Ableton Samples – Oh Happy Day

happy day

happy day 2

OK so after some hard grafting throughout the festive season in my makeshift ‘studio’, I have finally managed to crack the Oh Happy Day sample. Admittedly it still needs work to sound perfect, but it’s on it’s way for sure, and I quite like the catchy, happy feel from the vocals, although at the moment they are used a bit too much. Cutting them down to every now and again instead of continuous would space them out and make them not so annoying by the end of the sample, but they definitely work, and in my opinion, work well over drum and bass, both in terms of sound and speed. It just goes to show religious music and fast tempo work together, most likely because of the way they conjure up imagery and create spiritual experiences. From reading ‘Tance Formation’ by Robin Sylvan, it highlights a study proving the way music plays a big part in inducing religious and spiritual experiences within the brain. Higher tempo just makes these experiences more intense.

But back to the tune. I wanted to make the listener feel like they were walking in on a choir practice so to speak, so to set the scene I created some distant sounding, ringing church bells using the ‘Simpler’ instrument and a waveform from the Live library. Then as the vocals come in and get louder, the drum and bass becomes evident. I certainly feel my production techniques have come on leaps and bounds since I started using Ableton, which I believe is evident in my work so far. The bassline in this one sounds just like something you’d hear in a professional tune, and although could possibly do with some work to fit with the vocals a little more, it’s certainly starting to sound like some real drum and bass. A bit to much ‘Jump Up’ possibly, could do with a smoother sound for nicer, liquidy feel, but certainly sounding sweet. Again the drums could do with some tweaking, a little cheesy at the moment, but some strong, full drums just sitting in and filling out the background would be perfect. More EQ’ing certainly needs to be done, but overall the sample is sounding much more like it. Certainly one that will be considered for working on in the final major project.

Ableton Samples – Synth and Bass tests

synth and bass

This sample was originally supposed to be ‘Oh Happy Day’, and although I placed it into the timeline I never actually got round to trying to incorporate it in somewhere as I had spent so long trying to perfect the bass, and even then it’s not exactly what I had in mind, but it’s close. I had a higher pitched more whooshing sound in my head that I’ve almost replicated with the filter effect but not quite got. I had experimented with many effects on many copies of the original waveform and although most just got over effected some were cool and I incorporated into the sample, switching every 16 beats once the drums have kicked in. I’ve also added a lovely synth that sounds ‘choiresk’, as well as a sub bass that goes underneath the whole tune. These elements help create the euphoric element of the tune. I wanted to make a sound that makes you feel like your flying through a beautiful, sunny sky, as that to me is what I imagine when having visions while listening to music, and they are the ‘religious experience’ I feel and would like to replicate. All these layers really help build up a full sounding clip, and you can really tell the difference between a sample with and a sample without layered sounds. I also added in one of my own recorded sounds here, the ‘mouth water drop’, at the end of every 32 when the drums kick in. It sounds pretty cool, although this is where I discovered my samples had only recorded in the right channel, which was kind of annoying. This must have been because the mic only had one jack output going into one channel input on the Fostex recorded I was using. So in future when I record sounds I need to make sure they are recorded over left and right so they can be used properly, and although I tried panning the sound in Ableton it just didn’t have the desired effect. This unfortunately put most of my samples out of use for the moment, but not to worry, as these are only working samples at the moment.

So overall I am extemely happy with my development in Ableton at the moment and am enjoying the experience greatly, eagerly awaiting my next chance to break out the midi key board and trying out a few new ideas and experiments. There is still so much to learn and discover, most of which I probably still wont have found by the time this year is up, but I shall keep exploring and endeavouring to make new sounds and driving drum patterns, and shall hopefully produce some really inspired, culturaly influenced drum and bass to work with.

Ableton Samples – Synth and Bass tests

bass test 2

bass test 1

bass test 3

For this sample I wanted to get some kind of organ sounding element involved, some long, drawn out notes reminiscent of those heard when entering a church before a service, in the background to fill the silence of the large, open church. OK, so not your typical organ sound I know, needs lots of work before I get a proper organ sound, but it replicates it well enough for me now to have a play around with some more effects and experiment with some more sounds. The original sample was taken from a trumpet sound, which I cat a small section of making a droning noise on the notes I knew I wanted to work with, as demonstrated in sample number 2. This would form the basis of the bass riff. Duplicating this original riff I added and keyframed filters to make the ‘wobbing’ sound, which can be seen in the image below by the pink lines in the main window.

Again its all down to trial and error, and for every few hours you spend searching through sound effects and experimenting with parameters you only really ever find a few decent outcomes, and even then most aren’t followed up as they only contain an element of what you have in your mind. It’s like someone said to me, having the ideas and actually being able to make them properly on screen are completely different things entirely. And I have to admit it’s true, I have ideas for amazing tunes all the time, but actually getting the right sound at the moment is near on impossible, there’s just so much to experiment with and so many ways of doing things, but I’m learning, and enjoying it, which is the main thing. The main thing I learned from this sample is layering sound is essential, especially the bass or melody, and helps the audio sound more powerful, giving it more body and strength.

Ableton Samples – Synth and Bass tests

hospitality

This was made predominantly from the Danny Byrd sample pack, using a selection of his drum sounds and synths etc. Great buy from hospital records shop, £25 and there’s others from Cyantific, Nu-Tone and Syncopix. Looking forward to buying more and having an experiment! The drum pattern is really simple on this one, and really works wonders. Exactly as I said before, simple is sometimes better. It’s full enough to carry the tune and steppy enough to keep it funky while not being too strong in the balance and overpowering other elements of the audio. The off beat pattern creates a kind off ‘swaying’ motion, and this is the great diversity of drum and bass as opposed to other forms of rave music such as hardcore and techno, to drum and bass you can move in any direction where as other forms of electronic music are very static in their ‘up down’ movement.

The synth was made from a sample on the pack that I cut a section from (as shown above), and added effects to to manipulate into a different sound to work with. After tweaking the sound into something I liked using mostly reverb, a little overdrive and some filter, I proceeded in making a melody from the sound. Although it’s not exactly ‘heavenly’ sounding, it has a certain feel to it that makes it almost euphoric. Its hard to put my finger on it, it could be the notes, or the frequency, theres just something I like about this kind of sound that does it for me. A few producers have used this kind of sound in tunes, and every ones a smasher (Fresh – Gold Dust, Shock One – Polygon, Shock One and Phetsta – The Sun).

The melody is made in a similar way to the drums, except you use a sampler for the sound. You can get different types of sampler available as plug ins, creating even more strength and depth. You can manipulate the sound into almost anything from here. A midi keyboard is a great help when working on a melody, as you can sit a test what sounds good and works well with each other over your drums before drawing anything on the actual time line. After a play around with my M-Audio Oxygen8 midi keyboard I came up with a riff I liked and proceeded to draw it onto the grid. The slightly off beat feel to the rhythm works well with the drums, complimenting and flowing with the patterns, although getting onto the computer what you just played is certainly harder than it originally seems. But then when you get it right it all seems worth it.

Ableton Samples – Si Ya Hamba

test 1 si ya hamba

test 2 si ya hamba

test 3 si ya hamba

test 4 si ya hamba

test 5 si ya hamba

I’d sourced this vocal off i-Tunes from a Christian ’50 Greatest Acapellas’ album. I really like it, and think it could be epic if done right. Think it’s catchy and can imagine a drum beat under it just from listening to the acapella. But actually fitting a beat to it is another thing, as I quickly found out. Obviously as part of a choir they probably weren’t singing to a constant beat, and so I needed to tweak the bpm in different areas of the sample to fit over the drums (shown below). You can tweak any area in between to set markers, and after a few hours fiddling with at times the minutest area, I’d managed to make it fit over perfectly.

Now I had to place the drums at the right moment to start, as they needed to start on the ‘Hamba’ not with the beginning of the vocals. Zooming right into the timeline meant I could see the exact moment to start so the beat would carry perfect throughout. At first I used a loop from one of the sample packs I’d downloaded just to get the vocals fitting smoothly, but I promptly set about making some of my own beats together as well as mixing my own and made loops with each other to create new ones. There really are endless possibilities when it comes down to it, but I feel the vocals work best with the beats in samples 3 and 4, probably because I produced them and they are by themselves. The samples with two beats playing together have too much going on, and although chopping and changing beats can be done blending them doesn’t always sound particularly good.

Ableton Samples – Tribal Beats

tribal beats

Through listening to tribal drum performances it’s quite blatant to see how they can be used in pretty much any form of music, even if it is just a minor influence. Big pounding bass drums and catchy bongo patterns, either way cool sounds if done correctly. And I think that’s the main thing with tribal beats, they have to sound right. It was only when doing this sample did I really start to understand the importance of EQ’ing drums, as the original sounds can sometimes be limiting, and adding or taking away elements of the EQ’s can give you a much fuller sound. Again, it’s all trial and error, as sometimes EQ’ing didn’t have a good effect, like on the bongos, which sounded perfect as they were.

To start with I wanted a big, pounding drum sound to act as the basis for all the other drums. My idea was to layer the sounds up, adding a new one every 32 beats, as you can see from the start of the compilation (above) as opposed to the end (below). Same drum rack, just new layers adding a new element each time. If I were making a real tune here I’d probably decide to start with more than one sound, adding a couple each time so its not dragged out too long, but for now I want to see how each one sounds coming in. It takes a minute to get into it, but by the time the second underlying kick drums come in it starts to sound pretty tribal. I’d probably add those to the start if it were a real tune, as they definitely give the sample so much more body. But I do like the idea of layering up the sounds, and by the time all the elements are in it has a catchy rhythm that’s tribal crossed modern. The bongos are the best part, a cheeky, catchy little pattern that flick in and out of beat but make you move. There are still many more sounds you could add to the mix, and I sourced loads more, but it’s fitting them in well and not over crowding the beat you have to remember. Simple is sometimes better, because it can depend on the melody and bass to structure the drums and times, and visa verse. At the end of the day you can always go back and add or subtract more if its needed.

Ableton Samples – Drum Experiments

So one of the first things I knew I would need to look at were Drum loops and patterns, as there are literally endless numbers of combination’s of drums and drum samples to add together and mess around with. This is immediately the first great thing I notice about music production software, you have access to almost every and any sound imaginable from the ease of your most comfortable chair at home. With traditional forms of music you have to source each sound from it’s original environment and this can be tricky. You can still manipulate the sound in the same ways, in fact in many more, but creating music on a computer does lose the energy gained from a live performance. So the many more positives outweigh the negatives in my opinion, as people into the music still gain the same experience either way. At the end of the day, if you produce good music people will enjoy it.

drum experiments

To make this I made a simple bass line to keep it going, although this sample really isn’t about the bass it’s about the beat underneath and experimenting with different drum patterns. I wanted to see the effect of these patterns as they played out underneath a rhythm. Drums have different purposes depending on where and how they are used. For example, at the start I use a few kick drums to prepare the listener for the beat, and before they fully kick I build up the tension by building these drums, speeding them up to create an air of excitement. Don’t get me wrong, still very basic but you get the idea.

To make the drums you need a ‘drum rack’ found in the instruments folder. Finding the right drums to use can take a while as there are so many samples to look through, especially if you have downloaded external sample packs as these contain even more drum samples and loops. It’s really down to the producer as to what drum sounds to use, as each individual will like different sounds for different reasons. Personally I like clean, sharp, distinct sounds, which is probably one reason I like drum and bass so much. Digital does seem to be the best way to replicate these sounds, as there is so much you can do to the EQ’s etc to make the perfect sound. Again here, its up to the producer to decide whether or not to use loops or samples for drum beats. I wanted to use samples so I could make my own loops and experiment myself with patterns and how they work with each other.

I’ve used a few different styles of beats in this piece, blending some ‘drum and bass step’ with some original ’4 to the floor’ patterns (you can see these in the ‘drum rack’ section of the main window in the image above, each rectangle block is a new beat). They both have their uses in different scenarios, and both types of pattern can be used in my final audio sample. I have to admit, making drums in incredibly addictive, I sat for days just sourcing nice sounds to use and rearranging them little by little  to see how they sounded in relation to each other, on the off beat and on beat creating minimal yet inspired changes to beats. Again, its all down to trial and error, sometimes patterns worked sometimes they didn’t.

Final acappella samples

Si Ya Hamba:

Si Ya Hamba-verse

I really like this African, tribal style of singing and think it could definitely be used in a breakdown. Some tribal style drums and a nice liquidy bass line and it could be epic. Sample would have to not be overused though.

Oh Happy Day:

Oh Happy Day 01

Oh Happy Day 02

Oh Happy Day 03

Oh Happy Day 04

Oh Happy Day 05

I think the ‘Oh Happy Day’ sample could fit in perfectly with a drum and bass track. A nice, catchy, uplifting vocal with a rolling drum beat and smooth bass line. As I sated before, I didn’t want anything to god orientated so I chose to cut out the rest of the vocals just leaving the ‘Oh Happy Day’. This is enough of a similarity and still conjures up imagery without being to full on or cheesy.

This Little Light of Mine:

23 This Little Light of Mine

Although I find the lyrics rather catchy and bouncy, I’m not actually sure this would work without using the entire sample. And then it’s quite a long, repetative sample. Maybe cutting a section and adding effects would work, but the other two I can imagine straight away where as this one I can but just not as well. I think it’s the vocals crossing over each other, makes it hard to define start and end cuts. Annoying, and as I cant find another decent acappella then maybe not one to pursue.

Sourcing Acappella’s

So for a few of my samples it would certainly be nice to source a few uplifting, harmonious acappella’s with a religious influence. I don’t want anything to God heavy, it needs to be nice and smooth with hints of gospel but no actual religion, as otherwise it would either not appeal to the drum and bass scene or just sound cheesy, neither of which I want. After listening to masses of Gospel/Christian music it certainly became evident gospel choir with an upbeat step and catchy vocals was the best route, but finding a good acappella site was not easy. Eventually i-Tunes came to the rescue, although the acappella’s are not 320 bit rate (they’re 257, which is good but wav or 320 would have been best), and in m4a format. I have to admit Apple are a bit annoying like that, but they are usable certainly. Obviously I shall only use sections of the samples, but they are all bought from religious acappella CD’s:

07 Si Ya Hamba

10 Oh Happy Day

23 This Little Light of Mine

Samples – Sound Effects

These samples are mostly taken from the web, and are purely comical. They do have their place though. Funny, laughable samples can work wonders sometimes as they relate to the audience, it all depends on the feel of the tune and what your trying to convey. I can imagine some being used in breakdowns and drops.

heartbeat fast

heartbeat normal

robot hover

silly noise 2

silly noise