Hip Hop Production Thread Part Deux

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No Music Discussion > Musician's Lounge > Hip Hop Production Thread Part Deux

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

https://soundcloud.com/magic-fountain

I made some beats; any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2014 04:10

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:44

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

Answers Me posted:

Speaking of breaks, does anyone know of any good drum breaks in 6/8 (or 3/4)? Preferably from actual songs, but if someone could point me in the direction of some sample packs or whatever that'd be sweet too.

e: Obviously I could just chop up something in 4/4, but I'm trying to keep things fairly organic.

You might be able to do something with the outro of "Manic Depression" by Jimi Hendrix.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 17:26

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

I put up a few tracks of all different genres; tracks 2, 3, and 5 have more of a hip-hop feel than the others. Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

https://soundcloud.com/jryan0858

# ¿ Feb 3, 2015 17:58

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

quote:

Musically, there's some interesting stuff going on but the biggest issue is about the production quality. I don't know if you're tracking with a real guitar, but there's a weird compression effect going on all throughout your songs that makes it disapear everytime the kick hits, I don't know if you're side-chaining or if it's a simple mixing issue, but it's distracting to say the least.

I sidechain everything to the kick, except for the melody. I dunno, it always sounds better to me that way. I also always sidechain the rhythm instruments (usually guitar and piano panned hard right/left) to the snare or clap. Is none of that a common practice? The guitar is real, and typically I'll record 3 or 4 different guitars strumming the same thing with 2 mics. Then I send those to a short reverb/delay and sidechain that to the kick.

quote:

As for the synths, once again, there are some interesting things going on in terms of melody but they all sound like your "out-of-the-package" synths. They don't really sound original or personalized. You might want to spend some time tweaking them around and making them your own. It'll make a pretty big difference.

I designed all the synth sounds, but I like to keep them simple, so I could see that.

quote:

As for the mix as a whole, it just seems like everything is too loud.

What are you, MY DAD?!

quote:

You might want to bring most of your levels down and play around with compression instead. It'll help make your tracks bouncier and will make it a lot easier to mix your kick and snare so they don't cut every single frequencies. You can have your drums a lot less loud, but a lot snappier that way, and they'll shine through the mix anyway.

I have at least an eq and a compressor on each instrument; by play around with compression do you mean automate it throughout the track or just have the effect be not as intense, like i should turn down the ratio or threshold or something? how does lowering the instruments' level affect compression?

quote:

Keep at it, the potential's there.

Thanks dude, I will.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2015 05:10

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

Posted my soundcloud a few months ago and got a lot of positive criticism back; this is my first track since.

https://soundcloud.com/jryanmusic/nimda

DJcyclopz fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Jul 20, 2015

# ¿ Jul 18, 2015 18:20

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

slowfreq posted:

the piano is well composed. either you sampled it from somewhere or you have a knack for writing piano pieces. either way, good job.

not horribly big on the drums though. they're really boring. the hats are the same t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t every 8th beat over and over, and the rest of the drum beat is the same 2-bar loop from when the drums come in, to when the song ends. it gets a little mind-numbing.

i know rattling hi-hats are sort of cliche, but in terms of hip-hop (or sort of trap? based on the tempo, seems a bit what you're going for), but they're standard in the genre for a reason: they're interesting. switch up the kick and the snare, too.

and try to make the drums work with the piano and pad! you have synths, you have drums, but neither or them work with each other. they sound like two people who happen to be walking next to each other. make them work with each other!

Thanks! I wrote/recorded the piano piece myself, glad you like it.

Made a few changes with the drums/dynamics (and the link, actually)

https://soundcloud.com/jryanmusic/nimda

# ¿ Jul 20, 2015 02:10

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

New track!

https://soundcloud.com/jryanmusic/get-it

# ¿ Mar 24, 2016 01:21

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

New Track!
Check out some of my other tracks while you're there!

https://soundcloud.com/jryanmusic/wooden-penguin

Feedback is hugely appreciated!
Would really like to collaborate with a vocalist (singer or rapper). If interested, let me know!

# ¿ Aug 16, 2016 18:00

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

https://soundcloud.com/jryanmusic/venus

Check out my latest track^^

Feedback is hugely appreciated.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2018 17:11

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

MrSargent posted:

I really like it, really cool trippy melody but it isn't so weird that you can't groove to it. While listening to the track, I think at some point I was waiting for a faster hihat pattern to come in. That might just be personal taste, but I thought it could help the rhythm variation a bit. I am also not too familiar with trip-hop and how it is generally mixed, but I think the kick could be a little louder in the mix, the melodies seem to overpower it a bit when they are all playing together. Again, this could be personal preference but you asked for feedback so I wanted to provide some. I really like the track and overall it sounds great.

I just uploaded a new beat I made as a kind of tribute to Pete Rock's style. Been listening to him a lot lately and wanted to pay homage to his genius. Let me know what you think!

https://soundcloud.com/bradley-freeman-3/a-nod-to-pete

Thanks for the feedback! I'll likely change a few things around and reupload.
I followed you and liked the Pete Rock style track you made. The drums on that sound great.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2018 18:48

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:44

DJcyclopz: Feb 16, 2012

MrSargent posted:

Thanks a lot! I'll keep an eye out for the re-upload. Curious what is your DAW of choice and general workflow? Don't get a lot of traffic in this thread and it makes me feel like I am the only one on this forum making hip-hop, haha.

I'm using Ableton Live 9. I hope to upgrade to 10 soon but it's about $300 that I don't have to spend right now.
I've got a template that I've put a lot of work into in order to have a nice workflow. I can start up Live and have all my microphones ready to record, a sampled piano, a synth, a really flexible drum rack, return tracks (Short reverb, Long Reverb, Short Delay, Long Delay, Parallel Compression, etc.), and some auxiliary tracks. You?

# ¿ Sep 28, 2018 18:26

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No Music Discussion > Musician's Lounge > Hip Hop Production Thread Part Deux