Sample Packs - Loopmasters and the like?

Home :: Producer tips and DAW information :: Sample Packs - Loopmasters and the like?Reply
Sample Packs - Loopmasters and the like?
Posted on: 17.09.2012 by Audrey Pinda
So.

I know it's best to do everything yourself. From using the recorded sound of a basketball you smashed against a tin roof for a hat, and hitting a door for another thing.

But what do people honestly believe about these sample packs and the like?

I'm finding more and more that... people just don't care as long as the end result is good? When I first got, and still to some degree, into production, I thought each artist was doing /everything/ basically themselves. And I've known about these packs for awhile, and I've bought a couple for different drum samples and such in the past.

But where do you consider the cutoff line for using them? Some of them do have some awesome bits that I don't know how to make. I should probably learn how to make those sounds. But is it entirely taboo to use these things?

I also realized when chilling with another local DJ, that he was almost using exclusively sample packs and the like for some of his "self" production stuff. Which, in a sense, is cheating. But on another level, it's composition using sounds, and wouldn't exist unless he was putting things the way they were.

I'm kind of at an impasse right now with myself. I want to just purchase a couple hundred bucks worth of sample packs, have some fun with it. I'll probably do some, but not a ton of synth work myself. But is that acceptable today? I'm really lost as to where these sample packs use and not use, are the line of what is acceptable and what is not.
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Dorie Scelzo
21.09.2012
Originally Posted by grazz16
lol did he actually do this, what song are you referring to? or are you just fucking around?
There was a big stink about it. A bunch of top-end producers came to his defense saying that using things the ways he did still got something new out of stagnant and boring material. I'm not one to really judge that, as I believe that whole genre is boring. But, the use of samples has nothing to do with it.

Originally Posted by AllDay
Your taking what im saying and warping it to your liking. All I said is that you should be making your own sounds. This guy was talking about sample packs. Not taking a sample and changing the hell out of it for your own production and making it your own LOL.
I, at least, am saying that's not necessary. There's a track on Lupe's last tape where he just raps over a movement of Love Supreme (Coltrane). I'm pretty sure he does the same thing to a couple Nero songs and (gasp) a remix of that ellie goulding song everybody knows (as opposed to the better one everybody ignored). If they're different from the originals, I can't tell (but I also don't listen to them).

He released it for free on the internet partially because of how badly the label fucked him with his last couple albums but also because his beats were just other tracks. Not like the old school hip hop looping a break kind of way……just flat-out playing them. And it's one of the better albums I've heard this year.

Originally Posted by crakbot
I search for a lot of loop packs, but only buy a few due to quality.
That's the problem I see. The loop packs I see for sale online just don't seem to be worth their price.
Tera Baragan
20.09.2012
Originally Posted by JasonBay
Right here



You're making it sound like some is "less" of a producer if they use samples vs some one who doesn't, and that in and of itself is as ignorant as they come.
Your taking what im saying and warping it to your liking. All I said is that you should be making your own sounds. This guy was talking about sample packs. Not taking a sample and changing the hell out of it for your own production and making it your own LOL.

So many herps and derps in this thread.
Georgina Schatzman
19.09.2012
Originally Posted by rillep
I believe it was the song Knas that came strictly from vengeance
Bingo! Just Google "Steve Angello Vengeance" and you should find a video or two off the bat
Norma Vanna
19.09.2012
Originally Posted by grazz16
lol did he actually do this, what song are you referring to? or are you just fucking around?
I believe it was the song Knas that came strictly from vengeance
Berta Baie
19.09.2012
Originally Posted by JasonBay
Don't tell Steve Angello that!

= p
lol did he actually do this, what song are you referring to? or are you just fucking around?
Dorie Scelzo
18.09.2012
Originally Posted by JasonBay
Don't tell Steve Angello that!

= p
zing!

Also, you know, most of the other guys "on top of the world"……doing that might be taking it a bit too far, but putting a synth stab into a sampler and playing your own melody…cutting up a drum loop…screwing with a bass line……………no problem.

Sampling is more in line with producing than hot cues and loops are at all a form of "live remixing".

Georgina Schatzman
18.09.2012
Originally Posted by rillep
i dont believe its okey to take a vengaence 8bar synthsample and use it as your main foundation.
Don't tell Steve Angello that!

= p
Georgina Schatzman
18.09.2012
Originally Posted by AllDay
Where did I say you shouldn't sample..? LOL
Right here

Originally Posted by AllDay
If you aren't making your own sounds then your not a producer
You're making it sound like some is "less" of a producer if they use samples vs some one who doesn't, and that in and of itself is as ignorant as they come.
Cindie Brodskaya
29.09.2012
Originally Posted by mostapha
Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful
Napoleon Koczur
29.09.2012		Whilst there's certainly nothing wrong with sample packs, I'd recommend investing in a mic or field recorder instead.

You can get some pretty good samples for free from the Wave Alchemy web site, so can fall back on these for more "standard" drum sounds, to use in conjunction with your recorded ones.

One word of caution for using sample packs: stereo. Very often sample packs will include stereo widening effects on the hi hats, rides, claps, crashes etc to make them sound more impressive. Check them in mono to avoid nasty surprises! You can get round this by adding some frequencies in the middle of the stereo field using a mid/side eq (in mid mode).

Something I did recently that I'd really recommend is this: get together with some producer friends and book a commercial recording studio and a session drummer. We recorded a couple of hours of hits, drum rolls and breaks at various tempos, and a bunch of random percussion stuff. Studios often have drum machines that you can record as well, and have the obvious benefits of super high grade mics and hardware eq and compression. You can also record some desk overdrive on you drums, sounds way better than software overdrive / distortion.

Another benefit of recording is to add some human elements to electronic music, the little imperfections which are hard to fake yet really add to the feel of songs.

Even recording on an iPhone works pretty well, although the low frequency reproduction is not good so only use it to record hi frequency sounds. "fire" is a really good app for recording.

Good luck!
Dorie Scelzo
21.09.2012
Originally Posted by grazz16
lol did he actually do this, what song are you referring to? or are you just fucking around?
There was a big stink about it. A bunch of top-end producers came to his defense saying that using things the ways he did still got something new out of stagnant and boring material. I'm not one to really judge that, as I believe that whole genre is boring. But, the use of samples has nothing to do with it.

Originally Posted by AllDay
Your taking what im saying and warping it to your liking. All I said is that you should be making your own sounds. This guy was talking about sample packs. Not taking a sample and changing the hell out of it for your own production and making it your own LOL.
I, at least, am saying that's not necessary. There's a track on Lupe's last tape where he just raps over a movement of Love Supreme (Coltrane). I'm pretty sure he does the same thing to a couple Nero songs and (gasp) a remix of that ellie goulding song everybody knows (as opposed to the better one everybody ignored). If they're different from the originals, I can't tell (but I also don't listen to them).

He released it for free on the internet partially because of how badly the label fucked him with his last couple albums but also because his beats were just other tracks. Not like the old school hip hop looping a break kind of way……just flat-out playing them. And it's one of the better albums I've heard this year.

Originally Posted by crakbot
I search for a lot of loop packs, but only buy a few due to quality.
That's the problem I see. The loop packs I see for sale online just don't seem to be worth their price.
Frieda Swoboda
20.09.2012		I search for a lot of loop packs, but only buy a few due to quality. So I am familiar with a lot of loop packs and I have heard several top songs on Beatport where I recognized the exact loop. I go back and find it, and there it is, totally unchanged.

There are NO rules. If you can make a song out of 100% loops that gets people rocking, then you are a producer and you produced a good song. Obviously it is harder to do that and still sound unique. But there is no problem with using loops to any degree.

Honestly, going through tons of loops to find snippets to edit together for a unique sound is no different from spending that same time working on your own synth preset. What's the difference?

Some people like crate digging, some people like tweaking software, some do a combination. Work how you want.
Tera Baragan
20.09.2012
Originally Posted by JasonBay
Right here



You're making it sound like some is "less" of a producer if they use samples vs some one who doesn't, and that in and of itself is as ignorant as they come.
Your taking what im saying and warping it to your liking. All I said is that you should be making your own sounds. This guy was talking about sample packs. Not taking a sample and changing the hell out of it for your own production and making it your own LOL.

So many herps and derps in this thread.
Leeanna Ayla
19.09.2012		Very easy to fake, but still funny.

Georgina Schatzman
19.09.2012
Originally Posted by rillep
I believe it was the song Knas that came strictly from vengeance
Bingo! Just Google "Steve Angello Vengeance" and you should find a video or two off the bat
Norma Vanna
19.09.2012
Originally Posted by grazz16
lol did he actually do this, what song are you referring to? or are you just fucking around?
I believe it was the song Knas that came strictly from vengeance
Berta Baie
19.09.2012
Originally Posted by JasonBay
Don't tell Steve Angello that!

= p
lol did he actually do this, what song are you referring to? or are you just fucking around?
Dorie Scelzo
18.09.2012
Originally Posted by JasonBay
Don't tell Steve Angello that!

= p
zing!

Also, you know, most of the other guys "on top of the world"……doing that might be taking it a bit too far, but putting a synth stab into a sampler and playing your own melody…cutting up a drum loop…screwing with a bass line……………no problem.

Sampling is more in line with producing than hot cues and loops are at all a form of "live remixing".

Georgina Schatzman
18.09.2012
Originally Posted by rillep
i dont believe its okey to take a vengaence 8bar synthsample and use it as your main foundation.
Don't tell Steve Angello that!

= p
Georgina Schatzman
18.09.2012
Originally Posted by AllDay
Where did I say you shouldn't sample..? LOL
Right here

Originally Posted by AllDay
If you aren't making your own sounds then your not a producer
You're making it sound like some is "less" of a producer if they use samples vs some one who doesn't, and that in and of itself is as ignorant as they come.
Celine Surico
18.09.2012		As Don Was said on TV last Saturday. It is the uniqueness that will sell you. Use samples but make unique music.

PS: If nobody knows who Don Was is, please look him up on Internet, I believe he knows what he talks about.
Audrey Pinda
18.09.2012		Thanks for all the solid replies so far guys.

I agree that there is a point where you need to "make them your own" really, but I believe I'm going to invest into some, and go from there a bit. I've needed a kick in the pants about production, and if I can find a couple sounds I really like that inspires me to actually get a tune finished?

Well, that's more priceless than spending hours tweaking knobs on synths to make random noises I don't care for.

I believe what it comes down to, and what people generally seem to be saying, is that it's not a bad idea for a foundation. But you don't want to craft the whole thing with them. And that, makes sense. If I'm interpreting this correctly.
Leeanna Ayla
18.09.2012		I've always been under the impression that it's not really how much or what samples you use, but what you do with those samples.
Berta Baie
18.09.2012		I'd agree that how much sampling is acceptable does depend on the genre, hip hop is like 90% sampling and rearranging that material in some interesting way, this is true, but if you make a house track thats 90% samples, i dunno if anyone would take that seriously. Basically samples are ok, but there comes a point where it'll probably stop being creative or interesting, and starts becoming cliche.
Dorie Scelzo
18.09.2012		Without sampling, dance music and hip hop wouldn't exist.

To people who say it's cheating, go fuck yourself. Then listen to any good hip hop. Then listen to classic house. Then realize that basically all of drum & bass is based off a 6-second clip from a soul record, that Lupe Fiasco's last album has several tracks where he just rapped over songs by Nero, Bassnectar, and John Coltrane. Then see if you can spot the one beat that Kanye took out of Fire by Jimmy Hendrix to put on My Beautiful….

There's nothing uncreative about sampling. If you believe there is, then you're doing it wrong.

I see no problem using sample packs……I just haven't had much luck with finding sounds I liked in them……but I also haven't really tried. I do have a pile of records and CDs that I bought just to sample off of whenever inspiration strikes.
Norma Vanna
18.09.2012		i have sampled drums, and thats that. no loops tho. i dont believe its okey to take a vengaence 8bar synthsample and use it as your main foundation.
Celine Surico
18.09.2012		I've heard more and more tracks on let's say Beatport which are mediocre loop collections using Ableton with no creativity or interesting musical content, just a long pile of cliche samples tied together. Anyway, samples are quite useable and OK but you need to work a little bit to raise above such average and boring music.
Tera Baragan
18.09.2012
Originally Posted by JasonBay
.
You are incredibly ignorant. OP said using entirely samples from a sample pack. You start off by disagreeing with me then go into exactly my point. U take the loop or sample and add a bunch of your own stuff to the song..

Not what op stated.

Where did I say you shouldn't sample..? LOL
Georgina Schatzman
18.09.2012
Originally Posted by AllDay
If you aren't making your own sounds then your not a producer, your a remixer..

Producing entitles making original songs from your own brain.. Not using purely samples. LOL
Really? Try saying that to any and all hip hop producer, or house music producer. Sampling is part of producing, and is an art in and of itself.

It's one thing to just take a loop, slap it in and leave at that. But it's something else entirely to get inspired by a two bar groove, build a whole track around it and really make it your own. Being able to match tone and timbre, making sure everything is in key, and being able to pitch it into key if needed.

Everyone samples to some degree, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Those don't are the exception, not the norm.
Berta Baie
17.09.2012		as far as beats go, this:

http://community .djranking s.com/showthread.php?t=56852

dont even believe about using pre-made loops for synth melodies or anything, then your music is guaranteed to sound unoriginal
Tera Baragan
17.09.2012		If you aren't making your own sounds then your not a producer, your a remixer..

Producing entitles making original songs from your own brain.. Not using purely samples. LOL

<< Back to Producer tips and DAW informationReply

Copyright 2012-2023
DJRANKINGS.ORG n.g.o.
Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan

Created by Ajaxel CMS

Terms & Privacy