Outkast/Organized Noize

[jjbing3]

I've been pulling my hair out recently trying to learn to identify instruments. If people could help, I would be grateful. Can anyone help break some songs down to a) the instruments used (not drums) and b) the scale/ chords and c) sounds ?

Example:



OutKast - Benz or Beamer - YouTube

A) bass, xylophone???, horn stab, ( I don't know what that background instrument is during the verse)
B) I have no clue
C) record scratches, vocal sample from das fx,


Example 2:



Goodie Mob featuring Outkast | "Black Ice" (1998) - YouTube

A) organ, electric guitar,bass,
B) C???
C)Shaker,

Any other Outkast, Goodie Mob, etc...

 

[Nexosaur]

In Benz or Beamer, the background instrument is definitely a xylophone. It's got the high woody sound when it plays. If you ever have trouble distinguishing between percussive sounds (marimba, xylophone, celesta), the easiest way is to listen to the tone. Xylophones are thin in the midrange, but have a distinctive woody hit to them. Marimba is a deep, midrange instrument that has a warm sound and fills out a lot. Celesta sounds a lot like bells in the upper register. In the midrange, it sounds like a mix of marimba and xylophone.

There is also something like a harp but also very marimba like playing with it. It's a warm, drawn out sound, so it's either a string or a sort of low-range marimba. I think the horn stabs you're talking about are samples from somewhere.

In Goodie Mob, that is a Rhodes, not an organ. I honestly can't help you with this except learn what a Rhodes sounds like.

Also, just thought I should say that an easy way to learn how to identify instruments is to listen to them individually. Want to learn how individual brass sound? Listen to a trombone on its own, a trumpet on its own, a tuba, a french horn, etc. Listening to each instrument alone will help you hear them in songs.

 

[jjbing3]

In Benz or Beamer, the background instrument is definitely a xylophone. It's got the high woody sound when it plays. If you ever have trouble distinguishing between percussive sounds (marimba, xylophone, celesta), the easiest way is to listen to the tone. Xylophones are thin in the midrange, but have a distinctive woody hit to them. Marimba is a deep, midrange instrument that has a warm sound and fills out a lot. Celesta sounds a lot like bells in the upper register. In the midrange, it sounds like a mix of marimba and xylophone.

There is also something like a harp but also very marimba like playing with it. It's a warm, drawn out sound, so it's either a string or a sort of low-range marimba. I think the horn stabs you're talking about are samples from somewhere.

In Goodie Mob, that is a Rhodes, not an organ. I honestly can't help you with this except learn what a Rhodes sounds like.

Thanks. I heard the xylophone but I don't know what the hell a marimba is. Imma look it up. Thanks.

On Black Ice, I'm sure I hear a long drawn out organ sound underneath the Rhodes.

P.S. It's hard to listen out for something when you don't know what it is to listen out for. I appreciate they help. Any ideas about scales and chords? I try to figure out the bass notes. I can hear the chord changes but have no clue what chords they are.

 

[bandcoach]

a celeste or celesta is actually a keyed glockenspiel so will almost always sound like bells as it gets lower in itch it will start to sound more like a vibraphone

the distinguishing feature of marimba vs xylophone, as you intimate nexosaur, is that a xylophone tends to always sound brittle, whereas a marimba sounds much fuller, it also has a wider range than a xylophone

will have a listen and offer some other insights shortly

 

[bandcoach]

Black Ice
shaped white noise whip (shaker)/kick/snare/hats
guitar/bass/organ
electric piano (rhodes)

benz or beamer - the link you gave is not visible in my country so I am referencing this one

​

bass
xylophone with hard mallets
string pad
another pad that is what you have mistaken for a horn stab (could be a treated (filtered/phaser/chorus) organ))
rhodes/electric piano with slow phaser

I'll come back later and do structure/chords/scales

 

[jjbing3]

Black Ice
shaped white noise whip (shaker)/kick/snare/hats
guitar/bass/organ
electric piano (rhodes)

benz or beamer - the link you gave is not visible in my country so I am referencing this one

​

bass
xylophone with hard mallets
string pad
another pad that is what you have mistaken for a horn stab (could be a treated (filtered/phaser/chorus) organ))
rhodes/electric piano with slow phaser

I'll come back later and do structure/chords/scales

Thanks. I knew I heard an organ on Black Ice.
I thought Benz or Beamer was xylophone. I didn't know about/ think about a string pad. I knew you would know bandcoach. You're the man with breaking stuff down.