Scratched hook I made for a track

[djarchitect]

Very nice. Cuts are nice and crisp

[Sigma]

Wait, so how do you go about recording this? All I know is that you're not doing it all once.

Here's a screenshot of the session. If you open this in its own window you can see it full size, cos the forum automatically resizes it: -



The blue zig-zag lines you can see are where I've panned the audio left and right. The green lines on some of the blocks are where the volume fades in or out. Each sample is cut up in an individual track of the multitrack so that I can adjust the volume independently of the other samples. Also, in some cases, track 6 for instance, there's just the end of an audio block there as track 6 has echo applied to it that I only wanted to affect the end of one sample.

So basically, to make something like this you have to do this: -

1. Pick out your samples and think what you want them to say in terms of sentences. Here's what the samples say here: -

Ladies and gentlemen,
You are now about to witness,
Central Parks (this is the producer's name),
And his orchestra,
JD that's me (this is the rapper's name),
Sigma is on the cut (me of course!),
Together forever, forever together,
Cos you know we're 'bout to rip shit up.

2. Open your multitrack session and insert the track/beat into track 1.

3. Cut your first sample up in track 2. You can record a bunch of different attempts and just chop out the best one, then move it into place.

4. Cut your next sample up in track 3. Basically, rinse and repeat with all of the samples recorded into their own tracks of the multitrack session.

5. Add any effects and panning. Go back and re-record any cuts if necessary.

6. Make sure the volume is good in terms of no samples being too quiet/too loud. This is why you record one sample per track.

And that's basically it.

For me personally, picking out the actual samples is by far the biggest stumbling block cos even though I've been listening to hip-hop since 1982, my mind just goes blank when I'm trying to think of samples that say a particular thing. Once I have the samples, it doesn't take too long to actually put together.

[Interracial Tea]

Damn. That's fucking informative right there. The only thing that's been stumping me is how to record the samples without the background beat. Did you have two separate players going on or did you just kind of guess to see if it were on beat?

[Dj_4-$hure]

That's some good ish homeboy. This is one of my goals in life,to scratch for MC's on some tracks.

[Sigma]

Damn. That's fucking informative right there. The only thing that's been stumping me is how to record the samples without the background beat. Did you have two separate players going on or did you just kind of guess to see if it were on beat?

It works like this: -

You drop the beat (you can just drag and drop with Audition) into track 1 of the multitrack, so I already had the full track in there, minus the scratching of course.

Then you prime track 2 for recording and hit record. When you hit record, it doesn't just start recording. It also plays back anything that's already in the other tracks that you haven't chosen to mute, so in this case, the beat/song starts playing - you scratch over it and that's recorded into track 2. Only the scratching you're doing gets recorded into track 2 - not the scratching and track/beat combined.

To do this, you have to hook your gear up like this: -

Output of mixer ----> Line in on PC sound card
Speaker output on PC sound card ----> Powered speakers/amp

It will not work if the output of the PC is routed through your mixer, otherwise when you record the first layer of scratching you will get a combination of both the beat and the scratching recorded into track 2, rather than just the scratching on its own (which is what you need) and that would make it impossible to build up a composition in layers.

It's one of those things that's hard to explain in words, so I hope you see what I mean, but when you try it yourself you'll see exactly what I mean straight away.

EDIT - This might explain it better: -

This is what you want from multitrack recording: -

Track 1 = Song/Beat
Track 2 = First sample cut up
Track 3 = Second sample cut up
Track 4 = Third sample cut up

Etc.

This is NOT what you want from multitrack recording: -

Track 1 = Song/Beat
Track 2 = Song/Beat + First sample cut up
Track 3 = Song/Beat + First sample cut up + Second sample cut up
Track 4 = Song/Beat + First sample cut up + Second sample cut up + Third sample cut up

Etc.

So that's why you have to make sure your gear is hooked up properly, otherwise you get that cumulative thing where everything you've recorded previously is being carried over to the next track and you really don't want that.

[DjDisArm]

question sig... when you look for the samples... does it necessarily have to be an acapella? or is it a sample off any song...? just so you dont get the backround music of the sample. but the track 1 song/beat might off set it?

[PONTUS.2]

dope shit! i want to do stuff like this but i cant get ableton to sync up properly with my DJ set up

What program is that that you used?

I need a program that will allow me to track in my scratches and edit them next to a beat

[Austin GoGreen]

Looks like Adobe Audition Pontus.2.... Damn I love these forums! Glad to see you back Sigma.

Changed my name, I used to post under AGizzle.

Old school meets new tech! Thanks for the info... I need a tutorial on how to make this happen with FL Studio.

[Sigma]

question sig... when you look for the samples... does it necessarily have to be an acapella? or is it a sample off any song...? just so you dont get the backround music of the sample. but the track 1 song/beat might off set it?

It doesn't necessarily have to be an acapella, no, but you would generally use them over samples from the full versions of the tracks otherwise you'll get bassline/kick/snare clashes with your own beat. EQing goes some way in making things sound right if you can't get acapellas, so you can kill the bass and some of the mids or whatever. You can also tweak the EQing of particular samples in the recording software. That said, sometimes having some percussive elements in the samples you use actually works better, but it really depends on the samples and what you're doing.

In that track I had a go at making my own acapella for the "cos you know we're 'bout to rip shit up" part as the drums/bass on that sample were too overpowering. It didn't work 100%, but it definitely removed some of the drums and other instrumentation.

What program is that that you used?

Adobe Audition 1.5. You can do a similar thing in Audacity (which is free).

I'd also recommend this: -

http://www.reaper.fm/

A couple of people I know use this and recommend it over Audition. I only use Audition as it's a program I've used for many years, but apparently this is superior for this kind of thing. It's free to try and in fact, you can use it for free indefinitely, but if you do decide to pay it's only $60 which is very reasonable for a pretty fully featured multitrack DAW. The current version of Audition (5.5) is $349.

Welcome back to the forums, AGizzle!

[DjDisArm]

nicee.. thanks for the info.... i guess since its only a few words... you don't have to worry about the backround but yeah like you said messing with the EQ would do wonders... oh and i wanna hear the finish product....