This weeks mix was a challenge as I am not very familiar with mixing hip hop. Actually this is my first hip hop mix ever. So I thought it would be a good idea to emphasize the vocals, kick & bass in this genre; Besides it was also a challenge to keep the mix interesting since the song is quite monotonous. But after balancing the tracks I used delays, reverbs, saturation and/or filters on the other instruments to mix it all together.
So here it is, your comments, tips and tricks for Hip-hop style mixing will be very much appreciated.
Hey Sherman, I'm in the same position as you, first time mixing a hip hop track. I think you have a good balance between everything although the bass could be turned up to give the track so more low end. It flows nicely from section to section as well. One tiny thing I think I'm hearing is the reverb tail on the synth in the verse, it sounds like it's too long as causing the sound to smear and create some low end clutter/build. I'd try to shorten that tail and see if you could make it pump/breathe in time. A cool way to do this is to use a musical calculator to get the exact millisecond amount.
I think the track was 108 or something, and that synth part is just playing 8th notes. So if you set it to 277 (or 278 rounding up if you have mixing OCD) it should tighten up that tail, although trying 16th notes at 138 (or 139) might work too.
Hi Sherman, nice mix! I'm with Ben on bass and good balance even if I think that the volume of your synth is a bit loud and seem detached from the rest of the song ;P
@Ben Sinclair and @MAGGHY JI Thanks for listening and your feedback! :) I'm definitely going to use your tips to improve the bass and synths in the mix.
- the vocals need to sit out in front a little more (try adding a little parallel compression and or bringing them up a few DB)
- the track could use a little bit a warmth maybe on the mix bus
- the kick needs a little more warmth and knock, it has a good transient, but needs a little more body, some compression, saturation, or another sample layered with it might help
- I'd turn the synth down a little bit, it's a little strong in the mix
- vocalist 2 fits better in the mix, but I'd still bring that one up just a little more as well
- A general principle that is helpful for producing is never repeat something as-is more than 2 times, every 2 times something comes in, add or take away another element to change up the flow and keep the listener interested, overall the sections are good and have contrast but there are times when some of the ideas repeat 4-8 times before changing, something even really subtle can be effective in breaking this up, no big changes are needed, just little ear candy snippets
- the vocals in the chorus should have more power (saturation, more doubling, etc) - a big low synth or bass sound and a few more elements in the chorus will help make it hit harder
- if you are only mixing and not producing, you can disregardthe production notes -
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