experiment.
i mean, this is a general word 'experiment'......but.
first get a good sample.....you need a good one to really be able to work well, and go from there; you might know alot of this stuff, but sometimes even experienced people overlook good samples because of the moment.
what defines a good sample:
1.solo instrument
2.no drums or percussion(unless you are sampling the drums)
3.more than one instrument, but still no drums.
4.stabs
5.clear single hits
6.clearly defined notes
7. Preferablely not too complicated material so chops dont interrupt the flow.
8. uniqueness/tonal quality. Look for sounds with character, or feeling. Like a sad violin, or an agressive organ, etc.
Sometimes believe it or not, even if you know what to look for, sometimes you dont listen to the music right to find them. You need to practice just listening to one sound, but then also practice listening to that sounds relationship with others. After you can train your ear to hear a good sample; you need to listen for good arrangement. These are some good "arrangements"
1.dramatic build up/down
2.rhythm instrument loops
3.stab/multiple stab like da dunt.
4. Progressive loops
5. loop where you can separate each note (like piano)
6. a large loop where you could rearrange, and chop out the middle, etc.
7. unique riffs, bits pieces.
8. Pick out specific phrases, just dont randomly sample something-the idea is that you hear what a specific sound can do (this is not always true, but just for starters you gotta know how to do this)
9. becarefull of melodys with rhytm in the back ground, whereas if you chop the main melody, the rhythm in the background could go wrong, and make chops not fit.
Next how to experiment with these:
1. sample it in tune, DO NOT use your turntable pitch to **** it. No mater what. You can do that later. BUt its more difficult to try to tune if if you need to.
2. Once it is in the sampler: tighten up the ends, but leave room. EXAMPLE: trim out/crop excess, usually at the beginning and end of your sample; this will give you more samplig space.
3. if its loopable loop it. Regardless if you plan to chop it later. Find a good start point. Usually i define my chops by start points. That is-at the beginning of the next note. Usually this is the most clear point to chop, where you wont catch tail end, or sustained notes. Plus then when you assign the chop to a key, you can press the key, and you immediately get the next chop, nothing wierd at the start.
Dont worry about the end point yet. First you need a good start point. Pretend you are a dj, and you are gonna drop your left turntable over the right one....youll do it on the down beat. Usually this starts with a good solid note.
Trim up to the start note. Hit they key very fast while slowly adjusting the start ponit with the jog wheel, when all you hear is the beginning of the note, you are there. You have to press it very fast so all you hear is the very beginning of where your start point is, this will tighten up your sample and its ability to sync with the bpm.
4.assign it to the keys, spread the sample up and down in pitch....so that you can preview it. Try to stick to detuning it in increments of steps and half steps (basically just spread in on the keys, the triton sampler will already do this) if you dont have to, dont use the manual pitch adjust, as you want to try to keep the sample and its chops someone in tune, even if you pitch it up or down.
5. Experiment with the pitch, this is the easiest way to fit to a beat. Experiment with the pitch before you chop it, that way you can see what each note does while pitched differantly, you can see the relationship with each note, etc.
6. break it down by mountains and peaks. Look at the sample....you can see where notes hit, isolate those if you can, or isolate phrases of them. You can usually see where a good place to chop is, by:
the front end of a note is very flat. sort of like a sideways triangle. This isnt always true, but when it is flat, its good.
the more ups and downs with space inbetween a sample the better. Look at a drum loop, try to sample instrument loops that look like drum loops. Eventually you can hear this........solid, defined notes that dont compete with other instruments. Strings look like a thick line.....youll have to listen to chop, but with strings its also easier to chop because you can use your decay settings to smooth them out.
MANUALLY CHOP AND ONLY CHOP something if its a good place to chop. (not always true) but dont just chop for the fact that you know you gotta chop. Look for good places to divide the sample. It does not matter if your chops are equal. If you have one chop with 1 note, and the next with 2 notes (because the 2 overlap and dont sound good chopped) this is fine.
7. isolate: part of finding a good sample, is looking for samples that can be isolated. After messing with samples you will get better than this.
alot of beginners just go "i like that sound in this song" then they just sample that part, not really thinking about whether the sound they like can be isolated, chopped, or whatever. They listen to the main sound, but dont realize that the beat cannot be synced because its the "other sound" that is out of beat. You have to listen to all the sounds, especially the rhthm.
8. syncing samples is easier when there is less going on in the sample. Long sustaining notes are good, and also simple arrangements. Crazy orchestrastion can be fun and very good to sample, but start out with simple.
9. listen for the rhythm. Tap to the rhythm. With one sound this is easy. With multiple sounds its harder. But, for example use tap tempo. Press the sample, then tap the tempo to the rhytm section of the sample. Rhytm usually can be the bass, chords, guitar, repetative motifs under the melody.
10. I usually try to find the tempo of the pharse before i find the tempo of small chops....find the tempo of the original song.
11.
peace
btw. gotta go, ill think of more stuff later
