The Forgotten Art Of Layering Samples Like Q-Tip & Prince Paul
- Thread starter 2GooD Productions
- Start date
-
beat this! (apr 30 - may 1) signup begins in...
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Yeah it's hard to find samples that can sound good with one another. Bomb Squad were crazy with the samples and would come up with something new entirely.
One thing I tend to do is just find something from the same artist. So for example, if I'm sampling from Herbie Hancock, I'll find samples in other songs from him because most likely it will have the same vibe, and more importantly the same key.
One of my most used plugins is Waves Pitchshifter, also Arcade is really great because as long as you can work out the key of the sample you can set the key for it and all the samples will be the right key, whether they fit or not is another matter but it really helps make the workflow fast. I use it for most of my vocal hooks, its a bit like cheating really, but those vocals add a nice little flavour to distinguish the hook from the rest of the beat. Tracklib is also good because it tells you what key the song is in so its easy to work out how much to pitchshift if at all.
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
That sounds interesting. I've always just done it by ear.
You cant really beat the by ear method for keeping your ears tuned up and not getting lazy or complacent, but hey, its the future bro, shit is so fucking easy nowadays lol
Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Yeah it's like when I first used Traktor. Once I learned how I could have everything play at the same BPM it's like whaaaaaaaaaaaaat. It's cheating but so convenient.
When it comes to combining samples, I feel like the key isn't nessecarily the problem (because you can adjust it). But more chords they used (major, minor) or a bassline or scale that doesn't fit. With filter work you can kind of work around this 'issue'.
But like you said, when combining samples I tend to look for the same vibe. If the same scale is used it definitely makes things easier.
Exactly, the correct scale is really key to key lol. Also you have to be careful that there aren't notes that despite being in the right scale might still clash with what is already going on. When it comes to chopping and arranging samples and layering, I personally would say that @TWU is the best here at doing it. People could learn a lot from you. I can fall back on my composition ability as a get out of jail free card to get me out of sticky situations when I can't get my samples layered. I would say I'm quite a lazy sampler in all honesty. I get a basic loop, do some very basic variation to it and compose a lot around it. I also very very rarely use major scales, unless the sample demands it. I'm not a happy clappy kind of guy and major scales are just too happy clappy for me