First Semi Serious Mixing attempt.

[hiphop24360]

So, Im new to the site,

New to the whole recording thing other than the rapping aspect.

I was just messin around rappin, recording into a laptop soundcard for a few years untill one day I decided to get serious about it.

Saved up money for many many months and got an EMU 404 USB 2.0 and a Rode K2 tube Mic, Treated a room in the basement as well as possible (My point is my equipment probably exceeds my skill level).....Read as much as I could about mixing, gave it a shot on the 2 songs here....

Decided I could not get any further without outside advice, So here I am asking. I get the beats as instrumentals so I wasnt able to EQ each instrument seperately (trying to change that).

Heres a link http://www.myspace.com/omerta2394u

You can smash my ego as hard as you want, im a big boy. I need honesty not sugar coatings.

Thanks ahead. Ill keep the posts significantly shorter in the future.

[LouieV702]

Originally Posted by hiphop24360

You can smash my ego as hard as you want, im a big boy. I need honesty not sugar coatings.

Compelled has a wack instrument. I think the lyrics you have would execute better on a different beat(IMO). Everyone is on drugs, that song sounded better, but what all do you use to record...list programs/hardware and I could give you some better pointers. The vocals on both songs sound really low....and plain. Throw in some re verb, not allot, just some polish where you can make your verses have depth. Like I said I need more info, in return you could get some useful information. LV

[hiphop24360]

Thank you for taking the time to check it out. Very Much appreciated.

Wack instrumental in the fact that it is too basic or fundamentally flawed, or you just not diggin it?

hardware, K2 mic, EMU404 USB 2.0 interface (using the onboard preamps for now), (hey there it is the obvious problem just smacked me in the face) I DONT OWN monitors, Mixed through headphones. Egh, sigh.

Software, Recording in Cubase, tons of plugins. melodyne, ableton, wavelab. (mostly crap I don't use as of now). Semi treated room in the basement.

Only effects I played with are Compression, EQ, Reverb, and "Chorus" on the hook. (first ever attempt at EQ, after many many hours of reading)

I actually used reverb on all the lead vocals, albeit a very very small amount 10%, low delay, predelay, wetness... Maybe not quite enough.

The backups I panned one left and one right as seems to be common, left them nearly uncompressed and unverbed, thought it might help retain some character of the vocal, didn't want to squash everything beyond recognition.

Did I say thanks for checkin it out yet.
Thanks.

ps. Should this be in the Recording/Mixing area of the forum? or did I pick right since its rap...figured more people willing to listen to it would read it here, IDK move it if you want mods.

[tlennon1]

Although you're so-called rappin' on your mix, I would not say you're genre is Hip Hop. Do you even know what Hip Hop means. This is not a slam on your art but the genre has to do with emotion and experience drawn together with swag. Thanks for sharing but I would not expect to hear you in a Hip Hop concert. Find another name for yourself and your style of music.

[hiphop24360]

Now thats just close minded nonsense.

Find another name for myself and my kind of music... Well damn I did not know you were the official authority on deciding whats hip hop. The gatekeeper to an entire culture, must be a burden. By the way, You've been slackin lately lookin at things.

you would not expect to hear me in a hip hop concert.

Understandable, I aint at the point yet, I wouldn't be on an internet forum asking for tips on how to record in my damn basement with a thread named "first real attempt at recording" if I already had shit all figured out. Right?

Thanks for the so-called constructive criticism.

[LouieV702]

Originally Posted by tlennon1

Although you're so-called rappin' on your mix, I would not say you're genre is Hip Hop. Do you even know what Hip Hop means. This is not a slam on your art but the genre has to do with emotion and experience drawn together with swag.

This is clearly NOT the definition of Hip-Hop! To what I've listen to Omertaa has rap vocals, an instrumental beat, that's all rap music is (hip-hop). He has expression, needless to say because YOU(tlennon1) weren't able to feel his emotion or the way he delivered or executed his lyrics doesn't define that it's not Hip-Hop. You are closed minded bro, and need to listen more than what you hear on the radio!
Next time you want to comment, make sure it's productive criticism and not some personal retarded opinion!
Sorry Omertaa back to your feedback,

Originally Posted by hiphop24360

Thank you for taking the time to check it out. Very Much appreciated.

Wack instrumental in the fact that it is too basic or fundamentally flawed, or you just not diggin it?

well IMO it's lacking drums, and kicks unless that's what your intention was! Too me is sounding better in a movie instead of rap vocals over it. There's no direction and therefore it throws your delivery off!

Originally Posted by hiphop24360

(hey there it is the obvious problem just smacked me in the face) I DONT OWN monitors, Mixed through headphones. Egh, sigh.

Oh yes major problem when your getting into mixing. Headphones make anything sound better than it usually is. When you get to more advanced stages of mixing, Headphones do come in play for High freq listening, but I assure you that's later down the road! Monitors well show the low freq. 50 to 60hz level which is the bass section that you really can't hear efficiently on headphones!

Originally Posted by hiphop24360

The backups I panned one left and one right as seems to be common, left them nearly uncompressed and unverbed, thought it might help retain some character of the vocal, didn't want to squash everything beyond recognition.

No, that's excellent...I wouldn't recommend too much compression than things start to sound un-natural. On backups(adlibs) I would recommend 80% left pan and same on the right pan. Don't pan too hard left and right and also you don't want to pan to soft which would leave a mono effect on your lead vocals. IMO 80% is a nice stereo spread for adlibs.

Originally Posted by hiphop24360

ps. Should this be in the Recording/Mixing area of the forum? or did I pick right since its rap...figured more people willing to listen to it would read it

No it's the right place! since your music IS hip-hop(Pointing fingers at tlennon1) ..lol Omertaa just keep it up and keep making that creative music bro!

[hiphop24360]

hey,

Thanks for lookin out.

Im hearin everything you said. Learned quite a bit since I made this mix, Hopefully the next couple will sound better. Im gunna make sure I get tracked out beats that I can actually choose from next time, burn a couple CD's with the tracks on it during the mixing process and play em on different stereos to get a better feel for whats goin on than headphones. (itll be a month or two untill I have monitors and I figure I can certainly improve my ability by working without them for now.)

I'll take your advice on panning too, Ive only been panning 30% left and right.
Probably was recording a little hotter than I should be, gunna try and keep the peaks around -6 this time, especially since im crankin 40 db of gain on the preamps that came with my interface.

thanks for the help and encouragement.