LEAST crushed hip-hop album in the last few years?

[scius]

Hip-hop has a notorious reputation for being as loud and crushed as possible.

So in your opinion, what are some of the most well-mixed, balanced, dynamic hip hop albums that were done in the past couple of years?

[inlinenl]

Originally Posted by scius

Hip-hop has a notorious reputation for being as loud and crushed as possible.

So in your opinion, what are some of the most well-mixed, balanced, dynamic hip hop albums that were done in the past couple of years?

track 12 "So What The Fuss" from the new Stevie Wonder album .....put it loud on some big B&W speakers in a good room ............ it's a magic sounding album ...

Can we call it Hip-Hop .. not really ... but its sounds way solid !!!

wim

www.inlinemastering.com

[Darius van H]

Fabolous's album "Real Talk", although pretty damn loud, was certainly a good example of what can be achieved with top-notch production, mixing and mastering (by our very own Chris Athens i believe) - i.e. loud-as-hell but still clear, fat and kinda punchy sounding.

I doubt you'll find ANY high profile rap albums from the last few years that aren't pegging 0dBFS pretty hard......some sound like arse, some excellent, lots in between.

[RUSCO]

Fabolous's "Real Talk", although pretty damn loud, was certainly a good example of what can be achieved with top-notch production, mixing and mastering (by our very own Chris Athens i believe) - i.e. loud-as-hell but still clear, fat and kinda punchy sounding.

I would have to agree with that one. An outstanding track the way I hear it.I think there is more space in that sub area.

[Red_venom]

I cant think of any that sound really great. But I can think of plenty that sound terrible... The new T.I. album somehow sounds better on the radio than it does via the retail CD. I just dont know.

[Ironklad Audio]

unfortunately, there aren't many rap albums out there that don't get crushed, and it's for 2 obvious reasons:

1)everybody wants their bass to hit. HARD.

2)a lot of rap doesn't have much of a dynamic range...there's the bass hits, the drumbeat, vocals, and whatever funny noises are in the background, most of which play at the same level all the way through the song. it's not like a classical piece that is dependent on crescendos and thematic changes - not usually, at least

[Darius van H]

Originally Posted by Ironklad Audio

unfortunately, there aren't many rap albums out there that don't get crushed, and it's for 2 obvious reasons:

1)everybody wants their bass to hit. HARD.

2)a lot of rap doesn't have much of a dynamic range...there's the bass hits, the drumbeat, vocals, and whatever funny noises are in the background, most of which play at the same level all the way through the song. it's not like a classical piece that is dependent on crescendos and thematic changes - not usually, at least

The ironic thing is, the bass suffers badly when a hiphop tracks is hard limited or clipped...the bass would hit a lot harder if there were a bit more dynamics and the track was just turned up a bit!

But hey, i know i'm preaching to the converted here!

I think one of the main problems (and this goes for any genre) is people trying to push their music beyond its loudness potential. With an album like Fabolous's (Chris A could weigh in here with the details), i expect that achieving the loudness was pretty easy because the arrangments, production and mixing is "loud". So despite the high apparent volume, the music is not really suffering much.

But the trouble starts when people try to push different, lesser productions to that same apparent loudness.......everything suffers in order to achieve this.....bass, punch, high distortion.

[Masterer]

It's hard to say what allows you to make a mix loud while keeping a "sense" of dynamics and preserving [maybe enhancing] the bass. In the case of Fabalous the mixes were very likely dark and bass-y and printed at very modest levels [Mix engineer Duro's tendency]. I probably worked primarily on making the midrange more aggressive to counter balance the massive bass tone. The level is mostly a matter of making it louder until it's starts to sound bad and then backing off till it doesn't.

When I master a track for a mixer like Serban G. It's the same principle even though his approach to mixing is completely different. He prints very loud and with a very aggressive mid range and top end. I mostly end up adding a little bass if anything and a very small amount of level if any.

In general a tracks "loudness potential" comes from a very complex set of elements but I think the most crucial aspects are the contol of dynamics and the lack of problematic frequency buildup [at any frequency range but primarily in the bass and mid bands].

Sorry if I'm not being clear here.

C.

[P. Rene]

The Ghostface Supreme Clientele! classic and very nice sounding album..... who mixed it anywho.

[Masterer]

Originally Posted by P. Rene

The Ghostface Supreme Clientele! classic and very nice sounding album..... who mixed it anywho.

I don't remember. What a pain in the ass that one was.
Good record though.

[Dor]

Originally Posted by Masterer

I don't remember. What a pain in the ass that one was.
Good record though.

So you mastered that album? Why such a pain?

[Masterer]

Originally Posted by Dor

So you mastered that album? Why such a pain?

Yeah, I did.
It's a long story but the short of it is:

RZA and co. would show up an average of 3 to 6 hours late for every session.

There were quite a few last minute recalls.

We spent about 8 hours one night working on a "skit" that I knew wouldn't work within the first half hour. Not to mention that the samples weren't cleared and I was pretty damn sure they weren't gonna be.
And I ****ing hate skits.

The record took about a week or so to do because they wouldn't show up even though the sessions didn't start till 5 or 6 pm [one night I told them I was leaving at 5am "no matter what" to which the incredulous A&R guy had the nerve to ask "why"!! They showed up at 4:30am, I did one song and left at 5am. - and yes they got charged for the whole 10 hrs that I waited for them!].

When we finished the record we didn't hear from them for more than a week before we got a call from the label saying that RZA wanted to re-do "the whole record" the next day [the day before Christmas!!!], to which I replied "I'm out of town for the next week, see ya later". Of course they couldn't wait so they finished the record at the Hit Factory.

It's too bad such a good record had to be such a shitty experience. It happens.

[Darius van H]

Funny story Chris.

The rappers I work with normally only have the budget to be 2 hours late!

[Masterer]

Originally Posted by Darius van H

Funny story Chris.

The rappers I work with normally only have the budget to be 2 hours late!

Oh the excess.

If I told you how much they spent on the mastering alone you probably wouldn't believe me. I'd say about 75% of the bill was a total waste. Mostly spent on me sitting around with my thumb up my ass, which is not nearly as much fun as it sounds.

[rashadrm@hotmai]

Originally Posted by Red_venom

I cant think of any that sound really great. But I can think of plenty that sound terrible... The new T.I. album somehow sounds better on the radio than it does via the retail CD. I just dont know.

you are so right, as much as I like the..( 'what you know about that') track,
everytime I listen to it, I could only imagine how it would have sounded with a better mix and master........

[rashadrm@hotmai]

Originally Posted by Red_venom

I cant think of any that sound really great. But I can think of plenty that sound terrible... The new T.I. album somehow sounds better on the radio than it does via the retail CD. I just dont know.

you are so right, as much as I like the..( 'what you know about that') track,
everytime I listen to it, I could only imagine how it would have sounded with a better mix and master........Where's the Dr.Dre team, when you need them?

[P. Rene]

Man i dont know who's basement Fishscale wuz tracked @, but that supreme has the most classic sound next to this new busta rhymes thats coming out.

[Rhymeskeema]

St. Elsewhere... most tracks have excellent recording and mastering values.

[DigitalDrugLord]

Originally Posted by rashadrm@hotmai

you are so right, as much as I like the..( 'what you know about that') track,
everytime I listen to it, I could only imagine how it would have sounded with a better mix and master........Where's the Dr.Dre team, when you need them?

Uhh.. it was mastered by big bass brian and bernies!

I think the T.I. record is the worse ive heard in a very long time. I think what happend is the threshold is too too low on the limiter and the overall record is soft clip distorted.

Linear Phase MB comp>L2 24 bit ultra>Ozone 3 CD master with exciter and stereo widening at -0.1 = better sounding record than that T.I. disc.

I really think Big bass got it preproccessed maybe. Brian is really a beast at mastering, but the T.I. disc is the first and only i thought was off target.

[DigitalDrugLord]

Originally Posted by P. Rene

Man i dont know who's basement Fishscale wuz tracked @, but that supreme has the most classic sound next to this new busta rhymes thats coming out.

and supreme sounded even better on cassette!!!!!! I have to say supreme clientle was one of the best sounding hip hop records in recent memory...

check out the song "we made it" classic.

[Masterer]

Originally Posted by Rhymeskeema

St. Elsewhere... most tracks have excellent recording and mastering values.

I did the single "Crazy" and another track called "Go Go Gadget Gospel" or something like that. I have no idea who mixed it or mastered the rest of the record. I gotta check out though. If the rest of the record is like the single I'm definately gonna buy it.

[IIIG]

Busta's upcoming release sonically sounds GREAT. Period. It's loud as f*** and it's clean. It is limited to hell but it still has that energy and life to it. And the album is dope as well, even though that's not the focal point of this thread.