DJ Shadow's drum programming

I'm listening to Endtroducing specifically "Building Steam With A Grain of Salt". I've never heard drum programming done like that before. Simply amazing. I'm assuming he quantized the kicks during that drum break. Either that or he step editted it but I would think that would take forever.

it wasn't just a drum break, it was layered, twisted, patched, glued. he's good at programming drums to sound like they were breaks..

yeah his drum programing is dope, like what nym said... also check out drums of death... or the tracks he did on his private press album, sick...

Co-sign on that...I absolutely love his "early work". Check the first UNKLE album as well, "Psyence Fiction".

He produced Endtroducing on an MPC60II, on his homepage there's a foto of the receipt he got when he bought it at Guitar Center, which says 2700$

Shadow is amazing. He's in a class of his own.

ivincent wrote:I'm listening to Endtroducing specifically "Building Steam With A Grain of Salt". I've never heard drum programming done like that before. Simply amazing. I'm assuming he quantized the kicks during that drum break. Either that or he step editted it but I would think that would take forever.

It's just a break flipped, really not that amazing , don't get me wrong Shadow is my idol but I have been disecting that CD for years and have found just about every sample on it. It's the drum break that is amazing and if you had it, you would be able to figure out how he flipped it . The break has those sick kik triplets in it. He's a monster at flipping breaks but really a lot of his stuff on Entroducing is just arranged and not chopped that much. His later work is chopped and twisted much more . Using small chops so he could get away without clearing the samples. He was a nobody when he made that record and really didn't clear anything .

Check this stuff out...
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/3voor12/player/a ... r=13604637

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?i ... 26416829-0

ZAM13 wrote:

ivincent wrote:I'm listening to Endtroducing specifically "Building Steam With A Grain of Salt". I've never heard drum programming done like that before. Simply amazing. I'm assuming he quantized the kicks during that drum break. Either that or he step editted it but I would think that would take forever.

It's just a break flipped, really not that amazing , don't get me wrong Shadow is my idol but I have been disecting that CD for years and have found just about every sample on it. It's the drum break that is amazing and if you had it, you would be able to figure out how he flipped it . The break has those sick kik triplets in it. He's a monster at flipping breaks but really a lot of his stuff on Entroducing is just arranged and not chopped that much. His later work is chopped and twisted much more . Using small chops so he could get away without clearing the samples. He was a nobody when he made that record and really didn't clear anything .

The drum n bass programming on Endtroducing is not programmed? ... And what about the piano in Building Steam With A Grain Of Salt.. loop too?

There was a thread in the Off Topic section half a year ago or so. It contained a link to a guy who had hunted down a lot of Shadows samples, giving up records and track from which they were lifted. Some had audio examples and I was greatly dissapointed over the amount of straight lopping he had done, especially on "Building steam...".
The piano is looped, not sure if the really low keys of the piano is looped or not, but the mid / high notes are looped straight up, and the sad part is that the nice female "aahh" vocals that fit so nicely with the piano is a part of the same song. There are a few bars of open piano and then the "aahhh"´s kick in, so he sampled two bars from the same song and looped them.
Sad to find out after years of awe over that track.

dont matter in the slightest, endroducing is still a timeless record. and shadow is still better than you.

ph0cus wrote:dont matter in the slightest

I think it does, from a production point of view it´s more fascinating with a guy who can pick pieces from loads of sources and merge them together to form seamless loops than someone picking loops and combining them. It´s a bit guitarist-like in mentality to focus on technique like that but much of the talk about Endtroducing was that it was exceptionally skillfully executed, which it is, but more from a digging, workwise and how-can-I-make-that-fit perspective. Many people think that it´s a lot of minute and complex programing with tiny samples that gives the record it´s sound. I lived under that impression and was surprised and disappointed when I found out it was the samples, not Shadow´s hands and step editing who grooved like that.

ph0cus wrote:endroducing is still a timeless record.

It certainly is. Not all tracks are great but on the whole it´s a landmark.

ph0cus wrote:and shadow is still better than you.

Yes he is, you turdy mangamongoloid.

I think it does, from a production point of view it´s more fascinating with a guy who can pick pieces from loads of sources and merge them together to form seamless loops than someone picking loops and combining them.

agreed

who cares that whole album is dope. if you'd never found out it woudn't even matter at all. besides it kinda makes me feel a little less far away from my goals since his super-human programing skills are actually just creative listening skills and hours of searching through records.

right but when santa claus turns out to be your dad in a red costume you're a little bummed out

Antonym wrote:right but when santa claus turns out to be your dad in a red costume you're a little bummed out

true, haha!!! but he's dope for taking loops & puttin them together & making full songs out of them, he has a good ear... i like the sample he used for the number song, the guitar loop from metallica's track, ''Orion'' i was like damn, how come i didn't think of that... imo he's programing shines on the track he did off his private press album, ''Monosylabic"