it's probably the order he got it in. probably wanted the motif, then wanted the fantom, but just the sounds. nothing seems too flashy there, though. it's all standard kinda stuff.
good advice ash..this should be a sticky if it isn't already.
i agree. panning really does wonders to vocals. i usually compress a whole lot. maybe that's why everything sounds bad.
This is one of the best beat vids on youtube i've seen. It's really high quality too. the beat's pretty creative. it's not over the top, but definitely something you can nod your head to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9EsOZLufDk
for southern type drums, don't turn swing on at all. you could do one of two things. make the drum loops in 160, extract each drum track into an mp3 or wav, and then change the tempo to 80 and load the tracks in
or
just make the entire beat in 160.