Groovin' in G

Sample Chopping (Collecting & Editing)

Added 2025-02-21 17:00:17 +0000 UTC

Collecting Samples/Organising

Loopback recording - Use loopback recording or rolling sampler as a great way to collect samples from any source online. https://www.birdsthings.com/

Tracklib - https://www.tracklib.com/ Has amazing library music, just a fun place to dig around even though it’s paid. I just dip in every now and again every few months.

YouTube - Sonne Immage, andre navarro II, Soulhawk, Armando Drum Breaks

Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/Drumkits/

DOA - https://www.dogsonacid.com/forums/the-grid/

Rhythm LAB - https://rhythm-lab.com/breakbeats

90’s Sample CDs - https://nnty.fun/downloads/other/90ssamplecds/originals/

Record Store - There will always be something fun about diving into the $1 box (if it still exists, more like £5 box these days) and collecting a whole bunch of random stuff and turning that into a track. It’s part of a process, much like using hardware samplers where taking your time and putting in the extra effort can produce amazing results.

Movies & Films - Anime can be amazing for FX. Films like Castle in the Sky which Source Direct took samples from for the Crane has some great sound design. 80’s & 90s films of course are also a goldmine. You’ve just gotta keep a look out for samples whenever you’re watching something and make a note of the timestamp :)

Chopping & Editing Samples in Twisted Wave

This part of the sampling process can be a little tedious but is absolutely essential and saves you so much time and energy down the line. In the example above, I’ve recorded a whole song into Twisted Wave, then listened through and selected all the little chunks and pieces I like. The next step is to export all the individual slices as audio files.

The hip-hop version of this technique is just to record the chunks of a record you like straight off the turntable and then edit them in the sampler. 9th Wonder makes a beat in The Wonder Year Documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6jIxIMdACU

The idea behind this, is that it’s so much more inspiring to be faced with a small segment or 50 different small chunks of a track than to look down at the whole waveform like this. You start to hear the pieces in isolation & imagine how they could work in a song you’re making.

I also often use small fades, reversing & re-editing the audio at this stage to make certain chops make sense.

What you’re really looking for is sections of records (without drums) that fit the style or theme of the genre you’re making. This might be darker, more dissonant sounds & fx for a drumfunk style tune or spacey, uplifting arps, glissando’s & pads for a 90’s jungle roller. UKG takes a lot of inspiration from RnB, LOFI from jazz etc.

Sample slices you’re looking for

Chords, Vocals, Intro & Outro sections, Stabs, Eerie FX, Arps, Pads, Music Segments.

Some samples will be perfect for chops, others for looping & other for creative processing. Collecting samples like this is a great way to get the ideas flowing before you even start creating.

Samples with Drums

There are also a few techniques that use samples with drums in them, especially light drums can be worked around. Attack can be used in the sampler to fade over most of the initial drum hit which can work well.

Another classic J Dilla technique is to live slice every kick & snare of a record. Then rearrange the slices under a new drum beat. https://youtu.be/_OCNEhW8CDs?t=109

Serato Sample, Logic Stem Separator, https://www.lalal.ai/ - I’ve used all of these and they’re amazing for separating stems. This new technology now allows us to now dig into parts of records that would have been skipped out in the past!

Serato Sample - If you feeling really lazy, chucking a big sample chop like this in Serato Sample & hitting the automatically find slices button is also very valid 😊. http://serato.com/sample