PhxAzTracmaster
ILLIEN
Or did I?
Fight #350: PhxAzTracmaster vs. attila
[Fight Ends: 6 days, 12 hours, 40 minutes left]
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warzone round 2 voting begins in...
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Earsblower
Listen closely... Closer...
I've decided to vote, reluctantly so because no access to my monitoring...
So, this voting for me is really coming down heavily to: TRANSLATION
I'm listening on consumer headphones, and then doing a second run through out of my phone speakers.
My headphones come with a massive bass boost, so if your lows ain't right, you'll definitely suffer here - as well as some dips in the mids, so you really better have those in check too.
As for phone speakers, that's what you'd expect, I'll be seeing how much of your sound is still coming through or if key elements and soul of your beat disappears - this second check could lead to me switching my vote.
Came close to switching votes on a couple, but remained. Only a couple beats here that I felt stood fairly solid across both devices. But a lot of cool sounding music otherwise.
So, this voting for me is really coming down heavily to: TRANSLATION
I'm listening on consumer headphones, and then doing a second run through out of my phone speakers.
My headphones come with a massive bass boost, so if your lows ain't right, you'll definitely suffer here - as well as some dips in the mids, so you really better have those in check too.
As for phone speakers, that's what you'd expect, I'll be seeing how much of your sound is still coming through or if key elements and soul of your beat disappears - this second check could lead to me switching my vote.
Came close to switching votes on a couple, but remained. Only a couple beats here that I felt stood fairly solid across both devices. But a lot of cool sounding music otherwise.
So I may get some heat for this, but I usually try to listen 3 times. First listen on my air pods, second listen on my Sennheiser 600s, and if time permits, a third in my AirPods again.
While it may be ‘disrespectful’ to listen on consumer headphones…the fact is that’s the way MOST people will listen to your music anyways.
I do t have a great ear, nor am I mix/engineer wizard, but I’ve found that if it sounds “good” on AirPods it probably sounds good in general. The Senn’s are just quality control
In case I missed something. I have changed votes based on the way one beat sounds across both sets though.
It's not a bad way, and like in my case I've gone from two typed of likely consumer playback devices.
The thing is, you'd feel if a beat is well mixed sounding on your pro set up it should sound good on the others, which isn't always true; but I've noticed with my current mixes, they sound how I'd hope on my headphones and phone speakers (despite not checking this during mixing)
But, having that experience, I now really know how music should sound on these devices.
I can say there's a few that bass is muddy af on my headphones, and some where a lot of your beat's energy disappears on phone speakers
so yeah, sometimes my headphones can help mask people whose bass is weak as it adds like a 10dB or more boost. But, I can tell if actually your kick ain't thumping. Some people here got a nice warm growl in their bass.
Seeeingas this is a Hip Hop space, if your kick isn't shaking n thumping, I heavily mark down for that. Imagine your shit getting played in the club or a car and the sub ain't moving. Eeeesh
And, you need to have that clear and balanced mids with that cracking snare.
I think some mixes here may be less good, but the track has more vibe. That's where my vote has gone.
@2GooD Productions and others have given me feedback on my snares not “cracking” enough. And my “excuse” was also “a light snare fits the vibe better.”
I think context of tunes does impact my decision making. Probably the greatest piece of music I’ve made has an irritating as fuck Open Hi-Hat ring at around 5-6K. Surprisingly, it received fairly decent feedback in the Showcase.
Now, I imagine that same beat would be easily passed over for a similar track in a battle. If all else is equal; then details become decision makers.
The other influencing factor for me is composed vs sampled. I know it’s a timeless debate; but I’ll take a slightly sub-par mix on what seems to be a composed beat, over a perfectly mixed sampled beat. The argument can be made than “taming” a sample is harder than crafting a composed sound…but I lean more to composed.
Finally, to your point, vibe is the ultimate decision maker. I think it was @thekoolkrush who had this bright, choppy, gritty beat, last beat this. In every way it was kinda “rough.” But god damn, did that beat knock and push the speakers. It’s hard to NOT appreciate a beat like that.
TL;DR. Good music > good craft > good mix is kinda my hierarchy for voting/decision making.
Snare levels can be contentious as fuck. I tend not to pay too much mind to it. Sometimes snares sound good quieter or duller. Potentially it was both too quiet and too dull, if not then don't sweat, if it got the vibe you like.
I'll vote for a better beat vs a better mix, if the beat is mixed well enough to carry its vibe if the well mixed beat ain't the best of beats or don't carry a vibe.
Sometimes tho there are mixes that just really are too poor.
Like i said in one post, a lot of emotion comed from misbalancing certain elements, so sometimes the less well mixed beat may carry more 'feel'
One thing that pisses me off, and makes no sense, is in commercial sample packs or virtual instruments that have these fucking artefacts in --- kicks with some random high pitched ring sound at 45L. Strings with boxy room tone on some notes.
One of Native Instruments drum VSTs the hihats have some fucking nasty resonance. I've created a preset chain where I've largely eliminated it, but it kills some character of the hat. WHY THE FUCK IS IT EVEN THERE?!
but yeah
Earsblower
Listen closely... Closer...
Thats what happens when you play with wizardry
