Do you think producers who use loops are lazy?

  • Thread starter Thread starter odinnshred
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I think that when you find a sample and chop it up, you're being creative...you can do all kinds of things with the samples.
IMO all the best hip hop production uses some sort of sampling.

When you buy construction kits, someones tracked out their finished product and put it in a folder for you to, to put back together. Requires no thinking and can be down in about 10 minutes.

I've actually backed away from sampling though for the minute because it's a huge learning curve in comparison to composition.

---------- Post added at 10:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 AM ----------

"See, everyone has their own brand of morality on the subject. TDOT beleives using these is lame, but chopping sounds from someone else's recording you ran across isn't because you "found" that sound. So in his mind the "laziness" comes in with how you've accumulated your loops. "

At least you have to make chops...the loops come perfectly chopped for you with the BPM, heck they even give you the Key of the loops.

and when sampling from music, any good sampler doesn't ever really just loop bars, they make chops and rearrange them. \
Look at Just Blaze, he chops his samples into the tinyest pieces and puts them back together like magic.
 
TDOT - So by construction kits you mean constructed loops? I use addictive but I play my backbeats with sticks and record a live hi hat, I never use their loops. I was just wondering if you think the whack part is where the samples came from or that they are put together for you and catalogued in tempo and key. I just love the way I can make my hits sound like any damn thing I want with the Addictive interface before it goes into my channel strip.
 
Yea I mean constructed loops, and exactly it's where they came from, but also that they're catalogued like you said. I'm sure they could be used or someone uses them in a cool or very creative way.
 
Cool yea I know what you mean. I don't come from a sampling background, more performance and composition so I wouldn't really even know where to start or how to critique when it comes down to sampling hits from existing songs and shit. I just make my own.
 
I'm getting into composition now, yesterday was the first time I tried to do a flip in a while. I love the composition part cause you have total control. But I always find myself going back to try sampling because all the beats I hear that I love are sampled, so I try and go for that feel.

Every year my favorite beats are samples:
Action Bronson - Byrd on a wire
French Montana - Shot Caller
Kendrick - The Recipe (whole album has tons)
ASAP Rocky - the whole album pretty much lol
TI - Go get it ( the sample makes the beat )
Currency - Way Out Here
Whiz Khalifa - OZs and LBs
ASAP - Problem
Lil B - I'm God
Kanye West Jayz - Otis

I mean the list really goes on and on, and that's just for 2011 and 2012 pretty much, every year it's the same thing, all the big hits IMO or my taste are sampled or uses samples one way or another. So I find myself thinking then, if all of these hits that I love and I think are the best, then shouldn't it be sampling one way or another? There must be a reason, so I fall back to that often. My goal would be to combine sampling and composition in a unique way to create my own sound.
 
Yea man for sure keep on truckin'. The more you mess with stuff the more you find your own voice. The one thing I would say is looking outside of Hip Hop for inspiration, as it seems like all those tracks you reference are in that vein. You can bridge the gap between hip hop and rock/pop by getting into some bands that use samples and programmed beats (or just play dirty hip hop grooves live). I would recommend Flaming Lips and Radiohead off of the top of my head, and Portishead for the ultimate in perfect old-school sampling outside of hip hop (all hail Geoff Barrow).
 
Oh for sure bro, I'm looking to sample Ambient Music, Indy Rock, Electronic, pretty much every and anything. Every an anything outside the norm more for sure is what I'm into.
 
I don't think it makes you lazy to use a loop. I mean, they could be being lazy but at the same time, it could just be part of their style or their own creative process to use a loop.
 
whats the difference???? if its hot its hot, if its not its not

arent vinyl samples someones "loops" that you didnt even ask them can you use

at least with loop libraries you already got the go-ahead

just my opinion though.....
 
i use loops... mainly a synth or some strings to create a melody because thats my weak point because im just starting producing... but i create my own drum patterns
 
Just imagine if Picasso asked another painter to paint half of the picture for him
 
I was going to say Rembrandt and Leonardo amongst many others who learnt their craft by painting backgrounds and leaving the central figures to the lead painter/named artist, but the Warhol reference suffices to make the point.....
 
yes and no, they have more creative input than a painters assistant/apprentice would have, as they can choose what notes they will and won't play depending on the type of session (all-note reading affair not so much, improv session indeed yes)
 
I never use loops. Takes all the fun out of it. Unless it's a sample loop I chopped up. A lot of older sample songs are just drum loop + bass loop + melody loop. Regulate, Crazy in Love, Sure Shot, etc.

But using loops created in DAWs seem uncreative seems unoriginal to me.
 
i do think it's lazy and i don't do it myself, but the only thing that matters is the end result IMO.
 
I personally rarely use any loops. But like a lot of people are saying, its how you use them. If someone is just dragging and dropping a bunch of loops and calling it a day that's pretty whack. But if your taking one, maybe two loops and throwing them in a track, ****ing around with them, and making them into your own, that's a different story.
 
I think of it this way: If you'r happy and satisfied with the finished product, why not? I don't see the point in producing every singel sound/loop you using as long as you have a good time making something you feel proud of. Everyone with some self-respect knows when you'r over the line, and feeling like a fake is not a good thing. Also it depend's on what kind of loops you're using. Using a drum/perc/bass-loop is like when "real" musicians hire a professional drummer, bassplayer or whatever for a demoproduction. Producing with "kits" on the other hand... I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror.
Edit: Think of it this way: I dont think less of my dear old good friend, who is a very talented guitarist, just because he didn't build his own guitar ;)
 
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