By
Scrawny
Thu May 20, 2021 10:17 am
Finally a topic I can shed some light on lol.
Lately I am mostly listening and sampling rock, there are great artists to look for. I guess if you are buying Beatles and random dollar bin country records you won't find so much to sample but there is a looooot of shit out there, you can look for Rare Earth (I consider them rock too), Iron Butterfly, Jimi, the Stones for a lot of drum hits, and the usual crazy covers or artists/players you have had success with in the past. Also obviously just listen to more rock too, try to find what you enjoy listening to and you will naturally hear some things you can sample.
Also regarding the mixing/mastering or all the sounds overlapping: from my experience the very late 60s and 70s give you a lot to work with in terms of panning different instruments to different channels, I have lifted whole ass drum breaks from the middle of the song with vocals and heavy guitar playing at the same time on the opposite channel.
Also more general tips, not just about rock: listen to the records at the store too if you can, pay attention to different frequencies, maybe you can lift a bassline even if there is other sounds on it, pay attention to the panning, maybe you can isolate something, pay attention to which players you like, and even if you don't find something usable on that record you can look for more playing by them, Mitch Michell, one of my favourite rock drummers has a lot of breaks under that name.
Lastly don't just look for or buy the most well known names. The obscure rock out there has a lot of sounds too. And don't write off all 80s rock. It's not the same as soul or funk... there is a lot of garbage still but also many great artists (not just regarding sampling) that only got started (or just with their solo career) around that time.