Sounds/To/Sample - THE DEFINITIVE DOWNLOAD RESOURCE FOR MUSIC MAKERS

Studio tips from Eat Static

The techno pioneers spill the secrets of their trademark sound...

Give it a rest...

Don’t always use loops for the whole duration of the bar: lots of rhythmic loops work well when placed in-between the main beats of a bar, so slice up the loops and try different slices at different start points.

Using the stereo field

If you have two percussion loops that work really well together instead of layering them on top of each other try panning them to different sides of the stereo field (and EQing accordingly) to create wide percussion expanses and interesting cross-rhythms.

Effect your hook

Rather than choosing one effect for a synth sound for the duration of a track, experiment by strapping different effects across the loop and use the best ones for later variations – particularly during breakdowns.

Odd bars

Try looping synth sequences at odd numbered bars, like the 3rd or 7/8 bar, instead of at the regular 4/4 marker. Strap a ping-pong delay on top for an instant carpet of sound.

Personalise your beats

When using a drum loop sample don’t just leave it as it is. Instead, use it as a springboard for your own creative programming. Start by looping it as is, then start cutting out individual elements, like the kick drum and snare. Now replace these missing hits with your own cherry-picked samples. When your loop has taken on its own life, try ‘thinning out’ the loop by cutting EQ and reducing its volume – or even taking it out altogether.

Wet/dry mix

Vary effects in your productions by playing with the wet/dry mix levels. Use a sample to trigger an effect (reverbs work well) but turn down the dry return so that only the wet (processed) signal can be heard. Bounce down this wet signal and place it on a new audio channel. With the original  sample and pure effect running on different channels, play around with the comparative levels, and then with positioning, bringing in the effect before the dry sample, or after a long delay. Try reversing one of the samples and experiment with timestretching one or other of the sounds.

Infinite pads

Soundscapes and pads give depth to a mix and play an essential part in intros, outros and breakdowns. To make extending pad sounds insert your chosen pad sample, then insert the same loop again after the first and reverse it. Join the two together using your sequencer’s crossfade function. Instant ever-changing pad variations!

Mangle

Make all samples your own. Even if you’ve pretty much found the perfect sample for your track, load it into Native Instruments' Kontakt, Steinberg’s Re-cycle, Spectrasonics’ Stylus RMX or similar to further chop, mangle, de-tune, stretch or generally mutate your sample.

Control freakery

When using virtual samplers, load up a different sampler for each loop type (e.g. drums, percussion, bass, synth fx etc). Using more samplers containing fewer samples makes mixing down and effecting samples much easier. With drum kits route different hits to different outputs so that you can treat different elements – like your kick and snare
– with different plugins.