Just promoting my boys

Yo austin...

I checked the myspace. The mix seems off. Are you in this or are these just your boys?

It's funny because they're from Dallas (my old stomping grounds before I moved up here...homeland shit feel me?) and they mention a King Arthur on their myspace page. I have an uncle who produces tracks (who taught me a LOT of what I know now) who goes by King Arthur....but it's NOT the same guy that is a friend on their myspace and produced their tracks (that dude is younger than me...my mentor is in his 40s and specializes in r&b and funk). Thought that was weird.

Here's my honest critique of them. They need work but not as much work as others I've heard. Their lyrics don't move me (they're unimaginative) and the hook is lame (about the same caliber as an Afroman hook without the hint of comedy).

The vocal mix needs serious work. It sounds like a lot of people are fighting for the mic. Not a diss by me, some of my shit used to sound that VERY same way, so I know by experience...I can pass some tips to whoever's mixing their shit so that they can improve on that.

The beat is okay...doesn't really move me, but it isn't totally crap. When your beat gets compared to D4L (or worse) then you can call it crap.

Fie
 
Nah I'm not in it, I stay in austin.

And I've never met that king arthur dude so I don't really have any input on that, but eh!

I'm pretty sure he's the one mixing their shit but I could be wrong.

What exactly is wrong with it though? Cause I'm still new to all this and I'd rather get off on the right foot if you know what I mean... might as well skip the bullshit if I can!
 
Ever been to a concert where 15 dudes all got mics? They all try to stand out and it doesn't sound pretty. That's similar to the way this was mixed. Most of the stuff you hear that has good mixing, you're going to hear one dude but his flow is going to be crisp and in your face. This isn't (and I don't think it's their fault). The only thing that I think is in their control is their lyrics. I just think that they need more time to improve on their skills a little.

How long have they been rapping and are they trying to copy someone? That might explain some shit. I can only speak from experience in that when I wrote shit, it wasn't nearly as creative as it is now. I look at shit I wrote 3 years ago and can tell difference. I started writing lyrics and recording tracks when I was 13 (about 18 years ago...damn I sound old). Every year I feel that I get better and there's always room to step my game up. The day you feel like your shit is perfect, that's the day you start slippin' on yours. I don't know dudes personally, so I'm just tellin it like I see it. And anybody in the room'll tell you I'm probably one of the most critical people in here...but I'm real about it.

Fie.
 
well i mean, your critique isn't harsh or anything, PLUS it isn't about me so i don't mind much!

just one dude looking out for some others, as i see it.

but i don't know how long they've been rapping or anything. just trying to get the word out for 'em.

which song are you talking about in particular?
 
It sounds like they're doing multiple takes (which will all sound different) and trying to mix them all in.

Here's my approach to get a better mix than that.

1. Record two to three takes of the verse
2. Keep the one that you like the best
3. Run a de-clicker and a de-esser on that track
4. Make 2 exact duplicates of that track
5. Set them to start about .045 of a second later than the original track
6. EQ most of the bass out of one of the tracks you copied and EQ most of the treble out of the other
7. Pan one of them left and one of them right. You don't need to pan hard left and right, but you can experiment with them and try it out.
8. Once you do that, then you can do the same thing with your ad lib tracks and hooks.

Note: I also used Antares Mic Modeler and modeled my mic patterns to different mics. That's up to you if you do that.
 
Fieva said:
It sounds like they're doing multiple takes (which will all sound different) and trying to mix them all in.

Here's my approach to get a better mix than that.

1. Record two to three takes of the verse
2. Keep the one that you like the best
3. Run a de-clicker and a de-esser on that track
4. Make 2 exact duplicates of that track
5. Set them to start about .045 of a second later than the original track
6. EQ most of the bass out of one of the tracks you copied and EQ most of the treble out of the other
7. Pan one of them left and one of them right. You don't need to pan hard left and right, but you can experiment with them and try it out.
8. Once you do that, then you can do the same thing with your ad lib tracks and hooks.

Note: I also used Antares Mic Modeler and modeled my mic patterns to different mics. That's up to you if you do that.
Click to expand...

hey thanks a lot fam, i'll pass that on to them, and also keep a mental note for myself
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top