SAMPLE SCIENCE
Apr 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Doug Eisengrein
My first sampler was killer, at least to me at the time. It was the Ensoniq EPS 16-Plus sampling keyboard workstation, built around a 16-track sequencer. How awesome. Each key played the individually assigned sample in the corresponding pitch — holy crap! Holding down keys triggered looped samples, and I could load and store “tons” of 16-bit samples via the keyboard's “generous” 2 MB of RAM. With floppy disks, I could buy and trade as many samples as I desired. No matter how Neanderthal that may seem now, early sampling gear such as the EPS 16-Plus was nonetheless responsible for tons of cutting-edge and timeless electronic music, such as huge swaths of hip-hop, Detroit techno and many early IDM releases (some people, such as El-P, still swear by it). But what is truly at the heart of all this sampling technology are the samples themselves, and the reason why early sample-centric music stands the test of time is that the compositions are forward-thinking in spite of the technology of their time. Enter the modern age of sampling: powerful CPUs, huge onscreen user interfaces and corpulent amounts of RAM driving feature-packed software samplers such as Native Instruments Kontakt and Apple Logic EXS24 and sampling workstations such as Propellerhead Reason and Ableton Live. Despite all their power, will those tools create great music for you? No way; it's still ultimately about the samples you chose and how you manipulate them. Especially in electronic genres that often prize innovative sounds over all else, implementing original ways to use your sample collections is the key. So here are some ideas for being more creative with samples.
GET DIRTY WITH IT
While the use of VST, TDM and other plug-ins on your tracks may not be anything new, how about applying them to your samples in preproduction? Surely you have a few plug-ins that you absolutely cannot live without. Most dedicated audio editors feature batch processing, which typically includes passing sounds through your plug-ins of choice; if you're not already familiar with this capability, then now is the time to become so. Select a whole bunch of samples, run them through a chain of effects that you carefully design and save them as copies. Not only can you potentially end up with an entirely new set of sounds, but they also will have a certain common tonality due to the same DSP processing. And rather than painstakingly opening and applying effects to every sample, batch processing will do it swiftly across any number of files.
Another idea involves a subtractive approach. If you are an old-school hip-hop junkie who just loves that E-mu SP-1200 sound from the late '80s and early '90s, it's probably because that legendary loop sampler was confined to low bit depth and low sampling rate, which resulted in its signature fat, gritty sound. A poor man's approach to achieving that fatness involves downgrading your existing sounds' bits and sampling rates, which most batch processors can do. Though the initial difference might not be obvious, when taken as a whole in songs, the thickness and dirtiness of 8- or 12-bit/22 kHz samples really cuts through. Another take on the lo-fi sound is to play your favorite samples through a landline phone and record them to an answering machine. Then, rerecord and edit the samples from the answering machine via either microphone or an audio out if the answering machine has one. While that is clearly a more arduous task, the sound of mono phone lines is unique, and if your answering machine uses tape, you can get a little of that analog air into the mix.
BIGGER BUILDING BLOCKS
Another personal-favorite approach is to reverse samples so they play backward. While not every sample will end up sounding good, you can cherry-pick the real gems. That can work especially well on percussive hits, and you may find that the original samples complement their reverse compadres quite well in a given song. Some audio editors will let you make edits to only one channel on stereo files. Try reversing only the left or right channel; this approach can yield some really strange tones. Another way to spice up your sample library may be right in front of you daily: Because instant locking of loops of different tempos is so ubiquitous nowadays, it's easy to overlook the power of that for the creation of new sounds. Rather than launching Ableton Live and going head-on into song-composition mode, try searching for just a few select loops that play really well together and bounce the combinations down as new loops. Then you have fuller building blocks to work with when creating new songs. Also try combining the two approaches mentioned earlier — bounce down some mixed loops and then reverse them.
ADD SOME SPLICE
To move forward, occasionally you have to look to the past. Although it has been around for a decade or so, Propellerhead ReCycle is still a must-have tool if you're working with loops and samples. It's a great way to spice up your sample collection simply due to its ability to automatically or manually chop loops into their individual component parts and instantly export them as individual samples. Need some new drum sounds? Splice up some of your loops; there's always something to be culled from those samples that are even as old as ReCycle itself. Last but definitely not least is the use of found sounds. Creating your own sample collections with a recorder and a mic can be the beginning of music that truly hasn't been heard before, and although it's time intensive, the process can be supersatisfying. Literally anything can make surprisingly interesting samples, from crumpling a piece of paper and rubbing two stones together to scratching sandpaper on wood. Read more on this subject in this issue when one of the kings of the sample, Amon Tobin, talks about using found sounds (pages 28 to 34), or go to remixmag.com and search for “Finders Tweakers” to read last month's found-sounds feature.
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