2013/11/29 13:49:57
davdud101
So a lot of my friends who wanna rap want me to try making vintage-styled beats, which I usually take to mean use a bit of sampling and stuff along with those old-school sounds. Sadly, I just CANT get the ear for sampling! 
My favorite rapper is Shad K, his songs tend to use a loooot of samples and they are AMAZINGLY well-oriented and everything just works so well... 
So: what is the best method for learning the art of taking chunks of other music and incorporating it into the backing of my songs????
2013/11/29 14:43:05
dubdisciple
Practice.  Sampling in that respect is no different than any other method of creating music.  Regardless of how one feels about sampling, it's hard to deny that some are better at it than others. One would not expect to become Hendrix after a few weeks or even months of playing guitar.  It's just as absurd to think one could master sampling overnight.  Once could toss a bunch of loops together in the same way anyone could pluck out Louie Louie after a few hours of playing around, but creating something alone the lines of those you admire takes time.  Networking with other people who make similar music helps.  There are forums and tutorials  that illustrate sample flipping:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEkOSU1KHFc
 
One of the ways people learn how to play instruments is to do covers of their favorite bands.  It's not a bad way to go about learning to sample.  Try recreating beats of specific instrumentals. 
2013/11/30 12:00:37
sharke
Putting sample based music like this together takes hours of sitting and experimentation. You just have to build up a huge collection of samples and be prepared to sit all night trying different combinations out. You might sit for 3 hours before finding 2 that really work together. Mostly music like this comes about by happy accident. Although with today's faster and better quality pitch stretching and time stretching, as well as software like Melodyne, it's a lot easier to alter existing samples into something that fits with your song. For example I recently used a sample of an Indian singer over a keyboard part I'd played. There was one note which didn't fit the key, but I was able to correct that note with Melodyne. Back in the day, you couldn't do things like that (or if you could, it took hours and the results were nowhere near as convincing).

A good start would be to go through your entire CD collection and sample everything that sounds like it could be used in a song (I hope you're not thinking of making a commercial release here - heh heh). Look out for unaccompanied beats at the start of tracks, as well as solo instrument breaks, accapella vocals etc. When it's a solo part, it has more potential to fit with other tracks, although don't shy away from sampling multiple instrument parts as well. Learn how to time stretch and pitch shift to make stuff fit together.

The idea is to build up an archive of samples. Learn how to chop them up into smaller phrases and experiment with arranging them together in different orders. You can be very creative here. Artists like Four Tet have signature techniques they use to get their sound - for example he will often chop a sample into slices, pitch them an octave higher and put them back together only he'll reverse alternate slices, and play it back alongside the original sample. This is just one of thousands of ways people take samples and twist them into something completely different.

Then there's drum slicing - taking a drum loop and chopping it up into "hits" which you then rearrange to make totally different rhythms. There are a ton of tutorials online which teach you how to do this.

Overall, this is something that takes a lot of practice and hours of experimentation. You'll find that a lot of the greats spent weeks putting things together randomly until they "discovered" samples which work together. You could do a lot worse than listen to DJ Shadow's old album "Endtroducing" for some inspiration. He's the Jimi Hendrix of samplers and this album is a classic in terms of sampling. Everything on there is taken off another record and sequenced with old school sampling equipment (not a DAW in sight). You can find lists online of which tracks he used. I guarantee that album was put together after endless nights of listening to and sampling hours of vinyl. It's a labor of love! You have to be very dedicated. Good luck!
2013/12/02 05:07:04
clk4suport
HI there :)
2013/12/06 19:00:06
IK Obi
Ask him for some examples and then google the sample and see if you can decipher the songs sample and recreate the basic skeleton of the beat. It'll help to understand how they used it and show you how the beat was created.
2013/12/07 17:42:11
Jeff Evans
david you really need to change the subject line to 'I am keen to develop an ear for sampling'
Your current subject title makes me cringe everytime I read it. Keep telling yourself that enough times and you will simply never develop an ear for sampling. You are sending the worst messages into your subconscious mind and everything you do will ensure that those messages will manifest themselves.
 
Tell yourself everyday especially before you go to sleep I am getting better at sampling everyday of my life and what will happen then is you will start doing what you have to do to make that happen instead. Simple as that.
 
Now get down to it. Start by chopping bits of audio up and placing things on the grid to make some interesting beats and rhythms. It's all fun and you will surprised what comes out!
 
2013/12/23 08:46:50
jerrypettit
2013/12/23 08:46:50
jerrypettit
EDIT:  For some reason it posted twice.
 
 
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