"If i ever you baby" unfinished am i on the right track?

[Teacher]

this got that vintage killa cam vibe(not that thoing a thoing cam crap) he gotta write one more 8 but let me know how it is so far thanks

[Teacher]

no one replied? its either perfect (which I know its not) or total crap(which i hope its not)...

[DavidO'K]

Keep in mind that these are just my opinions, and I'm not one of the more experienced guys around here.

But yes, I think that you're on the right track in many ways. He has a very soothing voice for someone that is voicing angry content. And the content reflects his anger without being overly mysogenistic (sp?).

Two suggestions:
Being a drummer myself, I think the Kick is too flat. the sidestick isn't loud enough to anchor the pulse of the song. If it did It would compete with the vocals. So more punch (maybe 2K to bring out the beater) and maybe a little reverb would anchor the whole thing better. However you do it it needs presence.

The backgound vox needs to be processed differently. Its a good idea but the vibrato at the tail of the phrases makes it sound like Alvin the Chipmunk snuck into the session, and drives it periliously close to Dr. Demento territory.

Think of the ending rap in TLC's "Waterfall".

Button those two small issues up and I'll buy it.

Good Job,

David O'K

[Teacher]

so the kick needs more omph?

the snare needs more bite..


how would you process the bgvox?

as far as the sped up sample i like it and its the core of the song...no one listens to kanye west? he sold like 1 million + lp's and still going strong...he does that shit all the time thats what influenced us to do that

as for the reverb you mean on the entire mix? individual tracks? if individual tracks should i mult them then put reverb on one of the mults and mix it in low? or just send it thru an aux?

thanks!

[DavidO'K]

Re: if i ever you baby
I think I might not have been clear. I feel the song needs a little more of a "pulse" to it (whatever the hell THAT means). that could be achieved by brightening the snare, but since the snare is sitting in the same freq. range as the vocal it might obscure it. The track is rythmically sparse so the only other way it could be done, if indeed it needs to be done, is by accentuating the kick. The reverb reference was meant for the kick only, just to add some depth and dimention to it's sound. It's a very subjective opinion and I certainly didn't mean to sound like I was cramming it down your throat.

As for the vocal part, I love that kind of shit too. I listened again and it's probably because the person is singing instead of rapping that it sounded out of place to me. When I was young, a long time ago, that effect was used more in a comedy vein. That has obviously changed since then. I did reference a fairly recent song "Waterfall" by TLC that has a rap at the end that is speeded up through some effect that made it sound meatier and more intelligble. I'm not familiar with the artist you mention, but TLC sold 6 million plus, and were nominated for a grammy for the song with that effect, so no I don't doubt the legitimacy of the technique. I used to drive my girlfriends nuts playing Public Enemy's "Rebel Without A Pause" that had a bizarre ascending metalic screech that became hypnotic after a while, and was their signature sound.

When you asked if you were on the right track, I might have mistakenly thought that you wanted more than a "Yes" or "No". If that is so, please forgive me, I'm kind of new here. I think the track is great, very smooth, and my response was meant to be more of a suggestion than a criticism.

Good Luck,

DavidO'K

[Ruphus]

Hi Teacher,

plugged around especially for you.
Like David says I´m not the grand master too, so take my comments as such.

The song is not of my preferred genre, but the sounds seem well treated to me. I mean, the listening was only through cans which gives limited judge, but for that it sounded good. No boom, no dominant overlappings, no brittleness.

Only what I would had tried is time stretching the Mickey Mouse parts. The appear a little bit too hurried to me ( don´t mean the FQ, but the tempo ).

And for the main singer ( remember, I am not saying that I could do anything better ) I think he could be a bit more in singing mode to give it more swing. Especially at the tails of the lines, if I´m expressing myself correctly.

The overall impression of the mix work appears nice to my ears.

Hope this could be of sense.

Rock on!

Ruphus

[Teacher]

dave you did exactly what i wanted you to do....tell me how you would do it and i'll give it a shot and see what happens....rhymically sparse do you mean more percussion and shit like that? or the sounds sound a lil thin? still a lil confused with that

ruphus:

i need to test out time stretching in samplitude

thanks for the feed fellas mucho appreciated even if your not one of the 'big dogs'

[Ruphus]

Originally posted by Teacher

i need to test out time stretching in samplitude

Seems pretty sophisticated. Different qualities and applications if I got that right. Need to learn that one too yet.

Originally posted by Teacher

thanks for the feed fellas mucho appreciated even if your not one of the 'big dogs'

Sure, to hear the old hands would be best. Still, I found myself listening to about everybody. No matter who, about anytime things had been said there came valuable points to pick from or at least useful neighbourhood. Funny, almost always something to think of in a way.
The only guy whos comments I could absolutely make no use of so far seems my tomcat. Generally pleased on default and an unmusical type anyway. ( Except of harmonica. Seems to excite him.)

Maybe one of the educated fellas comes by, yet.
Bob, is it you sitting in the bistros shadow?

Ruphus

[5down1up]

hi T ... my firts mp3 download on the GS forum

so where to start ?

the vocal performance sounds a little " bored " and its looooow
through the whole song . i like that little retro loop you play through the song , even if it could have more stops & movements from time 2 time ?
6/8s not the easiest timing in the world , maybe some double time would help here and there .

i dont get the pitched voice ?

maybe some delayed vocal lines " uhhhhhyeahhhhs " would make it a little more spacy ?

just my 2 cents ... make it burn ... cya

with the " imagine button " turned on , it can be a good one .

[Teacher]

low in such a way it was hard to understand the lyrics? i struggle with that alot sitting the vox in the mix...

[DavidO'K]

By rythmically sparse, I mean that the drum parts are based on 1/4 note hi-hat with 1/8th note bass drum to add color and resolve the pattern back to the one. I think that lack of complexity is just what this song needs. The rapper/singer has impecable time, and he provides all of the syncopation that the rhythmic coloring that the song needs. The juxto=aposition of minimalist instrumentation a rhythmically complex vocalist won Benjamn Andre (Andre "Ice Cold" 3000) of OutKast the album of this yea's Grammy's.

But for the vox to scat around such a simple beat, there has to be an anchor point, back in the '70's funk bands refered to it as "on the One". All it was was an accented beat that the players all played a bit louder, and extended just a bit longer before muting the Guitar string, releasing the Keyboard key , closing the high - hat. everyone just made it a dotted note with an accent. You can't do that because of the minimalist nature of the arrangement. Your challenge is to find an element that play's a rythmic pattern yet doesn't interfere with the singer who is telling a very compelling story. I think the kick drum can do that. It already is to a great extent. Deconstruct the vocal and find out how it loops. take that loop point and either accent it or accent one of the multiples of it. to create a pulse beat that defines the start of a new vocal phrase.

Man... I'M even convusing MYSELF with this bulls**t explanation.

Also as I listened to it again I feel that the singer shoud be more out front. But how to do that? The emotional content of the song requires him to go from almost a whisper to medium loud. Well this sounds like a job for a Compressor. Set the attack medium to slow so the initial sylibant will be uncompressed, therefore ensuring a clear beat to the voice. and set the release fairly quickly so it can recover and the attack envelope will be ready for the next word (don't be suprised if one of the more experienced local Geargoyls write you that I'm full of crap, but it's worked for me before). This should bring up he lows levels, bring down the highs levels, but still let the initial attack of the word (from which the beat is derived,) through at full volume.

So just the one accent on the kick, and bringing the vocal a little more up to the front. Leave everything else as it is. It's great.

Now on to the phantom voice. I may be constrained by my backgound in Video Production. But something like that has to have a place in the narrative structure. Who is it? His concience? His Mother, The girl he broke up with cause she wouldn't shut up? The ghost of Jimmy Hoffa? The idea of an alter ego or counterpoint or devils advocate is great. Look at eminem and Dr. Dre in the "Guilty Concience" video, its great. But after several listens to your phantom voice all I can make out is something about "I told you so" or something to that effect, What I would suggest is

1) Have the performer speak it more than sing it. It's the warbling at end of the phrase (the singer's natural vibrato) that will remind most in the audience of a low buget tape stunt.

2) Slow it down, you could cut the speed in half and still be really quick. If slowing it down makes the pitch too low for your taste pitch shift it. Most DAW's today have a decent shifter. Finally if this phantom voice is something he is supposed to be hearing in his head, use the LoFi (AM RADIO) sound also. You know the one that Rob Thomas and Santana used in "Smooth". If you go to the post I put up (titled "OK - Fire Away) you'll hear some of it on my brother''s voice. I don't know why we used it, but its there.

I'm very impressed with what you've done so far. And as someone that has enjoyed rap type music since 1970 (yes I consider the albums from Gil Scott-Heron with "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and The Last Poets, - who had a track "Wake it up Niggers" on the soundtrack of the movie "Performance" with Mick Jagger - both socio-political couplet verse with a backing of all Conga and Bongos to be proto-rap, both released circa 1970) I think your vocalist has a unique delivery. And impeccable time. He might project a little more, and display a touch more attitude. But believe me that'll come when life kicks him in the nards a few times.

If you have anymore questions Send me a private message with your ph. no. and I'll call you.

Later,

DavidO'K

The only trouble with the rat race is... even if you win, you're still a rat

[Curve Dominant]

Teacher,

I really dig your track. The sped up sample is dope.

If you want your MC to "cut" more in the mix (and I think that's what some of these folks are suggesting)...

> Pan his tracks closer to the center, and

> Boost him EQ at 2.9kHz a few dB's

Other than that I don't see a problem with this track. It's dope.

[Teacher]

Originally posted by Curve Dominant
Teacher,

I really dig your track. The sped up sample is dope.

If you want your MC to "cut" more in the mix (and I think that's what some of these folks are suggesting)...

> Pan his tracks closer to the center, and

> Boost him EQ at 2.9kHz a few dB's

Other than that I don't see a problem with this track. It's dope.

thanks for the feed....

also retracking is an option and probably going to happen since he still has to spit the last 8, so we'll probably do all of them together so they can sound similar.
So i'll tell him to give it a lil more emotion into it.

[Curve Dominant]

You could always mix in the vocal tracks you've already got as "backs" yo?

[Teacher]

more tracks more to play wit...but also more HD space...i'm starting to rethink the whole 88.2 thing...

[Curve Dominant]

posted by Teacher:
more tracks more to play wit...but also more HD space...i'm starting to rethink the whole 88.2 thing...

Oh man, I record at 44.1K. The rest of my gear is so ghetto... I doubt higher sampling rates would make any audible difference, except maybe to the nieghbor's dog.

Yo Teacher, I posted an updated mix of Feelin' Freakie... can you check it for me?

[Teacher]

here's an update mix...tried to make the vox and drums more upfront..

[Mike Jasper]

This is ballsy and highly unusual. Run DMC meets The Chipmunks.

I don't mean that pejoratively, I really like it. At first listen, I did think, "What the hell?" But I can't stop listening to it.

Jasper

[Mike Jasper]

Curve Dominant writes:

The rest of my gear is so ghetto...

Give it a break, dude. You're not black.

Jasper

[Teacher]

Originally posted by Mike Jasper
Curve Dominant writes:


Give it a break, dude. You're not black.

Jasper

ROFLMAO....

[Ruphus]

So finally GS shows capable of positive, jelousy-free feedback. That´s great to see. A couple months ago I hadn´t this impression yet. Posted a so-so song and received only one single reaction.
At least it was an appreciating one.

Ruphus

[DavidO'K]

Teach:

Dead nuts on!!! Just a added a little more kick and vocal presence and it's a whole new song.

And cudos for sticking to your guns and keeping the sample intact and unchanged. I for one suggested you rework it drastically, and others sugested cutting it out etc. You had a vision and you wante advice, not direction, from the respondents. You confidently took what you felt was useful and stuck to your gun's otherwise.

...The Winner and New Champion... Teacher!

David O'K

[Teacher]

lol....thanks dave....