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When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

paul.mycpanel.princeton.edu

31–40 of 70 posts

Re: When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

#31
post #14

I'm always amazed when artists and producers can recognize a sound as something that can be radically transformed, because I'm pretty musical but my imagination doesn't work like that. Kanye is a genius at this. Here are two other examples I like: * Daft Punk's 'One More Time', represented visually: https://twitter.com/nehhlmao/status/1363925150958317568 * Pusha T's 'Numbers on the Boards' sampling and reimagining a…

Do you think they imagine the end result at the beginning of the process or do they just play semi-randomly until they find something that has potential, and then refine it?

The way it works is a producer will grab dozens of samples, then they'll loop things. Some stuff will sound good, some wont. Most of it will require a little polish (EQing etc) to tidy up. While a producer will have an ear for it to begin with (which can be a learned skill) you have to bare in mind that you only hear the samples that did sound good and none of the dozens of samples that were rejected afterwards.

Source: I used to write a few dance tracks in a past life

Re: When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think they imagine the end result at the beginning of the process or do they just play semi-randomly until they find something that has potential, and then refine it?

Most of the time, sampling like this is just fumbling around and happy little accidents. There may be a goal they have in mind, but rarely would you know in advance what the end result should sound like exactly.

That's not exactly true. While there are plenty of happy accidents there's also plenty of times I've taken a sample and looped it knowing full well what it would sound like before I started.

Re: When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

#33
post #14

I'm always amazed when artists and producers can recognize a sound as something that can be radically transformed, because I'm pretty musical but my imagination doesn't work like that. Kanye is a genius at this. Here are two other examples I like: * Daft Punk's 'One More Time', represented visually: https://twitter.com/nehhlmao/status/1363925150958317568 * Pusha T's 'Numbers on the Boards' sampling and reimagining a…

If you want more visualisation like that Daft Punk sample, see how the samples in Jamix xx's Girl come together! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3LCqcC61mk

Just leaving this here without any context, but this song (Olivier Orand - Thursday Night) is the only one which really raised a desire to "debug" it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-z2IW0CBBo

It's awesome.

Re: When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

#34
post #22
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realize they’ve spoiled the challenge, but Kid A was released over 20 years ago. It’s fine to ask for a spoiler alert, but you’re coming off kind of aggressive here IMO

are you injured? as in, did I personally injure you with my aggression?

It’s not about me personally, I’m just saying you could have been more constructive.

Edit — thanks for taking the time to reframe your point about the spoiler :)

Re: When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

#35
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time, sampling like this is just fumbling around and happy little accidents. There may be a goal they have in mind, but rarely would you know in advance what the end result should sound like exactly.

That's not exactly true. While there are plenty of happy accidents there's also plenty of times I've taken a sample and looped it knowing full well what it would sound like before I started.

Well, I said "most of the time", not "always". And that's talking from experience (both mine and that of fellow hobby musicians). It's true that sometimes you might come across a snippet and instantly know what you will be doing with it.

Re: When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

#36
post #13

The sample was taken around the 44 or 45 second mark of the original (I think…?)

you people really suck. read to the end of the article and don’t spoil it for everyone

Seems pretty harsh. I wasn't reading the article like an Easter egg hunt and the original piece is fairly long.

Re: When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

#37
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not exactly true. While there are plenty of happy accidents there's also plenty of times I've taken a sample and looped it knowing full well what it would sound like before I started.

Well, I said "most of the time", not "always". And that's talking from experience (both mine and that of fellow hobby musicians). It's true that sometimes you might come across a snippet and instantly know what you will be doing with it.

I'm talking from experience too. And from experience I found the opposite was true. Most of the time I found a snippet and knew what I was doing with it. Admittedly sometimes it sounded lousier than I'd expected and I thus scraped it but that's not really the same as having a sample and accidentally discovering it sounded good. Usually I'd pick a simple because I thought I could sound good (otherwise I wouldn't have bothered sampling it to begin with). So I think the term "happy accidents" is disingenuous because a lot of the time it wasn't an accident.

Re: When Radiohead sampled Paul Lansky (2000)

#38
post #14

I'm always amazed when artists and producers can recognize a sound as something that can be radically transformed, because I'm pretty musical but my imagination doesn't work like that. Kanye is a genius at this. Here are two other examples I like: * Daft Punk's 'One More Time', represented visually: https://twitter.com/nehhlmao/status/1363925150958317568 * Pusha T's 'Numbers on the Boards' sampling and reimagining a…

While listening to music you might hear something that stands out to you. Maybe a drum sound or chord or certain part. So you record a sample (or make note for later), then load the sound up in a sampler, chop it up, repitch it, warp it, etc and store it in your library. Once its in your sample collection it becomes just another color to paint with.

> Jonny Greenwood came across it in a used record shop when the band was on tour in the United States recently I think it sold about 7000 copies, which is a lot for a classical recording.

I think it’s more experimentation with musical ideas and happy accidents. Had Johnny not gone into that shop maybe idioteque would sound a lot different today.

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