Step 1. To make “The Single Sample Solution” work, import a favorite song into your sampler. Advanced software samplers, such as Ableton’s aptly named Sampler (an add-on to Ableton Live), include keymapping tools. Use them to set your sample’s range to cover the whole keyboard, so you can play it in any range. Now, paying no attention to the meter, tempo, or rhythm of the song you’ve chosen, create a simple kick and snare groove, or just a kick pattern, in a separate track.
Step 2. Using your sampler’s editing tools, select a snippet of your song that’s no more than 250 milliseconds in length and is absolutely unrecognizable as being part of your beloved song, as shown here in Ableton’s Simpler, Live’s built-in software sampling instrument. Once you’ve found a bit of audio that works as a single note or chord stab, create a one-bar sequence in a separate track that really grooves,keeping it as simple as possible, using only two to four notes, max.
Step 3. Then switch to the synth tools in your sampler. Try lowering the filter cutoff, then increasing its envelope attack amount to create a more percussive, snappy effect. Or transpose the sample downward, so that it becomes a bass riff. Or reverse it. In Sampler’s amplitude envelope, try a 32.3ms decay, which is perfect for ticky percussive sounds.
Step 4. Create another sequencer track using the same sampler and audio file, but using a different tiny bit of audio data from the song. If you want to create a pad or drone, use the sampler’s looping tools on a really short bit — even 30–40ms will be enough. If your loop isn’t smooth, add some filtering, then slather on some chorus or reverb to conceal the rough edges. By using Sampler’s looping tools and snap mode, it’s easy to make loops using very small amounts of wave data.
What to do? The secret is to force yourself into a sonic corner and use your synthesis skills to shatter the blockage. I call this trick “The Single Sample Solution,” and it involves a favorite song, your sampler, and the four steps shown at right. Check those out now.
Keep moving forward, without getting bogged down in the overall process. Keep adding parts until you have four or five tracks that work well together as a groove. If you’ve followed the steps, there’s a good chance you’ve forgotten that you weren’t feeling creative a while back and bingo! You now have a composition underway.
Now, a word about sampling. It is technically illegal to sample even the tiniest section of audio from a copyrighted track, so if you decide to release this creation, you’ll need to clear these samples with the copyright owners. See “Do it! Business” on page 62 for more on how to do this.
But there’s a solution to that quandary as well. Now that you have an original composition in the works, you can easily go back and replace your sample-based riffs with synth parts derived from your other instruments. Alternately, try sampling one of your own tracks. This way, you’re in the clear but you still get the benefits of this approach.
The whole point of this exercise wasn’t to rip off your favorite track, but to get you unstuck. And with any luck, that’s what just happened.