Ableton Forum

Hey Im just after buying Live 8 and I am in love. I've used ableton before in college and the likes but never had the time to play with it properly. Now that I have it I want to start producing some RnB/HipHop tracks for a few friends who sing and rap. Any tips? Can anybody recommend some good sample packages or anything of the sort? Im familiar enough with the software but I know there is a mess load of things I need to learn to get the full whack out of it.

Any tips? Yeah - don't buy sample packages!

They're someone elses ideas.

And think about it - if they came up with a killer sound or riff, would they package it up and offer it to others? No!

Much better to do your own thing right from the start. Decide on your own sounds and make your own drum patterns
instead of relying on something another producer has effectively rejected, and that lots of others now own.

That's right, Hip hop and R&B producers never use loops and samples of other people's work.

I think it depends very much with what you do with the samples in these packs though. If you make something sound interesting/fresh/new from something generic, more power to you. And who the hell knows where you've got your samples from? There are so many sample packs around and so many ways to manipulate and change sound now that someone who has talent with production could do something worthwhile with any old sample. This is like the preset debate too.

However, I would not at all advocate using other people's riffs, melodies, patterns or sequences. You can do that all by yourself. At the end of the day, it's what the resulting sound is that matters and if *insert favourite artist here* announced that he/she used only untweaked presets and generic samples to make his/her music that you love so much, would you stop liking the music?

Just my opinion.

andydes wrote:That's right, Hip hop and R&B producers never use loops and samples of other people's work.

Doh!

I didn't say "never sample from anyone or anything, ever".

He was asking specifically about sample packs, to which I replied (specifically).

I buy sample loops but only to get specific hits out of the loop i.e i dont use the original loop but extract my kicks, snares and hats,etc from it.

Check out this tutorial on youtube that shows how to extract hits from an audio track. Its a dubstep tutorial but the technique would be the same what ever genre. You can then set about making beats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9X_eTNWvIY

Alternatively buy one hit sample packs to build up your collection to make your beats.

I think sample packs do have their place and you would be foolish to turn your nose up at them as they can be a source of inspiration and when beginning give you an idea of how to lay down your beats.

Thanks for all the tips. I'll be sure to check those tutorials out!

I didnt mean to imply that I want to sample other peoples music at all, I was trying to ask(as a 'newbie' I am not yet fully aware of the terminology I should be using) if anyone could recommend some good sounds(live sets? packs, i dont know!?) that may be useful or just sound good in an RnB mix. I dont see a problem using samples though as almost every HipHop song you hear today uses samples from older songs but it wouldnt be my first choice.

Samplings are part and parcel of recent music. It just depends how you do it.

The wrong way to do it aka the black eyed peas

http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/43 ... m_Freeland

http://www.inthemix.com.au/news/intl/48 ... m_Deadmau5

The right way to do it aka The Prodigy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5Dn-WaElI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZYLp5uX9Yw

Back to your original question though....try primeloops. They got loads of sample packs i think would be up your street