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Check the loop to make sure the loop point flows smooth. It should match perfect.
Voila! A perfectly timed break!
5. Build from there... Now your phrases are ready to step out in the event step record.
I prefer to trigger the phrase from the beginning every time instead of holding the loop, because
even the tightest matched loops can fall out of time and it sounds like train wreck! Precision timing
is the key to making smooth Drum & Bass.
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Jungle beats are basically a 95 BPM Hip Hop/R&B beat sped up to 170 BPM. Then add some
distorted-triangle bass bombs. Furthermore, some argue that the bass bombs developed from
reggae bass lines. If you've had any experience playing with a band, this advice may make creating
this stuff easier. *most* D'n'B breaks (in a 16 step, 4 measure phrase) are based on: kick on 1 and
11, snare on 5 and 13 from there it's all embellishment and double entendres, etc... (try a 1/4 note
synced hi-pass delay with feedback at 0 and tweak the FX level knob) add shaker/tamb. on 7-11,
etc... After 32 or 64 bars...
A touch of overdrive, some compression, and a little reverb will get you a lot closer to that
"sampled off a James Brown record" feel.
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An easy and fast way to quickly find out the BPM of a sample is to trim the sample so it loops in
CoolEdit or SoundForge and then open it up in Acid (even the demo version should do fine for this).
Then set the track BPM in Acid (which is a matter of moving a slider and the sample will be
matched). You can then change the loop properties and simply preview the sample in the bottom
panel why sampling on the SP-808 with the auto trim option on, you end up with perfectly looped
samples at correct BPM 's without having to do any guesswork or counting of BPM 's. If you're
already chopping a beat till it sounds like a smooth loop in Sound Forge you can highlight the loop
then go to SPECIAL>EDIT TEMPO on the top toolbar. In the dialog box that pops up check
MEASURE for the type, select MEASURES AND BEATS for the input format, the START, END, and
LENGTH options will be automatically filled in based on what you have highlighted. Enter in how
many beats are in the loop you highlighted then push the PLAY button in the box and POW!! At the
bottom of the box is the BPM. Now the timeline above your WAV file will read the proper beats and
measures for the BPM of your song. If your timeline is not showing the measures and beats, right
click on the timeline and a pull down menu will pop up where you can select measures and beats as
what the timeline will display. This is especially useful for tricks like creating Fat Boy Slim sounding
blowups. With the measures and beats used in the timeline placing the I-Beam close to say the
second beat and hitting "T" on the keyboard will snap the I-Beam exactly to the second beat. By
punching CTRL+SHIFT+HOME on the keyboard you will select everything from the I-Beams location
to the beginning, and pushing CTRL+SHIFT+END will select everything from the
I-Beam location to the end. Now you can copy and paste these segments back to back making
shorter and shorter selections using the "T" method to get a precisely timed cut and string em all
together to get a nice badaba-badaba-bada-bada-ba-ba-ba-ba-b-b-b-b-b-b-b.
Put the new sample on a pad on your SP-808.
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This is cool, because I was actually experimenting with the SP-808 a while back, and sort of got a
Fatboy Slim kind of thing going. Check it out, pick a sample, make sure it's on a loop, and set up
some kind of external recorder hooked up with the SP-808. Now do this, get the sample, and open
the trim thing. Now as you got the sample on hold, put the cursor on "StartPoint" or "LoopPoint"
whatever you want (on the trimmer), and on the number farthest to the right.
Fatboy Stutter
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