I`ve been listening to stuff like Amon Tobin, Blockhead ,Kid LOco ,Bonobo... As far as I know all 4 of them make their music from samples, the only difference being between them is that Amon Tobin puts a lot of effects on his samples,where others keep it as clean and organic sounding as possible.
I`ve found that this style suits me because:
A. I dont play an instrument (I cant say that I havent tried...)
B. I have some technical knowledge
C. Synthesis is a pain in the ass to learn
Sometimes I feel like making something Amon Tobin like, but I easily lose my inspiration cause I know I`m doing something that someone has allready done. Now I`m not trying to do something unique,I `d be totally satisfied with a decent track in downtempo,drum&bass or electronica... Well, as this thread is called "my sampling experience" might as well get to it,right?
At first I`ve been going to some old record shops and I bought a few records, made a few samples,but I`ve found that dl mp3`s of the net is far more better economically for me. Sure the quality is not great but if I make a hit single I can allways go and find that record and sample it HQ...
What I`ve found is that more **** you have the better. I mostly organize stuff by instrument and if I can loop it I write the bpm`s with the name of the loop. ex: Hawaian Strings 102 bpm 4 bars.
This last track that I`ve done in an afternoon started of with a hip hop beat and a good bass...Then I threw in a horn from a Shatner track and then I put in some rhodes riff sample played it on keyb till i found where it fits. (what key) . Then some choir sample came in nicely, a guitar loop after that, then some strings. When it works,it works... I finished the track but there are still some things that need work, like a new snare and adjusting the levels of tracks...
The few techniques I use are really simple. I use FL Studio and Adobe Audition. I`ll share a few tips that some of you may find usefull:
Using filters on samples is an obvious way to go. You may find that you hear a good bass in some track,usually from some disco or funk records. Put LP filter on it. In FL Studio you have a few so try them out and use resonance to boost the frequencies at cutoff.
The same would work for strings with HP filter...
You can cut a sample in parts, save them as wav and then trigger them with FL layer. In that way you can rearrange lets say a rhodes riff to a certain point. Its the same as beat slicer but in this way every sample can be edited separately as you may find you need more reverb on a part that`s too short.
Use audio clips in FL Studio if you want to change a pitch of a loop and not affect its length. When you adjust its length to the track you can easily change its pitch.
Tell me if you`ve red something helpfull here...
I`ve found that this style suits me because:
A. I dont play an instrument (I cant say that I havent tried...)
B. I have some technical knowledge
C. Synthesis is a pain in the ass to learn
Sometimes I feel like making something Amon Tobin like, but I easily lose my inspiration cause I know I`m doing something that someone has allready done. Now I`m not trying to do something unique,I `d be totally satisfied with a decent track in downtempo,drum&bass or electronica... Well, as this thread is called "my sampling experience" might as well get to it,right?
At first I`ve been going to some old record shops and I bought a few records, made a few samples,but I`ve found that dl mp3`s of the net is far more better economically for me. Sure the quality is not great but if I make a hit single I can allways go and find that record and sample it HQ...
What I`ve found is that more **** you have the better. I mostly organize stuff by instrument and if I can loop it I write the bpm`s with the name of the loop. ex: Hawaian Strings 102 bpm 4 bars.
This last track that I`ve done in an afternoon started of with a hip hop beat and a good bass...Then I threw in a horn from a Shatner track and then I put in some rhodes riff sample played it on keyb till i found where it fits. (what key) . Then some choir sample came in nicely, a guitar loop after that, then some strings. When it works,it works... I finished the track but there are still some things that need work, like a new snare and adjusting the levels of tracks...
The few techniques I use are really simple. I use FL Studio and Adobe Audition. I`ll share a few tips that some of you may find usefull:
Using filters on samples is an obvious way to go. You may find that you hear a good bass in some track,usually from some disco or funk records. Put LP filter on it. In FL Studio you have a few so try them out and use resonance to boost the frequencies at cutoff.
The same would work for strings with HP filter...
You can cut a sample in parts, save them as wav and then trigger them with FL layer. In that way you can rearrange lets say a rhodes riff to a certain point. Its the same as beat slicer but in this way every sample can be edited separately as you may find you need more reverb on a part that`s too short.
Use audio clips in FL Studio if you want to change a pitch of a loop and not affect its length. When you adjust its length to the track you can easily change its pitch.
Tell me if you`ve red something helpfull here...