Resources DOA Articles

I thoroughly read through the Paradox DOA thread multiple times diseccting every useful bit of information I could. A lot of this I cover in the video's but it might be useful for you guys to have all the essntials extracted in this way.

Sampling Slow to increase Sample Rate

• When sampling certain breakbeats I always sample them as slow as possible. This increases the ‘beats per minute’ frequencies in the samples, ie I sample at 33rpm-8. I program them totally dry whilst I’m choosing my certain patterns in my sequencer. This keeps the ear trained to the original grain I feel, and only after I’m happy with certain loops I tend to add compression and aural exciter effects if needed.

EQ/Layering

• On the desk I tweak eq’s a itttle to keep the original feel of the break depending on the quality of course. If the break isn’t strong enough in parts I’ll back up the kick/snare/fill’ins depending on the clarity of the break.

Tight Drums

• It’s hard to explain how to get them 'so tight' as you put it. I boil it down to knowing where the shuffles are to be placed even if I have to interoperate an exact copy of a drummers loop that I would only hear once back into my computer.
• I personally don’t feel the Recycle program. I know some people who use it tho, and it does save time, but I feel I have to do things in a certain manual way to get my results I want. I mean I have to sample 'air' from breaks to re-construct trails to patch breaks together that we’re not originally available on the funk records, and you just can't do that in Recycle.

EQ

• Live EQ - I EQ breaks when they are looping as that depends on the sound of the break itself. If I were to back a break up I then just eq certain hits ie Kick drums etc..
• When eq'ing breaks I listen to them totally flat for a good while. I get the feel of the original funk version and try to retain some of that grit. Some breaks need to be a little fat/distorted and make them louder on purpose to give them true identity [depending on the sound of the loop].
• Searching for that eq by ear without staring at the Hz crunchers adds to the sound that myself and Nucleus create.

Vintage Exciter

• I use aural exciter fx sometimes on the breaks to give it warmth and punch bro. EMU FXs

Quantising

• The most difficult break I've worked with is actually 'Get into Something' by the Isley Brothers. It's a tricky one indeed to get all the loose parts sounding quantised and un-computerised ['recycled'], and to also make it sound 'slower' when programmed faster.

Blending Breaks

• I usually go for breaks that are programmed similar pattern wise, ie I might re-program them for instance like the military Funky Mule pattern.
• Ok, when designing a break from scratch if it be totally stripped I'd say get the kick from the Vibrettes 'Humpty Dump', the snare from Funk Incorporated's 'Kool is Back', a fill-in from James Brown's 'Funk 78' and take air from either 'Cold Sweat' or 'Amen' and create trails [reverse and attack, reverse attacks also] to cover the length of the loop at different volumes.

Sample the ‘Air’

• In Amen the best part is the quiet 'cymbal' after the single kick and before the snare. [This slice is what most use also in the fill-in when programming Amen etc..] Get this slice [its tiny by the way] and reverse it and trigger it alot whilst making sure the stuttering isn't recognisable and vola.. you have your 'extended' air. This can be used to slow amen down and program the break slower or in different ways, now amen is an easy example as the break is so fucked up anyway cos of the metallic noise and almost in a good way if you hear a lot of clipping it doesn't sound so bad.
• Yes. To achieve the smooth feel to the new pattern you have to layer these air bits I've been talking about. The best bet is to reverse some hits [around 6 samples inc kicks + snares] and straight after a snare enter a very tiny part of the reverse snare to extend the snare time [but without making it sound like a backwards sample]
• You can also place a ride/cymbal halfway through the reverse snare [in time etc..]
• Straight after that sample try the fillin with the reverse fillin too [just experiment] and then just move around the parts. The single rides/cymbals will slow the break down.
• Masking - Over the rev-air parts I place 'ride/cymbals' to mask the area I've been working on. This creates the smoothness that will just make people think you have done absolutely nothing to a break and people will think you have sampled raw loops.
• Creating Trails - Sample Both the Tails and the attacks of the samples to create realism. Use cymbals and rides [from Tighten up if you wish] with less top end to hide the fact that you are placing over the top of the break as the plan is to make a 'sampled loop'

Extending Air

• Use delays on the air parts if necessary (minus bottom end on the sample) to make the trails last longer/stretch over the length of the break you’re creating loop wise.
• Mono Reverbs

Slowing Breaks Down

• To slow the break down to 90bpm you will have to replace air parts to get the break slower without sounding 'gappy' etc.. as there will be gaps between the samples if sliced individually, again it totally depends on the type of break itself.
• At 120 it's as easy as pie. Get the break into the according 'in time' slices and slow the tempo down..

Layering Breaks

• Yes but I generally back up breaks if they are needed by Roland hits etc..
• Sometimes placing kicks from other breaks can get sharp trails that make the overall break your doing sound less authentic [to me anyway], so you have to use your ears and decide on appealing release or a straight forward sharp end to the backup kick.
• Kicks from Kool and the Gang breaks, The Vibrettes, Hot Pants etc.. they all can br used and pitched to sound beefy.
• I usually rely on backing up certain breaks as today's market needs breaks that cut thru just as much as the crusty breaks on one sound level that I love. I have favourite kicks that can be used at many different pitches that beef up breaks that need a kick up the arse. I use them at different volume levels to add alittle misplaced funk, so some might be louder than others and this could be in the most straight forward drum loops.

Pitching Breaks

• I never knock the pitch down too much as then it just becomes too muddy, like 2-3 semitones.
• I tune my breaks either at the original funk pitch or a little lower to compensate some speed kings playing at +..
• I can't stand chipmonk breaks that destroy the originals..

Extractive Groove and Realism from Breaks

• Live drummer will have slightly different snares, fill-ins or maybe a tom section rolling into a 'crash' at the top of another bar/loop.
• You only have to listen to the drummer of the Winstons 'Amen Brother' to see what the drummer is about. It's not just about the break that is available to 'sample'. This is what I include in my tracks when I base my rhythms around a famous break. I will copy certain rolls or 'edits' if you wanna call 'em from the original and program them into my d+b version even tho they are not available to 'sample'. This is how I get the 'Where did you get that part of the break from? I've checked my copy and It's not available, do you have another version I don't?' ETC....
• Obviously not every drummer is spot-on so this way I get to choose the best parts of the hits and just 'over-write' same parts with similar snares from before, or maybe the same snare from later in the funk track etc.. Just because a break is 'given away' at 2m:45s in a funk track that lasts 6 mins DOESNT mean that the rest of the track is useless. I ALWAYS check the whole track and try to extract ANY part that I can replace to make the overall loop sound better or punchier. Now after all this, I'm just trying to improve a loop that sounds to the human ear 100% exactly the same damm thing I've sampled in the first place. What's the point some of you might ask? If your going to do it properly this is the way to do it.
• When I sample and then splice up say a 'loop' of a break and I intend to use the exact same loop as I've just sampled in my track, what I do is actually 'improve' the loop by changing shuffles, kicks, snares etc.. but keeping them in the exact same places [so the loop stays the same] to make it more leveled or just to improve it so it flows better to me.

Kickback at the end of a bar

Classic Breaks

• Nat Adderley - New Orleans - Kick responds well to beefing up.
• KC and The Sunshine Band: 'Let it Go' or Nina Simone: 'Funkier than a Mosquitos Tweeter'