Category: Sample Spring

this one is to see how minimal I could keep things and still make it interesting. no bass, just a programmed drum track with small variations and a flute raga sample I ran through a bunch of effects until it sounds like a shoegaze guitar. turned out pretty good, though if I were to want it to be a real song I’d have to add some flourishes that I’ve been kind of afraid to figure out how to use, like sound bites and such. so obviously the thing to do would be work on that next.

ok so this one the execution isn’t great but I actually had some breakthroughs with this: chopping a sample and layering it over the same sample pitched up/down an octave, then using a filter to sweep over one of those layers to add dynamic elements to the progression. I also set it up so I was recording loops and used the pads on my MIDI controller to switch tracks on and off, giving it a more improvisational feel rather than how I usually do, which is arrange beforehand. pretty pleased with the concept on this, might go back to make this demo into a real beat.

i fuckin suck at this

(there are interesting ways to modulate sounds that match the sample by using with the “frequency shifter” effect in ableton that warrants a lot more exploration, likely a good way to layer in new harmonic sounds without having to find additional samples, manipulation of this effect can be used to create dynamics and improvisational feel. i’m still bad at bass lines and i did not bother even attempting to mix this down)

like I did in December with drone/synth design, this April I’m striving to flip a sample into a beat each day, and writing about what I learned from each one. as this one, which I’m calling “FREE!,” is evidence of, I’m not particularly concerned with making them “great” so much as making them. the bassline on this is weak, and the mix is awful, but it was good practice to work with limitations, focusing on a straightforward loop and building out an arrangement. moving forward I should get some more manipulation in, and eventually work with multiple samples, layer sounds, and resample. I’m trying to conceive of my DAW as being a physical sampler, mimicking the limitations of a 303 or a 404, which are capable of making some truly wild music (see: J Dilla, Flying Lotus).