Sampling! One of the fastest ways to create original music. We took a Zoom H4 Handy Recorder, a set of headphones, and a drum stick, and wandered down to Jane Street in West End. We sticked a bunch of different objects an textures, and recorded the impact the best we could. We recorded things like, timber pallets, that we smacked with the palm of our hands (Kick), steel posts, when struck, gave us a resonant 'ting' (Bell), car tyres, a nice thud (Tom), and a stack of leaves (Hats). We recorded about 10 different sounds and loaded them into LogicProX.
I then chose the best sound from each file. Chopping out the sound to the closest transient, still allowing the decay to naturally do its thing. I then inserted a Fade at the end of the wave form to rid of any 'clicks' or 'pops'. Once the playback sounded right and it looped up easily without any unwanted noise, I then exported each individual audio file to disk, and renamed accordingly.
Once all my sounds are prepared, I insert a new software instrument track, and load up the EXS24 Sampler Synth.
I left the synth settings in their default mode, though adjusted the Attack, Decay and Sustains slightly, only because some of the sounds are quite long with their transients. Then I opened up the Edit window, and dropped in each sound, starting on the C1 key, which is industry standard. I tried to keep the sounds aligned similar to a normal drum kit. Kick sounds first, then Snares, and so on.
As a default setting, the 1 Shot functions are automatically selected. I deselected all. That way, I could strike a key and hold to keep the sustain of that particular sound, rather than the entire sound playing back whenever the key is struck, in any dynamic.
The entirety of the sounds where kept fairly natural, unprocessed and unaffected.
Now I have my sounds assigned to my MIDI keyboard, I started piecing together a percussive drum sequence. Keeping it weird and quirky, the 4 bar loop gave off a fun little HipHop vibe.
I then started adding some Synth instruments, starting with the Bass, which was a simple two note line. Then accompanied the foundation with some pop-like Synth, Trumpet and even a Celtic Tin Whistle, for some added feel. Then last but not least, a Snoop Dogg feature. His track Back Up, was a perfect fit at 100 BPM.
After some EQ, some very simple processing, and a quick Master, this little number really fell together. I love the fact that we created something out of nothing, in a 2 hour time frame. Have a listen...
Stay Tuned!
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