[Track] Little Johnny (Hip-Hop)

Ok, boys, don't be shy! It took a while but I figured how to create links here :)

http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSgYlC3YWo

MarbleColumns, thank you :) Of all the songs you have downloaded, which one you liked the best and the least, and why?

Vassa, thank you for trying :) Occasionally there is a slowdown at GB, but right now everything is back to normal, it appears, if you want to try again.

AT, thank you for the input, much appreciated!

Paul, did you understand what exactly Little Johnny was selling?

hey, this is nice man.

I'm french so it's not that easy to understand lyrics in english in general, and it seems even harder with a distorted voice. Why did you choose that distorted voice by the way?
so yeah, about production issues, keeping your voice clean and clear (maybe doubled for some more depth, or anything else) might improve the understanding of the lyrics.

this is definetely hip hop, although it doesn't matter much, as marblecolumns said.

maybe you should work on some variation on the rythm of your vocals, it appears to sound pretty much always the same, maybe once you have your lyrics written down, you should spend a little time figuring out how you are gonna tell them, maybe steal some ideas from hip hop artists.

My undistorted vox is just not going to cut it. So, distortion helps a bit. Yeah, the delivery too is nothing to get a grammy for :)

I wish I had the balls to record my own voice!

but maybe you shouldn't be afraid to have it cleaner, I don't think the distorsion does any justice to the voice.

there are a bunch of tricks to get good rap vocals, I've never tried it so i can't talk from experience, but apparently people like to double their voice on the whole song, and add another layer on important words. I often hear some subtle delaying behind, most often not synchronized, just in order to make the voice bigger. I was thinking of rap tracks with distorsion like you used, but couldn't think of any. At least, not during the whole thing.

Could you upload a version with clean vocals so we could hear it? I'd be curious to know how it sounds without that distorsion.

About the delivery, working on a "rythm" for the vocals is probably not too hard, I don't know, I have never tried :) but maybe you could try and hear the beat and sing without the vocals, just da da daa, and find ways to make things more interesting, just a thought...

maybe you'll have your best luck listening to rap artists and trying to figure out how they recorded the vocals, what effects they used, and maybe steal a bunch of nice "rythms" for your own vocals.

Have you tried uploading that track on more "hip hop specific" forums? maybe these guys would be better at giving you advises for the voice.

Badbid, I listened to the unprocesses vox again and it sounds so bad that I'd rather keep it private :) Maybe, it depends on the melody or the recording "hit-and-miss," though, because there's less vox processing in One-Night Wife (none in the verse, a bit in the chorus), and the vox sounds quite strong and clear there, especially the verse. I will try to do the self-mastering first, and then maybe even professional mastering to compare the difference in sound. But still waiting for the Garageband competition reviews to start coming, as usually it is possible to see a pattern in shortcomings that different people can spot and point out in the reviews.

Jamester, appreciate you spending what appears to be at least 5-7 minutes listening and reviewing! The lyrics are usually challenging not so much in writing them, but in making sure that nothing untoward makes it to the Internet. A Russian saying goes: "a word is not a sparrow - once the word flies out, you can't catch it." The same thing with the songs, especially available for downloading - once you post it, that's it, it's there forever, since people can download, copy, repost, etc. For that "it's an ultimate disgrace" line, the original version was "wasted life he can't replace" or "memories he can't erase." But then I thought, what if a drug dealer would be listening, and would, instead of realizing that his current situation is "an ultimate disgrace," find out that he can't replace his wasted life, let alone erase the memories? That could prevent a drug dealer from reforming! And my hope, naive as it could be, is to a) prevent people from becoming drug dealers and b) make the current dealers realize that sooner or later the sweet life will be over and the payback is going to be so harsh that it's not at all worth being in this business. Here in Vancouver the drug trade is flourishing, and being caught by police is not the worse thing that can occur - a few bullets in the dealer's breathless body happens fairly often and is much worse of a proposition.

1. Can you clearly understand the lyrics? Do you like the message and why?
2. Any production issues which should be improved?
3. Is this hip-hop? If not then what?
4. Anything else?

Thank you :)

1. Not at times. As someone who does (for better or worse) message music myself, I thought it was fine, and it is expresses the mentality of suburban white kids trying to act tough very well.

2. Production was good. Vocals up a bit too loud.

3. Must you ask? If you want to know...honestly, it's not even close. But that is a good thing and it really doesn't matter that it isn't "hip-hop". It is experimental hip-hop, but really, why care? I rap and make beats, and I'm not "hip-hop" either, and it bothers me not at all.

4. I like all your tracks.