In the hip hop world, professional audio engineering plays a huge part in making or breaking a hit song.
“There wouldn’t be hip hop music without it,” explained Erick Peoples, a music production student at Full Sail University.
Professional audio engineering is the other side of the recording process. It includes production (making beats), mixing and mastering to make the song complete. Without it, there would be no song.
An audio engineer’s job is to create arrange the sound and the levels within a song on a digital platform. Because of the heavy reliance on digital sounds in hip hop music, pro-audio is especially important in this genre.
Quality is a significant aspect that all audio engineering professionals focus on. In music, you get out what you put in. Good quality music not only depends on what kind of equipment is used in the studio, but also on how great your engineers are at arranging your sound.
Engineers also help create a platform to format your song to play in different places such as through earphones, the car radio and stadiums. A good engineer can make it so that your beat doesn’t get lost when it’s played on someone’s headset versus concert speakers at a venue.
In other words, the better your equipment and your engineer, the better your sound. This doesn’t mean artists will have a top hit because they have an amazing engineer, but they’ll probably have a better chance than others without it.
One of the greatest engineers of all time is Grammy nominated engineer and producer, Young Guru. He’s worked with Jay-Z for over 16 years and has been the genius behind hits such as Empire State of Mind and Run This Town. Not only has he earned credits on top hip hop albums for the past two decades, but he also gives back to hip hop by teaching classes and mentoring the future engineers of the game.
Other notable names of hip hop engineering include Mixed by Ali, engineer for Top Dawg Entertainment, and the mixer behind Pharell’s Happy, Full Sail grad and Grammy award winner, Leslie Braitwaite.
The digital age has changed the way people make music, and surely did not pass over the audio engineering world. There are many apps such as Multi Track Song Recorder and do-it-yourself equipment that allows artists to simplify the recording process and can help illuminate the need for a professional engineer. But there’s nothing like the real thing.
Audio engineers an amazing part of the recording process and make a song complete They can take a song from a miss to a hit. As long as artists continue to make music, they will be a major piece of the backbone of hip hop music.
