hiphop song - finally done - need MASSIVE critiquage (click this one not the other 2

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shackrock

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Sorry about the TRIPLE posts...the other 2 didnt seem to work (comp problems i assume on my end..haha)....and i couldn't figure out where the DELTE thread was,i dont think its there because there was no text added.

but back to my point.

we finally finished a few of our hip hop songs for our album. I'd like ANY AND ALL CRITISCISM'S that ANYONE has about ANYTHING.

However - i would MAINLY like critiques about the mix.

and, how can i get that "glossy" overall feel to it? Rigiht now, it still feels a little "raw" or "basement" to me...what can i still do now to finish it off? any key freaquencies to BOOST or CUT? anything at all, i'm willing to experiment. You guys will defiantely know what i'm saying after you hear this song - and then compare it to, say - a song by The Roots, or Talib Kwali and Hi Tek, or any popular hip hop artist i'm sure has great mastering.


i guess i'm wondering - do ALL songs sound like this before they have been mastered? I think the answer is no..and i hope so too....ha

THANKS!


oh yeah - the song is called "grown", and is available at:
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1851&alid=-1
 
Hey Shack:

In my opinion you've got good material to work with here, because it sounds as if everything was recorded well, and the levels are consistant and well-balanced.

As you mentioned, it does lack that "shine". In general I've been lately trying to get as close as possible to what I want a tune to sound like before mixing down, but there's definitely plenty that can be done at the final stage to sparkle it up.

Actually I liked your tune so I did some playing around with the mix myself, just for fun (& also because my ears needed a break from the song I'm working on right now).

If you're curious, I put my "remastered" (a word I use rather tongue in cheek) version over at:



Basically, this was a 5-minute mastering job (plus, obviously, working with an mp3 is far from an ideal circumstance - some would say totally pointless) but I think it hints at what I mean. I added a tiny little dash of overall reverb, added some harmonic excitment in the bass and upper frequencies, and eq'd the mids down a bit while boosting the upper mids and the high bass end (being a little vague I know, but I wasn't taking notes) and compressed the whole thing just a hair.

Anyway, I dig the song. Good stuff.

Chris
 
very good beat. I love the piano sound.

I am hearing some strings in the climactic sections. The delivery got better in the end( I think it was a different rapper).

funk on!
 
I think Cyan's got the idea, here.

This doesn't sound like a "polishy" sort of tune as it is, and that's a good thing. The piano sounds great. It sounds dark in a really good way. The vocals have a slightly exaggerated midrangy sound to them that fits the song real well.

When I think of polish, I think of some high-end ear candy, which is more of an arrangement thing. To give it more gloss, you'd have to add some cymbal, some sort of hand percussion, etc. that is really delicate-sounding to add some extra high end.

Or as Cyan put it, some strings would be very cool.

Personally, I'm getting tired of all the glossy goop I hear every minute on the radio, so every chance I get to hear something a little more raw, or at least not intentionally glossy, it's a good thing.

Great job, here.
 
I also like Cyan's idea of some strings to provide a high end to give it a little "sheen." I wonder if a little splash of reverb might add a bit of it as well?

Lots of words there. The words I could process were cool. Might be a bit late, but the tempo is a bit fast. I realize the singer(s) get the words in anyway. But they come so rapid fire, I couldn't process them. I could make out some pretty cool stuff here and there.

On the chorus, is it supposed to be sung that way? It seems a little pitchy in spots. I liked the spoken voice underneath the chorus.

I like the piano sound, but there is a chord in the progression that gets cut short. That bugged me a bit. I would have let it more naturally decay.

My thoughts... Trip.
 
Hey Shack.......
.....another agreement to the strings cyan suggested. I like the way the vocs are recorded, very clean, full and tight. I would also agree w/ trip re: the pitchiness of the sung parts. It might add to the dynamic of the song if the chorus parts were sung tight and recorded big. ...just thoughts.

Very nice stuff man,




g
 
thanks guys...

strings is definately a good call...i got a few friends who could do that for me...my only thing is i dont know a thing about recording strings - any tips? haha. maybe a link to "violin/viola recording techniques"? ha.


but in the meantime..at least a LITTLE more "less raw" would be cool, thats the only thing i'm still not positive on doing.ha.

but i'll think about adding some highends too.
 
dude, this isn't bad

...it DOES have that whiteboy sound to it, but the recording is nice...

You know, the only thing bothering me is the radio-shack-ish vocal sound... too many plosives on the vocals... and they're dry as a bone... a little slap-back echo on the vox would help in places... some manual doubling... some more production all-in-all on the vocals would help... they just seem to need their own "space"... right now, they sound paper-flat 2-dimensional.

The high end is just fine... everything's nice and clear... if you'd like more, just make sure to not overdo it and definitely do NOT boost highs that are not there with EQ, cuz it will only "fuzz up" the mix.

waitaminnut... this is RAP... and you want more HIGH end? :D Some'in's wrong with this pict-cha :cool:


Chad
 
i tried adding some delay to my vox, but no matter what i did it just sounded chorusy or flangy....so either (a) i need some instruction on that or (b) forget it. ha.

and i do know what you mean about vox...but sadly i dont know what else to do besides become black....ha

but yeah i know - i DO have a lot of bass/low mids already as it stands, i'd say. but i think if i could get that low end/low mids POLISHED, then it would MAKE THE HIGH END at least SOUND more crisp....
 
same song, WITH BBE!

alright, on this one - i did a little EQ on individual tracks some more...made a tiny bit of a difference. the biggest is probably in the piano sample...i took out a bit arouond 330hz.

however, the biggest obvious change in this is that i used BBE Sonic Maximizer on it. As much as i hate to use it (becvause i really dont know WHAT it's doing...and everyone says DONT YOU DARE!)...it really DOES give it that gloss...even though i hate to just use a "mastering plugin" to get those results....


so i ask you to listen to the new mix...and pretend there is no BBE...and compare it to the other mix on there too...and tell me which one you like better - BBE, or NO BBE.

by the way, i put the BBE LO setting to "3", and the HI setting to "3" too.

once again, the link is at:
http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/?aid=1851/singles
 
Wow!
This is really out of my realm of listening,but ignorance on my part has never stopped me from doing anything so far.:rolleyes:

I've got to say I agree with the others about some additional instrumentation.If not strings maybe some of those bleep-blip-bloop sounds that are indigenous to this type of music.

Oh well I may not have helped but at least I'm expanding my musical boundaries.:rolleyes:
 
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