I was reading your response to Static Nomad on EQ and a word of advice: it is usually not recommended to EQ an instrument solo. Something that sounds great on its own may not sit well when put into a cohesive mix with other instruemnts. I usually tend to EQ by group: guitars, synths/pads/strings/etc and make sure each section has its own part of the frequency spectrum it "dominates." This also helps to clean up the sound. For instance, you dont want unneeded high frequencies from my bass affecting my guitars so I'd trim off all the higher end on the bass and trim off some of the lower end of my guitars - now, the bass is not affected by the guitars and vice verse - each instrument has its place.

Just a thought :)

Brado

Flawless man!!! nice work.. and this is your first Looperman? wow

I'm not really into rap, but I was fascinated by this track and really enjoyed it! I see that you are planning to remove some of your tracks. Be sure to put this one back up if you do take it down for rework. The positive response you've received is well-deserved.

really enjoyed this!

yo yea man id be down to collab i like your style brah

Looks like I'm late to the 200 plays party, but I made it all the same! I'm enjoying this on the second listen. I like the mix in the way that it encourages me to turn it up, I like songs like that. Not to keen on the lyrics, but I like the delivery. Sounds like you're getting a good understanding of EQ from this song, and staticnomad seemed to provide some good advice as well. Keep doing your thing, no matter what!

Nice laidback vocals. The beat is really supportive to the music and rapping. Nice production. Favoured for sure!

play 198 :D Old school for sure! (I couldn't be further from an expert on rap though hahaha)

Hey Mike..cool man,old school to the core (not that I'd be an expert on rap nomenclature,but I know what I know! lol)..you've probably got one of the most laid back smooth styles going around at the moment and I know you didn't find that talent wrapped up beneath a Christmas tree,so more power to you,on a production note...I think the mix is great vocal wise though at times there possibly needs to be some volume focus (as in an automated swell)like with the background bells occasionally,if you do this subtly throughout the track it'll make it breathe more and you'll get it to organically pump with the vocals....great work man!

Regreetings.

Sure, you can try EQing an instrument while everything is playing. I do that as well as isolate it. I always spend various occasions isolating every instrument. Then, when it seems to sit right, I forget about it and let it just function in the mix.

And then, perhaps when stuck for ideas, I might go back, isolate it and see if I can fiddle with it and make more out of it. I often can.

I don't know which software you're using but that probably doesn't matter too much as they're all fairly similar these days. I'm pretty sure you can automate almost every parameter now. So, pretty much any control on any plugin.

I work in Cubase and Reason (run together essentially as one program) though things are slightly different in each one. But in both, you can pretty much do one right click of the mouse and then you get an option to go to the automation track. On that track (usually underneath your instrument track) you can draw and drag as many nodes as you like to make the EQ change however you like through time ie as the playback head passes your different nodes.

You'll probably also graphically see the controls on your EQ plugin, for instance, moving. That's the automation taking effect. It's really simple stuff and there'll be instructions in your DAW manual. Just search for 'automation'.

For widening, there are various tools. I mostly just use, in Cubase, the bundled plugins, with names like Stereo Enhancer. In Reason they're called something a bit different. There are also presets for those plugins so just give them a go and have fun.

You can automate that too. So, maybe move (automate) your guitar part to be wider in the chorus and "narrower" (ie no/less stereo widening) in the verse. Just an idea.

Hope that makes sense and helps a bit.

Hey again.

Yes, you're doing fine.

It honestly took me years to start regularly using EQ (and automating it) and my tracks are much improved for using it. Stereo widening effects have also helped a lot in terms of fattening sounds up. That's not really a sonic sculpting thing but it can help a lot when a sound seems just too weak.

I try stereo widening out on all my guitar parts, though don't use it if it's not helping. And I'll add it to drums, bass, synths, whatever seems to call for it.

EQ is cool for subtly sculpting sounds, removing high end noise, fixing messy overpowering bass and everything inbetween. Just cleaning sounds up isn't boring when you get into. Clarity is important!

I have no idea how to properly use EQ but I've learned a few things from slow experimentation over the years.

It's fun sculpting sounds with EQ and it can really help when you have a few elements in a mix and you want to make one stand out from the rest. So, maybe try having those slightly messy parts all playing at the same time and then individually playing around with the EQ to bring one out. Maybe one bar (4 bars, 8 bars, whatever) you might make one part stand out from that mix and then the next bar, make another stand out. You can do that by automating the EQ on each separate channel (so, for each part) and that's a fun way to make more of your mix of elements without adding any new parts. It can be quite subtle but effective and is well suited to hip hop, which tends to rely on heavily repeated elements.

Too much to say about this kind of subject and I'm no expert anyway so I'll just encourage you to experiment as it can be fun when you get into it. It can be a bit daunting and confusing but you have to find what works nicely for you rather than what anyone else tells you is the right way to do stuff. Maybe there is kind of a right way but it's more interesting and unusual to kind of make up your own way.

Best of luck and I will check on your other work.

I like this! The description matches the track really well. Very simple instrumentation, which reminds me of the older hip hop styles. Vocals are on point, which has really good rhyme, nice flow, and it's very creative. Nice work man!

~GO

Hi. Your opening bassline reminds me a little of Dre's excellent track The Watcher from his 2001 album ( I think).

Lots of space in the track and the delayed/reverbed drums sound good.

Then the vocal is really good. A fine, laidback rapping style and incessant flow.

Additional music elements are really well done and make an interesting soundscape. I like the bell sounds. And the piano.

Could maybe do with some panning on those different elements to separate them a bit better as it's hard to make all of them out.

A tight production in general so big congrats to you.

I'm working on a few hip hop instrumental genre crossover tracks right now (eg blues, hip, reggae and funk all in one track).

Here's an older, really mad genre-merging hip hop track I made - hip hop, jazz, electro, d'n'b, metal and Eastern banjo metal with lead saxophone so quite a trip:

Way Beyond Wrong

https://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/145971

Yo man, what's up. This is a dope track. Nice lyrical delivery. The mixdown is nice and crisp. Very clean indeed. Did you record your voice on your own? I'm very impressed with the results. Keep doing your thing.

Hopefully we can collab in the future. Until then, peace man!

boy'cott

You sound like Mike Shinoda on this track. On top of that it reminds me of a lighter hearted (is that even a word?) take on Lupe Fiasco's "Put you on game". Great story, rhymes, flows (dat second verse tho).

All in all I like!

Haha,this is great!
Safe to say,this is one of the best rap tunes on Looperman.The story,the rhymes,the instrumental,mixing and mastering are just perfect.Keep it up and I`m pretty sure you`ll hit big soon!

word. did this one right with much interest to listen seeing some other possibilities as you explain the situation. Get a hopeful message from this, did you ever finish the dream all the way yet?

like how you put together the music, good use of the loop. levels are clear and loud enough. you got some skills on the mic, can follow along and grabs attention. Keep making em, thanks for sharing. Peace.