Staying in time with your chops

HalfBlacko0000

HalfBlacko0000

Good Music
Hey guys the other night I was sampling a song I picked out the parts that I liked chopped them up into equal parts it had alot of vocals in the sample but when I went to play my chops back it was not ending on the 5th bar or 4 bar loop I noticed that the vocals kinda had a delay before the kick like she would start singing before the kick drum now in order for shit to work dont I have to chop at the kick or snare? Im still really new to sampling and I know theres 100 ways you can do it but I just want my shit to be on time so it starts and ends at the end of a bar so when I lay my drums over the sample it fits I hope you guys understand what I mean.
 
To get even chops it's easier to start with a clean loop than trying to freehand chop something. I don't know if you are chopping a loop or a one shot but here's my advice (based on loops).Try to tap your feet as the sample plays and count out the beats in sync with the sample. A 4-count will work to keep it simple. When you get to the 1 again that's where you want to loop it obviously. But, the count and foot tapping serves a few purposes. It's also a good way to keep time just in case the melody or the drums cut out so that you are not depending on hearing drum sounds to make a loop. You are keeping the time. Also, you will be able to detect changes in timing. Sometimes a loop will sound so right but you won't be able to work it, only to find out its in a different time signature. I apologize if I didn't answer your question or if you knew that already. You'd be surprised how many people aspire to make music and never learn the importance of tapping their feet and counting.
 
Yea I understand counting I guess I should pick my loop points more carefully I think I was so worried about getting the vocals I wanted that I wasnt chopping on the 1st beat
 
It depends. When you have your chops you have to play them out to your own internal groove. It's not going to be perfect it's supposed to have a sort of odd "swing" to it but it will fit.

Just keep your loop point on, and while your DAW is playing play your chops out so that it fits. It's fun


If you want a mainstream industry type of sound where everything is on point then record your chops how you want ( might have to adjust tempo or pitch of sample to make it fit within a perfect loop ) then timestretch the audio track within your DAW to your desired tempo. But i'm telling you there's nothing like your own groove..that's what the MPC is famous for
 
Put the last vocal sample on another key and program it on another midi track at the exact point you want, before the loop starts over. If you do it on a seperate track it shouldnt cut off the other samples and play all the way out as long as the polyphony is set above one. Lmk if this doesn't make sense.
 
What you are asking about is syncopation and in regard to vocals an example is given right at the start of this video, which is actually part 5, I would however recommend watching the entire series.

 
HalfBlacko0000 said:
... I noticed that the vocals kinda had a delay before the kick like she would start singing before the kick drum now in order for shit to work dont I have to chop at the kick or snare?...
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You'll find that vocal lines are frequently syncopated in this way, with the start of the phrase often coming before the start of the drum pattern, or sometimes after. One reason for this is that the vocalist is trying to put the accent say on the downbeat - if you were to say "its Futureproducers for me", you'd probably put the accent on the "Fu", so if the "Fu" is on beat 1, then the "its" has to come at the end of the previous bar. Sometimes you can loop it by starting and ending your loops on beat 3 of the bar rather than beat 1. You then have to trigger your loop also on beat 3 in the song for it to work with other stuff.
 
Mbietenholz that makes sense but how can you lay your chops down esp when the kick is before the start of the vocals unless you have a double kick in the beggining of the beat ya know what I mean you would have to have your sampled kick on the one and then the sampled kick layered with your sample on the second kick
 
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