Anybody Else Not Sampling? **NO BEEF PLEASE**

This ain't no Miller Lite "Taste Great ... Less Filling Debate" thing... just wanted to hear from some people who use little samples or don't sample at all...

I am trying to stay away from sampling especially as a new producer... It's tough but I made up my mind... The cons are a lot of my beats sound the same to me... and I think that I am more so perfecting the same beat rather than making new grooves every session... so a lot of my hustle is getting beat kits and new kicks and snares etc...

Eventually I will do some sampling but I want to have this in the pocket first... plus I am finding some producers are just drum programmers (me basically) and some are great arrangers and samplers (me later basically)

What bout u?

I program my own drums and play my own melodies, and I only sample if I want to recycle my own material... Never got into sampling other people, started with intent on learning to do it myself and stuck to it and now I just see no real use or need for it.

thanks for the feedback guys ... mind droppin some tips on how to keep the sound fresh? As well as your patterns?

I think listening to other patterns as well as beating out on the mixing process (also adding some effects) should do the trick... but like I said I am super new so I am just guessin

@Lamps, yup, no rules imo, just do what is needed to get the sound you want.

@ MPC-G, keep it fresh by trying different things/sounds.. Try a lot of freestyle jamming and experiment to get out the most standard type of beats.. The more you play around, the more fluid and connected you will become with both the music and the tools you use (unless they're really not suited for you) -Which should make it easier to get ideas out..

MPC-G wrote:thanks for the feedback guys ... mind droppin some tips on how to keep the sound fresh? As well as your patterns?

well one idea I sometimes use is.. lets say we want drums to sound like they were chopped from a break... we want it to sound as if it was sampled and chopped... well lets say in your daw or even in your mpc.. you load up your drum kit made up of drum sounds (lets say you download or buy some vintage drum machine sounds.. or something) try and pick a non-drum synth type of kit (no 808/909 type stuff) .. aim for a drum machine kit that is made to sound realistic (like some yamaha kit or something) .. anyways.. you make a beat with that at a decent tempo (over 100 bpm) pan the drums as you normally would to give them a bit of positioning.. add some EQing, add some reverb so it makes them sound like they are in a room.. mess with velocities to emulate some of the human characteristics etc...

now export that small pattern, and sample the result into the mpc in mono... dont load it, sample it. now go and chop the individual hits.. do it a bit loose (let those start points begin a bit before the hit) .. and from there.. you re-do the EQing, panning... the whole 9.. if you got effects in your machine then use those etc..

obviously experiment with that, and do it your own way... but sometimes you want that sampled drums sound and you can make it with stuff you are allowed to use.

try out the roland x5000 i think it was... that machine's sounds would work great for the idea.

edit: oh, and after that.. when making the drum pattern in the mpc for the song once you did all the rest... then you add your 808 kick and other layers etc...

I'm from the ole school of the "time before sampling" era. 90% of my material is physically played and arranged using note & chord progressions.

This is in part due to years of playing live performances and working one on one with various components of the band. You learn to get a feel for what a conductor or composer goes through.

Like for example, when I program my drum parts, I tend to think like a real drummer. Everything gets laid down as close as possible, even down to the subtle nuances, just like what a drummer does.

It makes it that much of a challenge to try and mimic these different pieces of instrumentation, that will eventually bring your ideas to realization and seem as convincing to the ear as close as you can get it.

you guys got a pretty intricate process... but looks like that comes with the territory... nice tunes as well btw

anyone else who wants to chime in feel free... I think all can benefit

I tend to sample the stuff I can't play (brass, strings, woodwind, guitar)... genetically modified versions of these don't sound good played from a keyboard IMO, so I try and capture them from the source. It's more authentic, but it's entirely dependent on the sound you want.

When I got serious in production I started with no samples. I would plug my synth into my cd recorder and record myself playing random tunes or songs I learned from piano 101 in high school and freak them. I have like 40 cds of those sessions of free play of different sounds and melodies, and then sample and chop. Now I'm working at my guitar game and will make more cds of those sessions too and will make beats with them.

I love sampling vinyl though and it portrays Ill Green's character well which is why I go that route.

i love to sample.

imo, there are elements of the original song that are captured in a sample and are very subtle, but that subtleness makes a world of difference.

playing music live is fun but im not very good at it. i mean, i took basic music theory classes and played the drums for a couple years in school so i understand the basic fundamentals, but i always tend to limit myself and get stuck... quickly.

best advise i could give is if u want to play the keys and not sample, take lessons and take it serious. good luck

i also like to sample and have some talented musicians i know replay the parts so its 'sample free', but thats still kinda cheating

Lampdog wrote:sample one shots and program his own notes.

+1 all day