Anybody ever try to re-create beats for practice? I’m trying to get better at chopping/sampling... not really doing anything much with vsts but I’m looking to re-create in the likes of good producers, like alchemist, 9th wonder, Dilla, etc... does anybody else do this? Are there any YouTube channels dedicated to de-constructing chops or recreating beats from the original samples? I only started using samples/chopping regularly a few months ago so I’m definitely a rookie when it comes to this... any advice or answers let me know. Appreciate it!
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Anybody ever re-create beats for practixe
- Thread starter Beers
- Start date
Guess I'll breathe some life into this thread.
I do sometimes. I guess I went through a phase where that was a lot of what I did, as an outlet of sorts, because I felt more engaged working with music I knew. Also hoped to glean some insight, but I haven't come away with much, other than to maybe say it takes the right ear to find good samples, and then you need to know what to do with it.
There are YouTube posts for some songs, you can search around a bit. When I was doing this often, I thought about creating a channel to post video tutorials on how to create x instrumental/beat. A few tracks I've done are the De La / DOOM beat Jake One made for Rock Co. Kane Flow. I've done Premier's beat for A$AP Ferg Our Streets. There's more. What I notice diving into stuff like that, is that I start to judge what people are doing, but also realize you can do whatever and make it sweet if you have the right touch. Just Blaze's PSA beat for Jay-Z is prime example. It's a pretty hot track. I used to listen to that even when I generally shunned mainstream rappers. When I finally checked the WhoSampled, and went and found Just Blaze literally just lifted the start of that song and looped it, suffice it to say I felt a bit cheated, like he pulled one over on anyone who didn't know the original sample. I look at Premier's Our Streets, and I think, 'This guy's an artist.' I mean, they're pretty much straight lifts, but he pulls pieces from different parts of the song, and then creates something with those pieces. It's not just a loop, at all, it's very different pieces put together in a way that sings. And I loved that he pulled that "Yes!" from the lyric, "Yesterday." haha So original.
I'm speaking for myself, who used Caustic for years as a matter of simplicity - the workflow in there ... I can move fast, and I like that. But while that's AWESOME for editing waveforms to get your samples just so, and doing any kind of timestretching in a second, it's a bit less easy for playing with chops, because the mapping in it isn't so simple, and you can't really map it like you can with other programs. So more recently, I've dived into FL a bit further (had it for years, but was just "too much" for what I was doing for a while, so preferred a much simpler DAW) and once you get the workflow for SliceX and FPC down, you basically can quickly get all your chops made (harder to be precise in FL, though) and then loaded into the FPC, and now you can play around with them far more easily to figure arrangement.
I'd say have fun with it, or do what you feel with it, don't worry about someone else's technique or style. I think developing an ear is the hardest, but most integral part to making good music with samples. I've been listening to hip hop / rap since I was seven years old (and I'm white, no joke), I watch Rhythm Roulette like it's a weekly class I never miss, and I still just... sampling is an art. I think as you learn, you just need to be willing to explore and make shit that isn't great, but hey you made it. And you keep making stuff. Some of these well known producers you mentioned make like 20 beats a week, or more. You think all those end up being placed on a published album? haha It takes work and practice to be great at a craft.
I do sometimes. I guess I went through a phase where that was a lot of what I did, as an outlet of sorts, because I felt more engaged working with music I knew. Also hoped to glean some insight, but I haven't come away with much, other than to maybe say it takes the right ear to find good samples, and then you need to know what to do with it.
There are YouTube posts for some songs, you can search around a bit. When I was doing this often, I thought about creating a channel to post video tutorials on how to create x instrumental/beat. A few tracks I've done are the De La / DOOM beat Jake One made for Rock Co. Kane Flow. I've done Premier's beat for A$AP Ferg Our Streets. There's more. What I notice diving into stuff like that, is that I start to judge what people are doing, but also realize you can do whatever and make it sweet if you have the right touch. Just Blaze's PSA beat for Jay-Z is prime example. It's a pretty hot track. I used to listen to that even when I generally shunned mainstream rappers. When I finally checked the WhoSampled, and went and found Just Blaze literally just lifted the start of that song and looped it, suffice it to say I felt a bit cheated, like he pulled one over on anyone who didn't know the original sample. I look at Premier's Our Streets, and I think, 'This guy's an artist.' I mean, they're pretty much straight lifts, but he pulls pieces from different parts of the song, and then creates something with those pieces. It's not just a loop, at all, it's very different pieces put together in a way that sings. And I loved that he pulled that "Yes!" from the lyric, "Yesterday." haha So original.
I'm speaking for myself, who used Caustic for years as a matter of simplicity - the workflow in there ... I can move fast, and I like that. But while that's AWESOME for editing waveforms to get your samples just so, and doing any kind of timestretching in a second, it's a bit less easy for playing with chops, because the mapping in it isn't so simple, and you can't really map it like you can with other programs. So more recently, I've dived into FL a bit further (had it for years, but was just "too much" for what I was doing for a while, so preferred a much simpler DAW) and once you get the workflow for SliceX and FPC down, you basically can quickly get all your chops made (harder to be precise in FL, though) and then loaded into the FPC, and now you can play around with them far more easily to figure arrangement.
I'd say have fun with it, or do what you feel with it, don't worry about someone else's technique or style. I think developing an ear is the hardest, but most integral part to making good music with samples. I've been listening to hip hop / rap since I was seven years old (and I'm white, no joke), I watch Rhythm Roulette like it's a weekly class I never miss, and I still just... sampling is an art. I think as you learn, you just need to be willing to explore and make shit that isn't great, but hey you made it. And you keep making stuff. Some of these well known producers you mentioned make like 20 beats a week, or more. You think all those end up being placed on a published album? haha It takes work and practice to be great at a craft.