First of all, thanks everyone for the love.
I am very happy that I finally won a Beat This, 'cause that's a badge I been struggling to get. And that takes me in the top tens just before the season's end
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I'm kind of surprised 'cause it's possibly one the beats I like the less from all the one's I sent to battle here... Anyway, I get much of the love goes to Busta's weird/perv lyrics given the perv/sane ratio that has drastically improved on Illmuzik these past few weeks... and using those Indian vocals is an easy trick but I don't really care if that's what it takes to win. The point is : thank you all.
Before I review some of the beats, I'd like to say that about 24 beats were very solid and that I consider honestly at least 4 better than mine. So basically all the beats were good. So if I don't say the beat is fire in the review below, it doesn't mean it isn't. It's just cause I try to give feedback or ideas of stuff I would have done differently with your beats. And it doesn't mean I'm right.
Anyway, here are my "in depth" reviews of some of the beats :
@Andante : Dope beat. The drums are really good specially the hihats work very well in that context. Vocals fit well. If I had one thing to criticize it would be the simplicity of the loop. It changes at some points and I really like that moment. I wish there were more variation but again, it's a hip hop beat. Good job.
@Mahlhavoc : The beat sounds good. The mix is clean with all instruments well separated (maybe too much). Trap is not exactly my kinda thang but I want to suggest one thing : the brass (which is the main instrument here) is a bit too "crisp". It sounds too much like it's a synth brass. I mean it's fine to use synth brass, but I would have layered it with another brassy thing with more lows and maybe sidechain-compress with your kick to get a sort of "oompf" feel. And Low-pass filter the top end, as well... Just something to try, it might not work. Also, the vocals might benefit from being a little more upfront.
@Dsensei : This one got my vote. Soon as it started, I knew. Reminded me of The Beatnuts stuff... That's the kind of stuff I love. Simple as that. The right sample, dope drums and the right amount of embellishment... I wish a rapper rips this beat apart someday.
@prod.bysicksiah : I like that intro loop, also I'm started to feel the "lofi-detuned" thing is kind of everywhere now... I also use it sometimes but I'm getting tired of this fx. The overall beat is excellent nonetheless. The chorus fits very well. But I feel the verses have a different energy than the laidback atmosphere I get from the beat.
@Iron Keys : Those drums and deep piano took me back to the early 00's, obviously. As always your mixing is good, things work well. I would say the melody is a bit repetitive and I know you can come up with dope melodies when you decide to. This one feels a bit "uninspired". My advice : next time you're on cocaine, load this beat, sit at your keyboard and Scott Storch the shit out of it.
@Fury Beats : That beat has good foundations. That bell is dope. But I feel the drums (specifically the hihats pattern) have a different groove. I would have sticked very close to the bells groove with a much simpler drum pattern. And added another instrument that answers the bell phrase when it stops. That other instrument would be more "to the front"... So yeah, basically a very potent start that craves to be completed. Nice job.
@guitardep : the guitar part is fine. But the bass and drums are not meant for what I consider hip hop. I can't even be sure you were trying to do hip hop. Were you ?
@HanabiiBeats : the loop is very sweet. However, it sounds muffled (is that a word?). Like it's filtered all the high frequencies out. If it's a sample from a song, I recommend you filter it like this and then overdubbing with vst instruments to get some higher freqs back. The drums are fine. A better mixing job would make'em bang harder, which could be suitable. Yes, the loop is great. Another thing to try to make things shine, sometimes I use a gate on the loop to only get louder hits (for instance on 2 and 4 with the snare) and then you can send it to a bus that's not filtered with way more highs and then put a delay so that it doesn't come on and off too sudden.
@oninkaf : I like it. Mostly because I don't know what I'm listening to. I'm a huge fan of the chipmunked vocals. But yours is either very strongly processed or a real chipmunk ! The groove works well with the sidechain compression effect. Or is something reversed ?
Basically, I think this kind of mess and sonic research is very interesting. It could contrast well with a break of something more organic, like a stupid clean piano chords break or something. Idk, I'm usually wrong.
@pressBIBLEthump : The beat has a great energy. The cymbals is probably not innocent and it's kind of overtaking the whole beat. I would have tamed those down. Also, there's a "eating noise" like someone eating something "gnormsh gnormsh" on every snare. That was distracting. Otherwise, solid beat.
@Stona Persona : Congrats for rapping your own vocals. Of course, I don't get a single word except "Afghanistan". Regarding the beat : I like the kick / snare interaction. The hihat choice is weird. It's almost a tambourine. Which I wouldn't use as hihats. And not with a single sample of it. It's the kind of thing you want to have some round robbin', otherwise it really sounds robotic. The snare hits really hard ! That's good. Keep it. The melodic parts are very simple. Efficient but kinda repetitive after a while.
@V47KO : I loved this one. The sample, rhythm, it's all good. A better mixing would make a hell of a beat for sure. Kinda same comment as HanabiiBeats, the sample is kinda muffled. It's good that it's behind your kick and drum, but the drum and sample feels separated. Like the sample is there and then you just put a kick and snare on top. I recommend you try and add depth to the sampled loop. If not, it sounds like early 90's beats... which was a good era for hiphop for sure but fortunately the mixing techniques have improved since.
To the trap/southern beats I didn't comment, I'm genuinely sorry. It's just that I'm not sensitive to the music you guys make so my opinion has nearly no value.
I still enjoyed LiveLargeBeats, probably because of the vocals on it.