I've been working hard at my mixes for almost a year now. I'd like some feedback.

[KevWest]

MySpace.com - Dj Kev West is extending his network - Seattle, Washington - Hip Hop / Soul / Pop - www.myspace.com/djkevwest

I remixed my humps. I have been working hard at getting my mixes right for the last year and I am happy with my progression but it is always a good idea to get an idea of where I can improve from professionals. So any advice or feedback is appriciated. For those of you who prefer not to go through myspace I have also uploaded a mp3 version to Zshare. Thanks all.
my humps.mp3 - 3.82MB

[Petrusha]

Too alternative for me! Also alot of polyphony.
You should build really Good drums - when i listen i don't feel it!
I don't thik its commercial remix! But maybe it was what you was going for.
Piece!

[Stylo]

the beat just doesnt do it... this acapella is full of energy... the beat doesnt bring the required energy....study up on these hit pop songs and take notes on how they build their instrumentals.... show the beat builds toward the chorus, how they add different melodies at certain points in the song etc..

[beat you down]

that 'water for my seedz' beat is nice.
the song as a whole... don't think so.
to start with i would trash all the adlibs, really disturbing imo.

the fergie beat sounds not really homogeneous, the individual sounds stick out too much.

[Mantik]

hi..
the arrangement and midi-editing is good but the sounddesign and mix doesnt work imo.
the snare doesnt "TSCHACK" its more a "tok" and the trumpets in the background with this synthesizer sound realy realy dry and out of the picture and I realy dont like the sound of them anyway. If you want trompets, record real ones. If not go for a real good synth-sound replacing them - the trumpets sound like taken from thoose cheap 50$ yamaha keyboards for home-piano-learning.

all the other remixes on your side sound realy good, whats wrong with you on hump?

[Nahuel]

honest feedback from an underdog beatmaker: did not really like the my humps remix, not my taste but you biggie remix is cool, I dig biggies raps, that's rap! and I like cool funky beats like that, pretty cool.

[KevWest]

Thanks all. For this track composition wise I was looking to do something different than what I usually do. I can make beats like Machine Gun Funk, Dreams, Water For my Seedz, ect. All day long. I thought I would try something that was a bit off the wall but that I felt could have very well fit with the song if mixed properly. Plus this gave me a chance to take my XP-30 and Rokit 5s (i know I should get better monitors but this is all I had cash for and I really needed to be able to hear 808s lol) for a spin. Thanks for the inputs and suggestions I'll give these a shot and see what happens.

[coyotekells]

Beat just wasn't good.. sorry I can't really comment on the mix.. some of the sound selection is not working.
To successfully use really cheesy sounds like that you have to be better than average imo, and even that case, it's kind of a "gimmick" ..using bad sounds as a way to stand out.

[kleen]

In all honesty man you really need to get more selective about your sounds.
Get rid of that cheese element about your tracks and you'll be taking a big step forward. Best of luck!

[phillysoulman]

Try working on them for another year...or maybe two.

[Miles Harding]

Was this a joke, X?

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Fat Pat

Was this a joke, X?

this was me tryin something weird yes. this was something i was having fun with yes. this thread was about me improving my mixes yes. I dont understand why people are saying they can't help me with the mix because of the composition. This track was meant to be cheesy. The original song is cheesy. A week later I see where ear fatigue really set in here. I should have taken a break to mix this down and I think the kicks suffer from it most. I cut too much at 20 hz and maybe should add some at 60z to give it more punch

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by St. Kelly

Beat just wasn't good.. sorry I can't really comment on the mix.. some of the sound selection is not working.
To successfully use really cheesy sounds like that you have to be better than average imo, and even that case, it's kind of a "gimmick" ..using bad sounds as a way to stand out.

I wasn't using this as a way of standing out. Its never been my goal really to stand out for tracks like this one.

[beat you down]

Originally Posted by xabiton

...I dont understand why people are saying they can't help me with the mix because of the composition...

not trying to sound harsh but...
that's probably why it turned out the way it did.

when composing you're already mixing, in a way.
the sounds you've picked just don't mix very well even if it was supposed to sound cheesy.
you can't fix that in the mixdown you have to take it back a few stages to replace some of the sounds.

[Igotsoul4u]

the sounds have zero impact. The kik is a very distant light thud. The hats are also buried and lackin impact. The perc sounds pretty "standard kit" and at the very least need to be panned opposite of each other. The LD synth line should also be panned away from the center. The horns could use a little 1/4 note delay or something. Overall there is a lack of impact and a boring sound field. Better drums and better panning would help alot. Not feelin it though. sorry.

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by beat you down

not trying to sound harsh but...
that's probably why it turned out the way it did.

when composing you're already mixing, in a way.
the sounds you've picked just don't mix very well even if it was supposed to sound cheesy.
you can't fix that in the mixdown you have to take it back a few stages to replace some of the sounds.

makes sense appriciate it

[KevWest]

Originally Posted by Igotsoul4u

the sounds have zero impact. The kik is a very distant light thud. The hats are also buried and lackin impact. The perc sounds pretty "standard kit" and at the very least need to be panned opposite of each other. The LD synth line should also be panned away from the center. The horns could use a little 1/4 note delay or something. Overall there is a lack of impact and a boring sound field. Better drums and better panning would help alot. Not feelin it though. sorry.

no worries thats actually more so what i was looking for. appriciate it

[wakestyle]

i like the ideas in the mix, interesting...

I also would say that the 'beats' as a whole need more improvement (ie: study drumming). I would say I don't like the constant 16th note hi hats plus they are way too high in the mix. Keep at it though!