Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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By Lou-One Sun Mar 07, 2004 8:34 am
I'm having a difficult time chopping samples. It is just not sounding right. Not only that I'm having a difficult time arranging them to sound good in the MPC.

Does anyone one have any basic tips, tricks or advice that will help with chopping and re-creating. It would help out with some of my current frustrations.

Cool Edit Pro2 is the only wav editor I have for the moment.
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By Twelvizm Mon Mar 08, 2004 2:27 am
Just one for now.

When you have a sound or loop that you are happy with, make sure you start and stop the sound where the waveform crosses the midline. You'll have to zoom way in to make sure you get it, but it will make sure there is no click at the start or end of your sample.

Kinda' elementry, but maybe it will help.
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By Lou-One Mon Mar 08, 2004 2:41 am
I got no problems whatsoever with clicks and finding zero crossing points, or slightly fading in/out sample to diminish clicks.

What I'm having difficulty with is actually knowing when to take the chops from the sample in a way that when I try to replay it in the MPC it sounds nice and fluid. And hell, what types of sounds should be chopped for re-creation in the first place. I've been looping stuff for years. Whether it was on cool edit or before that with pause tapes. It's this damn chopping and re-arranging. that's new to me that isn't coming out fresh.

I've even heard of dudes that go through a whole song and re-create it without vocals just by chopping and re-arranging. I think Large Pro does it. I'm thinking, how the **** do you do that. Actually there are cats on here that chop things up nicely and re-arrange and it sounds dope. I'm doing something wrong, and I don't know exactly what it is. So I was hoping I could get some tips from you guys and start from there.
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By FLUENT Mon Mar 08, 2004 3:30 am
it all depends on the sample you are chopping up...sometimes i will chop an independant instrument stab, like a horn, but sometimes i will chop a few notes that play together, if it sounds dope. any instrument/sound can be chopped..a good start would be to download some Primo samples, and then listen to the instrumental of the beat he made to see how he cut them up and flipped them...and looping isnt a bad thing, just look at madlib, RZA, doom, alot of pete rock beats were str8 loops with a twist...also if you loop something you can still cut up other instruments and add them to the loop to make some melodies, and to add a little more spice to your beats...just be creative, and make sure that whatever you chop is cut precisely, whether its a stab a melody or a loop, and experiment putting the chopped samples at different places in the bar...its hard to just read a book and know exactly how to do this, you gotta experiment. once the beat starts developing the ideas really start flowing, and it starts to come together. if you have no idea how to go about this , download a primo sample and try to create the same beat yourself, to get familiar with the process... hope this helped a bit
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By Lou-One Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:48 am
:idea:
Last edited by Lou-One on Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By Lou-One Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:49 am
I never used to think much about tracks that looped a whole 2 bars of music just as long as the track came out dope. However now that I'm starting to make my own tracks it doesn't feel completely right! It feels like stealing or cheating on a test. Plus I feel if I can chop and come up with my own ish I can avoid getting Biz Marked in the future.

I do have some Primo samples. Unfortunately I don't think I have any or know what the ones are that he really chopped up and massacered. Do you know a song that primo sampled and chopped up like crazy that you can put me on to?
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By FLUENT Mon Mar 08, 2004 8:30 am
i dont think its "cheating"...look at those producers i named, ALL of rzas work has been sampling loops, of course afterwards he would EQ and use fx on them, but its more about the final product...even the ultimate crate digger pete rock sampled alot of str8 loops. but again they would do stuff to the loop they took, freak it a bit. madlib is a perfect example of this, he takes alot of loops, then adds CRAZY fx to them, makes them sound like a different instrument (P.S. DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO DO THIS? he could make a harmonica melody sound exactly like a rhoades piano in "MADVILLAIN - GREAT DAY"...if anyone knows how to do this i would very much appreciate it) but anyway, you can flip a sample any way you please, if you dont like looping, then just try what i mentioned in the first post...experimentation is the key, first try chopping single instrument stabs, and as you learn how to program them to make dope beats you can start chopping harmonies and other instruments to add to it...start small and build your way up


search for Latimore - Let Me Go, and see how Suprimo flipped that into Jay Z - a million and one questions...i have a whole album of Primo samples but not offhand, i will have to dig it up...peace
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By sensewondah Mon Mar 08, 2004 9:41 pm
Lou-One wrote: Do you know a song that primo sampled and chopped up like crazy that you can put me on to?


nas - memory lane (off of illmatic)

just might be the best "flippage" of a sample ive came across