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The Chopping Up Samples

To chop up a sample you need either a high quality drum machine/music production sampler, a workstation or a computer. What is done is a marker or placement is put at the start and end points of the selected audio and then that portion of audio is cut out as a standalone sound. Advanced users may then cut many samples from this sample selection of audio and put the bits of audio together in creative ways, compare it to an audio jigsaw puzzle that when put completely together is artistically pleasing.

The Clearing of Samples

You may decide to use a sample from a source of copyrighted material. Without permission from it's respected owner or owners you are liable for legal prosecution which may come in the form of cease and desist or a lawsuit. Technically, all sounds in music are a sample in one way or another, but the ones used in keyboard workstation, drum machines, and drum kits in music production software grant you full permission to use their sounds on the purchase of their equipment. Sounds such as these are called royalty-free sounds, in order to have the same freedom as a sampler you would need to purchase royalty-free samples or follow the owner's directions on if they are able to be used commercially or not. To clear a copyrighted sample you will need the owner's written permission you can use the sound, often for a set fee, royalty, or percent of the gross income made from the sale of the instrumental. Unfortunately, the copyright owner can refuse to grant your request for any amount of money offered and may become spiteful from you boldness, attempting to sure you if you have already marketed the beat or allowed it to become commercial to the public. This makes sampler's instrumentals risky and costly to prospective buyers who are just as wary of the legal implications of using copyrighted samples in music.

The Compact Disk Player

A compact disk player is a music device able to play the audio of a compact disk by reading it's surface with a laser and transmit the information it collects as audio that we can hear. They are the direct successor of the cassette tape player and the modern universal way in which to listen to music, even today with the surge of MP3 players. As a beat maker you will need to listen to your beats frequently ensuring their perfection and so it is wise to carry along a portable compact disk player everywhere you go, even if you own an MP3 player. An MP3 player's condensed, small, downgraded MP3 files are inferior in quality to a fully mastered compact disk and so you may not be hearing your instrumentals in the best quality possible.

The Contracts

When it comes down to the time when you want to sell your beats you must have the proper contracts. Yes, this should be a part of your studio in a folder put away, even if it collects dust. Hey, anything can happen, P. Diddy could come knocking at your door, although Bad Boy Records contracts with their musicians are considered to be sometimes "questionable".

When selling a beat, oral agreements will not hold up in court and if the artist is sued on the basis of copyright infringement, without the paper saying you transferred all rights to the artist, the legal implications would shift to the creator of the beat, which is you. If eyebrows are raised by your unexpected professionalism, just tell your potential buyers that it's nothing personal it's just how you transact your business.

Although you can write the contract yourself, with personal necessities of your liking, it is very much preferred that a lawyer be contacted as you may write things that are too vague such as, "in the case of a lawsuit you don't know me". That is more comedy than business. One such person to write this type of personalized contract for you is a music attorney. While initially expensive it will pay off tremendously if perhaps any legal matter pops up that reflects on you when it doesn't have to. Another point to consider is you only need a couple contracts for selling your beat and then you're set for life and may not ever again talk to that legal money swindler.

There are two main types of transactions that are common between a beat maker and an artist, one that gives "non-exclusive" rights and the other that gives "exclusive" rights. Exclusive rights are usually priced much higher than non-exclusive rights. Make sure the music attorney draws up both these contracts separately.

Non-Exclusive or leased rights to an instrumental are when you sell the artist the instrumental but give limitations and restrictions on how the beat can be used. Non-exclusive rights may prohibit the use of the instrumental for commercial sale or promotion, strictly for mixtape use and also no rights of complete ownership to resell the audio in any way. A con about a non-exclusive deal is that as a sampler you would still be held liable for any copyright infringement and not the buyer of said beat unless stated in the contract.

Exclusive rights would transfer all ownership of the instrumental to the new owner after purchase, so any legal implication would go directly to the artist. In this contract it is also common to demand a number of points from the artist's album on top of the set price of the actual instrumental. A point in music industry standards is equal to 1 percent of the amount of the revenue an album generates. Some beat makers may not charge a set price at all on non-exclusive right, and only points depending on how famous, profitable and consistent the musician's history in music retail is. These are generally the common type of deals made by beat making record producers at successful indie and major record labels.

The Control Surface

Software companies that make music production programs know that some hardcore analog junkies hate the fact that computers have little going for them in the case of an interactive interface. They also know that these same vintage gurus are adapting to the sign of times, but need an introductory tool to excites them. Control surfaces are the exact tool for this. Software users are tired of computer keyboards and a mouse to simply point and click, point and click . Once they've adapted to tools such as midi keyboard controllers they thirst for more, often adding a USB drum pad soon after, but knowing they've only scratched the surface.

Many control surfaces are especially design to work with one software program only, such as tools made for Pro Tools by Digidesign. Others work without regards to the software program, they only need you to assign their controls. As you move up the ladder in price,, complexity and functionality of these control surfaces the line that divides them from mere computer clones to analog tool becomes thin. Digidesign and Mackie make top of the line control surfaces that you would swear are high grade analog mixing console boards and would never be able to tell they connect by USB and firewire.

If you wanr hands-on experience and intimacy with your music production software and want a tool to speed up your productivity there may be no better tool than a control surface.

RECOMMENDED CONTROL SURFACES (Sorted by Price, lowest to highest)


M-Audio iControl Garageband MIDI Controller
Price: $99.99


Behringer BCR2000 B-Control Rotary
Price: $129.99


Novation Nocturn Intelligent Plug-In Controller w Automap Universal 2.0 Software
Price: $149.99


Evolution UC-33e Desktop MIDI Control Workstation
Price: $259.99


Mackie Control Universal
Price: $699.99


JL Cooper CS-102 Control Station
Price: $799.99


Mackie Control Extender Pro
Price: $799.99


Mackie Control C4 Pro
Price: $1099.99


Digidesign Command 8 Control Surface
Price: $1199.99


Mackie Control Universal Pro
Price: $1299.99


M-Audio ProjectMix IO
Price: $1299.99


TASCAM FW1884 FireWire Audio MIDI Interface and DAW Control Surface
Price: $1299.99


Digidesign C 24 24-Track Control Surface
Price: $9999.99

The Drum Machine

A drum machine is unlike a keyboard in that the buttons are arranged horizontal as usual or in a square matrix instead of only horizontal. When the buttons are pressed the do not shift in pitch in descending order, but the buttons instead send a signal to the machine to produce different sounds or samples, usually in the drum-kit variety. While some beat makers prefer to use keys on workstations or piano roll functions in software, many other are enticed by the use of these drum buttons or pads. Although similar set-ups can be found on computer by way of USB drumpads or workstations which use built-in drum pads, many beat makers just absolutely love their little sound machines. Some drum machines double as samples giving beat makers even more reason to use them.

RECOMMENDED DRUM MACHINES (Sorted by price, lowest to highest)


Alesis SR-16 Stereo Drum Machine
Price: $149.99


SKB SKB-1714 ATA Drum Machine and Sequencer Case
Price: $169.99


Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-3
Price: $199.99


Alesis SR-18 Drum Machine
Price: $249.99


Roland RMP-5 Rhythm Coach
Price: $279.99


Boss DR-670 Dr. Rhythm Drum Machine
Price: $299.99


Boss Dr. Rhythm DR-880 Rhythm Machine
Price: $499.99

The Interpolation

The alternative to using a direct sample from an audio source is interpolation. Interpolation is the art of recreating the sound wanted so you become an alternate composer of the audio. If a sampler is not technically crafty or not formally musically inclined he may hire a third party (independent composer) to interpolate the sample for him for a set fee and take the ownership of the newly created sound by agreement from the ghostwriter/composer. You may still suffer legal fees from interpolation although much less. Interpolation is generally the way current record labels now force their sample based instrumentalists to create beats.

The Keyboard Sound Modules

A sound modules is a piece of equipment, usually able to fit on a rack mount, that contains a collection of sounds either in sample or high quality audio format. Instead of having a whole keyboard workstation you can get just the sounds from the machine. This can save you space, but also money as the sound module version is usually discounted. Example of manufacturers that prepare sound modules are Korg, Yamaha and Roland which feature the brands Triton, Motif and Fantom respectively.

RECOMMENDED MODULES (Sorted by price, lowest to highest)


Edirol SD-20 Studio Canvas MIDI Sound Module
Price: $299.99


Gem RP-X Sound Module
Price: $599.99


Yamaha VL70-M Virtual Acoustic Tone Generator
Price: $599.99


Waldorf Blofeld Desktop Synth Module
Price: $799.99


Yamaha MOTIF Rack ES Module
Price: $799.99


Hammond XM-2 Sound Module
Price: 999.99


Kurzweil PC2R Sound Module With Orchestra
Price: $999.99


Access Virus TI Snow
Price: $1499.99


Korg M3-M Tabletop SynthesizerSampler Module
Price: $1799.99


Muse Research Receptor Rev C Rackmount VST Plug-in Player
Price: $1999.99

The Keyboard Stand

So you've bought a studio computer desk with enough frontal space for your MIDI keyboard controller, but you are now in the process of upgrading. Because you craze both software styled beats that can be created with your favorite VST plug-ins and programs and hardware styled beats with unmatched professional flare, you've decided to purchase a keyboard workstation. You love both, but decided that one's got to go and it is not going to be that 2000 dollar workstation. Wait a second, just purchase a keyboard stand. Well, duh. No, not just a standard keyboard stand. Buy a keyboard stand able to hold multiple keyboards or "multi-tiered" keyboard stand. Multi-tiered keyboard stands come in variety of two, three and more and are exactly what a producer with multiple keyboards need. They are heavy and sturdy and have the ability to tilt forward or become as wide or narrow as you need them. Buying a couple of these multi-tiered keyboard stand will allow you to have the ability to expand your keyboard collection to a great size while using limited space and because they lay flat with keys showing, you'll be able to play with them on the fly have you ever get a temptation for a certain type a sound as long as they are connected properly.

The Keyboard Workstations

A keyboard workstation is much more than a electric modern piano in condensed form. A workstation allows you to compose your beats in any fashion you choose, running as it's own production studio center. The sound contained in a workstation are professional grade quality and allowed to become fully edited and tweaked into a desired sound. Newer versions also carry superb sampling abilities and ability to record external equipment such as microphones. Some keyboard workstations also have an onboard drum pad for more versatility in sampling and drum programming. A keyboard workstation can do all the things a professional music program can do with the added on benefit of always sounding professional, even in stock sounds. The fine line that may have drawn between eventually becoming a software based beat maker and hardware base beat maker sometimes can be simply the ability to purchase the sometimes overly expensive keyboards or the ability not to.

RECOMMENDED KEYBOARD WORKSTATIONS (Sorted by Price, lowest to highest)


Yamaha MM6 Music Synthesizer Workstation
Price: $599.99


Roland JUNO-G Workstation Synthesizer Keyboard
Price: $999.99


Yamaha MO6 61-Key Music Production Synthesizer Workstation with DAW Control
Price: $999.99


Korg TR-76 76-Key Keyboard Workstation Sampler
Price: $1299.99


Roland Fantom-X6 61-Key Sampling Workstation
Price: $1499.99


Yamaha MO8 88-Key Music Production Synthesizer Workstation with DAW Control
Price: $1599.99


Korg M3 61-Key Music Workstation Keyboard
Price: $2199.99


Roland Fantom G8 Workstation
Price: $3699.99


Open Labs MiKo TIM4 Special Edition Keyboard Workcenter
Price: $4299.99

The Lighting

Without the proper lighting, you may have to strain your eyes on unforgiving backlighted CRT or LCD visual monitor screen for excessive periods of time. A quick solution is to look outside a window or turn away, but that if your room has no lighting? For looking at a screen it is best that it not be by a window as the contrasting light can produce glare making it almost impossible to see what is on the screen. Light bulbs come in two main forms for consumers (other forms are not discussed here such as LCD, mercury vapor and HID lights).

Your standard screw-in light bulb has a yellow tinge to it and suffers from having a short life span with using a lot of energy, but many seem to prefer this "constant" type of light. A standard florescent tube light bulb is inexpensive, costing only about a dollar per bulb. These light can then be put in a fixture and mounted anywhere you choose. The fixture's price is usually only about 20 dollars for the ability to hold two of the tube lights. If given proper attention, some will notice that a florescent light bulb gives off a type of "flicker" or vibration when it gives off light, this quality may be deemed annoying to some. Another bad quality of florescent lights of this type are that the light is gives off a spread apart and not condensed, so you may need a large amount depending on the space of your room. Good lights you may want to try are variation of the florescent tube lights in the types of daylight or sunlight or changing them from the standard "cool" white to "warm" white, these special versions cost much more than standard bulbs although.

A compact florescent light bulb takes the energy efficiency of a florescent and combines it with the the small size of a standard light bulb. The price for a compact florescent may be costlier than standard screw-in light bulb or florescent tube lights, but they do have the ability to last for a long time (sometimes years), so it's worth the investment. These compact "floros" still have the feature of a normal florescent in that it flickers continuously and the bright white it gives is to some a little unnatural.

The MIDI

Midi is a data system for music and electronic digital instruments. Midi operates by transferring data, by use of channels and instrument set commands. The sound created using midi are actually only instructions, no sound wavs go through a midi wire. On a computer, this means that midi may sound different on other computer based on the instrument set they choose to hear midi with. A collection of midi sounds or an instrument set has a certain sound assigned to each instrument. For beat makers in current times it may be wise to connect your keyboard to the computer and access a music production program's sounds by use of the keys on a keyboard. In order to do this you would need to connect the MIDI ins and outs of the keyboard to the MIDI ins and outs of a computer soundcard, interface or alternately with USB. The keyboard would now act as a controller to the music program with MIDI giving commands on what signal to generate based on the keys pressed and the instrument set used.

RECOMMENDED MIDI CORDS


Musicians Gear 5-Pin MIDI Cable
Price: $6.00-$17.99

The MIDI Keyboard Controller

You know all the inner and outer workings of programs like FruityLoops, Reason, GarageBand and Logic. In fact, you consider yourself a pro. One problem you face is frequent memory loss of keys you type in the computer keyboard and I can't blame you. ASDF JKL; is not like black and white keys in a piano. Another situation is if you want to spend less money on the keyboard workstation by buying it's sound module equivalent with all the sounds within. Using MIDI cords, you plug in your small Casio (Reminder: nobody is this stupid) into it to control sound,only to realize you need something with a little more versatility and keys. These situations are a perfect time a MIDI keyboard controller. A MIDI keyboard controller is a controller interface, which mean it has no sounds of it's own. Though it may have the ability to power up by adapter into an electrical outlet, many of these keyboard controllers get their power source directly from the computer by USB connection. Other features a MIDI keyboard may have is the ability to play keys outside it's physical key range. For example , by pressing a button you can shift an octave down or up, with those number now substitutes by your physical keys. They may also have pitch shift and oscillator wave morphing controls. Since they are light and often made with plastic they are more practical than heavy vintage synths or cheap heavy consumer keyboards in the case of using the ins and outs.

RECOMMENDED USB KEYBOARD MIDI CONTROLLERS (Sorted by price, lowest to highest)


M-Audio Keystation 61es USB MIDI Controller
Price: $129.99


Korg K61P 61-Key USB MIDI Controller
Price: $169.99


M-Audio Axiom 25 25-Key USB MIDI Controller
Price: $179.99


E-MU Xboard 49 USB MIDI Controller
Price: $189.99


M-Audio Axiom 61 61-Key USB MIDI Controller
Price: $299.99


Akai MPK49 Keyboard USB MIDI Controller
Price: $399.99

The MIDI to USB Cords

Many soundcards these days do not come with the ability to plug in MIDI straight into them. This means you must buy a pro-quality soundcard with the capabilities of MIDI ins and outs. With the invention of USB it has never been so easy to hook up your midi equipment to a computer. USB allows manufacturers to make products that allow the transfer of MIDI information to a computer. MIDI to USB adapters come in a variety of forms, 2x2, 4x4, this refers to the number of ins and outs the adapter is capable of connecting. The music program that you use will then allow you to set up how you want the MIDI connections and you'll be on your way to using your MIDI equipment in a flash.

The Mini Fridge

We all get hungry. We all get thirsty. Although I advise no food or drink in your studio, some hardcore studio addicts can develop scurvy, health risks or simply not ear at all because of intense love of making beats (Think about J Dilla "R.I.P") so it may seem as a contradiction that I state that a miniature refrigerator of some sort be a part of your studio. Well, I also do not want you to die or become unhealthy as a result of so much time being spent in your studio. The bad parts of having mini-fridges are that food and drink have a better potential of winding up on your equipment. Refrigerators were also not invented with the intention of being extremely quiet and so an electrical "buzz" may penetrate it's sound in your perfectly sound treated room into your mix, effecting how you find results of your beat. You may want to unplug it when you listen to your audio and always when you record vocals.

The MP3 Player

An MP3 player is a popular device that is able to take digital files and play them in audio to hear. Although some MP3 players do not limit the file size on an individual MP3 files or other extension (WMA, WAV), by importing gigantic high quality WAV files it would defeat it's main purpose, which is to pack many songs. For example, the average 80 minute compact disk in full quality may be well over 600MB, the average affordable MP3 player may only allow 512MB of space that can be filled. Putting full quality audio files on that MP3 player would be a bad idea, with one minor advantage in that the MP3 player is small. Fortunately, many MP3 players allow much more than 512MB of space and the popular brands like Microsoft's Zune and Apple's Ipod have ability to store 16GB of space and above. Still, working in the best conditions, your instrumentals may be of the highest quality in 32 bit WAV form (or above for DVD high quality standards), these files are twice the size of the 16 bit audio data which is stored on compact disks. It may not be worth the exchange to listen to your giant audio files in full quality on these MP3 players due to their space restrictions, and better use may be heard in the studio only settings and the use of data disks on compact disks, DVDs and external hard drives. An unseen benefit is that since you are listening to your beat in MP3 form and everyone might be as well, you get to hear what it will sound like should it ever be bootlegged or down processed in size.

The Piano Roll

Piano roll is a feature that can be found in most music production software. It is the ability to visually place where you want the sound in the art of drum programming. The piano roll window itself is a massive matrix of squares made by intersecting lines of X and Y axis on a graph. Each horizontal strip is interlocked with a note of a key on a virtual keyboard which stands at the very left standing up vertically. These keys on the horizontal strip can also be replaced with different sounds by using soundfonts. The procedure is to load up a sound or sample you like, go to piano roll and fill the empty squares with colored boxes in the places that sound best to you until you are satisfied with your newly created pattern. Depending on your bar settings, your newly created pattern should loop or may continue. Most bar forms are in 4/4 form, which means 4 beats for every bar. The average rapper spits 16 bars per verse, to you as a beat maker this means that there are 64 beats for verse verse in hip hop. Piano roll also has functions that allow you to change the velocity, pitch and pan to every note you make be using vertical bars in the bottom of the window which you can adjust negative or positive and can also act as left or right.

The Samplers/Sampler Workstations

A sampler is a piece of equipment that is able to load custom audio sounds into it's memory in addition to it's own stock sounds. High quality samplers in the music production workstation type can also allow you to alter the sample in various ways. Frequent abilities are to chop up and reconfigure sounds to looping patterns that may then be layered and edited by use of equalizers, compression, reverb, exciters and more. Unlike simple drum machines, a high quality music production sampler has the ability to edit sounds and make them much more than one dimensional devices. With expandable areas for portable memory, they are potentially able to pick an almost infinite variety of sounds to make a library with. With all these features and the ability to get sounds from outside sources output (vinyl record player, television, compact disc players) most beat makers simply do not see any reason to upgrade or buy any more equipment than this. Full workstation types like the MPC or music production center units made by Akai are very popular.

RECOMMENDED SAMPLERS


Roland MC-808 Sampling Groovebox
Price: $799.99

RECOMMENDED SAMPLER WORKSTATIONS (Sorted by price, lowest to highest)


Akai MPC500 Portable Music Production Center
Price: $599.99


Roland SP-555 Creative Sampler Workstation
Price: $699.99


Akai MPC1000 Music Production Center
Price: $999.99


Akai MPC2500 Music Production Center
Price: $1699.99


Akai MPC5000 Music Production Center
Price: $2499.99


Roland MV-8800 Production Studio
Price: $2499.99

The Samples

Samples are a portion of audio you use in the creation of your music. Although in hiphop, sampling refers to the use of using small bits of audio from vinyl, CD, DVD, MP3 or any other physical audio platform. Actually, keyboard composers who often "call out" samplers may be hypocritical. A keyboards sounds are simply high quality generated samples as well, although keyboard synthesizer experts who use sound creation techniques are much dissimilar to samplers. Like reffered to earlier, samples can be lifted directed from vinyl by using a record players outputs into your computer via soundcard, interface and also in a mixer, workstation, sampling device or drum machine. WAV is the high quality sample format many prefer, and can be captured by data, cd, dvd and outputs from outside sources. Other samples beat makers use are MP3 from digital stores and file sharing programs, ripping from Video sources or purchasing collections on disk or online. Some music software programs only allow certain kinds of files to be imported such as Reason. This "one file type policy" also cuts down on the amount of copyrighted material that is used and more potential for only high quality instruments being used in their software, it also means a monopoly of the sounds. This may be these companies driving motive, to milk mass amounts of revenue from the consumer.

The Step Sequencer

Some music production software makes use of a simple visual interface that includes a step sequencer which has a row of buttons or cells in the length of two, four or more bar that you fill to create looping patterns. A step sequencer will allow multiple instruments. Since you just fill cells, there is not much variation or creativity involved in the creation of the loop and some beat makers think this is far too constrictive and limiting, but to the beginning it can prove to be valuable in learning basic grooves and patterns before going into professional features music production software or hardware. Some step sequences allow you to change the velocity, panning or pitch of each cell however. After the loop is created you can move to another pattern and create another loop, then combine the patterns you have created in the matrix window of a song editor window. With all your patterns set in order you can now export them into the audio filetype of your choice.