Having extracted the groove map from the sample in question, simply apply it to the MIDI clip(s) of your home-made break to align its note timings and velocities accordingly.
This is the way to go when you’re just looking to bring the funky ‘live’ sensibility of a classic loop to your own programmed drum, bass and other lines, rather than copy it note for note. Related to the previous tip, every DAW provides the means to impose the rhythmic feel of an audio part on the positioning and velocities of notes in a MIDI clip – it’ll be called ’groove map’, ’groove template’ or similar, depending on your platform of choice. If you need to nab a beat or chord progression as MIDI with its all-important timing kept intact, though, audio-to-MIDI conversion is a quick and easy way to do it.
Depending on the source material, this might emerge perfectly mapped or require some editing to knock into shape, and the technique only really works on single instrumental elements – ie, it’s not going to separate a mixed drums, bass and keys loop, for example. Not so long ago considered one of the ’holy grails’ of music production, this now commonplace technology analyses the pitch, timing and dynamics of an audio clip and spits out a representative MIDI file.
Old school breakbeat samples pro#
When trying to remake a specific breakbeat with your own replacement sounds (and some degree of compositional variation to get around copyright, of course), the audio-to-MIDI conversion systems offered by various DAWs (Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, Pro Tools etc) prove incredibly useful.
And finally, for strings, brass and other orchestral noises, look no further than David Tobin’s 2020 round-up. The first consideration should be the drum kit, and for old-school sounds, Toontrack EZdrummer 2 and Superior Drummer 3, FXpansion BFD3, UJAM DEEP and XLN Audio Addictive Drums 2 offer various retro-themed kits, while Kontakt users should check out the Abbey Road 60s and 70s Drummer libraries that come with Native Instruments Komplete, amongst others.īass and guitar are also well represented in the Kontakt space ( Session Guitarist Electric Vintage, Scarbee MM Bass et al), while organs and electric pianos such as Arturia B-3 V and AAS Lounge Lizard 4 have you more than covered for keyboards. If, as is likely in the average home studio, recording live musicians isn’t an option, you’ll have to create your vintage breaks using virtual instrument plugins – for which, happily, you’re truly spoilt for choice. It needs to stand up as its own self-contained loop in every sense, for moulding to your tracks as you would a genuine vinyl-lifted break. Ultimately, the goal is to end up with a stereo loop of each break that sounds like it was produced in the era being evoked, so mix your multitrack recording down with that in mind, outside of the context of any track in which you might be planning to use it. So, get some musician friends over for the day or hire some session players if you’ve got the budget (make sure your studio is set up and ready to go before they arrive!), and blast out as many grooves and breaks as you can in the time allowed. Obviously, the capable multi-instrumentalist has a head start here, being able to track everything themself, part by part, but for maximum authenticity, you’ll want to get your ’band’ playing together at the same time, even if it’s just a bass player and a drummer. If time, space and possibly money are no object, the best way to create your own original breakbeats and loops is to record them yourself.