Old school methods.

[Nubus]

I used to take tapes and play them in high speed dubbing mode directly into my SK-1. That way, when I'd play the lower keys on the SK-1 the sample pitch was cool and the sample time was way extended. Record that on a four track, layer it with a drum machine, maybe a synth for bass and your done.

[lukedavo]

I used to wire together VCRs before I knew anything about recording, and use them to record band practice. It actually came out pretty well, but it was almost impossible to sync the two tapes together. Now once I find those tapes, should be easy to do with modern conveniences.

[Nubus]

Probably still will not be all that easy to sync up the two tapes even now, in 2006. The good news is you will be able to record the Winter Olympics on them.

[lukedavo]

IMO the winter olympics is like nascar in a way, you only watch it for the crashes!

[Nubus]

Yeah, that skating stuff was weird.
I don't remember what I was doing but once I had a VCR plugged into my four track and somehow it picked up the sounds of the motors. It really added something cool to the track, this whirring winding electric noise.

[Nubus]

Layer the kicks and snares. I cannot put into words what this does when you are making beats. Seriously, the snare track, every two and four, you have like 6 different snare samples hitting all at once. Every kick couod be a stack of kick drums. Don't doubt it till you've tried it.
Boom, Thwack, Boom boom Thwack!

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by Nubus

Layer the kicks and snares. I cannot put into words what this does when you are making beats. Seriously, the snare track, every two and four, you have like 6 different snare samples hitting all at once. Every kick couod be a stack of kick drums. Don't doubt it till you've tried it.
Boom, Thwack, Boom boom Thwack!

yea, multiple kicks and snares will definately make your tracks "bangin'" as my old boss used to say. it gives them a unique texture that will help them stand out; but it degrades when you've used a sound that is sampled from a record that used a sample of that snare too.

[GearJunkie]

Originally Posted by smopo24

yea, multiple kicks and snares will definately make your tracks "bangin'" as my old boss used to say. it gives them a unique texture that will help them stand out; but it degrades when you've used a sound that is sampled from a record that used a sample of that snare too.

that's why old crappy drum machines are the best.

at one point i had like 10 of them. that with my trusty SP-202 sampler was the best combination ever.

i'd sample my favorite kicks, snares, etc in various bit formats. basses with high res, snares with low, different hat samples etc etc.

By that point, I had my own little trip-hop drum machine to sequence with. All I needed now was my cease and desist letter from Portishead for ripping them off so badly.

[Gareth*]

I used to beat box into a cheap mike into my stereo using the cassette record function. It was a dual cassete deck and if I took my new beat box track and put it in the other cassette side and press play I could record a new track layered on the first one. The old track would loose just a little volume. I would do this like 50 times switching the 2 cassettes back an forth. It would actually sound pretty good.

[dagosto]

I accidentally set the wrong input to record the other day while overdubbing a synth track. It recorded the the performance along with the rest of the tracks that I had done through a mic that was pointing at a conga. I ended up crosfading this new track with the rest of the tracks for a cool ending to the song and it sounded really cool. It was a happy accident.

This reminded me of how I used to record using a clock radio that had a built in mic and then play it through my parents stereo and record onto another tape while overdubbing something. I always got fun lofi recordings like this and the first generation tracks would have a cool room sound to them. My introduction to reverb I guess.