Overproducing/Underproducing Question

C

ChrisWells

New member
How can you tell if you overproduce or underproduce a track? What I mean by overproducing (for those who might ask) is you have your sample (if you used one) then you add a kick, hat, snare just for basic drums. Then you add things like a 16in crash, cabasa, a tighter snare, on top of those, for example. Then underproducing, you would have your sample, a kick, a snare and a hi hat. The track you just made sounds fire, you feel you can add a little more but you dont want to put to much in to make the track have "too much going on."
I feel the track "Impossible" produced by Kanye is crazy, but that seems like a classic case of overproducing imo.
What tips do you fellow producers use to determine if you are overproducing a track or underproducing one?
My fault if this has been asked before
 
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I also feel Impossible is overproduced. It seems like him and Swizz were in the studio at the same time and Swizz said "Yo, let me show you how to make a banger", took Mashonda's teacup yorkie and let it run on his keyboard, played it back and Kanye said "Yo, thats hot" and proceeded to do the same thing.

Sometimes I feel like I underproduce, but if a track is hot, its hot. It doesnt need 10 different sounds, if 3 or 2 work and do their job.
 
I think when you listen to it and it sounds cluttered then you've probably done too much. But sometimes it's hard to tell until somebody spits over it. You've got to imagine someone rapping or singing over your beat to tell if it's over or under in my opinion. Especially when using samples of high pitched voices. It may sound hot as an instrumental, but does it take away from the lyrics when someone is rapping. In some cases you can have all the extra stuff during a hook/chorus, then drop some of them out for the verse. But it's all up to your preference, but the bottom line is you gotta be able to hear someone rapping on it to see if it's cluttered (overproduced) or too empty (underproduced). I'm not a rapper at all, but sometimes what i'll do is just rap somebody else's lines like Jay-Z, 50, Kanye, whoever that I know some lyrics from just to see how it will sound with a rapper on it. That's my 2-cents!!
 
AbsolutMuzik said:
I think when you listen to it and it sounds cluttered then you've probably done too much. But sometimes it's hard to tell until somebody spits over it. You've got to imagine someone rapping or singing over your beat to tell if it's over or under in my opinion. Especially when using samples of high pitched voices. It may sound hot as an instrumental, but does it take away from the lyrics when someone is rapping. In some cases you can have all the extra stuff during a hook/chorus, then drop some of them out for the verse. But it's all up to your preference, but the bottom line is you gotta be able to hear someone rapping on it to see if it's cluttered (overproduced) or too empty (underproduced). I'm not a rapper at all, but sometimes what i'll do is just rap somebody else's lines like Jay-Z, 50, Kanye, whoever that I know some lyrics from just to see how it will sound with a rapper on it. That's my 2-cents!!
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I do the same thing. I make a beat, then look up some lyrics that might fit it then rap it. But alot of hot beat if you sit and listen to them, they only have a few sounds to them. Temporary Relief by Boola, ALOT of early Kanye beats, they were just a vocal loop and a kick, a snare or clap and maybe a hihat or shaker. Another example is that Chingy/Tyrese song, the beat isnt that complicated but its hot. And alot of Cool and Dre beats have like 5 or 6 different drums. Its hot, but then you think did he really need that. Someone else who tends to over do it is Mannie Fresh. I was listening to We On Fire, the 1st track on Guerilla Warfare and out of nowhere he drops in random noises just for the hell of it, like whistles and whirls and ****.
 
But... have you ever heard a track that sound hot with say Xibit on it but when you listen to the instro....not so much.

yeah that blows.
 
If its hard for you to imagine an artist over it, its either wack or overproduced (for non-instrumental music that is).

Under produced... I can't really say i've heard too much underproduced stuff. Even simple stuff like Grindin. When you hear people over it, it doesn't sound underproduced but if you heard the instrumental you might think the opposite. But then at the same time, the beat was made for rappers to be over it. Hearing it without rappers isn't the point of it.
 
syxx said:
I also feel Impossible is overproduced. It seems like him and Swizz were in the studio at the same time and Swizz said "Yo, let me show you how to make a banger", took Mashonda's teacup yorkie and let it run on his keyboard, played it back and Kanye said "Yo, thats hot" and proceeded to do the same thing.

Sometimes I feel like I underproduce, but if a track is hot, its hot. It doesnt need 10 different sounds, if 3 or 2 work and do their job.
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That's how I feel.

Much of my stuff sounds "strange" partly because people are used to hearing a lot of **** going on that doesn't necessarily add to the song.
 
if you dont just know, you have to wait until vocals are added and go from there. most of the times you just know- thats it- im done, or it needs 1 or 2 more elements
 
I definitely understand where you all are coming from... I've been battling this conflict forever. I have tracks that are extremely simple, but I also have tracks that have a multitude of drums and different parts of samples. I appreciate the help thanx
 
AbsolutMuzik said:
I think when you listen to it and it sounds cluttered then you've probably done too much. But sometimes it's hard to tell until somebody spits over it. You've got to imagine someone rapping or singing over your beat to tell if it's over or under in my opinion. QUOTE]

True! Its the producer and engineers job to support the artist. If heads are hearing so much that they stop listening to the MC than that's a good way to clue in to overproducing (or just whack MCing:D )
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sum songs that are built of just straight loops could be considered underproduced like planetasia's pure coke, but at the end of the day, if it inspires a few head nods, why not just stop putting too much thought into it. a dope beat is a dope beat.
 
producing and making beats is 2 tottaly difrent things. Dont get them mixed up.

and yes sumtimes it is bad to over saturate a track with so many sounds, but thats not producing thats beat making
 
When you think you hear an "underproduced" song/beat on the radio, listen to it carefully, you'll always hear backgrounds sounds that make the song, if you are using only kick snare hihat and a sample, think obout adding some backgrounds things
 
Kanye's Impossible.....

Well i for one dont think it was over produced, if you listen to it it has a nice swell up, a energy build (hey hey)then it simmers like boiled water (its impossible for me to fail) it has a nice rise and fall. more of a roller coster ride.
 
syxx said:
Another example is that Chingy/Tyrese song, the beat isnt that complicated but its hot.
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Thats just cause its another sampled groove.....they always come out sounding nice because all the work was done by the original player so the chords and everything sound complete no matter what you compile onto it. Prime example: "Why You Wanna Do That" by T.I.

Many ppl think that's an original record but it's actually some drums 'n strings over an old Crystal Waters sample.
 
i think overproduced and underproduced pertains to the song in question. every producer knows the vibe of the song. if you wanna have something with a lot of impact, you better put in a lot more than on a track where you are giving a street-mix or club performance kinda feel. it all depends on the flavor of what youre going for.
 
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Simplicity is the key. Do all the arrangements needed but simple tracks with a voice over it and good topic are hits. If promoted right I may add. Keep it simple.

One
 
i read in scratch magazine ones, what dr. dre does is he simplifies the beat... like listen to "the set-up" by obie trice

i myself is having problems with over and under, reading you fp's posts, it may have shined a light

peace
 
Great ass topic.

I tend to overproduce alot. I'll spend 1/2 hours adding **** I think sounds hot.

Grab a drink, give me ears a break, come back, and take the last 3 sounds I just added off the record completely.


I don't do a whole lot of underproducing. I need to. Save some time, lol.
 
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