Sampling techniques

[Fredson Jacobs]

Hey my peeps

im trying to do a report on sampling and im looking for some input on different sampling techniques.

I also want to write about different producers/beatmakers and their impact on the hiphop and electronic music industry. Dilla is of course pretty obvious, but do you have suggestions on other cats who have had a great impact. And if possible which sampling techniques they have invented/made famous.

I have alot of different ones in mind, but it could be cool to hear some suggestions

 

[DJ Dope-Needlz]

A technique that i find very rare, dope and unique is making 2 mono-channels out of a stereo song that has different instruments hard panned to the left and to the right. This way you have 2 different layers with different instruments playing that can be layered on top of each other or both be used in different parts of the beat. A great example of this technique can be heard on "Cunninlynguists - Love Ain't" which samples "Classic IV - Traces".

 

[DJ Dope-Needlz]

Not sure if this will work but maybe sticking the plug half way in the inputs of your soundcard or sampler will drown out stuff to.

I was thinking about this since it can sound very cool when you plug your headphone half in your mobile Phone. Will drown a lot of sounds out.

 

[DJ Dope-Needlz]

Also putting a Low-Pass Filter on your sample can have very dope results.
You can automate the "Cut-Off Frequency" on the Low-Pass Filter up and down to make cool wah-wah sweeps.

Or to get a Bassline out of song by turning the "Cut-Off Frequency" all the way down on a Low-Pass Filter.

Or copying the Sample-Patch and use those 4 Sample-Patches with different filters and delays on top of each other. Make sure to EQ each Layer correctly so they sound good all playing together. Making sure your Delay cuts out the Low-End in the echo-ing feedback.

 

[DJ Dope-Needlz]

And sample your drums in mono. (not stereo)
"Normalize" the Kick and Snare. Not the Hi-Hat since that will make it sound harsh.

 

[mr. nbtbl]

Maybe apollo brown...
Don't know whats his impact... but his list of albums and collabos is quite big. And he has quite his own sound... I guess he fades all chops in or something like this... And he uses incredible nice samples
I tried sometimes but never get this sound.
Ok there are bunch of people making videos on how to make a dilla beat... Didn't work either

I definitly like to see apollos beats under a microscope...

 

[okjoy]

There's a book I read that really helped me, it's called Making Beats: the Art of Sample Based Hip Hop by Joseph Schloss. It's a great resource, I learned all the ethics and culture of sampling from it. A lot of dope interviews with different producers in there. I think they go over the transition between DJing (finding breaks) and the evolution of that into producing too.

As for big names, I'm no Hip Hop historian but you might want to mention Marley Marl.

 

[BushBeats]

think you could take like 100 names of producers and easily write about each of them. but going through the thought exercise on most impactful, i came up with the following (not my personal favorite list): RIck Rubin, Dre, Q-Tip, Kanye.

 

[DJ Dope-Needlz]

Maybe apollo brown...
Don't know whats his impact... but his list of albums and collabos is quite big. And he has quite his own sound... I guess he fades all chops in or something like this... And he uses incredible nice samples
I tried sometimes but never get this sound.
Ok there are bunch of people making videos on how to make a dilla beat... Didn't work either

I definitly like to see apollos beats under a microscope...

Apollo Brown is straight forward Boom-Bap.
His beats are usually very simple but he has such great mixes.
His beats are usually only a sample and drums.

He usually chops on the beats of his sample. Than he mangles those chops and makes something new.
And (i believe) he usually uses the Deadly Drums drumkits. (9th Wonder Kit is the same)

He usually puts the Attack on his sample a litlle bit up which makes those short fade-ins. I think you should only put the Attack up for 1%, so that only the plops dissapear in front of the chops.

I think he stands out cause of his great soundquality.

 

[B-Jam vs Enos]

A technique that i find very rare, dope and unique is making 2 mono-channels out of a stereo song that has different instruments hard panned to the left and to the right. This way you have 2 different layers with different instruments playing that can be layered on top of each other or both be used in different parts of the beat. A great example of this technique can be heard on "Cunninlynguists - Love Ain't" which samples "Classic IV - Traces".

Similar to that is the mid/side trick, where you remove or isolate either or which leaves you with, for example, the vocal/main drums/bass if it's the mid channel, or say strings, guitars, backing vocals if it's the side channel.

 

[B-Jam vs Enos]

Not sure if this will work but maybe sticking the plug half way in the inputs of your soundcard or sampler will drown out stuff to.

I was thinking about this since it can sound very cool when you plug your headphone half in your mobile Phone. Will drown a lot of sounds out.

Ha now that's some quick and dirty signal destruction there

I know the sound though. It's kind of like the telephone effect when using a band pass filter, but with more distortion etc.

 

[B-Jam vs Enos]

Also putting a Low-Pass Filter on your sample can have very dope results.
You can automate the "Cut-Off Frequency" on the Low-Pass Filter up and down to make cool wah-wah sweeps.

Yes just need to make sure there's a little resonance on the filter to get the 'wah' on the sweeps. This tek is always a good one to automate as well, especially if the sample is going to be uses lots, as it can add some real nice vibe and progression.

Or to get a Bassline out of song by turning the "Cut-Off Frequency" all the way down on a Low-Pass Filter.

It would be a high-pass filter for removing low end, but yeah that's an often essential sampling staple if you want to say add your own bassline. A much less known flip of that tek for boosting the samples bassline in a way that is often much nicer than EQ boosting, is to duplicate the track then add a low-pass filter to just one of them around 200-250hz.

Or copying the Sample-Patch and use those 4 Sample-Patches with different filters and delays on top of each other. Make sure to EQ each Layer correctly so they sound good all playing together. Making sure your Delay cuts out the Low-End in the echo-ing feedback.

Yes get some nice textural stacking going.

 

[B-Jam vs Enos]

Hey my peeps

im trying to do a report on sampling and im looking for some input on different sampling techniques.

I also want to write about different producers/beatmakers and their impact on the hiphop and electronic music industry. Dilla is of course pretty obvious, but do you have suggestions on other cats who have had a great impact. And if possible which sampling techniques they have invented/made famous.

I have alot of different ones in mind, but it could be cool to hear some suggestions

Have you read this article? Might be of some use.

Modern Approaches: Sampling

Producers share their diverse philosophies and working methods for sampling.

daily.redbullmusicacademy.com

 

[JulianConvex]

What i really like:
Find a nice classic drumbreak where the drummer plays the same pattern two or more times. If it's in stereo, make a decision which channel sounds better. Bounce it to mono. Cut out the first loop (for example two bars). Pan it to the left. Cut out the first repetition (next two bars). Pan it to the right. Make some cuts (left or right) within the loop and move every hitting element (kick, snare, hihat, etc.) precisely where the element in your "guide loop" is hitting. U have to zoom in really(!) strong into the wave form for getting a nice result. Now u have an ultra wide breakbeat and a lot of space in the middle for your instruments
Of course u have to hi pass the side signal by 100 - 200Hz.

 

[Fredson Jacobs]

Thanks alot for great inputs my good stbb fam!

I have also ordered the Joseph Schloss book from my local library, but thanks for the headsup! I will check out the links.

Also found alot of interesting papers on the subject.

To contribute with a personal sampling technique of my own, i really like to take a sample and have it in two different tracks. I take one of the samples and timestretch it to play an octave below, either with a pitcher or just by warping. Gives a new sonic feel to the sample with alot of nice new overtones.

Another trick similar to this is with sampling drums and i have two or more tracks with the same drumsample playing in different pitch. Sometimes you can get a really nice punch to the drums when using this technique, you just have to experiment with the pitch.

Oh and when layering drums, zoom all the way in on the starting point of the drums and make sure the soundwave is moving in the same direction so you dont get phase problems. If the wave moves in different directions, move the startingpoint on on of the samples.

Simple tricks but they can mean a whole lot

 

[TrakMakesDaBeats]

I always use auto slice on Live's Sampler by convert into slices then I fine tune it once I ready to sequence it after I find the chops I like that fit together because I rarely listen to whole sample before chopping it. I usually chop it into 1/4 note fine tuning it to kick,kick,closed hi,snare then open hi for example this a common method