When all else fails... Dealing with samples...

[babyface_finsta]

Russell,

Thanks for taking your time and energy to address our questions... Although I am not asking for a specific solutions, I'd like a little insight to how you approach dealing with lo-fi samples (kinda like you touched on with the Talib/Madlib/Primo thread)...

Have there been any instances where there has been a Sample/loop that after EQ/filtering/compression... still didn't gel, but you had to make work... are there any other things you have used as glue (throughout your experimentation process), that did the trick... Unfortunately, the majority of us are limited to ITB mixes... but I think your philosophy might be helpful...

Some of us experiment forever... and never quiet get there... or we often eq and compress the soul out of Sample and wind up with something that could've been great... but falls short... therefore we do a piss poor job of an interpolation...

Just from reading your Q&A section, there are about 5 names mentioned that I have been pretty cool with over the last 10 plus years... did you track the majority of those project or just handle the mixing of them... knowing these peoples personalities... their Talents must make dealing with the frustration a lot easier... any tips on dealing with personal/professional agendas...

Thanks,

Jay

[Russell Elevado]

Originally Posted by babyface_finsta

Russell,
Thanks for taking your time and energy to address our questions... Although I am not asking for a specific solutions, I'd like a little insight to how you approach dealing with lo-fi samples (kinda like you touched on with the Talib/Madlib/Primo thread)...
Have there been any instances where there has been a Sample/loop that after EQ/filtering/compression... still didn't gel, but you had to make work... are there any other things you have used as glue (throughout your experimentation process), that did the trick... Unfortunately, the majority of us are limited to ITB mixes... but I think your philosophy might be helpful...
Some of us experiment forever... and never quiet get there... or we often eq and compress the soul out of Sample and wind up with something that could've been great... but falls short... therefore we do a piss poor job of an interpolation...
Just from reading your Q&A section, there are about 5 names mentioned that I have been pretty cool with over the last 10 plus years... did you track the majority of those project or just handle the mixing of them... knowing these peoples personalities... their Talents must make dealing with the frustration a lot easier... any tips on dealing with personal/professional agendas... Thanks, Jay

hello jay,

thanks for the comps
when i have to deal with samples (lofi or hifi) i first see how it's supposed to sit and gel with everything else in the song. is it the main thing, is it just for support, does it play in conjunction with live instruments or with other samples, etc? you can't lose sight of the song. so i play around with different eq'ing and compression and really try and find which are the sweet frequencies and which are making things sound wierd. one of the tricks with getting a sound with samples, is you have to get your sound with all the other tracks playing with it. in other words, you shouldn't eq/compress it in solo mode. because things could sound great in solo, but it doesn't have all the other frequencies competing with it.

if i still cant get it to sound right, then i'll try using some subtle effect on it. so if i put a slight chorus on it the frequencies might smooth out a little bit or it will add a texture that might be more suitable than before. another trick is to split up the sample 2 or 3 times and have different processing on each one (eg: one is for low's and the other high's). but once again, just keep attacking it until something happens....

cheers