Here is the track. It's hip hop...but it's radio edited. It's story song, not just "blah blah blah." Many of you have heard it already, in a less final mix.
It's not final now...I need a few more fresh listens. But if you hear something in the track that is off or could be better, I'm all ears. The hook is not added yet.
But his vocal. I think his tone is a little high. If I take Melodyne (or anything) and shift the pitch down a little bit, artifacts become apparent. I don't know if it's his range or what. Normally I can shave a few cents off without a problem. Not this time.
So what I did was create 2 duplicate tracks (so 3 total). And once I can figure out how to flip the phase in Logic, I was going to try to flip the phase of one track and then try to pitch shift the phase cancelled track...to see how that works.
Really what I want is to to make his range larger, by bringing the bottom end of his vocal down a little bit more.
Are there any tricks I'm missing to do this?
It just occurred to me (literally just now) that maybe if I have 3 tracks, and I shave a few cents off on one of them, maybe the artifacts won't be apparent. Maybe I don't need to experiment with flipping the phase of one of them at all?
Any balance issues you hear, please feel free to say so. Any criticism at all, I'm here to learn.
It's mostly his vocal I'm trying to figure out, but if notice something else, please say so.
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why would you even care about this song? i though we buried this
why would you even care about this song? i though we buried this turd months ago? it sucks. it sucked before when you posted it and it still sucks now. very high on the suck meter. it's been done already. just more ghetto dope selling aggrandizing and imo part of the problem of what is wrong with kids. what you should be recording are uplifting songs about loving people, doing positive things, finishing school, going to college, doing things to rebuild and move away from all of this gang bang crap.
rap / hip hop, WWF wrestling, cage fighting and shooter gaming, all stupid entertainments that appeal to the basest of our instincts white or brown, for mentally challenged audiences. for me it's no wonder kids are shooting up the schools and churches and going nuts on the streets with guns and violence and getting shot by the cops. it's what they are being taught everyday in the media.
what your song offers is no real music, samples and drum beats, bad poetry, "uhh! been sellin' grams all night." who cares?
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: why would you eve
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: why would you even care about this song?
Because I am paid to do so. And I don't want to disappoint the client, nor do I want to build a reputation as a @#$% mixer. Is that simple enough for you?
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: i though we buried this turd months ago?
I'm sorry, "We?"
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: it sucks. it sucked before when you posted it and it still sucks now. very high on the suck meter.
I appreciate the honesty.
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: just more ghetto dope selling aggrandizing and imo part of the problem of what is wrong with kids.
The world has endured it's greatest tragedies before hip hop, and it will continue to have them. Blaming music is the ignorant default. Were the Hutu's and Tutsi's murdering each other over hip hop? Hitler? Bin Laden? The Killing Fields? I said it before, you have probably just forgotten. I don't make a habit of telling people what they can do music about.
And I just checked the mail today, and....you don't pay me?!?! You think that "part of the problem of what is wrong with kids" is their music? Get in line with every generation before you, including your own. The greatest tragedies the world has seen, occurred sans hip hop. And Wrestling? I can't wait for the documentary to come out about all the evils ravaged on the world from Andy Kaufman's antics.
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: what you should be recording are uplifting songs about loving people, doing positive things, finishing school, going to college, doing things to rebuild
Uh huh.
What should you be doing?
Actually wait. The way this apparently works is, you tell me what I'm supposed to be doing, so I guess I tell you what you are supposed to be doing...right? Start with 5 hours a week in a big brother program with a kid that has never had parents. Been beaten in foster homes, had to physically fight for everything he has. Has to steal for food. Lives in a house with minimal heat, with drug addicts posing as parents. And you think his musical choice is the problem? Please sir...please. You insult your own intelligence.
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: and move away from all of this gang bang crap.
That's how, and where, I grew up Mr. Foster. Maybe, since you know you don't like hip hop, and I warned you, both times, it was a hip hop track...you just shouldn't listen? I could go on a fiery diatribe as to how pejorative you are being about these people. But I'll save it for a PM if you are really interested. I don't think you have ever lived in the slums...if you had, your understanding of the problems those people face would be much more nuanced, compassionate, and factual.
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: rap / hip hop, wwf wrestling, cage fighting and shooter gaming all stupid entertainments that appeal to the basest of our instincts white or brown for mentally challenged audiences.
Boxing, paintball, strip clubs, porn, bars, prostitutes, football, drugs, politicians, corporations, bankers ..... I would imagine Hockey is high on your priority list of things destroying society due to the inherent violence.
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: it's no wonder kids are shooting up the schools and churches and going nuts on the streets with guns and violence
Uh huh. Because of me...(a total nobody)...and my radio edited, tragic, hip hop love song. You are also incredibly uninformed. Most people killed by guns in the US, are not gang homicides. Most are suicides, accidents, crazy people (radicals), or family members. But that doesn't seem to be your cause does it.
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: what your song offers is no real music, samples
There are two samples in the song. One "History in the making" and the running tone, which I added to. I'll start labeling my stuff "played via VSTi" so you don't have to waste your time. I don't have all the drums, instruments, mics etc that a full studio does. I know your life must be just awful Kurt, but you will have to deal with it.
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: bad poetry, "uhh! been sellin' grams all night." who cares?
You've missed the point of the entire song. Perhaps it's because the hook is not in there yet. Since you can't seem to get past the first line...it's about a couple who was born into poverty, he made some bad decisions. He decided he needed to make some changes....but by that time, it was too late. If you listened to it, without prejudice, maybe you would see the message it conveys is that the drug/gun game, you need to get out before it's too late. All that bloviating and posturing, it's for nothing. That's what the song is about (I wrote the idea and hook). And where I grew up, that is a positive message. That game, isn't the way.
Be swift about hearing, slow about speaking. It's from The Bible, hopefully that passes your morality test.
Kurt Foster, post: 446892, member: 7836 wrote: who cares?
I care about the mix, or I wouldn't have posted it again. You don't. Again, it's pretty simple...
If you can't separate the mix from the material, don't listen to my stuff Kurt. My questions were pretty specific. I was very clear about what music it was. After the first post, I edited the song, just to make people feel more comfortable. If you are still unable to hear the song, or read the various labels, I guess you are doomed to a life of occasionally auditioning music you consider pejorative. Argh, I can't even imagine how terrible it must be for you.
No one is forcing you to listen to it. It's good too, bc you would likely take up arms and kill someone, that's what the music does to people...as you pointed out. I don't know how I've avoided it. Lucky I guess.
You can talk to me via pm if you want to discuss it more. I feel I've been more than fair.
pcrecord, post: 446891, member: 46460 wrote: I feel changing the pitch of the vocal would be a mistake, so leave melodyne alone. This sounds good as it is.
If you'd want to add more bass to his voice, you could use a dynamic eq or duplicate the track, remove everything but the low end, compress it and put a little behind the original track. But there is nothing wrong with what I hear.
That's extremely reassuring Marco. I've listened to a lot of the mixes posted on here and it has me second guessing myself a lot. You guys are pretty amazing with your vocal productions. If you don't hear any problems...that's more than enough for me on the vocal part.
I like the VSL trumpet -- not crazy about the radio edits but I
I like the VSL trumpet -- not crazy about the radio edits but I guess that's a necessity. I spent some time with a friend who is a Hip Hop encyclopedia demoing this track (your previous presentation) This friend (White kid from Atlanta) thought the rap was very pedestrian and very straight in its phrasing so therefore very dated. I agreed with him at the time but told him it was what it was - a more meat and potatoes homage than a new school thing (and he agreed with me on that). Building on that observation I'm not sure the languid jazzy lines of the trumpet and the vamp fit such a "straight" rap... Kind of like two miss-matched textures/moods.... The narrative itself is very linear yet the Jazz lines are very circular and fractal-like ---- not sure they work together (at least intellectually) but I'm also missing an enormous hip hop vocabulary of my own so I've very few current references to compare to.
When I played around with this previously I used a slight micro-pitch effect to give the vocals some depth and dimension but I was aware of your desire to avoid a production cliche... you mentioned a hook -- when are we gonna hear that?
DogsoverLava, post: 446895, member: 48175 wrote: I like the VSL
DogsoverLava, post: 446895, member: 48175 wrote: I like the VSL trumpet -- not crazy about the radio edits but I guess that's a necessity. I spent some time with a friend who is a Hip Hop encyclopedia demoing this track (your previous presentation) This friend (White kid from Atlanta) thought the rap was very pedestrian and very straight in its phrasing so therefore very dated. I agreed with him at the time but told him it was what it was - a more meat and potatoes homage than a new school thing (and he agreed with me on that). Building on that observation I'm not sure the languid jazzy lines of the trumpet and the vamp fit such a "straight" rap... Kind of like two miss-matched textures/moods.... The narrative itself is very linear yet the Jazz lines are very circular and fractal-like ---- not sure they work together (at least intellectually) but I'm also missing an enormous hip hop vocabulary of my own so I've very few current references to compare to.
When I played around with this previously I used a slight micro-pitch effect to give the vocals some depth and dimension but I was aware of your desire to avoid a production cliche... you mentioned a hook -- when are we gonna hear that?
Speaking of people who are serious with their vocal production skills...lol
The song is different than the original I gave him. What you are hearing is actually there....not a mistake on the rapper's part.
I have mentioned something similar to him about some of the content, but he is confident with it. Some people take advice, some refuse....I can't tell him which one he will be. Nor can I accurately predict which one will "make it." Do you know how many signed rappers I've heard that I thought were weak? It's a pretty large list. There are so many other factors that come in to play, including "luck." If he is confident in what he is saying, and confident he doesn't want to change it, then, that's what I have to work with. I respect his resolve...and I like his sound.
Also, this song was an exercise. He sometimes goes 2-4 bars before switching gears, which I often like. But, he has the drive, and the voice, so, we sent a couple emails about writing a story song. I basically told him what I wanted him to write a song about. He wrote the lyrics, I wrote the idea. So, this wasn't him, doing what he likes to do. It was him, doing an exercise, for the sake of growth. Keeping a theme through the verses, and not just catching the hook every 16 bars with the previous bar.
He works hard. I thought I could help him with something. He's the kind of guy that will put in the work and learn. So, the little I know about song writing, I started to teach him. That is where I feel hip hop is losing itself nowadays. Lyrics... people used to be word clever, or delivery clever. I think the number of people who either have or have developed those talents is dwindling. There are several, Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper etc. But a lot of stuff is just ridiculous.
For what we were doing, I thought he did a good job. And as you know, I totally changed the beat afterwards...but I like it.
As for the hook. I sent her the lyrics and demo, but, she will get to it when she gets to it. I'll make sure to post it directly here and to Kurts inbox.
Done! It did not add any highs in the mix, though. I did not do
Done! It did not add any highs in the mix, though. I did not do much equing at all and tried to work with the recorded sounds.
[MEDIA=audio]https://recording.o…
[MEDIA=audio]https://recording.o…
I feel changing the pitch of the vocal would be a mistake, so le
I feel changing the pitch of the vocal would be a mistake, so leave melodyne alone. This sounds good as it is.
If you'd want to add more bass to his voice, you could use a dynamic eq or duplicate the track, remove everything but the low end, compress it and put a little behind the original track. But there is nothing wrong with what I hear.