The Digging Advice Thread (great for beginner diggers)

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Nicro

Nicro

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I thought I would make a thread for digging related advice, tips and just general sharing of digging knowledge and fun. Hopefully this thread will at least last a little while get some good convos going and help people out, especially newer diggers.

Some stuff I will throw out right away are probably some of the more obvious stuff.

When I first started digging the first place I went was my grandparents house. They have a decent selection ranging from rock(aren't some Pink Floyd albums worth money? IDK), to a good amount of Spanish stuff, some jazz, some folk and then a bunch of random records. Like I got an "African Marimba Music" record from them. Moral is, go to older family members and look through there records.

Venture out of the box. You don't have to dig all soul or whatever. Like I said, my grandparents had some folk and I copped a couple records from them. Folk is dope. I like it. Made some beats with it, and generally just like it for listening. Never would have thought I would like it.

If you travel somewhere, dig! You don't know what may be common in one area but rarer in yours.

And something that took me a while to figure out is: Just because a song is dope doesn't necessarily mean you will be able to flip, or should flip it.


Who else has something to say?
 
Interesting spin on the digging adventures thread. I am going to change the title to The Digging Advice thread and sticky it

---------- Post added at 09:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:31 AM ----------

My advice for beginner diggers is know what you like. The biggest problem I hear from new diggers is what should I start looking for? Nobody knows the answer to that question except for you. I like to dig for Soul, Jazz, Funk, Pop, Non Traditional Country, Classic Rock and sometimes Folk music. Anything with live playing in it really. Especially if it has great drums. You might not like those genres so don't worry too much about others suggestions.

My second piece of advice is be picky about samples. When you are making beats you are creating part of your legacy. The sound of your records is the sound that people will remember you for when you die if you are fortunate enough to have a large fanbase. Think if J Dilla just sampled every open 2 bar loop he could find rather than finding dope ones to chop up.

My final piece of advice for this post is don't be afraid of cassettes or cds. The only real sound source I would avoid completely are digitally compressed audio files (WMA, Mp3, ect) its just harder to get a good mix with so many missing frequencies at least for me it is. I always feel like there are holes in the frequency range.
 
I like this thread, X really hit the nail on the head, couldn't agree more with what you said. I will add my 2 cents later, I want to ponder on it for a bit instead of writing it off the top of my head

---------- Post added at 03:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:09 PM ----------

(aren't some Pink Floyd albums worth money? IDK)

Pictures of Pink Floyd (Volumes 1 & 2) used to catch some coin, I remember in '09 seeing copies sold for $200+ online, not sure about now though. Would think you could find them for waaaaay cheaper in the field.
"Echoes:Best Of Pink Floyd" also goes for some ok money, again I think you could find it in the field cheaper than an eBay auction or popsike, etc etc
 
Word^^^

Just thought of something else though:

Dig through your own crates. Maybe last time you missed something or didn't have an ear for something yet.
 
YESSIR! The more records you get, the harder it is to keep track of. Every time I look for records in my shelves I see something I forgot I had, great feeling. Shit, I just created a blog over this lol
 
I cant remember how many times ive bought duplicate copies of records because i forgot i had a copy of said record. i tend to go back and listen to records that i want samples from in cycles. i go through everything and then go back but i have a lot of records so its been some time since i started over again. Ive been in my current cycle of listening since August of 2009 when I moved into the place I live in now.
 
I cycle through all of my records during this process. last time I did it before I sold my collection took 2 years and I have way more records now.
 
my advice jus be true to ur self , an dont lose focus on the dream ..an stay humble no matter the situation .. whaut else .. give props were its due.. an dont be blind sided by others accomplishments ..
 
Maybe I missed the point of the thread but wasn't it supposed to be about records and not motivation lol
 
Do your homework. Some starting points for the very beginner: What labels generally put out the music you like? Artists you like? How many records/what records have been released by them? There are plenty of resources online that can help figuring things out a bit.

I'd personally advice starting by getting a few solid listenable joints to avoid possible frustration. Sure, it is fun to pick up cheap random records and it can be fruitful regarding sampling, but in the beginning of your digging career, you might simply end up with stuff you don't feel (and stuff you wouldn't want to sample too). Picking up cheap records you haven't heard of before will get easier as you build up your knowledge. And hey, if you bought something you don't feel, at least you got those solid listenable joints you got earlier.

Some useful links:
Discogs - Database and Marketplace for Music on Vinyl, CD, Cassette, MP3 and More
www.the-breaks.com, AKA The (Rap) Sample FAQ
AllMusic
eBay | Electronics, Cars, Clothing, Collectibles, and More Online Shopping

Soulman's World of Beats
articles are a nice read too.
 
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Nice job with the links^^

I forgot about that soulmans place, ish is dope.
 
Don't give up on a song after 10 seconds. You never know what might pop up half-way through a track. Doing so also means you might pick up on a nice section that not been have gotten down with flip-wise. Personally, I like to take chops from spots throughout the track.
 
my advice jus be true to ur self , an dont lose focus on the dream ..an stay humble no matter the situation .. whaut else .. give props were its due.. an dont be blind sided by others accomplishments ..
lol... he meant.. when your digging be true to yourself... dont sample some shit you cant vibe with... dont looose focus on the dream RECORD! that perfect sample that you could find... stay humble... nobody like some dude. talking about hpw many awesome vinyl he has.. haha and give props to the artists you sample some how... dont be blinded by other records... them covers is shiny but you gotta focus and do 1 thing at a time.>!
 
Here is what I do when I´m on the flea market or somewhere else where I have no chance listening to the record before buying it. I try to figure out what kind of music could be on the record. For that I take a closer look at the rear side of the record.

- Who are the musicians? Do I know one ore more of them (E.g. Bernard Pretty Purdie appeared on many records as a drummer, you can´t go wrong with him)?

- What kind of instruments do they play (E.g. Arp or Moog might be some cool funky stuff or some cheap crap)? Is there a string and/or horn section on it (could be disco or soul)?

- When have they recorded this one (E.g. no cheesy disco before 1970) and where (Detroit sound differs from NY or Miami)? Does the recording date match with the publishing date (probably a reissue)?

- Do I know a composition? Who wrote the songs (E.g. Holland-Dozier-Holland) and did he/they play(s) on the record as well or are most of the songs cover versions?

- Who was the recording engineer (E.g. Rudy van Gelder was the studio engineer from Blue Note Records but did jobs at other companies like CTI as well)?

- Is it a live recording (could be a lot of atmospheric sound that sits over the actual recording)?

- What kind of record company is it (E.g. a big one like Motown or a small label like Red Greg)?

Just a few of my thoughts from my "crate diggin´kung fu".

Edit: browse online record shops like John Manship´s for additional inspiration (damn, some rare shit over there if you can afford it...good luck bidding on them :) )
:cheers:
 
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Yeah that was a good post

---------- Post added 06-04-2011 at 05:38 PM ---------- Previous post was 06-02-2011 at 08:14 PM ----------

OK I need some advice from my sensei diggers on here.

I'll see someone be like "I'm looking for such and such record from whoever"

How do you guys know you want it? Do you find stuff on the youtubes or blogs and you decide to get it? Do you have that persons other albums and are just trying to get there discography? Because some of you will say I want this, or I need this for this break, etc.. And I'm just like "The hell?"
 
Yeah that was a good post

---------- Post added 06-04-2011 at 05:38 PM ---------- Previous post was 06-02-2011 at 08:14 PM ----------

OK I need some advice from my sensei diggers on here.

I'll see someone be like "I'm looking for such and such record from whoever"

How do you guys know you want it? Do you find stuff on the youtubes or blogs and you decide to get it? Do you have that persons other albums and are just trying to get there discography? Because some of you will say I want this, or I need this for this break, etc.. And I'm just like "The hell?"

Sometimes I just hear the song randomly. I listen to oldies radio a lot and if I hear a song I dig I go after it. Sometimes I am just a fan of an artist or band or I want to check them out. And then there are other times where I just want a loop or a break. For example I only bought the Bill Withers album I posted about today because I wanted the song Rosie. That was it. I fell in love with the song after hearing Kanye West's Roses which to this day is one of my favorite Kanye songs and one of my favorite samples that hes flipped well interpolated.
 
Damn, oldies radio is a great idea! I don't know why I never thought of that, seems obvious. How do you know about these breaks though? Like how did you catch word that some random record has a break? I understand the famous ass ones like, Impeach the President, Synthetic Substitution etc.. But I have never had any idea about random lesser known ones.
 
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