Good read man, nice one. I'll try and contribute a few more tips but you pretty much said it all. I'll be getting back in to producing in a month or so when I get a new computer (been saving up for over a year now)
Digging:
Try and get to the music shop at a quiet time so you're not waiting around to use the turntable. I like to listen to records before I buy them, but it depends on whether you're raiding the bargain bin or investing in some rarer, more pricey stuff. There's also those portable turntables but I've never splashed out on one
Get to know the owners of shops and they might be able to recommend stuff and put it aside for you
At first I was wary of ebay but one night a cab driver convinced me to give it a go and since then I've found some good shit on there I couldn't find anywhere else, so don't be so quick to slag it off
Sampling:
I used to always chop my samples in to little bits, even if it was straight loops, 'cause then I could switch bits around and make alternative loops to add more variety to the track
If I wanted to merge samples from different sources then I'd have to get them in the same key with a bit of transposing. The way I did it was by first chopping the sample in to few smaller parts (to get it more precise), then playing them on a different note on the keyboard to match the key of the track and finally timestretching them back to their original length. Probably a bit long though, maybe someone knows an easier way to do this?
Digging:
Try and get to the music shop at a quiet time so you're not waiting around to use the turntable. I like to listen to records before I buy them, but it depends on whether you're raiding the bargain bin or investing in some rarer, more pricey stuff. There's also those portable turntables but I've never splashed out on one
Get to know the owners of shops and they might be able to recommend stuff and put it aside for you
At first I was wary of ebay but one night a cab driver convinced me to give it a go and since then I've found some good shit on there I couldn't find anywhere else, so don't be so quick to slag it off
Sampling:
I used to always chop my samples in to little bits, even if it was straight loops, 'cause then I could switch bits around and make alternative loops to add more variety to the track
If I wanted to merge samples from different sources then I'd have to get them in the same key with a bit of transposing. The way I did it was by first chopping the sample in to few smaller parts (to get it more precise), then playing them on a different note on the keyboard to match the key of the track and finally timestretching them back to their original length. Probably a bit long though, maybe someone knows an easier way to do this?
