stxrudeboy
New member
No problem Jim, no hard feelings haha. I do appreciate the feedback. I'm a VERY HARD critic and I want everything I do in my career to be as presentable as possible, so I just needed opinions. Thx.
Honest Opinion on a Mix that was paid for (will give my opinion for yours)
- Thread starter stxrudeboy
- Start date
No problem Jim, no hard feelings haha. I do appreciate the feedback. I'm a VERY HARD critic and I want everything I do in my career to be as presentable as possible, so I just needed opinions. Thx.
DM60
Well-known member
Not to take the thread any more off coarse than it is heading, the N word is the new F word. F is used so often no one even bothers to say anything. So, you need a new F word, that is now, the N word. Look, you and I won't even say it. That is the point.
Old Farts.
XploZiveToyz
All American Un-American
Good job. That's about as good as one can do for a C note! I'm assuming you're black? I ask because of your use the word Nigga. Marshall Mathers doesn't use the word in his stuff, and if you're white you shouldn't be doing so I either. However, I believe you're black though. LOL! Good luck!
stxrudeboy
New member
Lol I appreciate the concern, but yeah I am black. Thanks for the feedback my friend!
Armistice
Son of Yoda
Big lip smack on "no doubt" at the start @0.07 dude.... I would have retracked it.
Click @ 1.19 after "struggle" and @2.30 - same word - there's all sorts of other clicking going on in the next bit behind it which is the same in both sections but not that noticeable. Your producah cut and paste that whole section right? You didn't rap it twice? Why not?
Click @2.54 in the backing track.
Fade out just cuts off... that what you wanted?
The good news.... apart from the fade out, no-one will notice. I think your man could pay a bit more attention to a few more details, personally, this is not a criticism of you.
Click @ 1.19 after "struggle" and @2.30 - same word - there's all sorts of other clicking going on in the next bit behind it which is the same in both sections but not that noticeable. Your producah cut and paste that whole section right? You didn't rap it twice? Why not?
Click @2.54 in the backing track.
Fade out just cuts off... that what you wanted?
The good news.... apart from the fade out, no-one will notice. I think your man could pay a bit more attention to a few more details, personally, this is not a criticism of you.
stxrudeboy
New member
Big lip smack on "no doubt" at the start @0.07 dude.... I would have retracked it.
Click @ 1.19 after "struggle" and @2.30 - same word - there's all sorts of other clicking going on in the next bit behind it which is the same in both sections but not that noticeable. Your producah cut and paste that whole section right? You didn't rap it twice? Why not?
Click @2.54 in the backing track.
Fade out just cuts off... that what you wanted?
The good news.... apart from the fade out, no-one will notice. I think your man could pay a bit more attention to a few more details, personally, this is not a criticism of you.
Really appreciate the feedback my friend. I'll take into account everything you said. I'm definitely in the process of having him polish it up a bit more and added slightly more compression. Thx!
stxrudeboy
New member
Thx for the response! I definitely want it too sound ok for everyone! Were you listening in your car?
jimmys69
MOODerator
^^verified..
There are definitely some editing flaws here. I wasn't listening on my monitors the whole way through.
Get that fixed. Should likely only take them 10 minutes.
Johnny Don't!
New member
I work in the hip-hop field quite frequently, and I agree with what's been said about the popping and sibilants on the vocal track; it's not so bad that it's distracting, but if yer going for pro-quality, then those issues need be dealt with. At this point, I would follow Jimmys69's advice and have the studio do it via editing or some simple processing.
But in the future, I would use a different mic for tracking this style of vocal. To me, it sounds like a large-diaphragm condenser was used to track the vocal; am I correct? If so, next time you go into the studio to lay down yer flow, ask them to put a good dynamic mic like a Shure SM7 or an EV RE20; those are my go-to mics when tracking emcees. I very, very rarely use a condenser when recording a rapper. It's just too bright & sibilant and picks up too much of the mouth noise that a lot of contributors on this thread have mentioned.
Also, you keep mentioning compression; are you referring to the compression levels on the vocal alone or on the overall track? From what I've read here, this track has already been mastered. (In the future, when posting a track for opinions, provide as much info about where in the process the track is; i.e., is it just a mix? Has it been mastered? Et cetera.) If it has in fact already been mastered, then I think the levels are great as they are. The low end could use a bit more clarity & tightening up, but that's more so an opinion and could also be caused by a number of different issues like the lack of high-pass filters on tracks which aren't supposed to contain low-end frequencies. But if yer referring strictly to the compression on the vocals, then increasing the compression levels will only serve to enhance the pops & sibilants we're hearing, unless you get creative with a sidechain EQ or something similar.
If this was only a mix and had not been mastered, then I'd say the low-end an the vocals are far too loud, as mastering will only bring them out even more.
Overall, it's pretty good track. My real beef with it comes more from content than the recording itself. The lyrics are well-written and fairly insightful and you make a lot of good references with a ton of good wordplay, but the backing track doesn't hold up to the creativity of the rhymes. It's too consistent and not nearly as intricate as the lyric and in my opinion, it therefore detracts from the rhymes.
But in the future, I would use a different mic for tracking this style of vocal. To me, it sounds like a large-diaphragm condenser was used to track the vocal; am I correct? If so, next time you go into the studio to lay down yer flow, ask them to put a good dynamic mic like a Shure SM7 or an EV RE20; those are my go-to mics when tracking emcees. I very, very rarely use a condenser when recording a rapper. It's just too bright & sibilant and picks up too much of the mouth noise that a lot of contributors on this thread have mentioned.
Also, you keep mentioning compression; are you referring to the compression levels on the vocal alone or on the overall track? From what I've read here, this track has already been mastered. (In the future, when posting a track for opinions, provide as much info about where in the process the track is; i.e., is it just a mix? Has it been mastered? Et cetera.) If it has in fact already been mastered, then I think the levels are great as they are. The low end could use a bit more clarity & tightening up, but that's more so an opinion and could also be caused by a number of different issues like the lack of high-pass filters on tracks which aren't supposed to contain low-end frequencies. But if yer referring strictly to the compression on the vocals, then increasing the compression levels will only serve to enhance the pops & sibilants we're hearing, unless you get creative with a sidechain EQ or something similar.
If this was only a mix and had not been mastered, then I'd say the low-end an the vocals are far too loud, as mastering will only bring them out even more.
Overall, it's pretty good track. My real beef with it comes more from content than the recording itself. The lyrics are well-written and fairly insightful and you make a lot of good references with a ton of good wordplay, but the backing track doesn't hold up to the creativity of the rhymes. It's too consistent and not nearly as intricate as the lyric and in my opinion, it therefore detracts from the rhymes.
Last edited:
stxrudeboy
New member
Very insightful feedback Johnny! I am going to pass this information on to my engineer as some of the questions I can't answer. The mic is a hiphop standard, I think its a Neumann, maybe the U 87 version. I have an updated mix with the vocals turnef down a bit and other edits.
As far as the track, thx for the feedback. When you say backing track, what do you mean exactly? The double?
stxrudeboy
New member
Thanks for the feedback Chili, I'm trying to smooth things out a bit more. The compression is only because I wanted it to gel with the beat a bit more. I felt it was to bright, or "in your face", though some actually like that way. Just trying to find thesound.
jimmys69
MOODerator
I am assuming on the updated mix that the pops have not been addressed. They are still there, at the same points mentioned earlier.
Should be a simple crossfade between recorded parts.
When you say you have an updated mix, does that mean you have all of the tracks in your own DAW to work with? If that is the case, just edit the 'pops' yourself.
Johnny Don't!
New member
By "backing track" I mean the harmonic background; the beat; the music supporting the flow; everything besides the vocal...make sense?
I'm not sure I would call a U87 (or a 67 or 47) a "hiphop standard," as it's pretty much a studio standard in general, but I would venture to say it's used on all other styles of music more than it is on hiphop records, speaking mainly where vocals are concerned. Many many hiphop albums have vocals tracked using simple handheld dynamic mics, like a Shure SM57, for two main reasons: 1. the emcee is typically more comfortable using a handheld mic so the performances tend to be better, more energetic, more truthful; B. dynamic mics tend to handle sibilants and plosives (the "p" or "b" sound) better than large-diaphragm condensers like a U87. I know for a fact that the dope sound the Beastie Boys got on the vocal for "So Whatcha Want?" was like some piece o' crap $5 Salvation Army find; most likely some child's toy or something, like a Fisher-Price mic or something.
The most important thing to keep in mind as a hip-hop artist is that not only are there no rules, whenever anyone says there ARE rules, turn around and break them. I was in a fairly well-known US rock/punk rock band signed to Virgin Records, and Mike McCarthy (freakin' genius, seriously) produced our debut album down in Austin, Texas a few years ago, and while he's all about high-quality near-audiophile recordings, he loved our attitude about making that record: if it ain't broken, break it. That applies even more so to hip-hop; in fact it's gonna make me show my age and quote one of my favorite groups of the early 90's, The Goats: "The beat breaks so you know the beat is being broke..." Hahaha.
So while I think the money was well-spent, you also get whatcha pay for to a certain degree. The beat/production is not bad, by any means; in fact I think it's rather good, but it doesn't gel with the tone nor the content of the rhymes. The beat/production is really smooth, sort of jazzy, while the lyrics are a bit edgy. I guess it could be said that it provides a nice contrast, but it's too consistent and doesn't change up much to reflect the movement of the lyric.
I'm not sure I would call a U87 (or a 67 or 47) a "hiphop standard," as it's pretty much a studio standard in general, but I would venture to say it's used on all other styles of music more than it is on hiphop records, speaking mainly where vocals are concerned. Many many hiphop albums have vocals tracked using simple handheld dynamic mics, like a Shure SM57, for two main reasons: 1. the emcee is typically more comfortable using a handheld mic so the performances tend to be better, more energetic, more truthful; B. dynamic mics tend to handle sibilants and plosives (the "p" or "b" sound) better than large-diaphragm condensers like a U87. I know for a fact that the dope sound the Beastie Boys got on the vocal for "So Whatcha Want?" was like some piece o' crap $5 Salvation Army find; most likely some child's toy or something, like a Fisher-Price mic or something.
The most important thing to keep in mind as a hip-hop artist is that not only are there no rules, whenever anyone says there ARE rules, turn around and break them. I was in a fairly well-known US rock/punk rock band signed to Virgin Records, and Mike McCarthy (freakin' genius, seriously) produced our debut album down in Austin, Texas a few years ago, and while he's all about high-quality near-audiophile recordings, he loved our attitude about making that record: if it ain't broken, break it. That applies even more so to hip-hop; in fact it's gonna make me show my age and quote one of my favorite groups of the early 90's, The Goats: "The beat breaks so you know the beat is being broke..." Hahaha.
So while I think the money was well-spent, you also get whatcha pay for to a certain degree. The beat/production is not bad, by any means; in fact I think it's rather good, but it doesn't gel with the tone nor the content of the rhymes. The beat/production is really smooth, sort of jazzy, while the lyrics are a bit edgy. I guess it could be said that it provides a nice contrast, but it's too consistent and doesn't change up much to reflect the movement of the lyric.
stxrudeboy
New member
I am assuming on the updated mix that the pops have not been addressed. They are still there, at the same points mentioned earlier.
Should be a simple crossfade between recorded parts.
When you say you have an updated mix, does that mean you have all of the tracks in your own DAW to work with? If that is the case, just edit the 'pops' yourself.
Oh sorry for not stating thst the other mix hasn't been uploaded. The mix you listed to is the same as before. I'm still working with the engineer tweaking things. I definitely appreciate the feeback my friend.
jimmys69
MOODerator
stxrudeboy
New member
Oh ok, ill talk with my engineer about some of your suggestions. Good perspectives.
But as far as the backing I get you. The "beat". I had a producer separate from the studio make that. Yeah Ive had different opinions on the beat, some love it, some notso much. Really just my personal choice, but I definitely appreciate your opinion.
Cool deal being signed to Virgin. What happened to that situation if you dont mind me asking.
Johnny Don't!
New member
Oh man, that's a really long story. If you really wanna hear it, PM me. I know the admins on this forum tend to be picky about what content is placed in what area, and I don't think that story is appropriate for this section. Unless other contributors here would like to hear it. Otherwise, PM me and I'll 'splain the nonsense that went down.
PS - if yer ever looking for some fresh beats, I am more than willing to send you some samples of stuff I've done and would also be willing to create new beats/tracks specifically for you. Might be cool to have a DC flow over some Chi-town beats.
PS - if yer ever looking for some fresh beats, I am more than willing to send you some samples of stuff I've done and would also be willing to create new beats/tracks specifically for you. Might be cool to have a DC flow over some Chi-town beats.