Hear it out.....then tear it apart!!

sdp530

sdp530

New member
If you have a few minutes to spare, listen to my hiphop mix and let me know your thoughts. I am interested in any input as long as its not hateful, haha. I have been mixing for awhile and your guys insight has really helped my progress. I listen on some small near-field monitors in a semi-treated room so my equipment is not great but I am beginning to get a feel on how they color the audio. I do have difficulty on getting good translation over many systems so let me know what it sounds like on yours. I will however be having all my mixes professionally mastered in the future.

Anyways the song is called "This is the West" and it can be found in the "critique this mix" folder at the following link:

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/kirchhogfarm@sbcglobal.net

Also, there is explicit language so don't listen if this offends you.

-C
 
C,

Great mix on the low end. The vocals fit nicely in the mix, never overpowering, nor faint. The vocal effects are where they need to be. The hi-mids (snare and clav?) come across a bit distracting; there are a lot of vocals to that track, so cutting them in the 6k-8k a bit might keep those hi-mids from stealing the listener's attention.

Overall, it's well put together. I've heard some doozie's in my day, but this is right on track. Keep doing what you're doing.

-M
 
Sounds good to me. Only thing I'd say is the vocal layering seems a bit soft.
I hear the backups but, they really don't lend much if any power to the main vox like I would expect. Leaves it sounding a bit under produced to me.
I would personally look at making the backing vox tracks a little more forward. I think it would make the song fuller and add more of a stereo sound.


F.S.
 
papabear, thanks for the input, I appreciate your time and I was probably one of those "doozies" back in the day, but a lot of time and frustration has landed me where I'm at. I am working hard to improve tho.

zradioman, we use a Blue baby bottle mic with a focusrite preamp---package deal at musicians friend.

freudian, I feel what your saying. What would you suggest when mixing in the backin vox...a little pan..delay? I always wonder how other people approach there backups. I want to keep that crisp main in the center but it would be nice to have just a touch of backing to fill it up.

thanks guys
-C
 
sdp530 said:
freudian, I feel what your saying. What would you suggest when mixing in the backin vox...a little pan..delay? I always wonder how other people approach there backups. I want to keep that crisp main in the center but it would be nice to have just a touch of backing to fill it up.


-C
Click to expand...

Well I don't know how many backing tracks you have. In rap I would for sure go with more tracks as opposed to effects. If you have no alternative I would try duplicating the acking tracks first and panning them. You can mess with offsetting the duplicated tracks by 10 to 20 thousandths. If you have the ability you could try effecting the pitch a hair too.

I would try fixing it with what you have first though. Try bringing up the backing tracks in the mix just a bit so you get more of an impact when they come in. smashing them might help too.

It's really hard to say much with any certainty, as I can't really hear what all you have to work with. Your tracks may just need a level adjustment.



Not much help I know:)

Good luck.

F.S.

PS I have had luck bussing all the vocals together and compressing them pretty hard to make the backing vox be closer to the level of the lead vox without having the over all vocal volume jump way up when they (the backups) come in. That was with a pretty full mix though where I did not have as much room to work with as you do.
 
I understand from this that you are a ganking, thieving, sneaker-stealing, survivor - around whom I should keep my hand on my sidearm. However, you represent an opportunity for suckers to learn from you, and you admonish them to observe that you leave a seasonal wake of grief. Further, the women who you consort with are conniving - whether this is a singular West Coast attribute or not is unclear. You possess training in sniping and reconaissance and warn interlopers that you will not hesitate to bring these skills to bear.

And you could compress the vocals a little more.
 
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Hey I appreciate the input, I will try a few things with the backing vox to fill it out. We usually do one main track and two full dubs of the verse, so we have plenty of backing to work with.

Supercreep...you dug nice and deep. You know you are doing something right when people anylize the lyrics, haha jk. You really wouldn't know from meeting me that I dig this style of music. I grew up listening to stuff that would make your gut twist but for some reason it intrigues me. Music is my passion, no matter what the style, I love the beats. I just graduated a couple weeks ago with my masters so I couldn't be too ignorant, but people always seem to think I am because I dig rap, oh well. Also it really doesn't matter what coast you may be on, same shit. Anyways I have nothing but love...my music may not coincide, but what can I say?
 
Supercreep said:
I understand from this that you are a ganking, thieving, sneaker-stealing, survivor - around whom I should keep my hand on my sidearm. However, you represent an opportunity for suckers to learn from you, and you admonish them to observe that you leave a seasonal wake of grief. Further, the women who you consort with are conniving - whether this is a singular West Coast attribute or not is unclear. You possess training in sniping and reconaissance and warn interlopers that you will not hesitate to bring these skills to bear.

And you could compress the vocals a little more.
Click to expand...


Is your day job as an ebonics translator :D I may have to jump in here and translate your version to hick speek for others like my self;)

F.S.
 
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