Typical length of a hip hop sample

[MiDDLeMaN07]

OK so Im brand new to all this and have been experimenting different ways of making beats. Just wanted to ask what everyone's typical range of length for a sample was?

I use Cool Edit Pro 2, which I know is ancient but its what I've been getting used to. Now, from what I've read, the typical east coast hip hop tempo is between 90-120 bpm, which equals to spacing the hi-hats between .500 (90bpm) and .666(120 bpm) apart, right? Well, I went into some files my friend who has been producing for a while had and it seemed he had his hihats spaced about .350 apart, which makes the tempo around 170 something bpms... All very confusing but trying to get it figured out. So I guess it's a 2 part question just asking about basics of tempo and sampling length. Thanks guys!

[atma]

i know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but i think you're approaching this from way too much of a technical standpoint. it should make absolutely no difference whatsoever what the average length of producers' samples might be; that isn't the way anyone goes about working. if you find a dope sample, use whatever part of it you can make work the best. if you feel like you're sampling so much of something that you're just ripping it off, then follow that instinct and trim it down.

as far as the hi-hats are concerned, your friend's tempo was probably half of whatever you calculated, i.e., around 85 instead of 170. as an aside, it'd be much easier to calculate tempo if you used a sequencer that displayed proper musical time vs. seconds/milliseconds. my advice is: rely on what you FEEL to craft your beats.. nobody gives a shit what the average tempo or sample length is for a particular style. program your hi-hats however it feels right to you. same with everything else. relying on calculations and numbers will lead you nowhere, as far as i'm concerned. no offense! best of luck.

[ShaneFontane]

Originally Posted by MiDDLeMaN07

OK so Im brand new to all this and have been experimenting different ways of making beats. Just wanted to ask what everyone's typical range of length for a sample was?

I use Cool Edit Pro 2, which I know is ancient but its what I've been getting used to. Now, from what I've read, the typical east coast hip hop tempo is between 90-120 bpm, which equals to spacing the hi-hats between .500 (90bpm) and .666(120 bpm) apart, right? Well, I went into some files my friend who has been producing for a while had and it seemed he had his hihats spaced about .350 apart, which makes the tempo around 170 something bpms... All very confusing but trying to get it figured out. So I guess it's a 2 part question just asking about basics of tempo and sampling length. Thanks guys!

stop making yourself nuts learning to "sequence" in milliseconds... lol... you might be using it but it's the wrong tool... kinda like using a steak knife blindfolded after being spun in circles 12 times to cut down a tree instead of an axe - got it?

get your self a program to sequence in. use cool edit to cut up your audio bites if you want. add processing etc. but import them into a soft sampler or direct into your daw's audio bin (or equivalent) and then start LEARNING.

Because right now, you are not learning - you are making mistakes. Not the best way to learn, ya hear?

if you're pockets are sewn up, find a freebie app out there. Not sure what one, but find one... lol. OR pony up less then $100 and get some entry level app. I think you can even get PT LE 7 for like $250 with th audio interface now.

good luck

[LZA]

Originally Posted by atma

i know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but i think you're approaching this from way too much of a technical standpoint. it should make absolutely no difference whatsoever what the average length of producers' samples might be; that isn't the way anyone goes about working. if you find a dope sample, use whatever part of it you can make work the best. if you feel like you're sampling so much of something that you're just ripping it off, then follow that instinct and trim it down.

as far as the hi-hats are concerned, your friend's tempo was probably half of whatever you calculated, i.e., around 85 instead of 170. as an aside, it'd be much easier to calculate tempo if you used a sequencer that displayed proper musical time vs. seconds/milliseconds. my advice is: rely on what you FEEL to craft your beats.. nobody gives a shit what the average tempo or sample length is for a particular style. program your hi-hats however it feels right to you. same with everything else. relying on calculations and numbers will lead you nowhere, as far as i'm concerned. no offense! best of luck.

couldn´t have answered that better.

First of all hip hop is about feeling the drive of your beat/song and the use of drums and samples (or instruments) to suit that feeling. Hip hop is music, and at least some basic musical understanding is essential to make beats.
Try to think in bars rahter than in milliseconds. A bar could have 8 hihats, or 16.
You could even have 32 (crazy ) or none at all. It all depends on the tempo, and the style you`re after.
Same with samples. One could use only a tiny part of a sample, or many, or one that goes over 8 bars.
Listen to some of the tracks out there you like, and analize them.
Try to duplicate some beats, then make your own ones.

[gsilbers]

check out some sample libraries on the web to see how they are cut.

if u are cutting just a hihat hit then you are going nuts on milisecond stuff. just cut what sounds right. sometimes those are cut short for efx.
if you want to cut hihat loops then grab a 2/4/8 bar loop and see if it loops with no glitches.

[riecespieces]

You be surprised how cuts that sounds like shit sound by themself compared to how they soudn over all the instruments in a track eqed filtered layer with reverb and effects and then sent to mastered... It aint worth it homie just chop it and get crackin on that track they'll fix it in the marketing

[MiDDLeMaN07]

Thanks everyone. That info is really helpful and clarified a lot of things. For some reason I thought if I duplicated the hi hats at .500 it would equal out to 120 bpm automatically.

I am going to get probably cubase or cakewalk with my next paycheck. But just to understand this, how the HELL could I possibly figure out what the tempo was when I made something on Cool Edit???

[Methlab]

Stop thinking about math and numbers. It's music. Think in terms of Bars, not ms. You are mulitplying and dividing.....way too much thought already.

[Madix]

Ya dont think of time in music as being seconds and miliseconds but think in terms of the length of beats. Hats are usually placed as 8th or 16th notes, meaning that in one measure there is room for 8 or 16 hats. Your kicks and snares are usually 1/4 notes allowing 2 kicks and 2 snares per measure. There is a major amount of variation from this, getting into kicks and snares on 8th, 16, 32nd notes and hats all over the place.

If your talking about sample time as in a sample recorded from vinyl or from another source then I dont think youd ever come up with an accurate average.

Someone like DJ Premiere uses 1-3 second clips of music and makes bangers while someone like Kanye West uses the whole god damn song, but it still bangs.