Hello. Im currently looking for some vocal samples that I could use in a Hip Hop-esque composition, similar to that of Kanye's recent work (i.e.- Runaway, Drake-Show Me A Good Time, Rick Ross/Ye- Live Fast, Die Young)...I've searched around and haven't had much luck, and was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for some quick vox samples. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thx. -MaJic
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I guess you are referring to shout samples.
What one user said,
Old Vinyl. (easiest way)
You can get lucky on some Hip Hop sample CD's but most of those are cheesy. (mainly because a lot of those are recorded with a voice that do a poor old school imiatation
I would focus on soul music from the late 60's (1966?) to the mid 1970's (1974?). Albums from that era was more in the soul hey day era. Albums after that become more disco and funk influenced which are usually less gritty and more instrumental and dance oriented.
James Brown, Otis Redding albums would probably be good choices (but James Brown voice is too easily recognizable).
You might also get lucky on a gospel album.
If you are sampling from a digital source, you might want to put a vinyl plug-in on it and use a little lowpass filtering to cut some highs. You want it to sound "lifted" and not like someone came in your studio today and recorded the vocal.
I bet Kanye probably heavily guard the key samples in his tracks to keep other producers from copying his style (and also from probably having to not clear the sample). But if you search you can find a signature sound yourself.
Alternatively you can attempt to record your own vocal samples.
The key here is not a clean vocal but something that sounds like it was pulled off an album and to find a vocalist that could emulate the 1960-70's dialect which might not be as easy as it sounds. Might try an older person maybe who lived in that era, or a person who is a good actor or comedian who can imitate different voices.
But things I might do is try a tube preamp with mild distortion (or use a plug-in), use a tape simulator.
From that point I would use maybe a little compression, EQ for a somewhat midrangy sound (cut lows and highs), and then go through a vinyl plug-in and maybe some mild bit/sample rate reduction and lowpass filtering to emulate the old school sampled sound. Tape Echo plug-in or some mild reverb can give it some good ambience and help it blend in.
The beauty is of doing this is that it will be your own sample. Might not sound 100% authentic, but in a mix it probably will sound good enough and maybe a better engineer might be able to give it that "lifted" sound.