Hip Hop Happening?

[megeath]

Hello Fine People!

Is this in the realm of Hip Hop? Too Mellow?

https://soundcloud.com/user-260625090/far-away

SEVERAL, CONTEMPORARY HIP-HOP INSTRUMENTAL CUES are needed for Non-Exclusive, Direct-to-Music-Supervisor placements in the new season of popular Reality TV Show. They’re looking for great Mid-to-Up-Tempo Hip-Hop Instrumental Cues that you’d hear on playlists along with artists like (but not limited to) Kanye, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Yo Gotti, Future, etc., etc., etc. Take a listen to the following references to get in the general stylistic wheelhouse of what could work for this pitch:

“All Day” by Kanye: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWPzyosn-9c
“Alright” by Kendrick Lamar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-48u_uWMHY
“Energy” by Drake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LnBvuzjpr4
“Down in The DM” by Yo Gotti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXSpXO4N-tI
“Where Ya At” by Future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw3Or6eqIpI

...Submissions must be received no later than 11:59PM (PDT), on Monday, April 11th, 2016. TAXI #U160411HC

Quoting the Source: “Cues should be upbeat, with a strong production and buttoned endings. Nothing boring or linear, and NO unauthorized or illegal samples.”

[cassmcentee]

Hey Megeath!
You have a good start to this composition
I pulled up the first reference track to see what they are looking for...
If I was you, I would purchase that first reference track, drop it into your program, then start mixing yours to match...
I'm not sold on your synthy sounds but they are so easy to play with.
Once you have the reference track you could play with your sounds till you get near the same mood/sound
You will also want to get your percussion to hit like the reference's
2 cents
Cass

[WeWillWriteUaSong]

I agree.. the groove is cool. The drums work for hip-hop. The biggest issue is the horn type sounds. Not really current. And the track has more of a smooth rnb/hip hop hybrid feel. The ref tracks are pretty hard style. Look into NI massive or refx nexus for good current rap/hip-hop sounds. Cool groove and good start!

[megeath]

Excellent feedback. Thanks Cass and WWWUaS!

[funsongs]

Hip Hop is not in my wheelhouse... but took a listen anyway;
very interesting and catchy "composition" and sounds with lots of potential, I would think.
Some input from some the Taxi forums experts in this genre might really put this up there
for a solid submit/forward/placement... it could produce a happening.
Good luck with it.

[andygabrys]

Hey Meg,

Its a good start - hopefully you have time to work on it before the deadline.

IMO (take with a grain of salt):

1) the mix is unbalanced. Listen at really low volume and see if you hear the Kick drum being as authoritative and having as much bottom as the refs. Also listen to the main synth pad you have on top (seems loud to me) and the various horn bits (some of them seem really quiet).

2) the ref mixes with the exception of the Kanye track have hi-hats in them. The MPC style hi-hat sound is a hallmark of hip-hop, and when you are trying to make something sound "hip-hop" as an instrumental you don't have the luxury of the vocal immediately screaming "this is HIP-HOP" so you can use all the firepower you have to put the track in that zone. I would add some hi-hats.

3) hip-hop is mostly about the beat and the rhythm. I would not have a lot of really exposed sections (like at the end) where there are no drums at all. Get something in there like at least the kick and claps / snare.

4) this brief is interesting because it refs some modern stuff that is both sample based (Kanye) and has live jazz type players (Kendrick Lamar who often has modern jazz peeps like Thundercat on bass and Kamasi Washington on sax among others). So you can push your track one way or the other - but as Cass mentioned, the horn type stuff needs a bit of work to make it cut it in the jazz / R&B vein.

If you are trying to get a more bumpin' kick sound, some things you might try (not in order that I would apply these):

1) add low end at 65 hz or so
2) try taking away some 400 hz with a relatively narrow parametric bell eq
3) parallel distortion / overdrive works wonders for 808 style kicks. Send some of the kick channel to another Aux channel with a distortion or overdrive effect on it. You will hear the effect. It has the overall effect of making the low end of the kick more audible as it creates harmonics in the midrange - so smaller speakers (ear buds, computer speakers) or even bigger speakers on really low volume still make the kick sound big.
4) compressing the main kick sound with 30 ms attack and really fast release.

also to get more current sounds:

Sure try Massive or other synths - try some other approaches - note that Kendrick Lamar's tune has a lot of background vocal chorus kind of pads. It seems like synth sounds with vocal samples in them are making a comeback. If you have Logic X then there are some vocal type pads in the built in Alchemy plugin.

I find a quicker way to get something interesting even when using old stuff is to:

1) eq - remove some top and bottom. really bright full range synths sometimes sound like 1980
2) add distortion or over drive - to taste. This can make that synth sound more aggressive, less airy.
3) add modulation and delay / reverb as needed - side chain pumping sounds like EDM can sometimes work. Or other effects like the free Izotope Vinyl can make it sound like part of your track is a sample overtop of a beat - which is a well used approach.


And then listen as low as you can without the track being off (monitoring volume). You want to make sure the kick doesn't disappear, but also doesn't totally overwhelm the track when the volume is up.

Hope that helps! HTH

[megeath]

Thanks Andy, a lot to valuable knowledge to digest, and I've never even thought of hz! So MUCH to learn....life is cool.

Thanks Peter for listening and your encouragement.

[ochaim]

Really cool ideas, Meg. The rhythm feels right. I especially like the section that starts at around 0:40. I wanted to hear more of that and maybe develop a little longer.

[megeath]

Thanks Owen, appreciate the feedback.