Tips on chopping amens (and other breaks)

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I know that there are certain things you can do to a break to chop it up. When I edit drums, there are things I keep in mind to mess with. Mostly pitch, pitch slides, velocity, panning, filter cutoff frequency, reversed notes, and adding delay and such. What are some other things to play around with to get that really glitchy, sporadic sound? I'm trying to take my choppage to the next level. Any comments greatly appreciated.




For instance, in this track by equinox called acid rain...what is the effect at 4:00? How is he getting the break to be so drawn out?
Just time stretching isn't it?
Icewind Wrote:what is the effect at 4:00? How is he getting the break to be so drawn out?

I think that's a Kick-Hat-Snare-Ghostsnare-Ghostsnare-Ghostsnare-Ghostsnare time stretch, followed by a reversed snare, followed by snare retriggering and finally a few hats in series. Actually he's using a lot of time stretching in this song.
Well guys I'm a complete noob so, this is news to me. I've never used any "time stretching" in my tracks.
Use a 'cheap' algorithm - ie a fast process with lots of audible artefacts- this is what defines the sound Xyxthumbs
Or get in a Tracker and use "sample start offset" type command, resample out and plonk into whatever audio track wherever you want.

But yeah everyone is right, it's just plain old time stretching fucked about with Xyxthumbs
Alright well I've been trying to learn about time stretching and granulizers, but I still can't figure out how to incorporate those into my amen chopping. I can chalk it up to just being a slow learner I guess...I wish there was some sort of tutorial on the internet for this kind of thing. Or if squarepusher could teach me all he knows about chopping...haha
like Wilshy said, ( except im not sure what a tracker is Oops).

Found a video if visual helps and hey I know reason makes everything piss easy but maybe you could take the basic ideas of the samplestart function that he shows. Smile resample to a wav from whatever sampler you use and add in your drums if done in wavs in arrange. ( not sure what program you use or how you build your beats but yeah...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0PoLYOz1c


ps For most people its a lot of trail and error.. Dont feel like your a slow learner. Some are just really good with programs and figure out how to recreate things they hear faster..Or you might figure out by trail. Yet when you understand gear and sound modulation fully it also helps a lot.
Annastay Wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK0PoLYOz1c

for those that remember... panda used to go by peet when he was part of exegene
Smile
Wow, you guys have been a real help. I had one last question...what is happening to the break at 0:38 to 0:39?


By the way, skygene, what is "retriggering"? How do I do it?
Lol. I understand I'm asking alot of questions here, but I can't seem to find this info anywhere.
Icewind Wrote:Wow, you guys have been a real help. I had one last question...what is happening to the break at 0:38 to 0:39?

.

Gating Smile Basically just cutting the end of the sample short on a couple of the hits.
i recommend this tool, its handy being able to do timestretching offline.

http://akaizer.blogspot.com/

i have dabbled a little with timestretching amens, no expert at all, but how i've done it previously was to chop up the break first, and save those untouched hits.

then fire up akaizer and make loads and loads and loads of versions of each hit all with different settings, so i'll end up with say 6 different sounding hits for the same hit.

lay out your beat in sequencer as normal, and you can perhaps firstly import some of the stretched samples you've made, and use them them to replace certain hits.

you can then decide if you want them to play the same (fast pattern) your orginal pattern was playing, in which case trim the hits to make them same sort of size....

and you can go for the slow effect, and use the stretched samples pretty much as they are.

so if you pattern for one bar was like:

kick ride snare ride ghost ride ghost kick ride ghost snare

when you use the time stretched samples to fit one bar it will probably be only:

kiiiiiicccccckkk rrrrriiiiidddddeeeee ssssnnnnnnnnaaaarrre

when you start messing around with filters and other stuff i guess anything is possible, just experiment a lot!

sounds batshit crazy probably... any question please ask Smile
^ Yes Based on the Akai algo I think.
Scape Wrote:i recommend this tool, its handy being able to do timestretching offline.

http://akaizer.blogspot.com/

i have dabbled a little with timestretching amens, no expert at all, but how i've done it previously was to chop up the break first, and save those untouched hits.

then fire up akaizer and make loads and loads and loads of versions of each hit all with different settings, so i'll end up with say 6 different sounding hits for the same hit.

lay out your beat in sequencer as normal, and you can perhaps firstly import some of the stretched samples you've made, and use them them to replace certain hits.

you can then decide if you want them to play the same (fast pattern) your orginal pattern was playing, in which case trim the hits to make them same sort of size....

and you can go for the slow effect, and use the stretched samples pretty much as they are.

so if you pattern for one bar was like:

kick ride snare ride ghost ride ghost kick ride ghost snare

when you use the time stretched samples to fit one bar it will probably be only:

kiiiiiicccccckkk rrrrriiiiidddddeeeee ssssnnnnnnnnaaaarrre

when you start messing around with filters and other stuff i guess anything is possible, just experiment a lot!

sounds batshit crazy probably... any question please ask Smile

What sampler do you use to lay out your beats?
Scape Wrote:i recommend this tool, its handy being able to do timestretching offline.

http://akaizer.blogspot.com/

i have dabbled a little with timestretching amens, no expert at all, but how i've done it previously was to chop up the break first, and save those untouched hits.

then fire up akaizer and make loads and loads and loads of versions of each hit all with different settings, so i'll end up with say 6 different sounding hits for the same hit.

lay out your beat in sequencer as normal, and you can perhaps firstly import some of the stretched samples you've made, and use them them to replace certain hits.

you can then decide if you want them to play the same (fast pattern) your orginal pattern was playing, in which case trim the hits to make them same sort of size....

and you can go for the slow effect, and use the stretched samples pretty much as they are.

so if you pattern for one bar was like:

kick ride snare ride ghost ride ghost kick ride ghost snare

when you use the time stretched samples to fit one bar it will probably be only:

kiiiiiicccccckkk rrrrriiiiidddddeeeee ssssnnnnnnnnaaaarrre

when you start messing around with filters and other stuff i guess anything is possible, just experiment a lot!

sounds batshit crazy probably... any question please ask Smile

markgabba Wrote:^ Yes Based on the Akai algo I think.

Was just about to say.... ''Scape going OLD-SCHOOL techniques!'' Hahaha Good info there mate
markgabba Wrote:^ Yes Based on the Akai algo I think.

yeah man, i haven't heard a real akai before so not sure whther it does exactly what is says on the tin... but the cool thing is that has pitchshifting and ringmodulation, which really is quite nice in getting those snares sounding oldskooly Smile


Annastay;819958[[/QUOTE Wrote:What sampler do you use to lay out your beats?

I don't use a sampler for my beats, in cubase i'll have seperate tracks for each element of the break, and they're all routed to a group channel (i think thats also called a bus?).

took me ages to settle on this way... found working with midi, and stuff like NI Battery just a bit slow and cumbersome.

good thing this way is you can eq each element seperately very easy, plus add things like a reverb or delay for certain bits in the tune for just the snare say. and then using the group channel you process the break as a whole, so distortion, filters etc.

also if you are using mulitple breaks, you can route their groups to another group channel, for further processing all the breaks as a whole.

personally i find this method my favourite of all i tried, i work faster and almost on autopilot in terms of actual processes becuase its makes more sense to my brain! i'm almost subconciously doing stuff butjust concentrating on the sound/results, where as before i'd have concentrate too much on how to actually do it.

for me i like being able to see the waveforms all lined up as arranging them, and you can make one off changes to certain hits so qucikly. not knocking using midi or anything but i'm glad i found this way of doing things.

oh crikey this is bringing all the geekery out of me... i love talking about breaks Oops


Hovver Wrote:Was just about to say.... ''Scape going OLD-SCHOOL techniques!'' Hahaha Good info there mate

Lolcheers man! oh how i'd love to have space and money for some hardware... gonna have treat myself one of these days
markgabba Wrote:
Icewind Wrote:Wow, you guys have been a real help. I had one last question...what is happening to the break at 0:38 to 0:39?

.

Gating Smile Basically just cutting the end of the sample short on a couple of the hits.


i've always wondered that too, thanks for that Smile never quite acheived it sounding right doing it manually.
Icewind Wrote:what is "retriggering"? How do I do it?
Retriggering is a technique in which a sample is replayed a certain number of times within a certain timeframe. For instance listen to the Acid Rain VIP at 8:06, that's a great example. Smile



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