I know NOTHING about music theory

N

noequalrecords

New member
Alright apparently for me to sample, I need to know a lot of music theory type stuff. For example, in Recycle, I need to know the "sign" or time signature I guess, and how many bars the sample I am using is in order to find out the original tempo of the song. I have tried looking this stuff up, but can't really grasp it and figured maybe someone here could explain it a little easier. I really appreciate any help. Thanks in advance
 
Yo bro,

I'm not at my audio pc at the moment (can't load up recycle), so I will try to help out the best I can. It's just counting the beats really.

Music is divided up into bars or measures, each bar has a certain number of beats, we can find out how many beats by the time signature. Most modern western music is written in a 4/4 time signature. The top number is how many beats there are in the bar, in this case 4, and the bottom number refers to the note length or value, in this case a quarter note.

So just count the beats, every time you reach the 4th beat, that's 1 bar. You can just count the beats in your sample and divide by 4. If it was just a simple beat with a bass kick and snare, the bass kick would fall on beats 1 and 3, the snare on 2 and 4 - that would be a bar. Hope this helps bro.
 
yea that helps thanks a lot....lets say i have a sample tho that doesnt really have drums, how would I know if it's not 4/4, but its like 2/4 or 3/4 instead?? thanks for any help again
 
Even if there's no drums, you should be able to hear the rhythm in your head, just that little metronome that goes tick-tock-tick-tock etc, assuming that the piece has a rhythm, some stuff is just free.

I wouldn't really worry about other time signatures bro, 2/4 is used in stuff likes marches, and 3/4 for waltzes.
 
alright thanks....one last question...i know i got the sign and # of bars right for this sample i got (since I already had someone on the site loop it for me using recycle, since i didnt have it yet, and then send it to me), however our original tempos are about the same, but on his file of the song where it says Tempo: (under original tempo), his matches his original tempo, but mine is still at 130 BPM and i cant get it to change....thanks for any help again i really appreciate it
 
Man the easiest way I can explain it is...
think of a hip hop beat (or listen to one) the kick is always on beat 2&4 and the hat/snare is on 1&3 or visa versa. Four beats to a bar, just count the kicks in one bar times it by 2. Or just count the amount of kicks in one minute and times it by two and you have the BPM. Thats about as easy as it gets without going into music theory.
 
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noequalrecords said:
Alright apparently for me to sample, I need to know a lot of music theory type stuff. For example, in Recycle, I need to know the "sign" or time signature I guess, and how many bars the sample I am using is in order to find out the original tempo of the song. I have tried looking this stuff up, but can't really grasp it and figured maybe someone here could explain it a little easier. I really appreciate any help. Thanks in advance
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Try idiots guide to music theory, got me on point. LATE!
 
xtraclip.com said:
Man the easiest way I can explain it is...
think of a hip hop beat (or listen to one) the kick is always on beat 2&4 and the hat/snare is on 1&3 or visa versa.
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Are you out of your mind? I cannot think of a SINGLE hiphop beat that has the kick on 2&4 and the snare on 1&3.

70.82% of the time the kick is on 1 and the snare is on 3.

28.14% of the time the kick is on 1&3 and the snare is on 2&4.

I realize that you put "or visa versa" in there, but come on, don't spread misinformation.
 
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J4F said:
Try idiots guide to music theory, got me on point. LATE!
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why the f*ck you even bother responding if you gonna be a smartass lke that??? I know for a fact that you didn't know how to do that ish either at some point, but you learned it and im trying to do the same thing here and if you asked for help you would want people to help you, not be an a$$hole....

Anyway, anyone know how I can change the actual tempo on Recycle?? I got the original tempo at 80 BPM or w/e its at, but the tempo aint changin....thanks for any help...o and thanks to xtraclip.com....and the guy who said he was wrong lol
 
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Idiots Guide to Music Theory is actually a valuable resource for a starting musician. I don't think he was trying to insult you.
 
Idiots Guide to Music Theory is actually a valuable resource for a starting musician. I don't think he was trying to insult you.
 
noequalrecords said:
why the f*ck you even bother responding if you gonna be a smartass lke that??? I know for a fact that you didn't know how to do that ish either at some point, but you learned it and im trying to do the same thing here and if you asked for help you would want people to help you, not be an a$$hole....

Anyway, anyone know how I can change the actual tempo on Recycle?? I got the original tempo at 80 BPM or w/e its at, but the tempo aint changin....thanks for any help...o and thanks to xtraclip.com....and the guy who said he was wrong lol
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lol, gotta love fp...
 
Heres my take.

When your listening to music and nodding your head or tapping your finger or foot to the beat count like this with you nods or taps 1-2-3-One 1-2-3-Two 1-2-3-Three 1-2-3-Four... that would = 4 bars

The verse and chorus will usually always be divisible by 4; like 8 bar verse 4 bar chorus. There is a sort of standard of how many bars a verse or chorus has but I dont know what it is.

Basicly if you count 3 of 5 or some other number not divisible by 4 you probably dident count right.
 
aite thanks ninjadog i appreciate it...anyone know why I have my original tempo right in Recycle thought but the actual tempo wont change from 130 BPM??? thanks for any more help i appreciate it
 
I think what you are looking for is the preview toggle button, it's beside the stop button and once you enable it you should be able to change the tempo. But keep in mind you shouldent change it too much because recycle doesent do real time streching. It will increace or decreace the spaces between your slices, if you dont have any slices it will stay the same.
 
noequalrecords said:
why the f*ck you even bother responding if you gonna be a smartass lke that??? I know for a fact that you didn't know how to do that ish either at some point, but you learned it and im trying to do the same thing here and if you asked for help you would want people to help you, not be an a$$hole....

For the record Mr. spazzztic, if you actually went and googled idiots guide to music theory. You would then realize that the book actually is real. And for the fact of the matter I was trying to help you and yes, My dumba$$ read the book. Now I understand music theory and hope you will do the same. Peace out!

your local A$$HOLE, J4F
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J4F said:
noequalrecords said:
why the f*ck you even bother responding if you gonna be a smartass lke that??? I know for a fact that you didn't know how to do that ish either at some point, but you learned it and im trying to do the same thing here and if you asked for help you would want people to help you, not be an a$$hole....

For the record Mr. spazzztic, if you actually went and googled idiots guide to music theory. You would then realize that the book actually is real. And for the fact of the matter I was trying to help you and yes, My dumba$$ read the book. Now I understand music theory and hope you will do the same. Peace out!

your local A$$HOLE, J4F
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hey listen i agreed with you I figured out you were just trying to help, but you had to see where i was coming from on that one...thanks for the help though, and thanks to ninjadog again that was exactly what i was looking for i appreciate it
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