Chopping techniques

Any tips for how to chop my samples?
I just simply don't know how to chop them correctly. I find a good sample, chop it and it always comes shit. Isn't there a some kind of pattern that helps you to count where you should do your chops or something like that.

Just for example wath Boon Doc's '' Making a Beat with BOON DOC '', he chops his sample and he can make a nice pattern that works.. please help!

Lol.. I almost hoped there was a simple way. Guess I need to practice some more I've only had 1k for 6 days and have played with it for like total 30 to 40 hours, but still I haven't made one single beat. Kinda frustrating.

n4l wrote:Lol.. I almost hoped there was a simple way. Guess I need to practice some more I've only had 1k for 6 days and have played with it for like total 30 to 40 hours, but still I haven't made one single beat. Kinda frustrating.

Dont take this the wrong way...but if you're looking simple, then sell the MPC, quit making music. The guys that are always referenced are dudes that have YEARS behind them. You have 1 week invested it will take a few years bro.

Yeah I know. I was just wondering because I remember that I saw someone here in forums saying that if your sample tempo or time signature is this and that you can chop it like this but I guess not then.

theres a few different events that need to take place before a "good" beat is put together, I assure you, keep at it and you'll see the differences with each beat. The key is to not let it frustrate you, its a waste of energy.

Wow.. This is so ironic but I just made one hot beat..! I'm speechless, really.
Doesn't have anything to with the topic but how can I get a finished track from MPC to my PC?

n4l, this is pretty much what i've been yammering about since 2006 (with a minor edit)

find a sample. listen to it a couple times. does it contain only 1 or 2 instruments, or is it very busy? if it's very busy, skip to the next step. if it's not very busy, we call this an "open sample" (a sample containing just one instrument. like a drum break, or guitar riff, etc). chop it at the start of every note that you hear. use your ears and eyes to find the transients and drop a slice point on it. this will take a lot of time at first and you may spend plenty time chopping something only to feel uninspired by the end. that's fine, save it in a folder and move on to the next sound.

is your sample busy or too complex to chop and reprogram? use tools that are better suited to the task. drop it into a daw with stretchable/elastic audio (reaper, ableton, etc pretty much all of em these days) and make it loop. stretch parts that are too far off the grid, otherwise you'll have to use TC off completely which can be difficult. don't go to crazy, though, just make sure it sounds nice when you loop it in DAW. then import it back into the MPC as an audio track (if your MPC lets you) or you could slice it evenly and place it exactly on the grid.

the benefit of using audio tracks is that you can zoom in and scrub to the exact moment a drum should hit. this makes editing a hell of a lot easier, esp. when you get good enough to turn TC off or use it with a very low quantize strength setting.

Thanks Nym, appreciated! I'll try to keep that in mind.

once u have a sample start by assigning that sample to 4 pads then alter the start points of each pad so they start at different points, ur aim is to have ur start points be at the best part of the sample.

then play around with the chops over drums

thats essentially it if u need more chops then copy to more pads but just vibe with the shit till it fall in place.

but 30 hours and no beat? thats crazy either ur too picky or u dont know how to use the equipment

Also mind that some samples sound just nice, but are difficult to work with. Actually I have a lot of samples chopped up that sounded great on record but contain not enough intresting elements to really make something new out of it.

Selecting samples you can work with is also something you need to train. After years of trail and error I still have those sessions where I start with what seems a decent sample, but never will be more then a loose program somewhere on my harddisk.

Menco wrote:Also mind that some samples sound just nice, but are difficult to work with. Actually I have a lot of samples chopped up that sounded great on record but contain not enough intresting elements to really make something new out of it.

Selecting samples you can work with is also something you need to train. After years of trail and error I still have those sessions where I start with what seems a decent sample, but never will be more then a loose program somewhere on my harddisk.

that happens but bare in mind sometimes u hear shit on a record and if u dont make the beat right away u loose the idea or the vibe u had with the sample that made u wanna flip it.

so u gotta strike while the iron is hot sometime spending hours going thru records and choosing samples may mean that buy the time u come to make a beat out of the sample the inspiration is gone.

but its down to ur ear ultimately im sure the same u feel is uninsteresting or not good enuff to use if u give that sample to another producer he will make something real dope out of it.

Yeah thanks for the tips!

but 30 hours and no beat? thats crazy either ur too picky or u dont know how to use the equipment

Lol actually I made a nice beat just around the time I posted that, I already posted the link to my beat on my earlier post but I deleted because I decided not to share any of my beats yet.. I think it's OK just for over a week of use of MPC.
I can send it to you though, if you want to hear it.

And konc3pt, ''ha ha''.