First Times a Charm

lee miran

lee miran

New member
I've been producing Hip Hop beatz for about 10 months. I've been roaming this paticular board for about the same amount of time. I am finally ready for some feedback from all you guys.

Here is my latest beat. It still needs some fine tuning in the arrangement (particularly at breakdowns). Tell me what you think. What do you like? What don't you like? What's missing? What can in do without?

Peep "Muted" at www.nowhereradio.com/leemiran/singles

Thanks!
 
New File Size

Yo,

For those who saw this message and did not download the song because of large file size, I re-upped the song faded out half-way and at a lower bitrate.

PEACE
 
You know what the piano chords in this remind me of?

Still D.R.E.

*starts singing*
I'm representing for them gangstas all across the world
Still hitting them corners in them low low's girl
Still taking my time to perfect the beat
And I still got love for the streets, it's the D-R-E

Yeah!
 
That's a great beat for 10 month old producer!!!

Great job man... Mixing is good.

One thing: Your snare needs more 'snap'... Boosting the higher frequencies of the snare - AND/OR - mixing it with another higher pitched snare would probably do the trick...

Keep bangin'!
Beathoven
 
Thanks!

Yeah, the more I listen to it the more I feel it needs a more "crackin" snare.

BTW, 10 months doing Hip Hop. Been doing House and other styles of dance music for a couple years.
 
Lee,

Listened to this earlier but the board wouldn't let me post. Anyhow, this track is tight for a newbie. Like the piano line, has a nice vibe and that flute-like instrument has a nice melody to it. Bass line reminds of an older track, but can't recall which. Your noise floor seems to be kind of high, I can hear it throughout the track. I agree on the snare issue, I'm having the same problem.

Nice work, keep it up.

Stray
 
stray411 said:
Lee,

Listened to this earlier but the board wouldn't let me post. Anyhow, this track is tight for a newbie. Like the piano line, has a nice vibe and that flute-like instrument has a nice melody to it. Bass line reminds of an older track, but can't recall which. Your noise floor seems to be kind of high, I can hear it throughout the track. I agree on the snare issue, I'm having the same problem.

Nice work, keep it up.

Stray
Click to expand...

Stray,

Thanks for the compliments. About the noise floor being high. It was kind of intentional. I wanted to give it some grit. I did the track solely on the PC. But, to give it a more "hardware" feel, I ran the entire thing through BitCrusher to give the samples the feel of being sampled on an old sp1200 or mpc sampler and to fatten it up.

I also used Izotope Vinyl on the horn and flute-like lines to give them the feel of being sampled off of really old vinyl. That probably is where most of the noise you talk about is coming from. Vinyl simulates a needle going over dust and it also adds a little bit of a "whirr" which is like the needle picking up the sound of the turntable motor. Maybe I overdid the effect and should lower it in the mix a little.
 
Lee,

Maybe it does add to the track. Why not try turning it off to see if anything is lost. If it sounds the same without it, I would suggest not using it. At the very least silence it until the track comes in. If the noise is audible before the track comes in, it is more apparent, but if it comes in with the the track it will be less noticeable and possibly not even detectable.

Either way, I didn't hear this as a huge problem.

Stray
 
Stray - You're right!

Stray,

Believe it or not, I just listened to the track for the first time through headphones and the noise is very apparant. It's actually vinyls simulation of electronic interference in a turntable, kinda of like when it's not grounded properly.

I'm gonna take your advice and take it out.

Thanks!
 
Lee,

I should have stated that. I too am listening in headphones which is probably why I picked up on it.

If you plan on posting a new version let me know.

Stray
 
Just re-upped a revised version

Thanks for all the compliments and critiques on this track.

I just upped a revised version - snappier snare (I hope); removed the noise Stray was talking about.

Let me know if it is better.

On another note:

I'm planning on making a CD of about 10 or 12 beats to have sold on consignment at local record stores. The buyer will be permitted to have unlimited, royalty-free use of the beats for performance or demo's while they try to further their career or get signed. Any other use (label deal, sampling) will require a new license agreement/contract (royalties, etc.).

I plan to sell 'em for about $8 - $10 US (to be split by myself and record shop). This doesn't sound like a lot (it's not), but I figure that there are enough cats who think that they can rap (a lot can), but who need beats to get started.

My contact info will be in the CD insert, so that if an artist/their management/or indy label is serious about future production work, I can charge per beat ($300 and up) and then start making some ducketts.

It's kind of like a sample of my work, to market myself while I increase the number of beats in my hip hop catalog.

What do you guys think? Does this sound like it's worth it? I know some of you wouldn't dream of giving your beats away so cheap, but it's just a marketing tactic.
 
Re: Just re-upped a revised version

lee miran said:
there are enough cats who think that they can rap (a lot can), but who need beats to get started.
Click to expand...

That's me:rolleyes:

But I WILL continue to improve and work with beats - I guess everyone has to start somewhere, but more importantly (to me, anyway) I am making sure that I'm practicing my flowing everyday at least.

Good luck with the CD Lee.:)
 
HI NEW HERE JST LISTENED TO YOUR CUT I LIKE IT STILL MYSELF TRYING TO TRAIN MY EAR, BUT IM FEELING THE GROVE U'VE PRODUCED HERE. HAVE NOT POSTED ANYTHING OF MINE YET BUT STILL WORKING ON IT, U KNOW DONT WANNA COME WIT ANY BULL. KEEP DOING WHAT U DO, ITS TIGHT
PEACE LDYLEE
 
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