Love days like this when the weather is foul and I'm stuck in side for most of the day. Also got me a new sampler which makes it even better. Enjoy these free loops! Download using the link below. It's an Ableton session, if you don't have that just open and grab the raw audio files.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
(photo by Michael Bodnar called Reflections of the Needle)
During a snow day last month I had a change to rip some samples from vinyl and this morning I had a chance to mess with them and make some patterns. I use Maschine for the chopping and editing, what you see in Ableton are the exported individual tracks and how I processed them.
Everything is 100% native Ableton.
In the video you'll get some quick pointers on mixing like making sure the the full mix is mono compatible, using the Ableton EQ to roll off low end that's not needed etc. You'll see how I set levels and used several tracks for back ground atmospheric sounds.
Some nice percussion parts. Nearly everything is all from sampled vinyl except the hi hats, synth and subby kick.
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Let's talk techno samples. Here are the problems I wanted to solve. Now if you don't have a reason to do this you can end up drowning in near pointless activity.
What I wanted to do was make better use of the samples I do have, pick more specific sounds which will help define the music I make, have it better organized by mood/genre. Organizing by mood/genre is important - for the same reasons you'd organize playlists for a DJ set. Different songs are more appropriate for different parts of the night. Same for samples. The problem with samples is that they aren't organized by energy or feel so you can just end up with a bunch of kicks or hats. Different kicks are better for different kinds of tracks. The same applies for bass, lead sounds and so on.
I also wanted my samples key labeled which makes things sound tighter and more cohesive. And when you get things sounding great at the onset it means less time mixing. Plus key labeling makes it easier to pick out what samples to use. (I tend to focus around the Key of A or something close to it)
Here we go.
Before I get into these tips let me give you a little back story.
The first sample pack I ever bought was a double data compact disk. This was ages ago and it was by East West which is still around today. However finding usable samples for underground music or techno was not an easy task.
Imo very little was actually good - like 5% at best.
So when modern producers started making packs I found them to be tons better however I'd still use less than half of the pack's content.
More on this in a moment.
Over the years I'd grab packs from beatport when they do really deep Holiday sales - this doesn't mean I'd gorge myself on them.
To date I have maybe 20 or so packs in total including 5 (Maschine) Native Instruments Expansions. The NI ones are quite good BTW.
Anyhow it was time for me to start getting more particular about my sounds so it was time to get them organized.
What I did was make one folder called "select samples" - this folder would Be a home for the good stuff I'd use.
So, I went through each pack and searching for kicks loops hi hats synths riffs noises and so on. I then put them in folders.
From there it was easy to find gaps in my sonic palette. To fill those gaps I signed up to Splice for $8 to get more interesting usable stuff.
The beauty of Splice is you only get the samples you hand pick - I have about 79 so far.
You want to organize your sounds so they represent the frequencies in a club track. This way when your selecting stuff you'll have the spectrum covered. Now leads and melodic content may come from synths and stuff - I'll get to that.
Anyhow once your done and trust me this can be a never ending task, but once an initial pass has been done you'll want to key label your sounds.
I have an old copy of Mixed In Key version 5 that was up to the task. All I needed it for was to key label my samples - the ones that were missing this that is.
The benefit of having your stuff labeled by key is that when you get a groove going and then reach for your keys for a melody or bass line you know what key to play in.
Synth presents are another animal to organize - honestly I have yet to go there, but that's next on the list.
In short a good first pass at this would be to:
credit Future Music
Splice (Pretty solid for shopping techno samples by label (Sample Magic, Audio Tent) or by artist collection. Remember you can download them individually and combine them in your own sample packs or re-packs.
Raw Loops (A Personal Favorite)
Native Instruments Expansions - also quite especially if you're using Machine or Komplete Control
Samples from Mars - great for samples of analog gear
Personally I don't go out lookin for free stuff. Anything worthwhile isn't typically free.
Designing your own samples for techno is a another story soon to be covered.
In the meantime have a look at these free samples I've put out in the past.