Ableton Forum

This track is an instrumental I created featuring two of my students in the after school program I run at the middle school I teach at. I would love to hear some feedback on the instrumental itself, as well as some constructive feedback I can bring back to my students (Don't forget that they're 12) on the lyrics.

Peace

The track is on my new Soundclick site: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemus ... dID=674648

thats quality, TeachOne

When the kick started are a stronger diference with the volumes.
The percussion is the same all the time, create a diferent patterns.
The voice and the synth aren't in the same note.
I don't like the reversed sample , it's confused.
The sound are a bad equalize work.
Where is the bass?
You need to create more elements (to make the music "real").

So... Work the song



(sorry my english )

rat wrote:thats quality, TeachOne

Thank you...

im from ny, and the production reminds me of that good old 90s underground feel, before the slick over produced heartless shit, you know what im talking about, the music with message and heart AND style..
the kind of music to listen to on roofs with l's and forties

djesp wrote:When the kick started are a stronger diference with the volumes.
The percussion is the same all the time, create a diferent patterns.
The voice and the synth aren't in the same note.
I don't like the reversed sample , it's confused.
The sound are a bad equalize work.
Where is the bass?
You need to create more elements (to make the music "real").

So... Work the song



(sorry my english )

What's up man,

Thanks for the critique.... Perhaps you could clarify a little....
Should there be a bigger difference in volume when the drums start, or is there too much of one?
As far as the voice and synth not being in the same note? Do you mean they aren't in the same key?...
Finally, maybe you could define what you mean by "real?"

Again, thank you for the critique... That's the reason I posted it, but I'm a little unsure of what your talking about in some cases... I hope your willing to clarify.

Peace

rat wrote:im from ny, and the production reminds me of that good old 90s underground feel, before the slick over produced heartless shit, you know what im talking about, the music with message and heart AND style..
the kind of music to listen to on roofs with l's and forties

EXCELLENT!!!!

I absolutely know what your talking about, and that would be the influence that went into this music....

Thank you again!!

what do you teach at the school? music? and this is an after-school project? i wish i had gone to this school

TeachONE wrote: As far as the voice and synth not being in the same note? Do you mean they aren't in the same key?...
Peace

Yes... Sorry my english

Finally, maybe you could define what you mean by "real?"

Make the music more "real" is create a good groove/beats, sequence correctly the elements and do breaks and build-ups... Your music is the same at the start to the end....

Again, apologies for my english!

i wish i had gone to this school

yeah me too. This is wicked. The vocals sound far more mature than the age of the rappers would suggest and echo the early comments about the underground feel and not being slick and overproduced. Music is about feeling and groove not fancy production techniques and making sure everything's in the 'correct' key.

Keep up the work man. Your students must love you

Sorry... I disagree!...

Music are rules and technics... Technic is diferent to those producers, but the rules are the same. A music coldn't be considerated "MUSIC" if it's in the wrong key!

I'm not trying to put your work in the garbage, i'am just trying to help.

My english is very basic and is hard to try explain my viewpoint. Sorry!

rat wrote:what do you teach at the school? music? and this is an after-school project? i wish i had gone to this school

Actually, I'm an English teacher. I'm also fortunate in that I'm part of a group of teachers who got together and wrote an incredible grant to bring arts back to our school. Part of the grant was that we each develop a course in the arts. Since I have been writing lyrics for the better part of twenty years, I did some research and actually created a curricullum on writing hip-hop lyrics that I started last year. During the course of the year I realized that I needed to take it a step further, so I began taking classes on music production through the Scratch Academy in NYC. It was there that I was exposed to Ableton for the first time, and since then it's been an addiction. I know I'm not an expert, but I've been turn keying the information I've learned to my students, so my class is now two semesters long and includes a semester on production as well. I'll be posting their work here soon too.

As of right now, I teach english for two periods a day and Hip-Hop for three. As far as my students loving me goes, well... Anytime you take something somebody loves to do and attach a grade to it, it doesn't always go over perfectly... I'm doing everything I can to do justice to the art form (Teaching history and form), but that's based on the assumption that I'm an expert simply because I've been a fan/artist for nearly twenty years. I did a lot of research when I started to develop this curricullum, and I'm not afraid to say that I have a significant amount of knowledge about writing lyrics and the structure it should take one, BUT production is certainly new to me. I'm learning with my students on this one, which is why everytime I put up a track I ask for feedback.

I'm eager to learn more about the structure of a beat (Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop and Acid Jazz... which is why I asked for specific details from the guy who made a critique...) I wish there wasn't so much of a language barrier, as I feel I could probably learn a lot from him. As it is now, I feel like I have a fair understand of bar structure as it relates to an emcee writing lyrics, but it seems that maybe I'm not hearing something when it comes to the flow of the track. I also know that I need a serious amount of work on E.Q. and mastering in general. I've been reading up on it, but it's hard for me to go from the written word to practice... I have to do it and actually have someone point out the flaws to me... I know how I like my music to sound... But I'm looking to make my sound less extreme so it fits more pallettes...

Thank you again for the kind words... feel free to hit me up on aim or email me if you want more information on the class I teach, or if your a teacher (music or any other subject) and your interested in using some or all of my curricullum hit me up.

PEace

djesp wrote:

TeachONE wrote: As far as the voice and synth not being in the same note? Do you mean they aren't in the same key?...
Peace

Yes... Sorry my english

Finally, maybe you could define what you mean by "real?"

Make the music more "real" is create a good groove/beats, sequence correctly the elements and do breaks and build-ups... Your music is the same at the start to the end....

Again, apologies for my english!

Ok... I think I understand what you are saying... but I think maybe you are mixing a couple of different genres into one.... I've been listening to hip-hop for a LOOOOONG time, and really while there are certainly a lot of hip-hop instrumentals that actually have build ups and breaks, this is by no means the majority. Hip-Hop was created by the "break" or break down of older music. This is why sampling is such a big part of hip-hop. To my understanding, hip-hop has always been about stretching out that break as long as you can (in repition) and getting a creative as possible over it (as either an emcee or a b-boy/girl). Finally, as far as being "on key" goes, I'm curious about how much hip-hop you actually listen to, since a great deal of emcees never sang a bar on key, or even actually sang in their entire career. This is one of the main differences between vocal music and hip-hop... In hip-hop you don't have to have a beautiful voice that is truly melodic, you just have to have power and conviction. I think your definition of music is fairly narrow if you don't believe that lyrics spit out of key aren't music.... At any rate... I guess I'm sayin all this because I want to know where your coming from. I'm hopin that you can see this as just my point of view and don't feel like I'm attacking you... Maybe if you can see where I"m coming from we can meet halfway and possibly get something out of this. I would love to hear any advice you have on mastering... but it has to be more than just "make it sound better," because obviously I like the way it sounds other wise I wouldn't have put it out there for people to critique. Having said that, I know that music has to appeal to more than just me, so I would love to hear actual advice...


PEace

So... In the word, it was a lote of bad music.
Music who not respect the musical rules.
I (and musisians) don't think that the power/feeling is the most important, because is easy to transpose this to a song...
But... Make good music with quality is a hard work.


So... I don't understand all of your words.... But i get the ideia that you don't like my coment.

My apoligies, my friend.. I didn't repeat again...
I'am trying to help...
I hope that you understand it's hard for me explain in a language that i don't understant perfectly.

Music are rules and technics... Technic is diferent to those producers, but the rules are the same.

and if we all obeyed the rules were would we be now ? No rock n roll, no jazz, no techno, no hip hop no nothing. Yes, music all comes down to the same notes, but whether one person enjoys listening to music with lots of variations and breaks and another enjoys a repetitive beat with a message is just a matter or taste

TeachONE, you say you might be missing something about the flow of a track but I think you're right on. You know how to structure a beat, you've been listening to this sort of music for 20 years

Musically I can't fault what you've done, love the backward sample and the little melody which comes in at just the right point. production wise, same trouble as I have, it's all in the mix.

I'm no expert myself but my constructive advise is : The kick comes in a bit loud at the start and then gets a little drowned out later on and the vocals sit a little high in the mix too. They don't really blend in with everything if you know what I mean, they kinda sit on top of the music. Don't know if you have any effects on them but you could try going to the effects rack and putting one of the vocal effects on which may fill them out a little so that they blend in a bit more.

Try solo-ing the beat and the vocals and mix them so that they really gel together and sit at about the same level and then bring in the other parts and mix them around that.

[/quote]