Factory Yoyo presents: "Kingston Gangsta", some upbeat reggae

It occurred to me last week I haven't done a reggae tune in many years. Here is some happy-sounding reggae that is, of course, a sad story; hence the subtitle, The Ballad of John Brown. 

A bit cluttered for the genre, but hopefully cluttered with goodness...reggae has so many subgenres it is hard to pin down what it is these days.

Mix comments welcome on this one as I am not sure about it just yet.

Kingston Gangsta

This is great, James. You did something different at your studio, didn't you? No offense man, but the last few mixes I thought were a bit bass light. I think I mentioned it once and you said "it was enough on your end" or something. This here...is more along the low end I've been wanting to hear from your stuff. Maybe a tad much in the subs, but it's fine for this style as well as how tight you kept it. It's not loose at all, so when you get it like that, the amount matters not. I'm not hearing any booms or anything, just maybe a slight amount more than I would mix in.

Mids and highs are great....performance is killer, some nice textures and layers going on, synths and horns were great, not a single thing I can add here other than you rule dude. Whatever you did here....this is an excellent formula and definitely one of the best mixes I've heard from you. Everything is clear as a bell and where it needs to be. Great job James!

-Danny

What gender of music don't you do well.   Mix is sounding sweet on my end.  EXCELLENT tune/performance.


LATER
Kev

Another amazing piece of work from you James.  Like kev said, "what gender of music don't you do well"

The mix and production sound excellent to my ears. 

Not my fave from you musically, but still great to hear what you can achieve with your talent.

WOW! What a coincidence! I was on soundcloud and did a search for, Reggae, reggae, old, school, throwback, theif, and bankrobber and THIS popped up! What are de odds Mon??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H0xPWAtaa8

Ha... that's a hoot mon... Love the female BGVs... & the horns are are a nice touch too... Lots of busy goodness... very impressive, fun and interesting... great work James...

Hey, James,
 
Very cool and unique song with a ton of really wild elements weaving in and out throughout the crisp sounding mix!
 
Great instrumentation and vocals, and the production and mix sound fantastic.  The horns and female backups were tasty icing on the cake! :)
 
Excellent work!
Bob

Reggae seemed to have turned disco at the halfway point with synths added, etc. no meter what, it's an AWESOME production.

I wish my iPad had a subwoofer.

James this is not a critical comment but an honest one. The vocals, although very well produced, sounded like a fake Jamaican accent. Sorry to say I actually cringed at the vox.

Other than that, top notch production all the way around.

Sounds great. Just as all your stuff does. Enjoyed the listen.

James - you are so diverse - you always seem to come out with the most different music - this is just flat excellent. I love it.

ohgrant


 Loved it, Top shelf sounding production, but you forgot to crop the tail

Yeah, but the mix is done, so enjoy the silence!

Danny Danzi


This is great, James. You did something different at your studio, didn't you? No offense man, but the last few mixes I thought were a bit bass light. I think I mentioned it once and you said "it was enough on your end" or something. This here...is more along the low end I've been wanting to hear from your stuff. Maybe a tad much in the subs, but it's fine for this style as well as how tight you kept it. It's not loose at all, so when you get it like that, the amount matters not. I'm not hearing any booms or anything, just maybe a slight amount more than I would mix in.

Mids and highs are great....performance is killer, some nice textures and layers going on, synths and horns were great, not a single thing I can add here other than you rule dude. Whatever you did here....this is an excellent formula and definitely one of the best mixes I've heard from you. Everything is clear as a bell and where it needs to be. Great job James!

-Danny

Thanks Danny. It does sound a bit booming on both my sub and my car system, but I will take your word on it. Thanks for the kind words.

Lynn


James, this is very instructive into the way you produce and mix.  You have a great voice for this.  You raise the bar with each new production.  Bravo!

Thanks Lynn. Some have not taken a liking to my appropriated faux-Jamaican accent, but I honestly didn't think I overdid it.
I did have a Jamaican nanny for nine years living in my house, so I am awfully familiar with the accent.

Instructive how, I wonder?

notnat


Ha... that's a hoot mon... Love the female BGVs... & the horns are are a nice touch too... Lots of busy goodness... very impressive, fun and interesting... great work James...

I got those female bgvox from a great deal they had on Zero-G.

markno999


James,
 
The mix is over-the-top good.   Everything sounds terrific.   Like the song, found it very entertaining, lot's going on.  Great work. 
 
Regards

The story is the song, if ya know what I mean. Personally, I thought my bgvocals on the chorus were da bomb!

Bob Oister


Hey, James,
 
Very cool and unique song with a ton of really wild elements weaving in and out throughout the crisp sounding mix!
 
Great instrumentation and vocals, and the production and mix sound fantastic.  The horns and female backups were tasty icing on the cake! :)
 
Excellent work!
Bob

Thanks Bob.

Fantastic!  You do everything really well.  Very creative - excellent mix - phenomenal vocals.  Yeah the bass may be a little loud.  But you captured that reggae bass tone.  What did you use for horns?  They sound really expressive.

guitartrek


Fantastic!  You do everything really well.  Very creative - excellent mix - phenomenal vocals.  Yeah the bass may be a little loud.  But you captured that reggae bass tone.  What did you use for horns?  They sound really expressive.

Thanks, Geno. The horns are all samples I got from Zero-G.