Mix advice for orchestral hip hop

[RealPickle]

Hi all,

This listing is due Sunday. I'm happy with the track but would love feedback on the mix. By the end there's a lot going on and I've been listening to this for so long I don't trust my judgment on the mix

The bass is supposed to be loud and aggressive, but let me know if it's too much, or if anything else sounds off to you.

Thanks!

The track:
https://www.taxi.com/members/AtDl-WGNQ2 ... lost-cause

The brief:
Please submit Hip-Hop/Orchestral Instrumental Cues with a powerful, hard-hitting sound and lots of epic energy! Your submissions should have dramatic and captivating motifs, impactful Hip-Hop beats, and dynamic arrangements with lots of forward motion and interest throughout. Tracks seamlessly blend cinematic/orchestral elements (such as strings, horns, etc) with Hip-Hop beats will work best. Please ensure that any virtual instruments or samples you use are high quality and not dated-sounding. Aim for tracks that combine the dramatic weight of cinematic orchestral pieces and the unrelenting, powerful edge of modern Hip-Hop!

[macomposer]

Hi Geoff,

I like it! It's grooving! I hope that you submitted it!

In terms of the mix, yeah this is tricky. I am not bothered by the bass, but I hope ( ) you maybe turned it down a little.

For me, this is the difference between like what you would do for music for listening vs music for media/sync. In sync, the music has to play nice with others, so someone may hear that and go "bass is too loud, so they don't know what they'r doing." Which is wrong - the bass level is an artistic choice here, and if you listen to hip hop, you hear how loud the bass usually is..

But, again, this is sync.. What I do in cases like this sometimes is to do two slightly different mixes, a bass up mix and a bass down mix. The up one is the one I enjoy at home, and then the down one is what goes to the library. And if it gets interest, you can always give them both mixes.

Great track though man! Good job!

- Mark

[RealPickle]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for listening and your feedback. I did submit, and I did turn the bass down just a little. But I decided that the bass on this track is really like a melodic instrument, and is crucial to the structure of the track, and the timbre is intentionally aggressive, so turning it too far down would kinda be like making truffle mac n cheese and reducing the truffles so much that you can barely taste them. They're the star of the show, let 'em shine!

So we'll see. If the feedback is that it is too loud, your suggestion about making two mixes is a good one. I'll keep this one to listen to myself at home

Anyway, thanks again!

[MaryFischer]

Hello! Great composition and good luck with your submission! My immediate reaction is the synth bass. I haven't heard the references, but when I pull up orchestral hip-hop in iTunes Music, I am only hearing bass centered and not panned. I feel like it's overpowering my left ear and right ear separately instead of providing a warm bass-y undertone that is centered. I hope that makes sense! That's the only thing that jumped out at me right away. Good luck!