Looplair guides

Guides

Practical writing on soul, drum breaks, gospel and building records out of sample packs. Written here, by the person who records the samples.

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If you are not sure where to begin, these cover the ground the rest of the guides build on.

SoulHow to make a beat from a soul sample The whole path from a soul sample to a finished beat, and the decisions that matter a great deal more... Read From packsHow to make a beat from a sample pack Sampling a pack is not the same as sampling a record. What changes, what gets easier, and the habits worth... Read GospelHow to make gospel-influenced hip hop beats What gospel brings to a beat that soul does not, and how to use it without the result sounding like... Read Drum breaksWhat is a drum break? What a drum break actually is, where the idea came from, and why producers are still building whole records on... Read

Soul

6 guides

The bulk of what hip hop is built on. Choosing a section, chopping it, making it sit under drums, and staying on the right side of clearance.

Soul chord progressions for beatmakers The movements soul leans on, why they feel the way they do, and how to use them without... Read 60s, 70s and 80s soul: what changes for beatmakers Three decades that sound nothing alike, what actually changed between them, and which era suits which kind of... Read What makes a soul sample sound vintage Tape, room, tuning and wear. What is actually happening when a sample sounds old, and which parts of... Read How to chop a soul sample Where to cut, how to keep the timing honest once you have, and why most chopped beats fall... Read Do you need to clear a soul sample? What United States law actually requires when you sample a soul record, why two seconds is not the... Read How to make a beat from a soul sample The whole path from a soul sample to a finished beat, and the decisions that matter a great... Read

Drum breaks

6 guides

Four bars of drums that whole records get built on. What they are, how to cut them, and how to keep the licence clean.

Where to find royalty free drum breaks What to check before you build a track on a break you found for free, and the questions... Read How to layer your own drums over a break Adding your own kick and snare to a break for weight and punch, without the low end turning... Read Drum breaks vs drum kits vs one-shots Three things producers keep mixing up. What each one actually is, what it is good for, and when... Read How to chop a drum break Where to cut, how to stop the clicks, and how to rearrange the pieces into a pattern that... Read How to make your own drum breaks Recording, programming and processing your own breaks, so the drums under your track are yours outright and there... Read What is a drum break? What a drum break actually is, where the idea came from, and why producers are still building whole... Read

Gospel

4 guides

Where gospel differs from soul, and how to borrow from it without the result sounding like a church service.

What a gospel organ does that a Rhodes doesn't Two keyboard sounds producers treat as interchangeable. They do completely different jobs, and knowing which is which saves... Read Using choir samples in a beat How to place a choir so it lifts a beat instead of swallowing it, and what to do... Read Gospel chord movement for beatmakers The specific harmonic moves that make gospel sound like gospel, explained for producers rather than piano students. Read How to make gospel-influenced hip hop beats What gospel brings to a beat that soul does not, and how to use it without the result... Read

Making beats from packs

5 guides

What changes when the source is a pack rather than a record, and the habits that make it faster.

Making two different packs sound like one record Combining samples from different sessions without the seams showing. The problem is rarely the notes, it is the... Read Using vocal samples when there is nothing to clear Vocals are the most powerful and most dangerous thing you can sample. Recorded vocals remove the danger, which... Read Building a beat around a Rhodes part The most sampled keyboard in hip hop, and how to build around one without the whole thing turning... Read What to do with BPM and key labels Two numbers on a filename that most producers ignore. Using them properly is the difference between an hour... Read How to make a beat from a sample pack Sampling a pack is not the same as sampling a record. What changes, what gets easier, and the... Read

The samples behind the guides

Everything written about here is recorded in one room, by one person, and labelled properly. Stems on every sample.

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