Alabaster Kin - End Of The Road

B

BillyBo

New member
First time in this part of the forum. I usually read the Studio Building & Display area extensively and dream about studios I wish I could have.

Anyhow, Alabaster Kin is myself, BillyBo, and Change. We are hip-hop, BUT, before you stop reading, it's not like that poppy crap on the radio. It's real music speaking about real topics to touch lives of people willing to listen to more than the drum beats.

"End Of The Road" is a six song EP made from an eclectic mix of Classic Rock, Acoustic Folk, and Country soundscapes set beneath an array of intricate wordplay and deft delivery that you've come to expect from these two wordsmiths. ... or so the short description goes.

I'd like to hear what you think of the overall sound of the album. Change does our mastering, but we each do our own recording. He pretty much taught me the basics of mixing so we each mixed our own parts, but he polished all vox before mastering.

... and how could this post be complete without promoting our site and album?

We are offering our 6-track project "End Of The Road" for 25% off from now until 11:59pm on Black Friday.

In order to take advantage of this offer,
go to http://www.ALABASTERKIN.com
click "Buy Now"
Enter "kinfriday" in the discount code box

25% off of $5. Do it. Tell the world about your good fortune. please. OH, and drop some comments!
 
There are hiphop heads on this forum, believe it or not haha.
Listening now...sounds really good, really enjoying the listen. its nice to to hear some different rap with acoustic instruments, seems really solid so far.
 
Wintersnow is produced by Anno domini, correct? You should send him the track, see if you could get it featured on his website. The beat is also on the secret archieves mixtape with Vinnie Paz on it though, but its worth a shot. :)
 
Listened to "The Soul" and "Road to Nowhere"....this sounds really good, man! (this is coming from a metalhead.....!)
Now here's hiphop I can listen to. The recordings are great, what's your set-up. Your voice is really good. Wish you luck with sales!:)
 
Yes, some of the beats are Anno Domini. wasn't aware that any were used previously. I think all but 1 beat we were able to get tracked out (boooo! but session files were simply no longer available).

We wanted to make music that we wanted to hear. I'm not sure I'd call either one of us a country fan by any means, but it does offer some somber guitars a lot of times. Except for the obvious hooks, we also sang. We doubled up on "Dreamer" with the sample too to thicken it a little. there were some tracks produced w/ live instrumentation just for us too.

My set up is bare bones, but I've used it for going on 10 years and know how to mix my vox - MXL 990 > Radio Shack Mixer > Audigy sound card. it's harsh on the sibilance but i de-ess and roll off those EQ freq's a little. I use Adobe Audition for tracking and AA + Waves for EQ/compression/etc. I believe Change has a "higher end" MXL but I haven't checked w/ him in a few years to see if he's changed that. I also think he's got a Motu of some sort for input to the PC. He uses the same software. Not sure what he does for mastering. I'm assuming Waves.

If you like the music please pass around the sale info.

P.S. joeym - Haste The Day has a really great new album out now. not exactly metal, maybe more hardcore, but check it out.
 
BillyBo said:
Yes, some of the beats are Anno Domini. wasn't aware that any were used previously. I think all but 1 beat we were able to get tracked out (boooo! but session files were simply no longer available).

We wanted to make music that we wanted to hear. I'm not sure I'd call either one of us a country fan by any means, but it does offer some somber guitars a lot of times. Except for the obvious hooks, we also sang. We doubled up on "Dreamer" with the sample too to thicken it a little. there were some tracks produced w/ live instrumentation just for us too.

My set up is bare bones, but I've used it for going on 10 years and know how to mix my vox - MXL 990 > Radio Shack Mixer > Audigy sound card. it's harsh on the sibilance but i de-ess and roll off those EQ freq's a little. I use Adobe Audition for tracking and AA + Waves for EQ/compression/etc. I believe Change has a "higher end" MXL but I haven't checked w/ him in a few years to see if he's changed that. I also think he's got a Motu of some sort for input to the PC. He uses the same software. Not sure what he does for mastering. I'm assuming Waves.

If you like the music please pass around the sale info.

P.S. joeym - Haste The Day has a really great new album out now. not exactly metal, maybe more hardcore, but check it out.
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Vinnie Paz from Jedi mind Tricks used the wintersnow beat, but he was forced to change the beat on his new cd due to sample clearance. the original version is on Anno Domini's mixtape, search on youtube Vinnie Paz same story :)

I noticed a beat by Slantize too. I must admit my favourite tracks was the ones with acoustic guitar, the 2nd track was really really good. Really enjoyed that listen.:)
 
Yeah I'm diggin these verses, some of the singing just isn't my style though. Like Road to Nowhere, I don't know, reminds me of when metal bands have singing parts. For some reason it always sounds bad to me. And End of the Road, reminds me of when Eminem sings, not my style. Overall, nice stuff though. well mixed
 
thanks j. we're no perfect vocalists, but we def give our best effort each time. at least you liked the mix!
 
No doubt, the singing isn't bad. I mean, technically it's fine, it's on key and everything. I just can't get into the style of it I guess.
 
Wow, rap with real lyrics and a positive vibe, rather than 'F' dis and shoot dat! I like it. I like the album artwork too.:D
 
maximusbs said:
Wow, rap with real lyrics and a positive vibe, rather than 'F' dis and shoot dat! I like it. I like the album artwork too.:D
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i dabbled with the fables when i first started rapping over 10 years ago. it didn't take long to realize there's more to life than rhyming words in stories that never happened. glad you like it.
 
This is great Billybo - it's got all the elements of hiphop that I love in it. Great samples, arrangements and vocals. I can hear elements of Sage Francis, Blackalicious etc. without being derivative. Excellent work!
 
in the spirit of the holiday - I'm thankful for HR.com. you guys are genuine with your feedback. thanks so much. we're just a few indies like nearly everyone else on these boards, so, please, if you're willing - share the link to our site. www.alabasterkin.com
 
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