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The audio sample world is a vast place with many treasures awaiting rediscovery. Samples have inspired some of the best music to date, and they continue to do so.  In music production sample selection is half the battle. Knowing what to do with it and how to make it work in production is just as important. We will be taking a look at how we can take a sample and change its purpose. Not every vocal sample has to be a voice and not every kick drum has to be a part of the rhythm section. This 3 part series will dive into multiple sampling techniques and demonstrate how versatile a single sample can actually be. Let's take a look at the many ways to FLIP a sample! ADSRMethod 1: Long Bass Textures to Plucks or Stabs A sustained note or chord can be easily turned into a stab or a pluck with basic amplitude envelope modulation.   Within Simpler’s “Classic” mode, bring the sustain level all the way down to –inf dB. Now begin to adjust the “Attack” time for punch and the “Decay” time for length of your newly created bass stab!  Tip: Try adding a fast pitch envelope (high to low) to create extra punch! Experimenting with the pitch can turn stabs into drum-like hits. Don’t forget to increase the “Amount” control for the pitch sweep to function. Method 2: Evolving Ambience or Vocals to Lead Instruments A sample with a lot of movement may sound indirect. Looping a small portion allows you to extract a select few unique waveforms to create stable sounds. Within Simpler’s “Classic” mode, zoom in and loop 1 to 5 cycles of a waveform. Play with the “Start”, “Loop,” “Length” and “Fade” parameters to optimize your sound. Note: “Warp” must be off to enable “Fade” function.  Tip: Leave the “Sustain” at 0dB when creating holding notes. Method 3: Drums to Bass Instruments Using the low frequency information in a kick drum or snare can provide effective sustained bass sounds. Within Simpler’s “Classic” mode, load a kick, locate the section with predominantly low frequencies and engage the “Loop” function. Once again, fine tune this sound by playing with the “Start”, “Loop”, “Length” and “Fade” parameters.  Tip: To tune an instrument, simply load “Tuner” after Simpler and trigger the note C. If “Tuner” detects a different note, calculate the difference between the note pressed and the pitch detected.  Transpose the sample by this number of semitones to tune your instrument! If you need centitones to slightly detune your sample, this option is available via “Detune” directly below “Transp”.  Method 4: Long Samples to Rhythmic Percussion When creating vocal or instrument chops, editing samples in “Arrangement View” can be a tedious process. Create predetermined slices via different modes and have the power of the entire sample at your fingertips. Within Simpler’s “Slice” mode, load a long vocal or instrumentation sample. Engage “Transient” (or experiment with other modes) under the “Slice By” menu.  Now, create a MIDI clip and begin writing percussive patterns as you would with a drum kit. If your song lacks rhythmic movement, this can be a great way to achieve it!  How to Flip a Sample in Ableton pt. 2/3 - Generating MIDI from Audio WEDNESDAY MARCH 25TH! Watch Part 2 of this series here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx8OO55TjQE
Off Centre's Jonathan Kawchuk takes us through some of the ins and outs of bringing musical ideas to life. This is Part 1 of a 2 part series focussed specifically on creating melodic and structural variation. How do you turn a great 4 bar or 8 bar loop into a full song using Ableton Live. Star Wars represent! Whether you're looking to learn the Art of DJing or develop your studio potential as a producer, at Off Centre you'll learn the skills, technical know how, and creative mind set to become a unique and well-rounded artist. Learn more about our programs here: http://www.offcentredj.com/certificate-programs.html Is it plugged in? Did you turn it on?....
Might think those are obvious things to do when it comes to hearing sound but believe me some of your favourite dj's have missed those steps :) We've decided to put together a little checklist to help you get started. Let us know if we missed anything, add it to the comments below. Check out Part 2 of the series - Playing Live with Ableton Using Controllers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6rwo3kyYLE
In this tutorial we’ll take a look at how you can take your live sets to new heights using mapping. More info about Ableton and Electronic music production courses at Off Centre: http://www.offcentredj.com/full-producer-program.html Kickin' it with JT from the Off Centre Camp. In this video we explore some details of how to combine multiple sounds (in this case kick drum samples) to make a fuller sound.
Learn more about producing at Off Centre: http://www.offcentredj.com/certificate-programs.html Ableton’s Scale is a powerful MIDI effect that allows you to constrain every note on your keyboard to a specified scale. For example, if you wanted all of your keys to play only notes within an A minor scale, Ableton’s Scale can do this.
In this tutorial we’ll take a look at how Scale works and map out some of our own scales. More info about Ableton and Electronic music production courses at Off Centre: http://www.offcentredj.com/certificate-programs.html This video is a brief explanation and demonstration of exactly what Global Quantization is and what it can do to in Ableton.
More Ableton course info: http://www.offcentredj.com/ableton-li... Global Quantization is a powerful Ableton feature that can be used in session view. It's one of the elements that really sets Ableton apart from other DAWs and can change your workflow and overall engagement in your music making experience. It can be used on stage for live shows and can also bring that performance feel in to your beat making process in the studio. |
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