Sampling Hooks

[Izmyster92]

Ok, so lately, i've been listening to a lot of DJ Paul's (Three 6 Mafia) past music and I must say that I have fallen in love with his hooks and riffs. What I'm trying to figure out, is how can I sample a chorus and other elements in a song without getting sounds I don't want? For example, I want to sample a chorus from a song but there is drums playing in the background, or other elements preventing me from using the sample simply because I don't know how to specifically isolate the chorus from those sounds! I've been trying to learn this technique for over a year and I really can't seem to grasp my head around it. I know acapella is obviously an option, but I can't find the hooks I want to sample in acapella. Please help me out!

All tips and advice is much appreciated, thank you everyone.

[infernal.machine]

Instrument identification/isolation and polyphonic note separation are both super easy and there are tons of ways to do them perfectly. Pretty much everyone understands the basic digital signal processing techniques required to do such simple tasks. Just throw on some filters and do some Fourier and Dual Wavelet Transforms, and then timbre analysis and maybe some machine-learning training with huge sample libraries.. oo and don't forget to set the LFO to the low pass frequency filter for those wub wubs that kids are raving to these days.

Hope this helps!

[re:dream]

Instrument identification/isolation and polyphonic note separation are both super easy and there are tons of ways to do them perfectly. Pretty much everyone understands the basic digital signal processing techniques required to do such simple tasks. Just throw on some filters and do some Fourier and Dual Wavelet Transforms, and then timbre analysis and maybe some machine-learning training with huge sample libraries.. oo and don't forget to set the LFO to the low pass frequency filter for those wub wubs that kids are raving to these days.

Hope this helps!

Translation:

That's actually a very interesting question. The short answer is that It's pretty much impossible. For a variety of reasons, you can't separate sounds once they have been mixed.

While the human brain is able to pick out and focus on a particular sound even when it is jumbled up with many others (this is known as the cocktail party effect), the same is not true of digital signal processing. To use an oft quoted metaphor, it's like trying to get the egg out of the cake mix after it has been baked. Even if you use tons of processing power, the best you achieve will still be awful sounding, with lots of noise and artefacts in the mix. It's the kind of thing lots of audio spend lots of research time and grant money on, but the current consensus is that success is pretty unlikely.

If you are interested, more info here, here and here

[eyeknow]

??????????? Why would someone who's asking a question be a "noob" in the negative sense?

Although I have no answer for the OP, I don't see what is wrong with the question?

[re:dream]

Yep, it is a very interesting question.

And if the problem is ever solved, I want that software

[Izmyster92]

Instrument identification/isolation and polyphonic note separation are both super easy and there are tons of ways to do them perfectly. Pretty much everyone understands the basic digital signal processing techniques required to do such simple tasks. Just throw on some filters and do some Fourier and Dual Wavelet Transforms, and then timbre analysis and maybe some machine-learning training with huge sample libraries.. oo and don't forget to set the LFO to the low pass frequency filter for those wub wubs that kids are raving to these days.

Hope this helps!

Translation:

That's actually a very interesting question. The short answer is that It's pretty much impossible. For a variety of reasons, you can't separate sounds once they have been mixed.

While the human brain is able to pick out and focus on a particular sound even when it is jumbled up with many others (this is known as the cocktail party effect), the same is not true of digital signal processing. To use an oft quoted metaphor, it's like trying to get the egg out of the cake mix after it has been baked. Even if you use tons of processing power, the best you achieve will still be awful sounding, with lots of noise and artefacts in the mix. It's the kind of thing lots of audio spend lots of research time and grant money on, but the current consensus is that success is pretty unlikely.

If you are interested, more info here, here and here

So what you're telling me is, if I want to use a hook from a g-funk song, i'm just gonna have to rip that hook and not do anything to it? and somehow make a song out of it?

[re:dream]

Pretty much. Can you post some clips with examples (e.g. exactly where in the song is the kind of sample you are interested in? I listened to DJ Paul but I could not really discern what in particular you are talking about

[Izmyster92]

Pretty much. Can you post some clips with examples (e.g. exactly where in the song is the kind of sample you are interested in? I listened to DJ Paul but I could not really discern what in particular you are talking about

Lil Ugly Mane rips a lot of the hooks from Triple 6 Mafia and other artists, so here are a few links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAxgVrnIUkA (The hook)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-5flioLfkc (The hook)

[re:dream]

To my untrained and ignorant ears, those sound like straight up ripped samples.

[Izmyster92]

To my untrained and ignorant ears, those sound like straight up ripped samples.

What I want to know, is how did he rip the "serious shit no playin hoe" hook off of this sample, which appears at 0:05:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkzpOQ9i ... qEsr5AKrTp

Like i'm not that wise when it comes to this production game man, I'm not asking for much, just some advice to help produce the music I have passion for listening to.

[siliconarc]

What I want to know, is how did he rip the "serious shit no playin hoe" hook off of this sample, which appears at 0:05:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkzpOQ9i ... qEsr5AKrTp

they just sampled the start of that track and laid it over their own beat and added a bit of EQ maybe. no mysterious techniques used.

good place to start learning >> http://www.whosampled.com

[Izmyster92]

What I want to know, is how did he rip the "serious shit no playin hoe" hook off of this sample, which appears at 0:05:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkzpOQ9i ... qEsr5AKrTp

they just sampled the start of that track and laid it over their own beat and added a bit of EQ maybe. no mysterious techniques used.

good place to start learning >> http://www.whosampled.com

Thank you.

[jlgrimes]

Instrument identification/isolation and polyphonic note separation are both super easy and there are tons of ways to do them perfectly. Pretty much everyone understands the basic digital signal processing techniques required to do such simple tasks. Just throw on some filters and do some Fourier and Dual Wavelet Transforms, and then timbre analysis and maybe some machine-learning training with huge sample libraries.. oo and don't forget to set the LFO to the low pass frequency filter for those wub wubs that kids are raving to these days.

Hope this helps!

Translation:

That's actually a very interesting question. The short answer is that It's pretty much impossible. For a variety of reasons, you can't separate sounds once they have been mixed.

While the human brain is able to pick out and focus on a particular sound even when it is jumbled up with many others (this is known as the cocktail party effect), the same is not true of digital signal processing. To use an oft quoted metaphor, it's like trying to get the egg out of the cake mix after it has been baked. Even if you use tons of processing power, the best you achieve will still be awful sounding, with lots of noise and artefacts in the mix. It's the kind of thing lots of audio spend lots of research time and grant money on, but the current consensus is that success is pretty unlikely.

If you are interested, more info here, here and here

So what you're telling me is, if I want to use a hook from a g-funk song, i'm just gonna have to rip that hook and not do anything to it? and somehow make a song out of it?

While you can eliminate the background stuff from vocals, you can minimize it. HighPass filter is a good place to start. You can HighPass up to about 100-200 hz which will eliminate the low frequency clashes which often causes the most clashes when trying to mix grooves. LowPass filtering, Notch filtering even, or creative EQing could help get the sample relatively clean. This is how most Sampled hook stuff in the late 80s and early 90s were done. Sometimes the added noise actually adds to the authenticity of the track to make it feel more like a DJ flied it in. Speaking of DJ, a good DJ who speciallizes in mixing and scratching would add a good feel as well.


Another avenue alot of people do nowadays is get acapella versions of tracks or even the individual studio tracks. Many DJs would get acapella versions of popular songs for remixes. These days you probably can find acapella versions over the internet. So if you really need a song acapella try checking with various DJs and over the internet. If you are willing to spend some cash, it might even be worthwhile to check the record company who might be able to provide the individual tracks but expect to pay some good money and sign some paperwork.

Another more creative method would be to get someone who can sound similar to the particular artist resing in the lyrics which would give you instant acapella and would give you ultimate control. Especially if you plan on changing the pitch of the sample anyways you probably could get away with this pretty easiliy without anyone noticing it wasn't the original artist.

[Izmyster92]

Wow! Thank you so much! I really mean it! Taking the time to type all of that and teach me a few things was very nice of you, I kind of don't know what more to say besides thank you and i'm very grateful for your advice.

[Izmyster92]

Don't really know how to quote all of that in a reply and I don't even know how to delete my comments on this lol.