JZ416 vs TheRabbitMonk - Hip Hop Battle

[JonAvalon]

Mix 1 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847651/Battles/jz416-vs-therabbitmonk-1.mp3)

Mix 2 (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5847651/Battles/jz416-vs-therabbitmonk-2.mp3)

Rules:
Hip Hop
25 minutes.
Any Equipment
no post production

[Sigma]

1 - Nice intro sample. Great track selection. I didn't like the loop roll stuff (a little bit is cool, but don't overdo it man) but it's a battle so I'll let you off. Some of the transitions in this were really well thought out - like "proper hip-hop mix DJ, you rarely hear this shit these days" thought out. The looping out on the Biz track sounded great and playing that first UK rap track pretty much gave away which competitor is which. Ain't nobody from Toronto playing that shit, lol. Overall, I thought this mix was cool and I enjoyed listening to it. Work on your scratching though.

2 - I enjoyed listening to this for the tunes and while the mixing was fine, it didn't scream "battle!" at me. In terms of the technical stuff it was pretty run of the mill. Some of the tunes sounded louder/better quality than others. In terms of phrase matching/timing of transitions you were consistent, but there wasn't anything in this mix that made me think "cool!" like there was with mix 1.

My vote goes to 1. 2 was a bit more consistent, but played it safe. 1 came with some creative "this is a mixing battle" shit. I enjoyed listening to both though, so fair play to both of you.

[TheRabbitMonk]

Thanks for listening sigma. Unable to rep you but will when I can.

[Hightopfade]

Voted Mix 1. Better mixing skill than Mix 2. Pretty good song selection in Mix 2.

[jz416]

Voted Mix 1. Better mixing skill than Mix 2. Pretty good song selection in Mix 2.
Thanks for listening.



Thanks for listening sigma. Unable to rep you but will when I can.

X2

[Baller95]

Couldn't help but think how Sigma was complaining about my mix's sound quality when pretty much all old school hip hop music sounds like it's 96kbps MP3's :P

Mix 1 - Mixing, scratching and tracks were decent. Too much stut-tut-tut-tut-tering but no worries. Maybe you should spread out the stuttering instead of going all out on certain tracks.

Mix 2 - Mixing and scratching was ok but it could be slightly better. Liked the tracks in this mix though. Good mix but not as "active" as the previous mix as far as DJing goes.

I enjoyed both mixes and it was honestly a very close battle but I think mix 1 was just a little bit better skill wise so mix 1 it is :tup:

[jz416]

Couldn't help but think how Sigma was complaining about my mix's sound quality when pretty much all old school hip hop music sounds like it's 96kbps MP3's :P

Mix 1 - Mixing, scratching and tracks were decent. Too much stut-tut-tut-tut-tering but no worries. Maybe you should spread out the stuttering instead of going all out on certain tracks.

Mix 2 - Mixing and scratching was ok but it could be slightly better. Liked the tracks in this mix though. Good mix but not as "active" as the previous mix as far as DJing goes.

I enjoyed both mixes and it was honestly a very close battle but I think mix 1 was just a little bit better skill wise so mix 1 it is :tup:


Thanks for listening baller.

In terms of sound quality, I believe the problem lies in the reencoding.

Most of my tracks were 320 kbps which tends to sound passable even after the mix is re encoded to 320 kbps. Whereas, 256 kbps which is almost impossible to tell apart from a 320 (for me), when listening straight up, however after re encoding, I find anything less than 320 starts to sound like shit.

[Mrspyaman]

I preferred the Dj style of mix 1, but to many loop backs to the point it was distracting.
Mix 2 had some good concepts but the timing of Eq changes was a little off making the drop of the new beat sound out of place.
Overall I liked both mixes.
It was close enough that I had to vote for Mix 2 because of the length.
If the rules say 25 min I have to go with that.

[TheRabbitMonk]

Thanks for voting guys. When I get back on my laptop I will rep you's. Thanks again for taking the time.

[Rad]

O.k., I like the fact that there's a hip hop battle, but I am having trouble judging / comparing skill when the rules say "any equipment".
I listened to, and really enjoyed, both mixes twice, and here's what I thought:

Mix 1: good mixing, didn't like the stutter / roll effects too much, would have preferred the mix without them.
The musical style was a bit more varied than mix 2.

Mix 2: enjoyed the track selection a lot more than mix one, but I think in some spots the level of the incoming track was too much higher than the outgoing track. Mixing slightly less tight than mix 1. This is the kind of hip hop mix that I would like to be able to produce myself one day.

Tough call, I really needed that second listen to decide, but going for mix nr. one

[jz416]

O.k., I like the fact that there's a hip hop battle, but I am having trouble judging / comparing skill when the rules say "any equipment".
I listened to, and really enjoyed, both mixes twice, and here's what I thought:

Mix 1: good mixing, didn't like the stutter / roll effects too much, would have preferred the mix without them.
The musical style was a bit more varied than mix 2.

Mix 2: enjoyed the track selection a lot more than mix one, but I think in some spots the level of the incoming track was too much higher than the outgoing track. Mixing slightly less tight than mix 1. This is the kind of hip hop mix that I would like to be able to produce myself one day.

Tough call, I really needed that second listen to decide, but going for mix nr. one

Thanks for the listen.

I Appreciate what you said.

After this battle, I know exactly what aspects of my mixing need to be fixed.

[sense]

going with mix 1 good intro played it safe with the mixing loop roll was a bit annoying but its all good! mix 2 was good as well but you got to get those gains down! there where some very noticeable volume changes between tracks. had some good transitions and then some abrupt ones. Gotta get a flow going and try to maintain it.

[TheRabbitMonk]

Thanks for the feeback.

[DJ CJ]

Mix 1: Good mixing, stutters were overdone and, at times, a bit off on timing / style, nice song selection.

Mix 2: Good mixing, some volume issues when tracks switched but at times it seemed like this is what you were going for, perhaps?, better song selection, didn't "overdo" effects.

I went with Mix 2.

[TheRabbitMonk]

thanks for listening and feed back.

[jz416]

Thanks for listening CJ. I appreciate the feedback for sure.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Lam]

Mix 1: Nice transition to the Wu Tang - Protect Ya Neck. Could use less of the stuttering though

Mix 2: Great song selection and scratching.

[maelstrom99]

Good mixing, on the first one, better song slection on the second.