Hip Hop track I played on..

Hey guys,

Here's a hip-hop track I played on recently, let me know what you think.

Hope.mp3

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ August 17, 2003 06:06 PM: Message edited by: JosiahM ]</font>

Is cool, Josiah! [img]cool.gif[/img]

Thanks.. anyone else got any comments?

I think the overall vibe of what you're doing is great. To comment on a few things...did you use a click to record this? It sounded like there were a couple of minor issues here and there time-wise. I also think there should be more focus on the groove rather than the fills, which leads to....the guitar is too loud and the drums are too quiet!! This is a common problem among guitarists (in my experience)! I think the drums in this style of music really need to be prominent.
Like I said, overall it's fine, it just needs some fine-tuning now.

yea this is a rough mix, there maybe some minor time issues, it was recorded to a click. i was told to lay back as much as possible to the point of 'flamming" the click..

Sounds good, I would have played abit more straight and not so many fills. As to mix, there is no presence to the drums or bass...........nothing stands out at all. Sounds more like it was done on a boom box. To me at least.
This type of music really needs to float on the groove and not so much the hip fills.
Nice job though on what you did.

Nice job! I liked your playing on this track. Nice groove.

Mix: The drums are undermixed and the bass needs the low end tightened up. The mix can be fixed with some eq and compression (and level!) to fatten up the D & B. The vocal and guitar cannot carry the tune alone.

Timing: There is an odd syncopation a couple of points in the tune that sounds like it could be a timing problem but since the bass seems to be playing it too I assume it was intended.

Fills: The fills weren't overly intrusive and aren't a problem for me per se but it makes the track come off a bit more "jam band" than "studio drummer" pro. Leaving a few out or simplifying some of them might leave a different impression.

I might learn something new here... - Why would anybody want the drums so laid back that they flam the click?! I don't get it... [img]eek.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_down.gif[/img]

Peace. /F

Hey, thanks guys i appreciate it.. Matt, the guy who wrote the tune seemed to give me the impression of wantting a lot of action from the percussion.

As for the mix, I agree with what was said, unfortuantly, I don't get any say about that on this.

SkunkFunk, it changes the feel of the song, being laid back or pushed ahead.. dropping the 1 real early tends to make it really sink in and give a heavier feel to the groove.. pocket is another good way to describe it.

I like the fills. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

hey folks...
just got back from the Weckl clinic in Montreal. Great clinic. Interestingly enough, the idea of flamming with a click was brought up. Weckl's response to this idea if it were asked of him by a producer was "Dude, you play it! or get a machine to do it..."
He thought that this idea that some producers have of putting the hihat a micro second ahead, the bass drum a microsecond behind and the snare straight in the middle seemed ridiculous to him. Basically he said that for anything to groove it needs to be in time and together. Obviously there is a "lilt" to certain styles, but the idea of contriving this "lilt" to flamming parts was not something he thought was a legitimate production tactic. At least it didn't work for Weckl...

It was one of the most informative Weckl clinics that I've yet to see...

He truly is amazing...
BV

Bryan,

Did he go into his kick much?

Bryan.. I think that is the extreme sense..

Being asked to lay the groove, or even the 1 back that much is perfectly fine. I was taught of a way to get a grat blues feel by actually flammign the snare and the hi-hat.. this drops the snare a fraction behind the actual beat.. and gives the blues, blues feel.. very laid back.

I can understand the fustration if wantting the bass durm such behind the snare on the middle.. if they were being so anal as to look at it on the wave form and be like "no drop the snare .023 of a second more please" then yea..
But being asked to flam the click is certiantly excepted.

I might step on some toes but it sounds like weckle is a bit of a jerk (going off more then just what you said) at least in wantting to play how he plays or not at at all.. wich is fine of course.. also would seeminglly be why Weckl is not a first call session guy.. unlike guys like Josh Freese, Abe Jr., Vinnie of course and so on.. those are "no problem" guys.. and they work a LOT.