Breakbeat comps...
Remedial
10 Posts
Are there any that are actually worth the money. I've checked out the Ultimate Breaks and Beats series and the Ubiquity stuff. Problems with the UBB stuff is that it sounds like great stuff to needle drop in the club to let the dancers dance and the breakers break, but as for isolated sounds for sampling (i.e. a kick here, snare there without all kinds of crazy percussion or hi hat work over it) it sucks. Don't get me wrong, if you want a great history lesson of what cats looped up back in the day, go for it, but as for chopping it up, good luck.Now, the Ubiquity series is really iffy. Some of the stuff is alright, but most of it is mediocre.Have any of you ever come across a Breakbeat comp worth its weight in gold?
Comments
Sampling drums off of break records is definitely
If you want to be a good producer, start by taking pride in your drums. I know it's not the "in thing" to do any more. But dig a little deeper than the next guy and find open drums on various (non-breakbeat) records. You'll be a happier person, believe me.
It's the sort of thing that seperates people like Kanye West from producers that know what they're doing.
Or...
You could continue to not worry about whether or not an extremely small demographic (i.e. "beatdiggers") will judge you based on what source your samples are from. Make music you like and don't worry if some nerd in a backpack thinks you aren't "down."
To some extent, I agree with you. You should ALWAYS make music you like, but this really isn't a question of taste.
Sampling a snare from a breakbeat record which numerous other "producers" have used is, I repeat,
In hip-hop production, if you're chopping drums and playing out your own patterns, this is your chance to shine and be unique - don't half-ass it. It's one thing if you're just hooking up some beats to scratch over. But if you want to take your craft to another level, don't be afraid to go the extra yard - that's what seperates the good producers from the great producers.
Just my own two - it can be taken or ignored, I'm not gonna be offended either way. Just trying to flip the coin and show the other side.
Strange thing is that Pete Rock uses the 3rd snare from the break of 'Funky Drummer' to fill out his sound - swears by it - I've tried it myself and it adds a whole lot of bottom to the primary snare... If 'Funky Drummer' isn't played out, what is?
Ultimately, it's what you like and also what sounds good - what's the point of cobbling together snares, kicks, etc. that sound clumsy together @ best...
Just another $ 0.02...
Sorry, I was maybe jumping to conclusions, thinking you were on some "sampling from comps is for herbs" shit. I honestly believe, though, that most producers don't really want to be Deep Realheadz Cratedigguz. They just want cool sounds to sample. In that case I'd suggest CDs (gasp!) or buying a keyboard or something.
But as for your Kanye reference, that shit was definitely annoying. It's one thing to sample a commonly used, but fairly average-sounding break, and another to sample a handful of over used and instantly recognizable breaks. I like the Cold Grits drums... when followed by the rest of the song. "Crack Music" sounded like doo doo IMO.
Yeah, it's all good, man. And you're right about most producers just wanting cool sounds to sample. I think it's interesting how beat making has changed over the years. Well, interesting and in many ways, dissapointing. IMO and from personal experience, back in the days, guys really looked at making beats as their art, whereas now it's more of a novelty. Seems like most guys are just on some "oh yeah, I make beats" shit, you know? But I guess that's the case with over-commercialization. All forms of art seem to fall victim to it at some point in time.
Hopefully things will come around though.
:::praying:::
Yes, they do... And that reminds me;
"I said 'well, Daddy, don't cha know that things go in cycles? The way that Bobby Brown is just ampin' like Michael.'"
I feel you somewhat. I do take pride in my drums, and that coupled with my anal retentive nature, has lead to many of the drums that I come across not making the cut. I've frustrated myself to the point that I just want someone else to do the work for me (compile nice breaks) and me just use it.
As for the Kanye comment, he is stuff can be a bit bland at times, but if his level of success is to be frowned upon, then I must be in the wrong frame of mind. Now, mind you, I don't intend to be looping up Funky Drummer or The Honeydrippers anytime soon, but I have basically left many a great beat lying there because of my inability to find any drums that met the standards.
So, cats can try to son and treat me like I'm some cat whose only idea of digging is looking up samples on the-breaks.com and then hitting the net to find mp3 versions of those songs. Or, even worse, spending absurd amounts of money on single records because so and so used it.
Not me. My fingers are about as dusty as some of the best of them. It's just a man reaches a point of frustration, nah mean?
Also, I'm beyond the point of only reaching satiation by sampling the most obscure breakbeat from an album that only two people own, and then only one backpacker will appreciate.
I just want to make music mehn, and whatever can get me there I will utilize.
I'm sure a lot of the cats on here who produce have indulged in a comp or two themselves. I also know that some of my favorite hip hop songs were sampled straight from comps, done by some of the most hailed producers, at that.
If you don't want to share, cool. But don't son.
For all of his bombast (which I do find contrived) and extremely lazy use of drums - he has a fairly decent good to bad ratio; looping a sped-up ZZ Hill vocal track over some random drums and running it through a SP-303 isn't the height of expansive creativity either although some folks seem to give the nod to Madlib in that respect...
Neither here nor there commentary, more just observations...