guess who's been secretly making inst hiphop all these years

[ScholarlyGent]

Pete Clark After Dark, and it's fly as hell. You might even say "jazzy." Go ahead, say it!

Actually I'm looking for some constructive feedback, if anyone feels so inclined.

http://soundcloud.com/pete-clark-after-dark

[ScholarlyGent]

which one of you guys listened to my stuff in Saudi Arabia? Is that even legal over there?

[The Landwhale]

Seriously good shit! Forest of the frogs is my favorite so far, but Ive got a few more to listen to.

[ScholarlyGent]

Seriously good shit! Forest of the frogs is my favorite so far, but Ive got a few more to listen to.

Thank you! I just took a listen to your stuff as well. Very nice! I really like that first track you've got up there (sound cloud), such a nice drop-of-the-beat. Made my head bob, not gonna lie.

[Pravda23]

on canoe and brew the compression is either ducking a little too much or my headphones are one the fritz! over-compressed?

forest of the giant frogs - simple, unpretentious music, i reckon you could teach me a thing or two about not complicating chillout

lowtide at dusk - curious: whats the lead synth / plugin? sounds large, would be KILLER with some delay at the tail end of every lead riff, just like the opening track on 2009's Various Assets (red bull music academy CD). possibly a few more kicks in the rhythm too

ok tha\ts enough, def a cut above most of the links in here.

[ScholarlyGent]

on canoe and brew the compression is either ducking a little too much or my headphones are one the fritz! over-compressed?

forest of the giant frogs - simple, unpretentious music, i reckon you could teach me a thing or two about not complicating chillout

lowtide at dusk - curious: whats the lead synth / plugin? sounds large, would be KILLER with some delay at the tail end of every lead riff, just like the opening track on 2009's Various Assets (red bull music academy CD). possibly a few more kicks in the rhythm too

ok tha\ts enough, def a cut above most of the links in here.

Thank you, thats some truly solid feedback. I'm actually a bit surprised you are the only one to mention the compression issues with Canoe and Brew. You're definitely spot on; its kinda jacked up. I was experimenting with a totally different compression technique than I use with most of my other tracks and, as you could hear, I've yet to perfect it. I'm wondering if you could help me by explaining what seems most "off" to you. Is it that the kick isn't quite digging in enough, not enough dynamic range generally, is the horn hit too overpowering? My ears aren't very trustworthy when it comes to mastering (lots of loud bangs in my line of work) so any specific advice you might offer with regard to that would be awesome. And thanks a lot for the complements by the way! Much appreciated. I'm about to give your stuff a listen right now.

[ScholarlyGent]

And just to clarify a bit beyond my previous message, I am going for a heavily compressed sound on that track. Trying to do something similar to the current L.A. instrumental hip hop sound, but definitely not quite there yet.

[Pravda23]

hej pete, the main deterrent to canoe & brew is that the acutal master level of the track is to be constantly being boosted and cut. it sounds like someone is tweaking the volume knob of a hi-fi as it plays. i know the effect you're trying to reproduce pretty well, but i just think your sidechain gain level is too extreme, and that your attack and release values should be reconsidered. try resetting everything and then take your attack / release down to zero on the compressor and listen carefully until it "pumps" in time with the music.

[ScholarlyGent]

hej pete, the main deterrent to canoe & brew is that the acutal master level of the track is to be constantly being boosted and cut. it sounds like someone is tweaking the volume knob of a hi-fi as it plays. i know the effect you're trying to reproduce pretty well, but i just think your sidechain gain level is too extreme, and that your attack and release values should be reconsidered. try resetting everything and then take your attack / release down to zero on the compressor and listen carefully until it "pumps" in time with the music.

Hey. Thanks man! That's very, very helpful. I truly appreciate your time. I just threw a bunch of new pan-genre music up on sound cloud. Hope you enjoy!