Finding the Correct Samples

[in haze]

I'm pretty new to the SP game (about a week ago), and I'm trying to find good samples. I have a few, but they don't fit with the beat. Is there certain songs, or sample packs that have some good ones? I'm mostly looking for beats, like breaks and stuff. Also just other sounds. I'm not looking for stuff that goes hard, just kind of smooth if you understand what I'm saying. I'll try to give you guys a few examples of what I'm going for.

Yesterday I heard a song from a guy on the forums named, mr.dibiase, and he's got some pretty sick tracks. But the sound that I'm wondering are like from the song, "Anything" http://soundcloud.com/mr-dibiase/anything. The sound starts at 0:17, and it's like a windy swirly sound. That's the stuff I'm trying to find. Same as the break he's got in that song. It's so tight. I'm not saying I want that exact one, but I'm wondering where could I find stuff like similar to that.

Another example is the song, "Won't Do", by J Dilla. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVYza0NiWuU. At :06, there is like a bubbling sound and it plays throughout the entire song pretty much.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, where can I get sounds like that and drum beats. Do you guys make them, or what? I'm sorry if this sounds confusing, but I'm trying to explain it the best way I can. I keep on practicing, but all my sounds just don't seem to fit with what I got.

[timfromtexas]

youll get your feet wet at sampleswap.com if you dont wanna dig

[springwater]

id say grab a record player and dig dig dig. it will open you up to the experience of hearing random stuff on records that you might have thought had nothing to offer. i grabbed this cyndi lauper album (the time after time girl, and had a couple tracks on the goonies) i was like fuck it ill give it a try and found this insane kick and snare, and some weird whirly wind piano thing. its no use in listening to other music and saying, i wanna find something like that. you just gotta listen around and whatever perks your ears, make it into a beat. ive found cool ass sounds on a video game, hit pause and let the music rock out while i recorded it. there are no "Correct Samples". i see you listened to dibiase, try listening to some other sp music from someone who seems like they are new to the game, might open you up to more levels of beatmaking cause dibiase shit is pretty dam good and experienced. he manipulates the fuck out of those samples i think. but all in all be creative, and you cant be creative looking for the "correct sound", so take your glasses off, remove that pocket protector, throw on a pair of addidas' and rock out. (just a joke)
have fun

[fauna]

Both sounds yr looking for sound like keyboard riffs to me, drenched in effects.

Working with 'sample packs' is a fine way to learn the basics of building a beat. But it is a little like building a shelving unit from Ikea. You get all the parts pre-made, and you put them together. You DO get a shelving unit, but it is basically the same as everyone else's.

Get into looking thru records (or grabbing stuff online) and pulling samples from there. This is more like getting a stack of wood and building yr own shelf. Yr shelf will be totally unique if you do it this way. Remember that the effects on the SP will basically make ANY sample into something else entirely.

As others have said, keep experimenting and having fun. Be influenced by Dilla, Dibiase (and IIII, and Ellaguru, and Ill Green, and Drewzle and yes, even Fauna), but let this inspiration guide your own exploration. Patience.

Have fun. Good luck.

[Wonka]

The SPbattles helped me out ALOT! I can't stress how much they helped me. So enter in a few battles, learn the techniques, build samples and then go out on your own.

As for finding your own samples, alot of the ones I find our off of movies. Just listen to every small detail when anything makes sound.

And don't worry, it will get easier, just keep on truckin!

[Dj_just_jeff]

#1 have fun if it stops being fun, stop for a minute.
#2 dig in the bins. Gotta do this IMHO, I love little more than finding some good or just goofy stuff in the dollar bins.
#3 The "All The Breaks" cd could not hurt for drums, or dig for drums, that or a cheap drum machine, I use a cheap boss dr3 and put fx on them, or layer the drums and then fx.
#4 Yes, the battles helped me a lot, having a deadline to get stuff finished MAKES you finish a beat.

Hope this helps.

[Dr Van Nostrand]

i would definitely grab the 300 or 500 breaks pack from the library section while you build your break collection on wax, chop the shit outta those for all the percussion sounds you'd ever need

[in haze]

Thanks everyone! That advice seriously helped me a lot. I found some new samples and about to put them to use. Hopefully have a new track by the end of today or tomorrow!

[MadTrucker]

For that atmospheric stuff I just plug into the TV audio-out. The sample police have not kicked down my door yet, so...

[aquarius]

it's all about digging for the loops

I like to try and get most of my kicks, hats and snares off vinyl, mostly by sampling drums and them chopping them up.

if you have lots of spots that sell records in your area, i'd reccomend buying a portable vestax/numark and go to the shop grab a stack of wax and listen.

I dont really have any local record shops that sell good quantitys of older vinyl, so I get most my records mail order, its not too bad though as I've been a listner for years so I usually have a good idea of what artists labels i like to go for.

Nothing beats digging in a good shop though and just picking stuff based on the covers and reading liner notes to see what instruments were used and then finding a good break or some nice keys or strings or saxes ect.

I dunno man hope that makes some sense

Peace

[Wonka]

The sample police have not kicked down my door yet, so...

Hope they don't catch me sampling off of Ipod, youtube , and Xbox. Yikes!

[Euclid Ov Oåklånd]

I'd just like to add that you can take any sample or piece of sound and resample it so many times into a complete new sound, pad, or texture and make it a part or your beat. A good practice is to take a normal clear sound and resample/stack effects till it's unrecognizable and then see what you can do with it.