how do you find your samples?

If you're looking for ear training for samples you should visit WhoSampled; Listen at what Kanye, for example, was listening for when he sampling a certain record. Also, if you hear something different in the sample then flip it your own way.
 
Half my time (maybe more) in the studio these days is listening to the records I've picked up in the last week or so... I might hear a sample and think "Yeah, I can do something with that later" make a note and keep on listening.... Or I might hear a sample and think "LETS GO!" and get straight to work!

I'm definitely making less but what I'm making is better.
 
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Half my time (maybe more) in the studio these days is listening to the records I've picked up in the last week or so... I might hear a sample and think "Yeah, I can do something with that later" make a note and keep on listening.... Or I might hear a sample and think "LETS GO!" and get straight to work!

I'm definitely making less but what I'm making is better.

i'm in the same boat lol

i dig a lot. save a lot of samples for later for when my current mood matches it. quality over quantity any day now

sometimes but rarely i hear a dope ass drum break that hasn't been used before and feel like i'm obligated to use it now. so then i start building off that. that doesn't mean the drum break will be in the final beat either though lol
 
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...rarely i hear a dope ass drum break that hasn't been used before and feel like i'm obligated to use it now. so then i start building off that. that doesn't mean the drum break will be in the final beat either though lol

I don't even bother with drum breaks... Much quicker and easier to program my own drums... I sample strictly for a grooves and instrumentations I guess.
No rules 'cept your own though... Then you only have yourself to give the hard word to! LOL!
 
I don't even bother with drum breaks... Much quicker and easier to program my own drums... I sample strictly for a grooves and instrumentations I guess.
No rules 'cept your own though... Then you only have yourself to give the hard word to! LOL!

i hear that. i used to never mess with drum breaks at all too and only program. but then i noticed layering drums breaks, especially in the mid and high frequencies made my drums thicker and tied the one shot samples together better.
 
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i hear that. i used to never mess with drum breaks at all too and only program. but then i noticed layering drums breaks, especially in the mid and high frequencies made my drums thicker and tied the one shot samples together better.

Oh I layer my drums! My kicks and snares are made up of a minimum of 2 sounds per instrument... That's a big part of my process.
I find layering hi-hats and ride cymbals has an adverse effect though, so I just pick 4 sounds (I usually use 3 hi-hat sounds - open, slightly/less open & closed as well as a muted/dullish ride) that fit well with my layered kick and snare...
I'm also careful with compression... Many samples/sounds have already been compressed at source and compressing them again can easily kill any punch they had...
if I think my kick needs a bit of compression I'll start with just 1 of the sounds that make up that kick; always leaving at least one of the sounds (usually the one that sets the tone of the kick - the one I want highest in the mix) uncompressed.
Kinda've an offshoot of the parallel compression (NewYorkCompression) technique as I'm using different sounds and blending the result...
 
Oh I layer my drums! My kicks and snares are made up of a minimum of 2 sounds per instrument... That's a big part of my process.
I find layering hi-hats and ride cymbals has an adverse effect though, so I just pick 4 sounds (I usually use 3 hi-hat sounds - open, slightly/less open & closed as well as a muted/dullish ride) that fit well with my layered kick and snare...
I'm also careful with compression... Many samples/sounds have already been compressed at source and compressing them again can easily kill any punch they had...
if I think my kick needs a bit of compression I'll start with just 1 of the sounds that make up that kick; always leaving at least one of the sounds (usually the one that sets the tone of the kick - the one I want highest in the mix) uncompressed.
Kinda've an offshoot of the parallel compression (NewYorkCompression) technique as I'm using different sounds and blending the result...

yea, i didn't really mean drum breaks without layering as well. but i don't use drum breaks on every beat, maybe one out of 5 or something like that.
but yea i don't compress these one shot samples usually, i'm very careful with that as well. i just try to compress my samples very hard most of the time
 
Anything analog, VINYL! The record store is your friend, bring a crisp 100 and buy 50 records, look for odd and weird instruments and for things that have never been sampled before.
 
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