Then get started on sampling, no time like the present.
Sticky Beat This! Theme Suggestions
- Thread starter Fade
- Start date
Its why Im so tempted to get an MPC, but I dont really need one, I just want one. Will probably be a massive waste of money, if I ever get around to getting one.
I learned HTML, CSS, Flash, PHP to build a website because I couldnt afford to pay somebody to do it.
I quickly learned the value of sampling when I first joined here. I was shit at it, but just kept at it, then got pretty good at it.
Most important thing about sampling is chopping on the zero crossover point of the wav/mp3, that will prevent clicks.
Start with a basic loop and compose over it, you should feel right at home doing that, its what I usually do when sampling, unless Im going to town on something. Then find another chop to throw in as an end to 8 bars or 16 bars, preferably different chops for each, its these that keep things interesting while the main loop creates the hypnotic groove. Im not a big fan of overly chopped sample styles, unless its primo, he does it best IMO. I find most of it hard to groove to.
Just jump in head first, have fun with it and you might find it can be great inspiration when the creative block comes along. You might even come over to the East Coast dark side for a bit and add some of that to the repertoire.
Its just like buying some explosive rounds for your gun, a different kind of ammo for war because you never know when you might need it, and its better to have it when that time comes, than not.
My main point though is if you find a hurdle in the way, get over it by all means necessary, dont say I cant do this or that, that makes you your own worst enemy. Just give it a try until you crack it.
OGBama
Big Clit Energy
I @2GooD Productions got an MPC but chose to keep it simple by getting an MPK instead 
I think you are neglecting a very powerful weapon at your disposal, the skills you will pick up simply by using an MPC are very valuable. If you have an MPC, USE IT!!!!! You will learn a lot. Read the manual, a few times.I @2GooD Productions got an MPC but chose to keep it simple by getting an MPK instead
I've tried plenty. I just can't. On the offchance I get lucky sometimes. But that isn't an efficient way of producing for me.
I like chopped styles like Primo and Just Blaze. I hear a sample I go, ou i'll use that. Then whatever I chop just doesn't sound right when I use it. sounds like noise, or too short or too choppy. Then the rest of the stuff just sounds out of time, or doesn't line up good. Always happens and I can't figure a way round it. I'll spend like 20 hours on it and still don't have any kind of start of a beat.
Nothing at first is ever efficient until you get good at it and the vast majority of it becomes second nature and you dont even need to waste time thinking, and spend more time doing. I understand all the issues you mentioned, been there, found ways around most of it, and you have to find different workarounds using different daws. FL Studio is great for it, you can use time stretching to fix most timing issues, or you have to chop smaller and realign/time stretch .
Sometimes its just about finding the right sample in the first place and running with it, thats how most classic hip hop was done. Just a 4 or 8 bar loop with a rapper on it, with some subtle variation with drum fills and dropouts etc.
OGBama
Big Clit Energy
Just @Iron Keys learn to compose instead, that's my long term goal.
Yeah well I mean I found a dope one (several times), with a really cool phrasing, to use at the end of a 4 bar loop, I stretch it on tempo, etc etc, play it at different times, but it always sounds wrong or what, I dunno. Probably some weird measure they use or something. Fuck knows. Just drives me really insane
there are two ways to "make it fit", time stretching(the better option) and pitch shifting(speeding up and slowing down).
Time stretching uses an algorithm to chop into many small pieces and take some out to speed up, or repeat them to slow down while maintaining the same original key of the sample. This is obviously preferable because trying to do it by pitch shifting will fuck up the key of all the chops, especially if the sample was played live with human timing, not robotic daw timing. Thats when you really have to go in and chop it into much smaller parts, then move them into place yourself. You could then, if you really wanted the cleanest result, time stretch each individual chop(kick, snare, hihat etc) until its perfectly timed, with no blank spots, clicks or overlaps and quantized at least to something workable while maintaining the right key.
Sampling music played live is the best way to learn the ways around things, because its so fucking off tempo in a DAW environment.
Time stretching uses an algorithm to chop into many small pieces and take some out to speed up, or repeat them to slow down while maintaining the same original key of the sample. This is obviously preferable because trying to do it by pitch shifting will fuck up the key of all the chops, especially if the sample was played live with human timing, not robotic daw timing. Thats when you really have to go in and chop it into much smaller parts, then move them into place yourself. You could then, if you really wanted the cleanest result, time stretch each individual chop(kick, snare, hihat etc) until its perfectly timed, with no blank spots, clicks or overlaps and quantized at least to something workable while maintaining the right key.
Sampling music played live is the best way to learn the ways around things, because its so fucking off tempo in a DAW environment.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Send your MPC to me, I'll make very good use of it!I @2GooD Productions got an MPC but chose to keep it simple by getting an MPK instead
Lately my method has been chopping loops out of samples and then adjusting the BPM of the song to fit the loops. I never really got into using samples as one shot, mainly because time stretching them is a pain in the butt. I tend to use samples that are in increments of a beat. That way I can just click "one beat" or "one bar" etc. instead of having to adjust the knob. My problem with loops and time stretch was if I chopped one loop just a little to long or short and time stretch it can have significant effects on the loop pitching it up or down to make the sample fit the bar.
So my old way would be: Chop loop to roughly a bar, two bars, four bars etc. then time stretch the loop. The problem there was getting the loop to fit just right. Like if the loop was too slow/low pitched after time stretch then I would have to cut little bits off the loop until it fit into time stretch without noticeable sound alteration. Vice versa, if the loop was playing too fast in time stretch that meant it was too short and I'd have to go into Edison and keep adding onto the loop bit by bit until it fit exactly into the time increment it was set for. Now instead of that, what I'll do is chop out the loop, place it on first spot on step sequencer, hit play and watch how it fits. Then I speed up or slow down the BPM until the sample fits the time increment I want. Once it fits right, THEN I use time stretch after.
As for pops and clicks, most of the time those are simply "removed" by putting instruments over them. Although they're actually still there you never hear them because other instruments divert your attention away from the noise. Now if the clicking was really THAT bad, or THAT loud you could also use an EQ and take a notch out of the offending frequency. The problems there are: You 1) Alter the sound of the sample, 2) you probably won't be able to completely remove the noise without drastically altering the sound. You could also chop around the click/pop noise and then layer the samples over similar instrument. That's the best/most difficult way mainly because you have to EQ and dial in the effects well enough that the pieces blend together. How well you can copy the samples also depends on how much is going on in the beat: If you have four drums and a bass and you're trying to copy the bass it has to be virtually spot on because there's nothing else there to distract from it. On the other hand if the beat is busy and always has a bunch of stuff happening your approximated samples don't have to be as close (they still need to be close though).
So my old way would be: Chop loop to roughly a bar, two bars, four bars etc. then time stretch the loop. The problem there was getting the loop to fit just right. Like if the loop was too slow/low pitched after time stretch then I would have to cut little bits off the loop until it fit into time stretch without noticeable sound alteration. Vice versa, if the loop was playing too fast in time stretch that meant it was too short and I'd have to go into Edison and keep adding onto the loop bit by bit until it fit exactly into the time increment it was set for. Now instead of that, what I'll do is chop out the loop, place it on first spot on step sequencer, hit play and watch how it fits. Then I speed up or slow down the BPM until the sample fits the time increment I want. Once it fits right, THEN I use time stretch after.
As for pops and clicks, most of the time those are simply "removed" by putting instruments over them. Although they're actually still there you never hear them because other instruments divert your attention away from the noise. Now if the clicking was really THAT bad, or THAT loud you could also use an EQ and take a notch out of the offending frequency. The problems there are: You 1) Alter the sound of the sample, 2) you probably won't be able to completely remove the noise without drastically altering the sound. You could also chop around the click/pop noise and then layer the samples over similar instrument. That's the best/most difficult way mainly because you have to EQ and dial in the effects well enough that the pieces blend together. How well you can copy the samples also depends on how much is going on in the beat: If you have four drums and a bass and you're trying to copy the bass it has to be virtually spot on because there's nothing else there to distract from it. On the other hand if the beat is busy and always has a bunch of stuff happening your approximated samples don't have to be as close (they still need to be close though).
You can de-click chops very easy by setting an attack on it.
I prefer to use DirectWave (in FLStudio) instead of Edison. Within DirectWave you can insert the whole song you want to sample and set the starting point, attack (de-click), release (filling the gap of the attack), preferably change key, set filters/effects etc... Copy the DirectWave 10 times and you have 10 chops to work with, all separately adjustable while creating. This way you don't have to pre-chop a sample which can be killing for creativity IMO. A song might have more interesting parts than the part of a song you want to sample.
I prefer to use DirectWave (in FLStudio) instead of Edison. Within DirectWave you can insert the whole song you want to sample and set the starting point, attack (de-click), release (filling the gap of the attack), preferably change key, set filters/effects etc... Copy the DirectWave 10 times and you have 10 chops to work with, all separately adjustable while creating. This way you don't have to pre-chop a sample which can be killing for creativity IMO. A song might have more interesting parts than the part of a song you want to sample.
Fury Beats
Fury Beats
What about a Gospel Theme? That would definitely be a challenge.
LiveLargeBeats
ILLIEN
N1 old man
DPrezd Beggar
Banned
Battle Points: 22
Beats to bang to. If you know what i mean.
Depression would be a cool theme, really interested in what "healthy" ppl would produce.
Beats that tell a story without using vocals.
Beats made with samples from stuff you got at home, Pans, Tools, Combs w/e tf.
Depression would be a cool theme, really interested in what "healthy" ppl would produce.
Beats that tell a story without using vocals.
Beats made with samples from stuff you got at home, Pans, Tools, Combs w/e tf.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Impossible! Never gonna happen.