The Alchemist MPC Sampling Technique Deconstructed

today we are deconstructing a sampling technique utilized by one of the most prolific sample based hip-hop producers of all time The Alchemist the example that we'll use for this video will be hit boy in The Alchemist slipping into the darkness let's check it out pay close attention to what The Alchemist is doing on his pads on the MPC 2500. [Music] you can see how well spaced out that loop is and how crazy it is too yeah this man is a genius the first thing that you will notice is the gear that he's using it is the MPC 2500 which has a feature called BPM tapping it's only right that I show you the process on the MPC 2500 before I show you how you can do it on other Daws and on other group boxes so the first thing we need to do is go go to mode and load so we need to load up that sample I'm going to hit this cursor over here and then I will access the sample to play the sample all I have to do is press play foreign how nice it sounds on the MPC 2500 and then I will just go ahead and hit do it once I hit do it it will load the sample inside of the NPC's memory and then I will just press the main button pressing the main button will bring me back to the main menu like it would on the MPC live x01 and then I would just go into mode and trim which is also similar to the MPC Live x01 From Here The Alchemist would see either Loop zoom in chop edit and he can also go at the top here and select either the left or right signal that or what he wants to chop it will be in mono anyway so let's just go ahead and select chop and we can chop up the sample and every sample every part of that chop can be previewed let's go ahead and go full level [Music] and you can hear every chop just use the cursor that's what the people do in this instance so what I want to do since I like to sample for what it is I want to go ahead and select 132 32 chops since the loop is already perfectly chopped and that is a luxury due to the sample that we're using and then listen [Music] by pressing the pads so you can hear it [Music] after I adjust all the slices I would just go into edit then I would choose F2 where it says convert to slice samples that's what the Alchemist would do F2 and then make sure that you select create a new program and hit do it from there it will create a new program and we're good to go now I will just press the the main menu button like you would on the MPC and then you would select the program from right here using the cursor buttons that I missed so much and then from here [Music] so basically it'll play like this [Music] foreign [Applause] would do would jump into the program mode which would be patent number seven right here so let's go ahead and do that by pressing mode and program and from here I would have to play every pad and then I can tune it up so I would tune up six semitones every single time the each pad I'm going to use so keep in mind this is an older machine this is a classic machine that still is relevant today but it does not have the options of Time Stretch or elastic Pro like the current generation MPC live xr1 or any of the Daws on the market so we're back into the main menu and what we'll do is tap Tempo everything in before we record it so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so we have 90.9 BPM now I'll just go ahead and start with the process of making the beat [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you there you go and if you have to just adjust the BPM just a little bit you know this is at 90 90.9 what I'll do is I'll just go up just a little bit until the spaces are gone so that's important so make sure that you go up on the BPM yeah and if you had to do smaller increments then do that [Music] [Applause] so about 93.9 let's go a little lower [Music] and now it sounds natural foreign [Applause] tically it could be done on the MPC live 2. the second and probably the most important aspect of this lesson is sample selection having an ear for music regardless if you can play an instrument or nah it's extremely important and that's one thing that The Alchemist has an ear for music so we noticed that he used a jazzy sample and I will have these samples Linked In the description box as they are nice and Soulful and they will hit and resonate with you so I'm looking for a specified version oh these are done by Tom Bergman [Music] New York's finest and that's the one right there so what we'll do is we'll load that up and then we'll go into the sample editor now we're in trim mode on the MPC live too mind you you can do it in the MPC live x01 or any current generation MPC or the software so what I'll do is process the sample so let's go into a process right here click on process and one thing we don't have to do is discard the sample because it is already perfectly looped and that is a key trick of the trade is that Alchemist knows how to chop his Loops into a perfect 16 8 4 and 2 bar one bar Loop so let's go ahead and shift it up we'll ship it up six semitones just for the sake of mankind and then we'll go over to the process again and then we'll do something else which will do time stretching this is a luxury that you have on the current generation NPCs we know the original BPM of this track is 66 so we'll just add that in there hit do it and then we'll make it about 87 BPM so that way we have a nice little cool hip hop bop it do it we are in there and then it will process the end result is this oh [Music] now let's move on to chopping the sample so to chop the samples on the current generation NPCs where you would go to from right here to trim the chop and now let's select BPM chopping now we have this to play with foreign [Music] 132 since this is a whole on eight bar Loop [Music] so now that we're taking a closer look at these chaps we can see that we can accomplish exactly what the Alchemist has done thank you [Music] so shift convert we are already done now let's chop this thing up foreign Vibes can be accomplished in any other Daw Believe It or Not Ableton Live is pretty simple all I would do is just set the BPM again to like 87 BPM I can do whatever BPM right here as long as I'm using a perfectly sampled Loop then I will go over here to my instruments select simpler from simpler I will just go back into my sample so I can just drag the sample in there let it slide boom go over go to slice simple as that and then I'll go to my push two if you don't have to push two then you would just adjust the sensitivity I'll adjust the sensitivity [Music] and let's to slice by beat instead of transient and that should work so grab a division that is proper for it so here we go and if it doesn't warp the sample make sure that you warp the sample just grab this right here select warp and now it should be fine foreign [Music] pose it up just like the MPC live too on the live two it was six semitones up so let's go six semitones up so we can have it match a little bit more I almost forgot [Music] FL gang you're not so lucky at least not with the first party plugins that are in your Daw but it can be done this is a free plug-in from Big Fish audio called momentum if you want to learn more about momentum and how to use it I have a video that will be linked in the description box to the right of me we have more entertaining content for that ass make sure that you check out the links in the description box as the samples that we use in this video are located there and make sure that you support us at 16 levels.com as we have a MPC live to master class on Deck as well do you want one for the 2500 let me know

Channel: Ave Mcree

Views: 121,314

Keywords: the alchemist, alchemist sampling, alchemist sampling tech, mpc sampling, mpc, akai mpc, sampling, hip hop, avemcree, ave mcree

Id: R78FoiXkS04

Length: 12min 18sec (738 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 03 2023