Where the idea began
Have you ever tried doing something experimental that others wouldn't even bother attempting, or believe was even possible in the first place? Way back in the late 80s and into the early 90s, I used to read a UK magazine by the name of Music Technology. Long gone now I'm sorry to say.
Do any of you reading this remember it? In one issue they interviewed some electronic dance group of the time. I can't remember their name, but think it might have been something like Rhythmatic. Don't quote me. In the interview the guy talked about how he once created an entire track just using a sample of a Roland TR909 snare drum. I think he was using an Ensoniq EPS sampler. The idea always intrigued me and stayed in my mind.
Do any of you reading this remember it? In one issue they interviewed some electronic dance group of the time. I can't remember their name, but think it might have been something like Rhythmatic. Don't quote me. In the interview the guy talked about how he once created an entire track just using a sample of a Roland TR909 snare drum. I think he was using an Ensoniq EPS sampler. The idea always intrigued me and stayed in my mind.
In 2002 I bought an Akai MPC4000. Another case of gear lust as I mentioned in my previous article, although I did some nice tracks with it. Well, before selling years later after learning that it's timing was flawed. Anyway, in late 2003 I decided to record a track using nothing but a snare drum sample, as the guy had done in the magazine interview I read many years earlier. The MPC4000 was the perfect machine for this, as it let you create instrument programs and drum programs. Plus it had all the synth filters and envelopes required for synth like sounds. So I did it, and was successful in creating a short electronic sounding track. For the kick drum the snare was pitched down, layered and had tight envelope settings. I also resampled it a few times. Hi hats were simple, I just trimmed the snare and ran it through a high pass filter. Bass and synth sounds were simple to create also. All I did for those was loop tiny fragments of the snare sample, tune them with a guitar tuner, and then apply filters, envelopes and LFOs to create the analog synth like sounds. I even managed to create a string sound. Overall I thought the end result was decent! Some of the synth sounds I had created were like nothing else. Click here to listen to the snare drum track I recorded back in 2003.
Having created that snare drum track, I later wanted to try something more difficult. I thought to myself, how about using a live hand clap sample and attempting to create a whole album's worth of tracks from it? How many of you would even think of attempting that? Of course it never happened. I had planned on doing it using the MPC4000 again, but never got around to it. Plus, as I mentioned before, I ended up selling the MPC4000. So I no longer had a machine I could do that with. Of course I already had my little MPC500 too, but it had no filter envelopes, no waveform display for viewing samples, no LFOs, and overall just wouldn't be a tool you could use for something like that. As a result, the idea faded. Yes, I could have used a software sampler, but that would be too easy.
Resurrecting the idea, and achieving it with the Akai MPC500?
Step ahead to 2011, earlier this evening actually. There I was driving home from the city listening to Autechre in the car. I can't recall the album title, but I've always been a fan of what those guys have done over the years. Listening to some of the sounds and their rhythmical patterns had me questioning how they actually did it. 1/128th note patterns perhaps? Extreme swing settings, sounds created from synth waveforms? Who knows how they create those sounds.. Even though they've done many interviews over the years, how they create their tracks has always been a bit of a mystery. I remember reading a few years back that they had an Akai MPC1000 and really liked it. Apparently they used it for live sets they did. It got me thinking, could music like they're doing be created on something as simple as an Akai MPC500? I know they have a Kyma machine, and listening to their tracks, I occasionally hear a few granular synthesis like sounds. But overall, it's the complex rhythms that really stand out. And I think yes, a similar sound could be achieved using an MPC500. Before I forget, speaking of Autechre, I need to remember to grab a copy of their new box set just released last week.
My thoughts later switched to questioning how some of those crazy sounds could be created? Using looped fragments of samples perhaps? Before I write anymore, let me assure you I have no intention of recording music that sounds like Autechre. But I would like to create music with a similar feel and complexity, but funkier and more melodic. And doing so using the MPC500 of course, which is the most basic of all MPCs. It has some exrtreme limitations too. For example it doesn't even have volume levels for tracks. So to adjust the levels of tracks, I have to manually adjust the velocity of the track. Selecting the region to be adjusted, setting the amount without being able to hear it in real time, and then pressing 'Do it'. If it ends up still being too loud, or too soft, I have to do it again. Most MPC users forced to deal with such limitations would end just selling the thing and buying an MPC1000 or MPC2500 instead as many have done already over the years, but not me!
I then started thinking back to that snare drum track and how I wanted to record an album from a single sample like that. My mind started racing and I came to the conclusion that yes, with enough persistence and tweaking, I'm sure I could do something like that on the MPC500. Even though I'd previously dismissed the idea thinking the machine wouldn't provide me with enough options. But with the lack of proper synth parameters, I could make up for any lack of melodic content by programming complex Autechre like rhythm patterns. For most of that trip home thinking about this, I kept imagining doing all this using another snare drum sample. Then I remembered, for the album my plan was to use a hand clap sample, not a snare! A hand clap I would record myself straight into the MPC500 via a microphone. Could this be done? Yes!!
The Plan
This time around I'm seriously keen to get started! Even more so as I received a gift voucher from my sister inlaw for me birthday and bought a [cheap] new pair of Sennheiser headphones to use with my MPC500. Plus I have a good supply of AA batteries for it too, so I can take it out and use it in the backyard, at the beach, a cafe or wherever. The MPC500 to me is just one of those machines that begs to be exploited! Now how do I expect to record a whole album from a short sample of me clapping my hands? Well, that's gonna be the fun part! :) Hi hat like sounds from a hand clap? I have no idea. Maybe if loop a section of the sound, run it through an onboard distortion effect, resample it, apply a high pass filter and then an amp envelope? Who knows, I'll just keep messing with it until I get the results I'm after.
The best part is, however it turns out, I know I'll end up with sounds and tracks that sound like nothing else out there. It will be a truly unique sound and 100% original. Even more so considering the original hand clap will be mine alone. How will I record it? I have this microphone I bought in Bali a few years back with a 6.5mm plug that plugs straight into the input sockets on the MPC500. The mic is an MS57, which is obviously an SM57 copy. Dodgy, but it works and doesn't sound too bad.
One other bonus for me with this project is that I don't like the process of sampling. Just setting the record levels, hitting record and so on. I've always found it boring. But with this project I'll only be sampling one sound only! Every other sound I use will be created from that one sound and within the MPC500 itself. I'll be chopping it around, looping different fragments of it, attempting to find sine waves or similar tones that can be used for bass sounds, resampling through effects, and tweaking the envelope settings. It's definitely going to be interesting! :) The tweaking part I don't mind. So that's the plan. Keep an eye on this blog for more updates. I'm going to get this started later today. Inbetween the work I'm still doing on the 206 Collab video, Zux video from way back, and a few other things I need to get done. And I will be shooting a video of myself recording the hand clap into the MPC500. I'll add, everything must be done within the MPC500 itself. I'm not letting myself use any other gear for this project, not even a guitar tuner or MIDI keyboard. For tuning the sounds though, I will use specific 44.1khz sample loop lengths I have written down that play in the key of C. More details next time around. And remember to check back soon for more details on this project.
Lastly, for those wondering, yes, I'm still working on my movie. There might even be a chance that some of these hand clap tracks could end up being used in the movie. We'll see what happens.. More to come, and many thanks for reading!