troublewithkeys
Member
Oh, and yes. I composed the beat. Nothing premade. The vocal licks are from Glaze.
Showcase SHOWCASE: June 1-8, 2025
- Thread starter Fade
- Start date
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Beat This!The next Beat This! Competition is from June 11-12th!
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Sample FlipFlip this! Rubba - "Vector".
@2GooD Productions
So Much Drama:
Very smooth. I'm hearing some grit which I really like (saturation, soft clipping?). The duel E-Piano/Rhodes is really clever. I like how you established the main theme, and the second rhodes does that descending beat. In fact, a lot of this composition is well thought out and there are some smart moves that I wouldn't have thought. The bass-line mirroring the main rhodes gives the whole track weight and gravity while meshing well. The strings during the vocal/chorus is really good. I probably would've overdone it, but having it sit behind the vocal chops is a deft touch. Same deal with the mallets/piano embellishments in the second half. This is a great demonstration of craftsmanship, subtlety, and cohesion.
So Much Drama:
Very smooth. I'm hearing some grit which I really like (saturation, soft clipping?). The duel E-Piano/Rhodes is really clever. I like how you established the main theme, and the second rhodes does that descending beat. In fact, a lot of this composition is well thought out and there are some smart moves that I wouldn't have thought. The bass-line mirroring the main rhodes gives the whole track weight and gravity while meshing well. The strings during the vocal/chorus is really good. I probably would've overdone it, but having it sit behind the vocal chops is a deft touch. Same deal with the mallets/piano embellishments in the second half. This is a great demonstration of craftsmanship, subtlety, and cohesion.
Started tracking into Logic last night. Good tip on bringing down the reverb on the pianos (keys in level in general). Took your delay idea in a different direction and put a filtered panning delay on the horn. May not have it run the whole way through, but I kinda like the added dimension it gives. Will re-track guitars tonight and try to come up with a B section.
Thanks again for the mix tips!
them
ILLIEN
Battle Points: 15
drums feel too "apart" from the beat
the order in which instruments come in are awesome. bass caught me.
the synth is annoying + how can someone rap over that?
wtf happens at 1:29?
and generally
what are you going for? is someone supposed to rap over this? is it a on-top-of-a-commercial song? what's the plan?
good stuff, nice mix, the keys are killing it, guitar was on point (maybe a litttle bit too musicy for hip hop? like it says "ba ba bab-bab bawuuuu" and the "bawuuuu" has this extra non-diatonic bluesy sounding note that kinda... takes away the grit entirely and makes it funky), the keys are killing it. again.Tried to work solely in Maschine today (write, arrange, and mix). The arranging part is a pain if you're not accustomed to it, but the real pain is the mix. I think I'll stick to Logic for final mix-downs.
my only real complaint is that it's not... dark enough. the texture of the cymbal, the snare, the mix, it's all too... clean. personally I don't fuck with that because the initial tone n mood you have is... carrying the potential to be serious. the drums and bluesy riffs and... are taking that away. I'd say make the drums a little more low-endy and less energetic, and take that bluesy note out of the guitar. maybe bring the tempo down 5bpm 10bpm. I think the real bigdick within the beat lies under that.
our taste in hip hop is so far apart, I'm not even sure anything I can add would even apply. it's almost like we're making 2 different genres. I'll do my best tho. everyone deserves feedback.
on the 1st one the level of details is awesome, like that lil scratch thingy at the end. so is the sample. the feeling. defo fuckin with that.
then again I'd make the drums a bit darker but that's probably just me. the textures are too perky (especially the snare), the rhythm even more, like the hi hats don't need to do all that. something like.. 1 hat per beat, loud on 1st n 3rd, quiet on 2nd n 4th n just that would do. I mean part of why I say that is I don't like this trend in hip hop hi hats (you do this a lot) where you take a hat sample with a relatively long tail, and you hit it 2 or 3 times quickly (like here, u do it after every 2nd snare) and it gives off this... unnatural, digital feeling. Kanye did this a lot too, took me a while to get used to it. but generally it don't sound good to me even when he does it. few exceptions here n there but generally, ehh.
but yeah if it was me, I'd make everything sound a tad darker and make up for the lack of energy with adding 10bpm 20bpm somethin like that.
I have pretty much the same problem with the 2nd one. the drums are breaking the 4th wall for me. they're not real drums, but they still do too much as if they are. and they're... apart. idk how to explain it, but they're not feeling... consistent. I can legit imagine you playing them on ur MPC when I hear it. I don't need that. I want to focus on the rapper, on the feeling, on whatever else. if everything is taking the spotlight, nothing's taking the spotlight. Plus, it's all a little too perky again.
the left-right synth thingy on the 2nd verse is AWESOME. love it. so on point. bass is doing great too. the level of details is admirable - it's this sorta attention to detail n giving a fuck that keeps you on top while mfs join here, put 20 minutes on a beat, submit and then cry when they don't place. and also feeling-wise it's dope. it's just these details that makes it "just not my thing".
and again, it's most likely a taste thing. the people here fuck with your style and tbh, sometimes I try to copy it just to get the points, but that's how I hear it. it's way toooo... east coast for me lmfao.
Last edited:
hosie
ILLIEN
Battle Points: 30
I've just sort of touched on this in the Tinker Tailor Beatmaker thread although you articulate this way better. "Too musicy", "too clean" and "the real Bigdick" really get the point across. Seriously nailed it with the "bluesy" note too. Nice to see you get in the Showcase and dropping feedback.
Really fuckin with this, especially cause of the vocal sample. drums doing a bit too much rhythmically (I mean half of them are in triplets, half in 4/4, sometimes they even overlap. do you want me to breakdance or something?). pauses at 1:44 are TASTY.
really fucking with the feeling, and the originality. it could easily be a youtube type beat but it's not. mix could use some work, drums are a bit too quiet. and uhhhhh
yeah no if it were up to me I'd just rework the drums, maybe add 808s at some points, mayyyyyyyyybe fiddle with the keyboard texture a bit, make the mix a bit "louder", anddd that's about it. aweseome stuff, fucking with it.
