two questions

[figment]

It all depends on your mood when you're listening to the records, i could be listening to 3 different records back to back for an hour and not find anything, then listen to the same records a week later and make 2-3 beats out of em. I would say that if you find some chops that might work, it's worth trying to make something out of them because even if you don't get far with it, or you only come up with an 8 bar loop, you can allways come back to it on another day when your mood is different and you have a different perspective on it.

[Quektis productionz]

yea I think it's all about ur ear man. Ur ear can be a bitch, especially if you sit there listening for music for hours, Its gonna miss a lot of stuff out and it can switch ur whole perception of the same thing depending on when ur listening. I swear an ear has got a mind of its own. It also happens when u make a beat for hours U'll be thinkin its dope and then next time u switch it on a few hours later the shits all out of tune and all over the place!

[Downstroke]

When I'm shopping for beats, I usually have an inkling if there's going to be anything on it by the visual clues on the album, seeing what the instrument set up of the band is, look at who's playing on it, even the titles sometimes give you a clue, funny how many song titles with the word break in it have breaks on them (breakthrough, breakdown, when the levee breaks etc.). The year of the record is often very important, especially if your digging for drums, but of course, all these methods aren't water tight so sometimes you just need to take a chance sometimes on something that looks interesting.

As far as my process goes, I tend to flick through the records quite quickly, but if I hear what sounds potentially usable in the opening few bars, I'll often play the whole track. Sometimes it's just a vibe about the tune, sometimes the drums have that certain grit to them so you hope you can lift an open kick and snare from somewhere in the track. It's all about developing that ear. You need to be able to think a few steps ahead of the actual sample and what you might be able to do to it, or what you can layer it with.

Don't know if any of you have seen Vinroc's 'Believe' video, it pretty much sums up how I make my beats, from the initial flicking through records, to the actual laying down the beat (although I use Reason & an MPD, not an MPC2500). Here's the link: YouTube - The Art of Beat Making "Believe" - Vinroc

[Mach3Beatz]

The past year I've tried to incorporate samples fra 3 or 4 different songs. That's definitely made my beats better. Just searching through records and then tune all the chops together. That's a dope ass way to make something unique and create your own style. Don't get stuck up on sampling just one particular song.

[Rafferty]

Originally Posted by Downstroke

The year of the record is often very important, especially if your digging for drums,

how's that?

[Downstroke]

Originally Posted by Rafferty

how's that?

Well, and like I said, this isn't water tight, but you do tend to find that dirty gritty sounding drums occured most often on records between 1968 and 1974. Post 74, drums started sounding a lot flatter imo, and more processed. I don't know if there was any major change in how drums were recorded around 1975, but something definitely happened. I've spoken to loads of diggers about this & we've all drawn the same conclusion. I know disco had a lot to do with it, especially with regards to drum patterns, but even rock drums changed as well. It's odd how there are so few new records with decent drum breaks on them, unless they're deliberately trying to sound retro like the Dap Kings on Amy Winehouse's CD.

[DJ Stone 613]

damn al green has some gritty drums on his stuff

[confidence]

bottom line, i just put on a record i had for a good 3 years and made a slammin joint off of it. I've listened to that record probably twice before that point. Like most people said, it depends on timing, the mood you're in and patience....some days you got it, some days you don't...peace

[juney]

ill pick a record and listen to it until i found something i can flip whether its a dope sample, a drum, or jus a snare. thats pretty much it. now there have been times when ive bought records, listened to them and found nothing,. put them back on the plate months later and im like ur kidding me i dint find this sample before. sometimes you jus gotta sit on records for a while. cause every record i bought id try to listen to it immediately and anticipating a dope sample but not finding it. but it helps me when i come back to it cause my mind is more relaxed and open to any sound and not trying to force a sample out of it.