Recent Remixes

[Skol303]

Thought I’d post up a trio of remixes I’ve been working on recently. All very different…

[url="http://soundcloud.com/skollob/save-dat-money-remix"]‘Save Dat Money’[/url] by Lil’ Dicky. Tongue-in-cheek hip hop (using a beat I wrote for one of the monthly composition challenges). [color=#ff0000][b]Caution:[/b] lyrics contain profanities![/color]

[url="http://soundcloud.com/skollob/mate-remix"]‘Mate’[/url] by Gang Signs. Probably my own favourite of the three. Minor key electronica from one of Canada’s more interesting up and coming acts. Me on fretless bass.

[url="http://soundcloud.com/skollob/takedown-refix"]‘Takedown’[/url] by Levalti. Dubstep aggro with samples of heavy metal guitars. Fun for all the family.

Critical feedback very welcome

Edited December 13, 2015 by Skol303

[Dad3353]

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1450023193' post='2928860']...
Critical feedback very welcome
[/quote]

I'd love to oblige, but the only sincere reaction I get from having listened to these (back to back; maybe I shouldn't 'ave oughter..?) is that I feel old. Very old. There's no denying the expertise involved, the production is as clean as a whistle. No, it's what I call, for want of a better term, the 'sense' to it all. The second one, Mate, got off to a decent start, but then lost me as the tempo hotted up. The first, I wouldn't listen to twice, except under duress. Again, not that it's bad, in its genre, but I understand absolutely nothing in there. I don't mean the text (or lyrics..? I dunno...); I mean the whole structure and '[i]raison d'être[/i]'. The last one escaped me, too; to be brutally and cruelly frank, it sounded, to me, like a bad spoof of the Ghostbusters theme. I doubt that that was the intention, though; it merely reflects back onto me with my poor terms of reference. It's a whole other world out there.
I'll leave it there, with my apologies. I tried, really I did. Maybe I shouldn't' 'ave oughter..?

([i]Dodders off, shaking slightly, to brew up a mug of Ovaltine and settle the nerves. Mutterings are to be heard... "Custard creams..? Digestives..? No, bourbons; hang the expense..![/i]")

[Skol303]

Haha! Cheers Dad. You lent it you ear and that’s what counts

The Gang Signs track (‘Mate’) is my favourite of the three. The original is quite downbeat and melancholic; quite quirky. I genuinely enjoyed working on that one.

The first track is a fairly generic hop hop number, nothing special. The rapper is a comedian (David Burd) who does a lot of skits parodying the ‘bling bling’ culture of US hip hop. Like a lot of hop hop tracks, the instrumentation is very much second fiddle to the vocal. This was an easy track for me to throw together - especially as the beat is lifted straight from one of my monthly challenge entries - so not much TLC invested in it.

The final track is quite a cacophony, innit? Not my usual stye of electronic music… the original was produced by a 17-year old in the US - and I think that’s the core ‘target market’ for this genre. Think of it as being the electronic equivalent of thrash metal and you’ll be on the right lines. I liked the challenge of producing something relevant to kids half my age; shows I’ve still got some ‘moves’, despite being old enough to be dad to most of them.

Cheers again for listening. Always sincerely appreciated!

[TorturedSaints]

I had a listen too. First of all, I'd just like to say that I don't think I have the skills (bass or recording/production) to do anything like this, so anything that sounds like criticism isn't criticism.

As Dad says, the production values are very pristine and modern. Hip-hop's not my cup of tea, and I wouldn't normally listen to it, but it kept my interest for a couple of minutes

The Gang Signs track was great. Again, electronica not quite my usual genre, but it kept my interest. Lovely bass playing, nice to hear it in the mix. I actually think the bass line was far more interesting than the vocals. Certainly in the second half, if the vocals were meant to stand out, for me, I would have been tempted (see my second sentence above lol) to have played a less 'upfront' and less mobile, slower line so that the vocals were more the focus of attention. Although I was only listening on my cheap-ish Desktop 2.1 speakers, the song felt as though there was a lot 'carved out' of the frequency spectrum, and while it kept my attention, if this is the norm in electronica, I think my ears would feel that they were being shortchanged if I listened to a whole album of it!

Lastly, I'm glad you told me the last track was dubstep aggro. I don't think I've heard anything like that before. Excellent production chops and loads of ear candy, but I'm not 17 any more, and feel a bit like Dad did. Is there a mistake in the title on soundcloud, or does REFIX have a meaning in this genre? But certainly you can be proud of producing something relevant to the kids of today, and kudos for that, your work embarrasses me by showing me how narrow my musical genre 'comfort zone' is.

Good work!

Ralph

[BottomE]

Good mix of approaches going on with the different tracks. For my ear needs a bit more fatness down at the dark end. currently it seems just a little hollow on the overall BOOM factor - easy to fix.

Keep it up
x

[Skol303]

[quote name='RalphDWilson' timestamp='1450113428' post='2929736']
I had a listen too...[/quote]

Thanks Ralph! Really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment.

I think I [i]did[/i] go a little overboard with the bass noodling on the Mate track... good point Got a bit carried away and it ended up being more 'busy' than it perhaps should have been. I'll definitely bear that in mind in future.

There's certainly a lot of EQ'ing going on with this track (and the others), especially around the low end of things - trying to balance everything and keep some punch, without it sounding too 'muddy' - or too thin. The dubstep track is the most heavily EQ'd of the bunch (for obvious reasons - it's stupidly busy), but I probably could have been less heavy handed with the Gang Signs remix. Again, something I'll bear in mind.

The 'refix' is just a deliberately crappy pun on 'remix' - as though the track has been 're-fixed' (broken and put back together again). Not specific to the dubstep genre; just my train of thought

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1450119015' post='2929807']
Good mix of approaches going on with the different tracks. For my ear needs a bit more fatness down at the dark end. currently it seems just a little hollow on the overall BOOM factor - easy to fix.
[/quote]

Thanks! And interesting about the low end... chimes with what Ralph said above. I mix in a 'treated' room (i.e. acoustically treated): not a pro studio by any means, just the best I can manage at home. But I'm always quite cautious about mixing the low end - usually erring on the side of 'less' rather than 'more', to avoid risk of the dreaded low-mids 'muddiness'; especially on the more bass-heavy and/or busy tracks.

My monitors do tend to suggest that I could dial in more low end and your comments back this up... so I think I'll start being a bit more adventurous in that regard and crank up the bass a touch more in future. And trust my ears!

All super-useful feedback guys. Hugely appreciated.

Paul

Edited December 14, 2015 by Skol303