instruments running through a master track, without taking away from the quality of each instrument.

That’s why I highly recommend the Waves L3 Multimaximizer. You should also look into the Waves L2 Ultramaximizer, which is what I use just as often as the L3. Waves makes a great product designed specifically for producers who want to win the “loudness war” with their tracks, but don’t want to lose quality in the process.

Next, you’ve got to have a good master EQ (equalizer) plugin to run with your beat making software. Often times, you’ll finish a beat, run it through a mastering limiter, and realize that your bass is too muddy or your 808 kick low-frequencies are over-powering the rest of the beat, drowning out the other instruments. Here, it’s important to be able to go in and low-cut the beat, cutting off those lower frequencies and freeing the other instruments to fill the sound field.

There are a ton of equalizer plugins out there, but one that really stand out, is the T-RackS 3 Deluxe High-End Mastering and Mixing Suite Software. This is a bundled package, however each of the 9 amazing EQ’s in this bundle are also available individually. This is one of the more cost-effective packages, for the quality you get in return. Very pro!

Finally, you should have a plugin designed to enhance the stereo separation of your sounds.

Listen to J. Holiday’s “Put You to Bed” track, and you’ll hear the precise stereo separation that he has with each instrument. The djembe drums along with the rich percussion in this song, are all individually distinguishable and spread wide to create a full, rich sound. Also, listen to “Imma Be”, by the Black-Eyed Peas. Specifically, listen to the finger snaps that are panned to the left and right.

Sure, you can pan each instrument, but you need something that will take what you’ve panned and separate it further, without it losing it’s dynamic sound.

For this, I recommend the Waves S1 Stereo Imager. I use this plug-in on every beat, and it’s taken my sound to a whole new level. The adjustments are subtle, but the results are monumental.

Now, you’ll need other plugins to use for your individual instruments, like a basic EQ (7-band or 10-band), basic Reverb, a compressor/limiter and gate for kicks, synths and other instruments, but many of the stock plugins that come with your beat making software or recording software will suffice for your individual instruments.

It’s more important to invest in the quality of the finished product and that is why I recommend these three mastering plugins to get an industry-acceptable sound. Learning to use them is a challenge in and of itself, but with practice, you’ll eventually train your ear to know how to use each one.