Feedback on rap/hip-hop beat?

[D-toks]

Hey all,

Usually I'm in the singing forum but surprisingly I want to actually get feedback on a rap/hip-hop beat today. This is a finished product that I feel is the best beat I've posted to my Soundcloud so far. Ironically I feel this way because I kept the beat simple rather than trying to be overly complicated with the instrumentation. That said, I would like to know what people here think about this. In addition, do you guys think my tagline is too loud or that it recurs too frequently (I leave about a 10-12 sec gap between them)? I know people hate tags but obviously with all the ways people rip music off the net nowadays I do feel it is necessary to some extent! Thank you kindly.

 

[jimmys69]

I must say that the 'beat' is quite good. Though I wonder where the hook is.

The tag is quite a bit on top, but I understand why. You only need to keep the tag in key places so that others that use your beat can't just repeat other parts and get rid of them. Sadly a common practice in this genre but I suppose you gotta take the good with the bad.

Make great beats that others wish to use to rap over and hope for the best man is my personal opinion/advice.

I must also say that this forum is not the best place for makers of beats. Not that it is a bad thing, just that you are like the only hip hop guy here that has more than two posts on other forums than the obvious one. And that is pretty much all one post and out members.

I give you props for continuing here as I actually do work with some guys every week that may be interested in your beats.

 

[Robus]

I'm unqualified to offer any advice on the beat--not my genre. But I'm curious, that digital burping sound every few measures was a copy-protection scheme?

 

[D-toks]

I must say that the 'beat' is quite good. Though I wonder where the hook is.

The tag is quite a bit on top, but I understand why. You only need to keep the tag in key places so that others that use your beat can't just repeat other parts and get rid of them. Sadly a common practice in this genre but I suppose you gotta take the good with the bad.

Make great beats that others wish to use to rap over and hope for the best man is my personal opinion/advice.

I must also say that this forum is not the best place for makers of beats. Not that it is a bad thing, just that you are like the only hip hop guy here that has more than two posts on other forums than the obvious one. And that is pretty much all one post and out members.

I give you props for continuing here as I actually do work with some guys every week that may be interested in your beats.

Hi Jimmy,
Yes the beat doesn't have a hook/chorus necessarily. Sometimes hip-hop songs, particularly ones where people freestyle, are songs where the vocalist will just continue going. It's pretty much a 4-verse no chorus instrumental.

When you say the tag is on top, do you mean it is too loud? Or do you mean it does happen too frequently? I try to line the tag up where it will either start or end on a downbeat so it doesn't completely ruin the experience but I have been thinking even with what I've got, if someone wanted to copy the song, they probably still could do some creative copy paste and salvage enough to do so. But like you said, that's just the way things are today and we can only do so much to protect our work.

As for the closing comment, thanks for the honesty. I still think there is value in being here because the community is welcoming and even if we don't all do the same genre, I still find myself learning a lot, especially in the singing/vocal forums.

I'm unqualified to offer any advice on the beat--not my genre. But I'm curious, that digital burping sound every few measures was a copy-protection scheme?

Yes, that recurring regurgitation is used typically to prevent people from just ripping your music off the internet and re-uploading it as their own. It's different with vocals because typically people can recognize when someone's voice is not their own in an upload whereas with purely instrumental stuff, there's no way to prove the melody in B flat you played on your piano is not the melody in B flat that X user who ripped and re-uploaded your music played on his/her imaginary piano you know? The tag at least can help me if say, C-toks re-uploads my song and then says its theirs despite the repeated "D-toks" throughout haha

 

[Bruthish]

Not my Genre' either so from a layman's perspective... Although its cool, the cool factor only lasts a minute. Same thing over and over and it never goes anywhere. The tag is looped too many times, and the keyboard part never changes. I realize its probably in the beginning stages, but give it some more life, and change it up some. Maybe I am way off base because your just making one beat for a potential customer to buy your beat?

 

[TripleM]

I thought the bed tracks were fine. The vocal processing - with the deep low end - was good too.

The song just never goes anywhere. Just the same stuff over and over.

 

[easlern]

Sounds pretty good to me. Maybe I'd widen the stereo image. I didn't know you did beats too dtoks!

 

[andrushkiwt]

couple things - the line repeating so often might interfere with vocal phrases. i know this isn't a "song", but I would strongly consider breaking it up into segments where the vocalist knows exactly where those parts are coming, and make them distinguishable from other parts. Second, the track has an emptiness to it, mainly because of the lack of underlying sounds. i would write a synth/string/piano arrangement under what's already there simply to carry some weight to the tune. it's thin and less than full. again, i know this is for freestlye, but it doesn't mean the quality of work should be less than what a typical track would be.

further, if you need help writing piano pieces, leads, or supplemental parts, i'd be glad to help. i write alternative rock mostly, but I can write music for this as well - there's a lot of fun to be had in working with filters and synths in minor keys. good luck dude.

 

[D-toks]

Not my Genre' either so from a layman's perspective... Although its cool, the cool factor only lasts a minute. Same thing over and over and it never goes anywhere. The tag is looped too many times, and the keyboard part never changes. I realize its probably in the beginning stages, but give it some more life, and change it up some. Maybe I am way off base because your just making one beat for a potential customer to buy your beat?

Thank you for the feedback. Your sentiments echo a lot of the sentiments stated by others so definitely if it seems repetitive and empty to you, it probably is. Also, I'm not really into commercial music but if someone were wanting to buy a beat from me, I would not say no haha. Thanks for the advice.

I thought the bed tracks were fine. The vocal processing - with the deep low end - was good too.

The song just never goes anywhere. Just the same stuff over and over.

Thank you. Noted. I am trying to find a balance. Some of my other beats have more instrumentation but when I've played them for friends they say "man, this is too complicated for a hip hop beat, make something simpler". So I probably went too far to the simple side with this one. I do have some EDM tracks where I do go further with instrumentation though. Thanks for the feedback.

Sounds pretty good to me. Maybe I'd widen the stereo image. I didn't know you did beats too dtoks!

What does it mean to widen the stereo image? I LCR panned this but I only went +45 and -45 for the pans instead of the full +63 and -63. Could you really tell it was not all the way panned?! You have a really good ear. Thanks as always mate. And yes, I started beats before singing. I think my beat game is a bit better than my singing game right now but I hope that changes with time.

couple things - the line repeating so often might interfere with vocal phrases. i know this isn't a "song", but I would strongly consider breaking it up into segments where the vocalist knows exactly where those parts are coming, and make them distinguishable from other parts. Second, the track has an emptiness to it, mainly because of the lack of underlying sounds. i would write a synth/string/piano arrangement under what's already there simply to carry some weight to the tune. it's thin and less than full. again, i know this is for freestlye, but it doesn't mean the quality of work should be less than what a typical track would be.

further, if you need help writing piano pieces, leads, or supplemental parts, i'd be glad to help. i write alternative rock mostly, but I can write music for this as well - there's a lot of fun to be had in working with filters and synths in minor keys. good luck dude.

Hi Andrush, what do you mean by segments? This is an interesting concept that I'm curious to hear more about. Also, thanks for the tip about throwing in some underlying sounds. Sometimes as I said above I'm never really sure when I've gone too far or not far enough with instrumentation for hip-hop beats. That said, I can see where you're getting at in terms of me getting caught up in the main melody for this beat and neglecting to fill it in with more material to give the beat weight beneath it as you described.

Also thanks, I make a lot of my stuff up on the spot and could benefit from being able to contact someone who actually writes out melodies and understands composition theory better than I do so I will keep you in mind for the future!


____
Finally, apologies to all for not responding sooner. Had a busy week and I'm currently sick -.-

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hey,
The only thing that really stands out to me is the D D D D D D D Tox sample - It's a bit early and really kinda bugs me.
Is that intentional?

I'd slide it over so the tox comes in square on beat 1.

 

[andrushkiwt]

Steen makes a good point. And by segments, i mean a section where it's clear that vocals should be going and another section where the music takes over a little more (w the sample you're using, for one) and the vocalist rests. otherwise, it is literally the same thing over and over. maybe carve out a space, or section, where the "verse" or freestyling is encouraged. then, use the d-toks as the hook when the vocalist is resting.

just an idea, and the way I would approach it.

 

[D-toks]

Hey,
The only thing that really stands out to me is the D D D D D D D Tox sample - It's a bit early and really kinda bugs me.
Is that intentional?

I'd slide it over so the tox comes in square on beat 1.

Thank you for the advice. Yes it is intentional. I try to put one sample at the start and the end so it can be heard clearly because sometimes the music makes it harder to hear. This song was also difficult to put the tag on because the beat structure just was not that compatible with the tagline when I was trying to align it. Finally it is intentional for the re-upload protection reasons. But if you're saying the volume is too loud I can make it lower for next time.

Steen makes a good point. And by segments, i mean a section where it's clear that vocals should be going and another section where the music takes over a little more (w the sample you're using, for one) and the vocalist rests. otherwise, it is literally the same thing over and over. maybe carve out a space, or section, where the "verse" or freestyling is encouraged. then, use the d-toks as the hook when the vocalist is resting.

just an idea, and the way I would approach it.

Ah okay, so volume changes. For verses. Really this was supposed to be 4 back to back freestyle (no Drake pun intended) freestyle verses that two or four rappers could take on. If someone were to actually want to rap over this then I would adjust the volumes as necessary for them (depending on their preferences). Thanks for the idea though. I think the overall take away from this so far is the song is too repetitive to be entertaining, which is good to know. And I know what you're saying, again if someone were to rap over this I would take the tags out but since there are no vocals I put the tags there for re-upload protection. Thanks again. I have a few other beats on my soundcloud at the moment with much more creative instrumentation such as "magnum drop", a quasi hip-hop/electronic type of track, but those haven't been received as well for whatever reason. That said, I'll make sure my next coming projects will improve upon things everyone has talked about here for sure though!

 

[Steenamaroo]

Thank you for the advice. Yes it is intentional. I try to put one sample at the start and the end so it can be heard clearly because sometimes the music makes it harder to hear. This song was also difficult to put the tag on because the beat structure just was not that compatible with the tagline when I was trying to align it. Finally it is intentional for the re-upload protection reasons. But if you're saying the volume is too loud I can make it lower for next time.

If you're interested, send me the tagline line sample and I'll make it fit to your beat.
If you're not, that's cool.

 

[Jessica_X]

Hey, I liked it. When I heard the tag, I thought, "cool vocal!" then I realized....
It also bothers me that the tag is not on the beat.
I know this isn't what you're trying to do, but I think it would be cool if you did a whole, dark and morbid vocal in that tone and just did your own whole song. I would listen to that. Especially if it was about stuck-up yoga moms. There's a market!