a decent rap mix?

jlewis

jlewis

attic boy
Hey guys, could you let me know what you think of this mix? I have been fiddling with music recording for less than a year, mostly me and my buddy jamming on guitars but I also like to make beats. This is one of the first rap mixes I've done and I'd appreciate any notes on it. And please give the whole thing a listen because there are 4 different rappers on it (the last one is best)

http://www.mediafire.com/?2ozjyyhzw2w

Thanks
J Lewis
 
Okay first off I will address the mix since that is the specific advice you are seeking. The sound started out bright with good volume which speaks more to the vocals and synth, so you did a good job with that. The drumbeat, however, is severely lost in this mix. I had to turn the bass way up and the kick was still weak. Ditto for the handclaps and hats, they were weak and from that aspect this song should be totally remixed. Which brings me to this: the guys rapping on this song (including the last one) need to get a grip on reality! Someone needs to tell them that not only has the studio gansta thing been done ad nauseum but it is played out and dead! Rapping about shooting police is just lame! This song is very forgettable. Hone your mixing skills on material thats worthy of recording.
 
Agreed, I wish they would rap about something else, but right now they're the only guys I know that are serious enough to write raps and come record. I'm working on getting some conscious rappers but for now this is my practice at recording and mixing.
Just before finishing this mix I thought the claps might be a bit too much so I brought the high end of them down a little with some eq, I'm going to take it back a bit because now that I'm listening to it again, I hear what you're talking about. It wouldn't be hard to go back and fix the beat track, bring up the kick and a little more on the hats. Thanks for your response.
 
More low end is definitely needed throughout. The kick and the low synth pumped up will give this the appropriate ominous tone. As discussed, the rappers are pretty generic and don't really have anything to say worth hearing but that is not your issue.
 
Sounds good - the f bombs and n words are a bit annoying to me but the rest is well done....
 
The drums need the most work on this in my opinion. If you didn't, I would definitely do some sidechain compression on all of the drum tracks. While I personally will only listen to rap about murder and drugs and "fuck da po-lice" I don't find these guys convincing. "you gonna make me put a hole right between your eyes" doesn't sound like he really would. The "audio mark" is uneven (on purpose?) but majority of the rest sounds even to me. You don't want the hats too high. I am not a huge fan of just claps but they work on this. I think it's pretty good to be mixing for only a year or so. Tighten up the drums and get some "real" gangstas on this and it'll be straight.
 
Thank you for your responses guys, I did a quick remix where I boosted the clap, bass drum, and bass a bit, I thought the hats were at a good level maybe even too loud. I don't have good bass response in my monitors so it was kind of a shot in the dark cuz I haven't listened in my car(these speakers seem like the best monitors I have) or other stereos yet. I also put an Aesop Rock acapella over it to spare you guys the gangsta stuff and cuz I like the beat better in this context, it makes me want to psychedelicize it more though.

DD83, indeed he misses the mark, and no, none of them would put a hole between anyone's eyes, they're actually nice guys, they're just from the ghetto and for some reason I guess they think this is what they gotta rap about to be cool or something. I am making good progress in guiding the best one of them(imo) to write consciously though. I would prefer to have no gangstas.

Here's the remix, I like it more than the gangsta shit. I hope you like LSD more than gangsters too,
Aesop Rock - Greatest Pac-Man Victory In History Remix

Oh, and I looked up side-chaining, but I don't really understand it. I'm using Reason 4 and I see that the MClass Compressor has side-chaining, but I'm confused about how to use it so I put it on the drums and tried my best, but I don't know if I got it right yet.
 
I also just put another song on there too, this one is a work in progress. I need to get my friend who rapped it back in the studio to try and see if he can possibly pull off a few of those messed up lines in time. He's a better writer than rapper. On a lot of the track I cheated and chopped up his vocals to put them in time for him, but sometimes, it's impossible.
This new one is a totally different style track and I'd appreciate notes on it as well.
Thanks
 
I don't really care what they are rapping about. That gangster shit would be fine if they would put a new spin on it. You guys can get together and talk about this. It's not the 80s anymore...

My wife's father has lived in highly populated gang areas most of his life in California. Last time he came to visit he said they cracked down on gangsters so hard that they ran most of the gangsters out of the hood. He use to tell us stories of sitting on the porch and watching someone get shot across the street. That's how bad it was.

So, anyway there are still gangster today. How would a gangster live in today's society? Maybe they should put a new spin on it LOL

As far as the mix goes I would pick out a really produced song that I want it to sound like and do my best to get my mix as close to it as possible. It may take dozens of tries over a period of a few weeks, but you'll learn how to get that sound you're going for. Hopefully LOL
 
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