Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
By Diegaso Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:05 pm
Please , could you comment how you program that kind of " shaking fast movement" sound of the tambourine on your hardware sample drum machine.

I use an akai mpc 60 , and I dont have the option of programming on the grid step by step, just with the pads, and it seems a little hard to achieve that tambourine, or shaker ,sound.

Here an example what I mean, star at 2:17:
By CharlesRandolph Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:21 pm
Diegaso wrote:Please , could you comment how you program that kind of " shaking fast movement" sound of the tambourine on your hardware sample drum machine.

I use an akai mpc 60 , and I dont have the option of programming on the grid step by step, just with the pads, and it seems a little hard to achieve that tambourine, or shaker ,sound.

Here an example what I mean, star at 2:17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik9cExHOazw


Best way is to sample a real tambourine or shaker. The song you posted, sounds like it sampled a drum loop. Do you know? :nod:
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By Lampdog Sat Aug 08, 2020 2:37 pm
That tamb in that song is a sample that plays twice in a bar.
Sounds like a chopped real tamb.
By CharlesRandolph Sat Aug 08, 2020 2:45 pm
Lampdog wrote:That tamb in that song is a sample that plays twice in a bar.
Sounds like a chopped real tamb.


That's what it sounds like to me. Most of these guys don't record or play their own sounds unfortunately.
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By Lampdog Sat Aug 08, 2020 2:50 pm
Maybe find 4-8 good tamb sounds, slightly diff tuning, filter! slow the bpm to a crawl and play them in with some swing and you just might get a semi believable tamb pattern. Some don’t have the actual instrument or access to it, think, improvise!
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By Menco Sat Aug 08, 2020 3:15 pm
Set velocity curves for level, pitch filter and maybe for the amp envelope too. Set on the 16 levels, dial in desired quantize and swing settings and jam away. Maybe turn off quantizing all together. Another way of sequencing a similar pattern would be by using note repeat, holding the pad and apply more/ less pressure (=velocity on the MPC) where needed. You can always edit notes in the Step Edit mode, changing timing and velocity of notes.
By CharlesRandolph Sat Aug 08, 2020 4:44 pm
Diegaso wrote:Thank you man, good quality samples.


Hope they get you started. :nod:

In the long run if you really want to have the best sound, control and feel. Buy the best Tambourine you can afford, a good mic (dynamic or condenser), the best pre-amp or audio interface you can afford and sample your heart away. Your sound is only as good as what you feed it, plus the gear that you purchase can be used to capture other sounds.
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By The Jackal Sun Aug 09, 2020 3:47 am
secret tip: whatever bpm you're working in, sample or record some tambs & shakers (hats, perc) in other bpms. except instead of sampling & triggering longer loops, you're going to cut them down to 1 bar one shots or shorter and retrigger them more often. it can create a swing or push/pull effect. and then you can even put swing on those midi notes with the swing function.
By 6/8 Stanley Sun Aug 09, 2020 4:57 am
Some good ideas I'll try. Also, you're probably doing it already but to play fast tambourine on pads you need to use two fingers on one pad or have two or more tambourine sounds on adjacent pads.
If you want to sample a tambourine or shaker more than one hit and you haven't played it a lot, hate to say it but you gotta practice practice practice. It's an easy instrument to play but still.
Also all tambourines are not created equal. Just my opinion but I'd never play one without a skin, or a plastic one, or one with two rows of jingles. Also you can play faster on the small ones.
By terry towelling Sun Aug 16, 2020 1:09 am
great to see a moodymann track on here - he's one of the great masters of the sampler. second only to tod terry.

to get that moodymann tambourine pattern...try to use the roll feature with 16 th notes. put swing between 59-62. (does the mpc60 have roll?). there also seems to be some emphasis, but that might just some with the swing
then start to play around with attack, decay and reverb/delay
there's a good tambourine sample for this sound...try the drumulatar, drumatix, linn or 727.

you're after a mechanical, synthetic, overly repetetive pattern, not a live sound like many in hip hop seek.

you can hear the mooddymann style tamb/hats pattern even more clearly on j.a.n
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKl5oN1n69w

btw: moodymann uses an mpc200xl and an sp12000
By 6/8 Stanley Sat Aug 29, 2020 7:55 pm
Usually on MPC I tap in the shakers first for kind of a metronome for everything else, but this tune makes me think I should try adding them last for some syncopated madness. First time I heard Minzata was maybe 15 years ago, mostly listened to horns and guitars. Last year I bought a FLAC album that had the song, was like I really heard the shakers first time. Didn't know what type shakers but found this youtube today, the comments say it's maracas. About 07:35 in they really come on. Shows what you can do with shakers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ2gtK_0QxY