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benzenedream — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:34:33 -0800

What songs have sampled the philosopher Alan Watts? The Books' song "All our base are belong to them" has an Alan Watts sample, as does Giraffes? Giraffes! song "I Am S/H(im)e[r] As You Am S/H(im)e[r] As You Are Me And We Am I And I Are All Our Together: Our Collective Consciousness' Psychogenic Fugue". There must be a ton of other songs containing Watts' quotes. I thought there was a Lemon Jelly song as well, but can't find a reference to it at the moment.

Recommendations for DJ samples/songs ala Fatboy Slim?

heatherfl — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:30:56 -0800

My husband mixes dance music using Fruity Loops. I want to get him some CDs for Christmas for samples -- particularly stuff that sounds like Fatboy Slim. Help? I can buy loops already sampled or I can buy songs for that he can sample himself, it doesn't matter.

This song is a good overview of what FBS sounds like and what I'm looking for:
Mad Flava

There's a lot of retro sounding piano and brass, some funky bass/guitar, syncopated percussion, a bit of synth/electronica, and non-rap but rhythmically interesting vocals. If you're familiar with Fatboy Slim, you know what I mean!

FYI, I already got him "The Ultimate DJ Sample Box" which has actual Fatboy Slim samples. Just looking for supplemental goodies now.

So what should I get for him, music experts?

Thanks so much!

H-H-Help me find some S-S-S-amples

I EAT TAPAS — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:14:35 -0800

Where to get a great collection of prime classic synth / industrial -- think classic Moog meets Wax Trax -- samples in WAV format? I've found the free samples I've googled online to be lacking, and I'm willing to buy a collection. And, yeah, these need to be in WAV format. They'll be a gift, and need to be compatible with an older music composition tool the giftee uses that doesn't do VST/AU/etc. I'm aware of all of the killer virtual synth apps and plugins out there.

Thanks!

What music uses geeky samples?

Mwongozi — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:48:10 -0800

The track www.nevergetoveryou uses the ICQ "Uh oh!" sample. What other commercially released music uses samples from computer programs, OSs, or related geeky sources?

Digital Sound: Variable Speeds with same pitch: How?

candyhammer — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:44:11 -0800

many programs and devices have a function that slows down or speeds up audio without changing the pitch. my rockheaded layman's theory on illustrating how this must be done is that it divides the whole audio track into something like audio pixels that are so short that they can be shortened without actually removing any of the details that you're hearing-- it's just you're hearing every small detail for less of an amount of time (likewise with slower speed, it lengthens the amount of time that you hear every of those little "audio pixels" so that it is twice as slow). my question for the hive is:

whether anyone knows what that process is called, or what of any number of names it has;

what is a more sophisticated explanation of the way that effect functions (or, 'an accurate explanation', as the case may be, though I think my theory is pretty sound, again, in terms of telling it like a four-year-old would understand rather than examining and presenting the finer points for whatever the process consists of);

and lastly, whether there are any interesting articles, resources, or discussions about it, especially regarding its introduction to the sound production/editing world and its early days in use.

Songs that remix dialogue from films?

xchmp — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:41:36 -0800

PF Project's song Choose Life is constructed from samples of a monologue by the lead character of the film Trainspotting. Similarly, This Is Your Life by the Dust Brothers is built around samples from the film Fight Club reformulated as a monologue and overlaid on some trip-hop beats. Neither was actually featured in the film, but were released as singles and appeared on the soundtrack. What other songs like this are there?

"Michael Vaughan truly believes James Anderson to be very special."

Cantdosleepy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:36:59 -0800

Help me write a sample-based song! I need the names of films or other places from which I can grab audio that includes characters called "James Anderson", "Jimi", "Mr Anderson" or similar. Explanation inside! I'm writing a song to perform at a friend's birthday party. I'll be using a MIDI keyboard to trigger various samples of his name at various pitches and pans.

FOR EXAMPLE: There's a famous cricketer called James Anderson. I chopped up the audio from some BBC commentary of his 5-wicket bonanza and threw them into Reason's NN-XT. Now I can trigger a crowd roaring and the commentator saying things like "James Anderson, you beauty!", "Now this is the magic of James Anderson", etc.

I'm looking for other places to cull iterations of his name. Another example would be The Matrix's Agent Smith saying "Mr. Anderson."

I'd love a range of voices, genres and styles - if anyone knows of a hardboiled or noir film in which someone says 'Jimmy' or 'Anderson' that would be ace. Famously recognisable voices are good too.

Super-double points for anyone who can point me to a relevent Youtube/Googlevid/Vimeo clip.

Happy to be pointed to clips of people saying "Happy Birthday" too, especially if in creepy or odd ways.

Be part of Jimi's birthday magic!

What writing samples are appropriate to apply for this job?

NeoLeo — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:13:01 -0800

What kind of writing samples would be appropriate to submit with a resume for this job? I'm applying for a "web content manager" position at a museum. This museum is redesigning their website and needs someone (hopefully me) to help content authors go through the process of submitting their content into a new CMS (Content Management System). Other responsibilities include notifying content authors of deadlines and keeping the museum's web manager up to date with the status of submissions.

However, to apply for this position, I need to submit three writing samples. Which is fine. Though I have no idea what kind of writing samples would be appropriate for this kind of job. Help!

I'm only a few years removed from school, so I don't exactly have many writing samples aside from papers I wrote for school. If that isn't appropriate, what are some good topics I can write about that would be appropriate for submission?

Free samples in NYC

HotPatatta — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:37:43 -0800

Where can I find the best free samples (of anything!) in NYC? My roommate and I look forward to raiding the cheese samples at our local grocery store every weekend. As I unabashedly stuffed my face this time, I started wondering about other places that are generous with free samples, e.g., beauty products, food, drink, pie(!!!), cleaning products, etc. Your suggestions, please.

What song is sampled in this Wu Tang cut?

hpliferaft — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:00:27 -0800

What's being sampled in Wu Tang's "Rock Steady"? What other songs are like this? Here's the song in question.

What is the original song?

And, if you can, please recommend more songs I'd like.

Homemade Ableton Live Packs?

MNDZ — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:36:40 -0800

Can I make an Ableton Live sound pack with my own samples? I have .aiff drum sounds that I want to make into a kit.

Breaker! Breaker!

Drexen — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 02:50:19 -0800

I want recordings of people communicating over the radio, especially in a military or astronautical context. Gimme. I'm not looking for radio-show broadcasts. Recordings of police dispatchers, military transmissions (especially in the field), transmissions to and from spaceships, or ocean-going ships, airplanes... things like that, are all good. Heavy noise/distortion, jargon, and a sense of urgency (or emergency) are a bonus.

Ideally these would be available for free over the net, but I'd be interested in other options too. LiveATC is quite well-suited, but I need more! I'm looking for them partly out of curiosity/fascination, and partly to sample for music.

Deedle deedle deedle de dit deet, deedle deedle deedle deedle deeddle dee dit deet

cosmicbandito — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:54:40 -0800

I am looking for other songs that use the 45 King's "900 number" sample, other than "Let me clear my throat". Specifically, the vocoder bit. "Deedle deedle deedle de dit deet, deedle deedle deedle deedle deeddle dee dit deet". I could swear there's a Beastie Boys song that uses this sample extensively, but Googling only brings up references to them using it in live sets. I think the sample is used in a break in the song. Hope me hivemind!

"Sound Music" Sample

themel — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:35:09 -0800

Sample identification filter: What is the background loop on DJ Babu's "Sound Music" (MP3 preview from EMusic here)? I'm a hundred percent sure that I've heard it used before on some hip-hop track I used to love, but an hour of five second stretches from my most likely suspects didn't yield a hit. Any ideas, hive-mind?

Best way to make an impression when sending a resume?

Becko — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:36:44 -0800

Best way to submit resume and samples? I am getting ready to apply for a ton of jobs I found on sites like monster.com and careerbuilder.com. I read through tons of questions on MeFi about writing cover letters, which helped a ton. Now I am going to implore you to help me with some more steps in my job search process.

Some of these jobs are going to require me to submit samples of some of my work. In a situation such as this, what is generally the best way to submit these? Should I send a single .pdf containing the cover letter, resume, and samples? In addition, when there is a request for samples, how many images would you send? I understand that they will look at my full portfolio later, but how many things should I send them so they can get an idea?

I want the more organized way to do this, but also the simplest way for the personal receiving the resume. I want to make the best impression possible.

Where does this sample come from?

symbioid — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:20:15 -0800

For a few years now I've noticed a sample that I believe is the same in two songs. Posse in Effect by the Beastie Boys, and Take it Slow by Technotronic (scroll down to Pump up the Jam)... Each page has a sample to listen to. It seems to be a slow sax sample. I'm not sure, but that's what I think it is. Is it the same sample? If so, does anyone know where it's sampled from?

Building a tech writing portfolio

tastybrains — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 08:59:16 -0800

How do I build a technical writing portfolio when all of the docs I work on at my current company are proprietary information? I have been working as a technical writer for my company for just over a year, and am very happy here. I'm continuing to learn, and have worked on some docs that I'm very happy with. However, it recently occurred to me that because almost everything I work on is confidential, that should I ever want or need to look for a new position, I have almost no professional samples to show for myself. How can I work on remedying this?

How can I find some work to do (I'd even do it for free under certain circumstances) to start developing a portfolio, so that no one has to take my word for what I can do?

I know typical advice is to find household objects and write instructions for them, but that seems more like a college assignment than something a tech writer with +1 year of experience should have.

Where do the guitars on Run DMC's Rock Box come from?

ignignokt — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 01:39:29 -0800

Where do the guitars on Run DMC's Rock Box come from? The guitars are rockin', but they are also interestingly plaintive. Also, they're playing a few different riffs, with leads over them. This would mean they've sampled large sections of a song (which isn't chracteristic of Run DMC), or these are custom guitar parts played by a session musician. If it's a sample, what song was it sampled from? If it's a session musician, who was he (or she)?

I'm actually having some trouble finding their first album, so it could very well be in the liner notes, if anyone reading has it.

CORRR-ECT!

phrontist — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 12:20:28 -0800

I'm looking for a sample pack of all of the words/letters/numbers/phonemes from a Speak n' Spell (and/or derivatives). I'm not looking for crazy circuit bent samples... just something I can piece together words/phrases out of. Surely someone has done this. Failing that, a list of all the words it could say would be cool as well.

I'd like English the most, but German/French would be cool as well.

What's being sampled here?

Venadium — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:27:11 -0800

Electronic "music" from the 1960's. A couple of years ago when I was still in highschool, I borrowed a CD from my Music teacher. One of the tracks on the CD was from a composer in the 60's, who was making some form of early electronic music my sampling and mixing recordings from shortwave radio. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

If you're interested, I am 99% positive that the song I'm asking about is being sampled in another song here. If I'm wrong and you recognize the sample from that track let me know, because it's been driving me nuts since I first heard it, and even more after I realized where I'd heard it before but can't remember the name of the original artist or track title.

Read, Eat, Sleep

tylermoody — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 11:31:49 -0800

Where do The Books get their samples? I introduced a few friends to The Books recently, and we've decided to make a similar band. We have all the standard instruments we could want, and tracker/sampler software, but we are having trouble finding samples. I've been running around the farm picking up tons of percussive found sounds, but what I'd really like to get my hands on are recordings of people talking. Not spoken word poetry, but people with unique voices telling stories. Most of what I've found through google is low-quality generic sound effects type stuff, or the occasional famous speech (I love cutting up speeches, if you know where I could get some).

Help me get started making drum and bass/idm.

MetaMonkey — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 19:19:51 -0800

MuFi has got the best of me - help me get started making electronic music, particularly drum 'n' bass/idm. I have a pretty good idea what sort of sounds I want to make, but I need the tools to do it. I've perused other threads on the matter (1, 2, 3, 4) but there's a couple of things missing:

1. Samples/source material/loops. I'm looking for any and all downloadable, copyright-free or creative commons samples and materials with which to mess around. Preferably, but not necessarily d'n'b style sounds. (note: I am aware of freesound). Also, kind of speculative: does there exist such a thing as open-source music? Where artists make available the source tracks from a song, for others to remix freely?

2. Software. I never got the hang of Reason, Fruity Loops irritates me, and Acid Pro hurts. In my dreams there exists a simple, elegant (preferably free or cheap) program with which to arrange loops and patterns, and not do too much more fancy stuff. Or am I barking up the wrong tree somewhat, and should just make the effort to learn Reason? (note: I'm happy with AudioMulch and Soundforge for audio manipulation and editing).

3. Any tutorials or advice on starting out would be most useful, regarding making drum and bass/jungle/hi-bpm/idm type stuff.

Many thanks for any assitance.

How can I figure out what that DJ is sampling?

seiji224 — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 04:21:42 -0800

I am trying to find a comprehensive list of all the samples (both music and film) on Wax Tailor's new album, Tales of the Forgotten Melodies. What resources are available online to help me obtain this? Tunatic will help me to identify songs by beat, but this is inconsistent in a mashup. I could do google searches for each individual song, but if somebody's already done this, no use duplicating.

Samples, Junior

Danelope — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:59:04 -0800

Are there any comprehensive sites which catalog the original sources of audio later sampled in songs? Example: Yesterday, whilst idly searching for video of the man responsible for voicing The Truth, I watched this excerpt from Wild Angels and immediately recognized "Just what is it you want to do?" as the sample that kicks off Payroll's Bank Holiday.

It occurs to me that a database which maps samples to their original sources (e.g. The "knock 'em out the box" in De La Soul's "Brakes" is a sample from Slick Rick's "Children's Story") and vice versa (e.g. A list of all 24,000 songs that have sampled Slick Rick's "Children's Story") would be an entertaining resource, if not exactly useful.

The Google waters are quite muddied when searching for terms like music sample database. Know of any worthwhile sites?

Okay to use non-musical samples in music?

Durhey — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 15:04:01 -0800

Is it okay, legally speaking, to use non-musical audio samples in a musical recording? I know you're probably not a lawyer, but a general idea would be good to have. For instance, if phrases of speech were recorded from the television, radio, or a movie and used in a song, is that actionable?

Such use of samples is widespread, but is it because there's no legal ground for complaint of such use, or because most of the samplees don't know or care about the samples?

My band's "thing" is making very liberal use of such material. We've always distributed our music for free, but we're submitting to the MeFi compilation album, and it would be good to know that there would be no issues arising because of this.

Specifically, I wish to know if the audio in the KFC radio commercial outtakes available here could be sampled for a music piece without worrying about Colonel Sanders' crack team of lawyers frying our figurative chicken.