I definitely hear what you guys are saying about the bass-line. While I made some adjustments, in order to temper some of the fluctuation in volume with the high-notes, I stopped short of major revisions, or even adding another layer, for a number of reasons. The irony is that, if you listen to the original, there really isn't much of a bass-line, at all. Personally, I like it, even for some of the flaws you guys critiqued, so chalk it up to poor taste on my part. Still, I do appreciate the honesty. I hope you don't think I'm blowing it off. If it were a different song to be made for the dance-floor, I definitely would have re-done it based on your critiques.
The cool thing about this track, for me, was exploring a different style altogether apart from my (our) typical fair. The thought had occurred to me to try and pump the tempo up from 101 BPM to at least 130. 130 just didn't sound good, at all. The vocals sounded clearly unnatural and trying to reconfigure the track for an EDM piece wasn't going to happen. The cadence of Snoop's rapping, the fact that the vocal stem provided already included a metric--ton of processing, and some other factors about them which, for my mix and my goals, felt wrong, I wound up settling for 118 BPM (still danceable but...). Snoop's vocals still sounded natural and doing a bit of an upbeat version was within the realm of the obtainable.
Having listened to the lyrics I just felt like, while the song was lousy for the dance floor, it was a great tune to drive to or just get stoned with and possibly do some Spring cleaning with it playing in the back-ground. The song's focus wasn't so much on the party, but a wholesome vibe which realizes the importance of family. Sure, yeah, I could hear it on the floor - but only in a rare instance with so much of the lyrics being niche, relating to Snoop's life outside his show-biz persona, the song just felt atypical, there. I don't ever think "That Tree" can or even should be made into a floor-filler remix, unless it's being played at a wedding. Maybe someone could do it, but to me, it just felt all kinds of goofy.
I wound up scrapping all of the other stems. The only other music, relating to the original, is the keyboard work, which I basically copied the chords of using a more full organ sound. After that, I used the synth and piano sounds to add inversions of those chords and create that really lush music bed.
The chief criteria for the remix competition was to take the acapella, minus rap verse by Kid Cudi, and replace that with our own contribution, be it rap, singing or instrument. The instrument I chose, before I built up the music-bed, for it, was a Rhodes patch I found on the Dimension Pro, which I wound up mixing in with a Wurlitzer sound from a plug-in I found at KVR. Predominantly, I wanted the focus to be on that.
Anyways. Thanks, all, for the feedback. I'm glad you guys liked what you liked about it and hope you found/find the final version, enjoyable.
Owsey2008
For some reason the other link won't work for me, so I'm listening to the soundcloud version.
Well, this is certainly something different around here :p
I agree with the others on overlapping his vocals. It didn't appeal to me much!
I love 0.40 second when things begin to come together properly. The pads instantly reminded me of Moby's Porcelain.
The melody and synths are very laidback and they make me happy. I could imagine this appealing to a lot of people.
Great job and good luck!
novastorm
quote:
Originally posted by Owsey2008
The pads instantly reminded me of Moby's Porcelain.
THAT'S what I was trying to think of, my memory triggered but couldn't put my finger on the title :P
EddieZilker
Thanks, guys. I'm currently dying at 141st place. I've listened to a lot of REALLY BAD remixes of this song - which... *bites tongue* Anyway. Here's a bump for the vote.
Viber
I voted for you:) liked what you did with the song, i love it when hip hop sounds so 'real'.
EddieZilker
Thanks, Viber. I was pretty much trying to go for a very organic vibe on this. I used likely a tenth of the time-based effects I've used on other tracks. There's a little delay and reverb on a few things, but really, it's a very dry version by my normal standards.
Viber
quote:
Originally posted by EddieZilker
Thanks, Viber. I was pretty much trying to go for a very organic vibe on this. I used likely a tenth of the time-based effects I've used on other tracks. There's a little delay and reverb on a few things, but really, it's a very dry version by my normal standards.
Yea,you did good, its important to remember that youre working on a different style for a different audience this time imo.
I love it when producers take bad rap\hip-hop productions and make them into something more genuine (irony?;) )
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by Viber
Yea,you did good, its important to remember that youre working on a different style for a different audience this time imo.
I love it when producers take bad rap\hip-hop productions and make them into something more genuine (irony?;) )
Thanks. Unfortunately, I'm sinking like a ing rock in the contest, so I guess my flavor doesn't have that 'mass' appeal.
There was a radio station I heard in Atlanta, GA, driving home from work that played these really killer hip-hop tunes. It was really deep stuff, both musically and (lyric wise) intellectually that I haven't heard, since. Completely underground. They'd run this spot where these two guys were joking about the state of hip-hop and how contemporary artists were rapping about having 'spinners' (the hub-caps that spin).
Unfortunately, intellectual creativity isn't a driving force when it comes to the top 40 stuff. It's all down to the lowest common denominator and the acceptable level of mediocrity. I don't want to be presumptuous enough to blame my poor performance in this competition on that, but the fact of the matter is that there are guys who are producing hip-hop that's ing genius stuff that might not ever get heard apart from their circle of friends, the underground club, or the occasional airplay on a college radio station.
TranceLover007
How can I vote for you Eddie.
Cheers
EddieZilker
quote:
Originally posted by TranceLover007
How can I vote for you Eddie.
If you go to that web-site, there should be a console there. There's also a widget in the first post that has the 'Vote for Eddie Zilker' button on it.
Edit: And thanks.
TranceLover007
I'm glad that I can help - well deserved man (610).
