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I make hip-hop beats as a hobby. I've had industry people listen to the same track, one with a wide range, and the other "hot" and its always the "hot" track t

by ssharp 18y ago

I make hip-hop beats as a hobby. I've had industry people listen to the same track, one with a wide range, and the other "hot" and its always the "hot" track that grabs the attention. Loud is definitely the desired outcome in the music industry. I found the chart on this link very interesting. Another possibility is that a lot of production and composition has shifted to virtual instruments and computer mixing, often times done by folks who didn't have the engineering training that producers had 10-20 years ago. The computer has allowed a lot more people to create music. Mixing a song with a wide range that sounds professional or even "commercial" takes a lot of time and skill. Making a mix hot takes some level of care but not nearly as much as the other side. If you're trying to make it as a producer, are you going to spend your time mixing amazing tracks or making more tracks?

antiform 18y ago
I think there's a difference between hip-hop music and rock music, though. It's less important for hip-hop to have the dynamic range because the majority of its emotional expressiveness comes from the words, rhythm, the way they interact and the changes thereof. This is why having a great beats is so important and so good producers attract a lot of attention (e.g. Neptunes, Dre). Volume is not as important a factor. You really only need two levels of dynamics: one for the verses, one for the chorus/hook. On the other hand, I think changes in volume are more important for expressiveness in rock music, for instance, in an unexpected bridge just when you feel the song is about to end. Now, most bands these days seem to compensate by having simpler dynamics, but I think it would be nice for them to have more options. Also, wouldn't it be easier to have a good mix now that we can do most of these things on the computer instead of having to manually twiddle knobs and overdub live?

by ssharp 18y ago

antiform 18y ago

I think there's a difference between hip-hop music and rock music, though. It's less important for hip-hop to have the dynamic range because the majority of its emotional expressiveness comes from the words, rhythm, the way they interact and the changes thereof. This is why having a great beats is so important and so good producers attract a lot of attention (e.g. Neptunes, Dre). Volume is not as important a factor. You really only need two levels of dynamics: one for the verses, one for the chorus/hook. On the other hand, I think changes in volume are more important for expressiveness in rock music, for instance, in an unexpected bridge just when you feel the song is about to end. Now, most bands these days seem to compensate by having simpler dynamics, but I think it would be nice for them to have more options. Also, wouldn't it be easier to have a good mix now that we can do most of these things on the computer instead of having to manually twiddle knobs and overdub live?