Posts Tagged ‘fun’
Getting Snappy Hip Hop Drum Samples
In this modern musical era, there is a lot of emphasis placed on the way snare and kick drum samples sound; specifically, whether they can cut through a mix of several different, heavy instrument tracks like strings and electric pianos. They way your samples sound in a tough mix is referred to as snap in a lot of circles. If you can get your main drum track to snap, your mix will be a lot easier to handle later, but you need to take care in your journey, as too much sound manipulation and be degrading.
If you have any fears about altering drum samples yourself, don’t worry. It’s not too hard to achieve the snap effect; in fact, it can be child’s play with a bit of guidance and a bit of critical and proactive thinking on your part. If you already have tools like compressors and EQs, you are two steps ahead of a lot of people. Software or hardware, these tools will make life easy for you and getting them to modify a sound the way you want it will be easy after learning their menu systems and hearing the effect that different functions have on your initial sound file. There is nothing like experimentation in this case!
Both software and hardware effects usually have factory patches that display the capabilities of the effects unit. This is very useful for the budding audio engineer and drum samples editor; feed the device some standard samples – but first analyze the samples and really listen to them – then start applying some of the default effects, not the parameter levels and starting doing A/B tests on the sound; that is, before and after the effect. If you can start to internalize the changes and link the sound alteration to the settings, you will be well off!
Compression is probably the most useful quick fix to turn drab into ‘fab’ when it comes to snappy samples. Raising the volume everything below a low threshold with a fast release will bring interesting results to start with, but this is certainly no hard and fast rule, and in fact will sound downright ridiculous with certain samples. It’s such an adapted art form, you’ve really got to have your go at it, and write down some of the settings.
So, by now you probably understand that really writing stuff down can give you a huge advantage. When describing the effects that a compressor has on drum samples, you want to make several observations, including the sound sample that you were working on (describe its sound), the supposed effect of a particular parameter (as the manual suggests) and also the actual, perceived sound (how you hear it). Describe it in plain English for maximum comprehension later on when comparing different experiments.
Now as a final tip, I’d like to mention how important it is to have good drum samples. Not just good ones, but a solid selection to pick from. The less samples you have, the more time you’re going to be twisting knobs and adjusting sliders, and therefore the less time you will have making an actual beat! So if you want to be able to easily convert the music in your head and lay it down into your program or workstation, expand your selection of sounds.
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Hi-Hat Drum Samples – 2 Mistakes
The hi-hat drum samples of today are as varied as they are underappreciated. Think about your favorite songs for a moment. You can probably hear the kick and snare working away in memory, but it can be very hard to keep track of the hi-hat. The truth is, most hi-hats (hats for short) are just supporting acts to the snare and kick combinations that dominate our attention, but they are nevertheless an essential part of most music production projects, so underestimate them at your peril!
The two mistakes made by producers are not just the domain of amateur producers who may not know better, but also of professional music producers and beat makers.
The first mistake concerns volume. The role of the hi-hat drum samples is often overstated and overemphasized by many expertly arranged songs. The human ear, it is claimed, has gained a perception of the frequencies that hi-hats occupy throughout evolutionary stages. Apparently some aerial predators made noises that had the same frequencies, and we can therefore hear it above its actual volume.
You will never really ‘mix out’ hi-hat samples, just lower them a few decibels during the beat making process. So first mix them to where you think they should be and then drop them a few notches further down. This incongruity has let down a lot of budding mixers who must understand that what they hear is not what their audience will hear at all times.
The second mistake that we’re going to look at is a pretty big one. Most of us are in the music production game to really make something that sounds good, but if you’re trying to achieve authenticity with your drum samples, there are certain things you really need to avoid and be wary of. With hi-hats, certain physical limitations prevent rhythmic operations that are perceived in a lot of rap songs. For instance, having a consistent hi-hat pattern playing one hit every 16th is all good, as that can be achieved. But coupling it with a cymbal hit or open hi-hat once a bar and not stopping the hi-hat? Physically impossible for most drum-sets, especially if the snare and toms also hit at the same point. How many arms does your drummer have? If you want to have a believable drum track, you must really pay attention here. If you produce dance music or other music where it is understood that the sample track is not supposed to be realistic, you can do whatever sounds good.
If you can manage to get your hands on professional programs likle BFD (‘Big F’n Drums’) or Toontrack’s EZ Drummer, you can learn a great deal when it comes to organizing and sequencing drums properly for use in live settings, like those for rock and metal songs, for example. Then make note of what appeals to you and what you could implement.
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Make The Diamonds And Hearts Rapidly Leap Through The Deck In This Splendid Trick
If you like to impress your friends with simple card tricks, then you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a fantastically simple trick that you’ll be able to do once you finish reading this. Despite being shockingly simple to learn and to do, you’ll never get caught if you it right. And don’t worry, because doing it right is super easy.
This is how it will appear to your startled viewers or friends (or stranger on the street for that matter!) You walk up and say that you have a magic deck of cards. You promptly hold through the deck, so they can glimpse it’s a fairly everyday deck. Not a ploy deck filled with the Three of Clubs or something like that.
Then you tap the zenith of the deck, plus display them the pinnacle two cards. No big deal, correct? Then you tap the deck again, but those same two cards are now at the bottom! Then you take those two cards off the bottom, as well as put them in center of the deck. Tap the deck once more (you can borrow a pencil or something as well as use it as a magic wand if you like), plus the two cards are again at the crest! You scratch your head, as well as go on to another caper, or if this is with a stranger at a party or something, you scratch your head as well as stroll away. This will exit a fabulous impact, and they will never forget you!
OK, here’s the ruse. This only works with the Two and Three of both Diamonds as well as Hearts. As soon as you start, you’ll have the Two of Hearts, plus the Three of Diamonds on acme, plus the Two of Diamonds, plus the Three of Hearts on the bottom. As soon as you demo them the summit two cards, they won’t glance absolutely closely. Then after you show them the bottom two, they will astonishment what the heck is going on, as they will deduce they are the same cards, after they incredibly aren’t.
Then you immediately take them, stick them anyplace in the middle (you can even separate them if you like), plus once more demonstration them the cars on summit, which are different from the ones they just saw, but they won’t remember. This most excellent if you can make up some goofy parable involving hearts plus diamonds, three guys plus two girls, or whatever. That way they’ll be looking at the cards even less closely.
Don’t worry concerning being caught, as it almost never happens. It will only happen if they’ve seen the trick before, or if you hold the cards out for too long. All they extremely need to spot is that one is a Two, the other is a Three, as well as they are both red. if you instruct a good allegory about two of something, three of something else, and hearts plus diamonds, they won’t have a sign, and will be duly overwhelmed with your enchanting abilities. Have fun.
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How To Easily And Immediately Read Their Mind
This is a fantastic skill that will quickly give you the appearance of having powerful psychic abilities. It’s really easy to learn, and you can do this on pretty much anybody. The uses of this are virtually endless, but in this article I’ll be talking about how to use it for fun with your friends at social gatherings. If you an play this off, they’ll really think you are psychic.
The first thing you’ll need to do is to calibrate somebody. Calibration is a name that basically means to pay attention to somebody’s body language or facial expressions when they are saying something that you know is either true or artificial, or if they are thinking of particular person. Essentially it means asking them a question, and then matching up their answers with their facial expressions and body language. Police are enormously good at this skill.
For instance, get them to pronounce something that you know is not right, and look at where their eyes go. Watch where they glance when they give you the phony answer. Now ask them a question that you know they will give a honest answer to, and watch where their eyes go. Chances are they will go to two distinctive places, one when they tell the accuracy, and one when they tell a fib. Commonly speaking, people will look up and to the right when they are telling the truth, and up and to the left when they are telling a fib. But be sure to calibrate them, as not all people are the same.
Now that you’ve got them “calibrated,” you can commence asking them questions, and tell them you can read their mentality and know if they are telling the truth or lying. Even if you miss a couple, you’ll be much advanced than fifty percent, which will impress most people. Some individuals find that this is a practical skill to use within a relationship, but I’ll leave that up to you.
Another trick is to get them to think of two dissimilar people. It helps it it’s one person they aren’t enormously fond of, liken ex boyfriend or girlfriend, and one person they exceedingly like. Again, by watching their facial expressions, you’ll know when they are wondering of either person. Then just ask them simple questions, like “Who is taller?” or “Who did you meet first?” or other simple ones. Then you can straightforwardly tell who they are thinking of based on their facial expressions.
This ruse works best with people that you are already friends with, as when we first come across people, we tend to keep our unconscious facial expressions somewhat shielded, so people can be a little difficult to read at first. But with your friends, this can be a great party trick that will quickly have you at the center of attention at any festivity or social gathering.
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Astounding Brain Magic
Here’s a simple trick that will give you a powerful aura of amazing psychic ability. Because this trick is based purely on mathematics, it always works. The more you can talk this trick up before and after, the better. This works especially well at parties, when you choose someone to be the “mark,” and everybody else watches.
Here’s the simple caper. I’ll ask you to do the same things you’ll ask the folks your playing the hoax on to do, so you can witness how it works. First, think of a digit between one and ten. Next, take that number, and multiply it by nine. If it’s a two digit number, add them together. Now take off five. Got it?
Now you take the number and match it with the corresponding letter of the alphabet, with A=1, B=2, etc. Got it? Brilliant. Now think of a nation in Europe that starts with that letter. Got it? Ok, now go onward in the alphabet one letter. Got it? Now consider of a circus animal that begins with that letter. OK? What tint is that animal? OK, so now, you’re most likely thinking of a gray elephant from Denmark, right?
This works since any number you start off with, you’ll constantly end up with four. Try this with all the numbers from one through ten and you’ll see. As long as you specific a state from Europe, most people will pick Denmark. And as long as you go up one more letter (E), most people will settle on elephant, and then unsurprisingly gray.
There are quite a few ways to expose this trick. They best way is to in fact write “Gray Elephant From Denmark” on a piece of paper, fold it up, and bestow it to the person you are playing the trick on. Then have them tell you their response, and have them take out the folded up piece of paper out of their pocket and read it out loud.
This works magnificent at parties when they are a few people watching. Unless the individual knows this trick, and is knowingly trying to throw you off, they will almost always end up with a gray elephant from Denmark. This works notably well with kids, and have them as a group come up with the country, and the animal, etc., before having them open up the magic sheet of paper. Have fun with this.
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