Speaker A
When I first started making beats, I had a tough time learning how to sample. But what happened is I would find a sample that I thought sounded great.
Learn how to pick and manipulate malleable samples to create better beats with practical techniques and examples from Navie D.
Key Takeaways
- Choosing malleable, thin samples allows for easier and more effective manipulation.
- Techniques like reversing, time stretching, and pitch shifting enhance beat variation.
- Complex samples with many layers are harder to manipulate without sounding unnatural.
- Adding effects like reverb and delay can make stretched or reversed samples sound more natural.
- Working with malleable samples encourages better beat composition and creativity.
Summary
- Navie D shares his early struggles with sampling and how he learned to pick better samples.
- He introduces the concept of sample malleability, which is how easily a sample can be manipulated to fit a beat.
- The video demonstrates choosing a thin, open sample from Arcade by Output for an orchestral beat.
- Navie explains why complex samples with many instruments are harder to manipulate effectively.
- He shows techniques like reversing parts of a sample to create natural loops and seamless transitions.
- Time stretching and adding effects like reverb and delay help make manipulated samples sound more natural.
- Pitch shifting is used to create different sections of a beat from the same sample.
- The importance of choosing malleable samples is emphasized to allow for creative manipulation without audio artifacts.
- Using thin samples requires more work in programming drums and adding instruments but improves composition skills.
- The video includes a free drum kit download linked in the description.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
I would try to make it into a beat, but the beat would just not end up sounding all that good.
Speaker A
I found things usually didn't end up gelling well, the whole beat sounded out of place.
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The layers that I would program on top just would not fit well with the sample, it was just a complete mess.
Speaker A
After doing this thousands of times and trying out thousands of different samples, I eventually came to realize what I was doing wrong.
Speaker A
Eventually, I was able to understand what turns a good sample into a good beat.
Speaker A
One of the things that's very important that I came to realize down the road was this idea that I call sample malleability.
Speaker A
Now, what this means is how easily you can take a sample and manipulate it, change it, shape it, and ultimately make it fit the beat that you're trying to make.
Speaker A
So what I want to do is take the beat that you guys heard in the beginning of the video and show you why this concept is so important and how it can help you choose better samples and ultimately make better beats.
Speaker A
Before I do that though, I took the drums from this beat and I put it into a free kit for you guys to download.
Speaker A
So the link to that is in the description below.
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Going in, what I wanted to do is make an orchestral type of beat, that was the idea that I had.
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So I had to find the right sample that fit that theme.
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Eventually, I found this sample here in Arcade by Output that had a lot of different parts that I could have used.
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So I want to do is run through a few of the different samples that I could have used and eventually show you guys which one I did use and why.
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As you guys can hear, there's just a lot of different samples that I can choose from.
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These ones that I just played, you'll notice that there's just a lot going on in them, there's multiple instruments playing.
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There are a lot of melodies with counter melodies on top, and so going in, I know that if I choose any of these samples, it's just going to make my job a lot harder down the road.
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When I want to do any type of manipulation or changing to these samples.
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But what you can see here is this section of the sample here looks relatively thin.
Speaker A
Just by looking at the waveforms.
Speaker A
So let's listen to how this one sounds.
Speaker A
So listening to this part of the sample, I can tell this one's going to lead into a better beat.
Speaker A
It has enough going on where it sounds interesting enough, but not too much to the point where I'm unable to do any manipulation or changes to the sample to make it fit my beat.
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I can also tell though that this sample is not going to loop well.
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So if we look at the waveform here, it sort of gets louder and louder in volume.
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And if you heard in the last quarter of the sample, more instruments get introduced.
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So if I try to loop it, it's going to start off pretty quiet and then it's going to increase in volume.
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And then when I loop it again, it's going to go back to being quiet.
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And it's just not going to sound balanced.
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So one of the techniques that I like to do in this situation in order to get it more balanced and feeling more natural is I'll remove the part that I don't like and replace it with another part of the sample that I do like.
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And one of the good ways of doing this, especially in this sample, is if I were to take the last fourth of the sample, the last quarter here.
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And remove it and replace it with the part right before it, but just play that part in reverse, it's going to sound a lot more natural.
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So this is a technique that I like to do a lot.
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As you can tell, it just sounds a lot more authentic.
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And it's going to gel better in the beat ultimately.
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But let's think, if this sample had a lot more going on, if it had multiple instruments or percussion on top of it, and I tried to play that section in reverse like I did here.
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It just would not come out sounding right.
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I'd have to worry about whether the other instruments also sound good in reverse.
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And whether the percussion, if there was percussion in there, would sound good.
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So the only reason why this technique actually does work is because the sample again is just so thin and so malleable that it allows me to do these types of manipulations to it.
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So later on in the beat, I made a B section.
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And what I did was I just took the exact same sample and did some manipulating to it.
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So what I did with this part of the sample is I took the exact same portion that I did from the prior section.
Speaker A
And I just reversed it and I also slowed the speed down to 1/4 of the original speed.
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So if I play it isolated, this is how it sounds.
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So as you guys can hear, it sounds really grainy.
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And it just doesn't sound as natural.
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So one of the things that I like to do is add reverb and delay in this type of situation, so what it does is just sort of opens the sample up.
Speaker A
It gives it more space and it makes it feel a little bit more natural.
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Just because when you have a sound that has a little bit more reverberation on it.
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It sort of mimics what it sounds like in an actual real space.
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So if I add these effects on and introduce all the other parts of the beat back into it.
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It'll just end up sounding more cohesive and it'll actually sound like it fits in.
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So again, let's think if this part of the sample had other instruments playing.
Speaker A
If it had percussion especially, this would just end up sounding awful.
Speaker A
I would have to worry about whether the percussion sounds are subject to the delay effect that I have on it, and I'm just going to have multiple sounds hitting all over the place.
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And it just would not sound good.
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The only way I can do this technique of time stretching and have it still sound good is because the sample again is just so malleable and open.
Speaker A
I know if I take a string sample and I stretch it out.
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It's not going to sound as bad.
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But if it had other instruments on top of it, then I'd have to worry about those as well.
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And it's just going to end up being a mess.
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So, once again, I have another section here, I made a C section that used the exact same sample again.
Speaker A
And I just did further manipulation to it to make it sound a little bit different, so I'll play it for you guys right here.
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So what I did was I took the exact same sample and I pitched it down five semitones.
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So you can see here, minus four semitones.
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The original sample I had at plus one.
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And so what I often do is I'll play around with samples and change the pitch in order to make different sections for the beat.
Speaker A
It's just a quick and easy way to come up with a different section using the exact same sample.
Speaker A
But again, let's think.
Speaker A
If this sample had, for example, a female vocalist over top of it, and I was chopping it up with the vocal still in it.
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And then I tried to pitch it down after the fact, five semitones.
Speaker A
It's going to end up sounding awful.
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If it's a female vocalist, it's going to end up sounding like a dude or something.
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It's just going to sound so disjointed with the rest of the beat and it's just not going to gel well.
Speaker A
Once again, the only way I can use this technique of pitch shifting up and down so easily is because the sample is just so open and so malleable.
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So as you can see, I used a lot of different techniques with the sample in this beat.
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And the only way that was possible is because I chose the right sample.
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A sample that was really malleable, very open, and allowed me to do all these techniques and all these changes to it.
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Now, obviously, there is a flip side to this.
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The producer is going to have to do a lot more work if they want to use a sample this thin.
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Because now it's your responsibility to figure out how to program drums on top, how to add bases, how to add instruments on top.
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But ultimately, I think this is a good thing.
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It gives you good practice in learning how to actually compose and not just find a sample, loop it up and say, all right, this beat's done.
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There are times when you do want to take a loop and just leave it alone if that's what's best for the beat, but if you find you're doing that just because you don't feel confident in your composition skills.
Speaker A
I would really invoke you to try and learn how to compose a little bit better.
Speaker A
I was able to do so much more and make a more varied beat and ultimately a better beat just because I chose a sample that was a lot more malleable and a lot more thin.
Speaker A
Once again, guys, if you want to download the kit, the link is in the description below.
Speaker A
Please leave a comment, let me know if you have any questions or what you guys want to see next.
Speaker A
Hit the subscribe button, like and hit the notification bell.
Speaker A
See you guys next week.
Topics:sampling tutorialbeat makingsample malleabilitymusic productionNavie Dsample manipulationtime stretchingpitch shiftingreverb delay effectsArcade by Output
