Finding a sample is the start. Flipping it - transforming it into something new - is where the art is. A great flip can make a familiar record sound unrecognisable, or reveal something in it nobody had noticed.
Chopping
Chopping slices a sample into pieces - usually at each note, chord or hit - and maps them to pads or keys so you can play them in a new order.
- Chop at transients - the start of each note or hit - for clean, punchy slices.
- Use your sampler's slicing modes. Most can slice automatically by transient, by beat division or by markers. Drum Rack and Simpler in Ableton, Quick Sampler in Logic, and MPC software all do this.
- Tidy each slice - small fades at the start and end to avoid clicks.
Re-sequencing
Once a sample is chopped, play the chops like an instrument:
- Make a new melody from the notes in the sample.
- Make a new chord progression from chords in different parts of it.
- Make a new rhythm by triggering chops in a new pattern.
Playing chops by hand on pads, rather than drawing them in, gives a natural, human feel.
Pitch and time
- Re-pitch chops to fit your key or create new notes.
- Speed up a sample (pitch and tempo together) for the chipmunk soul sound - a signature of early 2000s hip-hop.
- Slow down for weight and darkness.
- Time-stretch without pitch change to fit a sample to your tempo, and experiment with the artefacts different algorithms produce.
Filtering and layering
- Filter out the bass of a sample with a high-pass filter, then add your own bassline underneath. Classic hip-hop technique, and it lets you control the low end.
- Filter out the top for a muffled, distant, lo-fi feel.
- Layer chops with synths, keys or your own playing to add depth.
- Mix samples from different sources - a horn from one record, strings from another.
Off-grid feel
Not everything has to be quantised. Triggering chops slightly early or late, and letting them overlap, creates the loose, swaying feel associated with J Dilla and the producers he influenced. Try turning off quantise, playing chops by hand and keeping the imperfections.
Making it yours
- Change at least three things - pitch, order, rhythm, filtering, layering - so the result is a new idea, not a loop of an old one.
- Add your own parts - drums, bass, keys - so the sample is one element, not the whole beat.
- Ask whether it would be recognisable to someone who knew the original. Recognisability is not necessarily bad, but it affects clearance.
Do this now
- Chop a sample into at least eight slices and map them to pads.
- Play a new four-bar melody using only the chops, by hand, without quantising.
- High-pass the sample and write your own bassline under it.
- Make two different flips of the same sample: one chipmunk-style sped up, one slowed down and filtered.