West Coast hip hop: before and after
Your note on "Radiant Drift": way too happy for West Coast, pads not common in the style and too harsh, and the synth lines should be longer notes, a mono whistle sound if anything. Each pair below is the same track drawn twice, as it was and as it is now.
What changed in West Coast
| Your words | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Way too happy | 1 track in 10 was in a major key (Mixolydian), as yours was. 4 in 10 were in Dorian, a minor scale with a bright major chord in it. 4 of 20 first tracks had a major home chord. | Minor scales only: minor in a bit over half the tracks, Dorian in a quarter, Phrygian (the scale of the track you liked) in a fifth. 0 of 20 have a major home chord. Time spent on major chords fell from 40% to 26%. |
| Pads not common, too harsh | Chords were held as pads in over a third of all bars, on strings and organs among other sounds. | No held pads at all, in breaks too. The chords are played as keys or short stabs on pianos, electric pianos and soft warm sounds. |
| Longer notes, a mono whistle | Four lead sounds, only one a whistle; the others were saws, a square and the talk box sound. A quarter of the lead notes were quick eighth notes. | Three whistle sounds only. No eighth notes; 7 lead notes in 10 last half a bar or more. One note at a time, each sliding into the next. |
Counted over 100 tracks and 20 whole tracks drawn from 20 starting points, with no browser.
West Coast, track A
92 bpm. Before: B flat Mixolydian, a major key, with the square and saw "Worm lead". Now: B flat Phrygian, with the plain whistle. 40 seconds from the start of the track.
West Coast, track B
89 bpm. Before: F Mixolydian, chords held as a pad. Now: F Phrygian, chords played on a felt piano, the plain whistle on long notes. 60 seconds from the start.
West Coast, track C
90 bpm, E flat minor both times. Before: chords held on "Slow cellos", the pad in your note, with the "Worm lead". Now: chords on a vibraphone, the plain whistle. 60 seconds from the start.
These three were picked from the first 20 because the old version drew a major key or a held pad there, so the change can be heard. In tracks that were already minor and on keys, the lead sound and its longer notes are the only change.
The same fault in other hip hop styles
Your rule that a note is one example of a fault: I counted the other hip hop styles for the same two things. One of them is mended in this same release.
Held pads nobody asked for. In East Coast (boom bap) and Jazz rap the chords are meant to be stabs and keys, but the break turned them into held pads in 16 of 20 tracks. That is now stopped in both: 108 bars of held pads in 20 tracks before, none now. The clips are 38 seconds around the break of one track of each.
East Coast (boom bap), around the break
Jazz rap, around the break
Left for your ear, not changed
- Miami bass: 1 track in 10 is in a major key, and 13 of 20 tracks get held pads in the break.
- Lo fi and Jazz rap: about 1 track in 4 or 5 is in a major key. That may be right for those styles.
- The plain three note chords in West Coast: about 13% of chord time is still on a bare major chord (never the home chord). If West Coast still sounds happy to you, these are the first thing to change.
- Part of what you heard is a separate fault: your track began with the pad and lead knobs left high by earlier tracks in the session, which makes any sound brighter. That is mended by another piece (the harsh highs one), not this one.
- Tracks written by the AI were not checked against these changes. With Live AI on, a written West Coast track may still bring a pad or another lead.
Hex, MONSTERS_. Request MON-6524.