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Is This Epic Hip-Hop Cue Ready for Sync? · 52 Cues - A Production Music and Sync Podcast

• 0:32
  Dave Kropf: What is happening everybody?
• 0:33
  Dave Kropf: This is Dave Kropf, and welcome to Ready for Sync?
• 0:37
  Dave Kropf: ".
• 0:37
  Dave Kropf: This is where we feature a cue written by a member of the 52 Cues community and I provide feedback and critique, like you might hear from a music supervisor or a potential library publisher, and we answer the question is my cue ready for sync?
• 0:54
  Dave Kropf: And so today we are checking out an epic orchestral hip hop cue from Karsten Wilk, and so we're going to take a listen to this and then talk about it on the other side.
• 1:06
  Dave Kropf: That was Victory from Karsten.
• 3:22
  Dave Kropf: Karsten, thank you so much for sending this along.
• 3:25
  Dave Kropf: This was sent along during our week 45 weekly feedback thread that we put together every single week over at 52 Cues and Karsten says I'm working on a new cue for my album, orchestral hip hop.
• 3:39
  Dave Kropf: It would be nice to get feedback on mix balance of the instrument.
• 3:42
  Dave Kropf: Like I said, this was sent along for our week 45.
• 3:46
  Dave Kropf: Karsten, I think this is really really well done.
• 3:50
  Dave Kropf: I like this a lot.
• 3:51
  Dave Kropf: The strings sound fantastic.
• 3:53
  Dave Kropf: You've definitely captured the the energy of kind of epic orchestral hip hop and I think we are in good shape.
• 4:00
  Dave Kropf: I think I think the snare could be a little bit more transient.
• 4:06
  Dave Kropf: It could pop out of the mix just a little bit, bringing in a horn line right here.
• 4:15
  Dave Kropf: I think this was great.
• 4:21
  Dave Kropf: I was not ready to leave this yet.
• 4:23
  Dave Kropf: I would keep this cooking one more time through and I would go, I would go up the octave the second time through.
• 4:36
  Dave Kropf: But I I don't think we're quite ready to ditch that horn motif quite yet.
• 4:42
  Dave Kropf: I would, I would roll it one time through and then go to this section.
• 4:49
  Dave Kropf: But in you know, in my background is sports broadcasting and that's where I get a lot of my epic orchestral cues placed.
• 4:58
  Dave Kropf: I don't think we're quite ready to ditch a backbeat here.
• 5:02
  Dave Kropf: It's kind of like we need to make sure that we stay in hip hop mode through the whole time.
• 5:14
  Dave Kropf: It's not just dropping a hip hop beat on top of a cue.
• 5:19
  Dave Kropf: Instead we've got to make sure that we stay hip hop the whole time.
• 5:24
  Dave Kropf: Maybe keep the back beats going or keep hi-hats going.
• 5:40
  Dave Kropf: Yeah, yeah, we've gone way too long without a really solid back beat and we still don't have a backbeat.
• 5:53
  Dave Kropf: This right here is fantastic, right.
• 6:03
  Dave Kropf: And then we go to time of these claps.
• 6:05
  Dave Kropf: So we've really gone from this about 35 seconds up to almost a minute and 25 seconds.
• 6:15
  Dave Kropf: So we've gone nearly a whole minute straight without a solid back beat and even here, yeah, we've gone almost a full minute without a solid two and four, and I think it's way too long and it feels a little starty-stoppy.
• 6:38
  Dave Kropf: So we've kind of built and then we dropped.
• 6:41
  Dave Kropf: And then we kind of built energy and then we dropped back again.
• 6:45
  Dave Kropf: So what started off with a super solid like driving really kind of gutsy, tons of swagger, tons of energy, just kind of spins this middle section where it's kind of wandering in the desert a little bit, in my opinion.
• 7:01
  Dave Kropf: And then, and now we are solid back and we're on solid footing, and so I would take this back section and add it right in before we added, before we dropped out, because now it feels like we're going on, it feels like we're gonna stay in this energy too long.
• 7:29
  Dave Kropf: So now we're bringing the horns back, bum, oh, I like the anvils, but the back beats feel a little too weeny Now.
• 7:44
  Dave Kropf: Bum Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum Bum, that's fantastic.
• 7:53
  Dave Kropf: Now.
• 7:55
  Dave Kropf: Bum Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
• 8:04
  Dave Kropf: And if it were mine, I would go Bum Bum, bum Bum Right and really like hold it out.
• 8:13
  Dave Kropf: Bum Bum, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da da, and we probably want to hold this for longer.
• 8:31
  Dave Kropf: My experience with sports broadcasting is the broadcasters love sitting on their stingers and sitting on their buttons and then don't two, three off, right, and so hold it for three beats or so, one, two, three off, yeah, and then end on beat four of that measure.
• 8:54
  Dave Kropf: So, like I said, we kind of wandered through this middle section and then this last section feels a little bit too long of just the same kind of thing without any energy, and so I would take one of these sections, I would take this back section of the horn part, add it to the end of our opening section and then we can do some wandering bits and then da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da da, and then add more aggressive percussion, more aggressive parts in through that.
• 9:41
  Dave Kropf: As far as the mix itself, I think we're actually doing pretty good, other than the snare being a little bit too loud, the hi-hats could be a little bit more out in the mix and I would bring out the tubular bell a little earlier.
• 10:04
  Dave Kropf: Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da da.
• 10:10
  Dave Kropf: Right there, yeah, because nothing says kind of epic sports like those tubular bells.
• 10:15
  Dave Kropf: But I think this is all really working.
• 10:25
  Dave Kropf: That's a fantastic horn line, the strings are fantastic.
• 10:28
  Dave Kropf: Everything sounds really really, really good.
• 10:32
  Dave Kropf: So I think you are onto something.
• 10:35
  Dave Kropf: Like I said, this was sent al ong during our week 45 weekly feedback threads.
• 10:41
  Dave Kropf: We put weekly feedback threads together every single week and currently we are gathering cues for week 46 and I will feature one of these cues next week and we will together ask an answer is my cue ready?
• 10:57
  Dave Kropf: Is my cue ready for sync?
• 10:58
  Dave Kropf: So, karsten, is my cue ready?
• 11:02
  Dave Kropf: I think it's pretty darn close.
• 11:04
  Dave Kropf: I think we're like 90% there.
• 11:07
  Dave Kropf: Just need to tweak some of the form and the structure and we're gonna get there.
• 11:13
  Dave Kropf: If you're wondering if your cue is ready to sync, then head over to ismycueready.
• 11:17
  Dave Kropf: com and you can order up your own feedback video where I will go through all of the components of a queue, that from mix to titles, to instrumentation, to arrangement.
• 11:31
  Dave Kropf: Speaking of titles, karsten, your queue is called victory One word titles are pretty weak in my experience Victory lap or victory analysis for the victory, or something like that.
• 11:48
  Dave Kropf: I think victory it does get kind of used a lot in sports broadcasting that term victory.
• 11:53
  Dave Kropf: But hey again, if you're wondering, then head over to ismycuereadycom.
• 11:58
  Dave Kropf: com, but we would love to have you.
• 12:02
  Dave Kropf: That's gonna do it for me.
• 12:04
  Dave Kropf: I hope that was helpful for you and we'll see you next time.
• 12:06
  Dave Kropf: Until then, peace.