Good
The bass is too hot, it is causing alot of pumping in an unpleasant way. You need to limit the bass on it's own before sending the whole track into a limiter because this is where I am guessing the pumpiness is coming from. It really plays havoc with your drums. Also, like everyone else, more changes on the drums woulda been nice, like a little glitch breakdown or something coulda saved this.
Peace
i took your advice and added in a little Glitch Breakdown :P with scratch work! the bass i cant fix... im sorry deal with it! its not too HOT there is no to HOT
On my list of priorities, crack is above you
You've def improved on the flow side of things and the lyrics are improving, delivery gets better all the time. Good to note you're working on it all the time, keep practicing and def keep working on the mixing side of things if you wanna produce. Some good punches, but there are some spots where you rush your syllables. If a verse isn't coming out, start cutting it down to the important stuff. Count your syllables out and work on not rushing things as much, as well as solidifying your "voice", ie. the sound you want to portray for your own vocal style, which is definitely different.
PS: I still fuckin' love that intro. It makes me laugh every time I hear it!
Haha. Ya, my brother was a genius with that intro! Ya, I hear a couple of spots, in the second verse mainly that sound rushed.
Glad you agree with me that I'm still improving a lot. Thanks for the review dude!
Flow much improved
There are still a few points where you stumble a bit in pacing, "A mother on drugs..." was one point where you rushed out some words, I'm guessing because you couldn't quite hit the speed right and used a punch-in. You've gotten your flow down mostly, now it's time to work on rewriting tough passages to make them flow better, then work on laying in your adlibs and strengthening sections with seconds and libs. remember this game is all about evolving your weaknesses over time. You never stop improving.
On the mixing, the chorus/hook needed some strength, maybe a tiny echo and a second stereo widened. One of these days I really need to get the time to get you and Druid on track with your mixing. The vocals are a bit loud and forward, a smidge more reverb and backing off .1 to .3 dB on the vocal during the verse would help. The chorus is almost perfect volume.
As for the subject matter, good job on the writing. Very well written as a story, it conveys the image of the subject.
Peace
Thanks for the words, and I will take you up on that mixing lesson.
NO!
Do not ruin that bass with velocity. Hip-hop bass should always be compressed and almost velocityless to give it that undercurrent of rhythmic follow-through. I think what woulda been better was a changeup on the note during a 4 or 8 bar section of the main verse parts, maybe a jump in octave or a simple 3 note changeup every 4 bars in an 8 bar set, just enough to give it a feeling of bounce. As for the choirs, a little bit of smearing with some reverb to set them more in the middle rather than the foreground of the piece, and bring that whistle synth forward a bit with a tiny bit of compression and maybe some Send channel chorus lightly to give it more presence. It's a realy keystone to the track, which gives it character. The ambulance synth does fit the theme of the vocal sample, so that's a great idea.
Sorry for the wall of words, but this is a really good hip-hop track coming from an artist who is outside his comfort zone really by venturing into this genre. From all of the audio I've listened to from you, DnB and Classical seem to be your strong points, IMO, though the choir and strings here do fit right into that, but Hip-Hop is a rare entry in your audio. This was quite well done, if a bit underpowered for my tastes as far as the loudness of the track, but I compress and limit alot now so I'm sadly involved in the Loudness Wars...eh, whattayagonnado? Keep it up and definitely do more Hip-Hop.
Peace
sweet a good review! thanks man.
its funny how you mention the dynamicless bass in styles such as this- i just picked up a book on mixing and a section on compression echoes your sentiments; the bass is the under-anchor of the track and needs to have an even sound so that no tones are lost through weaker velocities.
Well, I can't say hip hop is necessarily outside of my comfort zone, it was pretty much what I mainly tried to produce for the first year that I was messing around with producing :P but indeed, more DnB and classical oriented tracks have been the ones i've been messing around with the most for the past year.
Thanks a lot for the review man and the specific advice! this helps, and i'm really glad you think this is a decent track, means quite a bit coming from you!
and dont be sorry for the wall of words, the longer the reviews the more enjoyable they are to read :)
As always...
I loved working on this, even if it took three weeks (or more, depending on how you measure it) for me to get it mixed down. You guys got the sound, and that was an excellent beat choice. As always Zajed has perfectly mixed tracks that hold alot of nuances and emotion, which I hope I didn't kill with my mixing. Keep it pimpin'.
Peace
It's always a pleasure working with you my n***a, you know that we always appreciate it man and we won't be ungrateful. Stay up man.
Man, harshness...
He doesn't like my instruments because they make him feel like less of a man. We all know his hatred for pianos is legendary!
Serious, good pacing on your flow, but I told you as much when you first showed it to me. And if it were recorded on a clear mic, this would be a definite huge track for you. Your style fit the beat perfectly, good layout of the vocals. Good job and keep it up. When you get a new mic, I'd be more than happy to show you how to mix your vocals and get that clean, pro sound.
Peace
And Ingenius fires back! WHAT CAN HAPPEN NEXT?! STAY TUNED FOLKS!
haha. Thanks for the words man. And I don't know if I need a new mic. I figure I just need an adapter to run this through a mixer rather than straight to the laptop. But, we shall see. And I'll definitely take you up on the offer.
Go ahead, boy, come at me.
Male
Musician, Producer
Fairbanks, AK
Joined on 11/12/07
Shogun Braker!!!!