KVR Audio

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Fri May 13, 2005 5:30 pm

I'm having trouble getting the right vibe for a commercial piece. The client wants hip-hop, and I think I'm lacking in decent samples like minor guitar chord hits, horn/string loops or something unusal to get me going. I've tried about 4-5 songs for these guys and I'm just not hitting it.

is there anywhere on the net that has any good samples? Just need something to draw inspiration and not get sued over. It used to be easy to find samples, now, they're all pay.

thanks.

winter · Post by **winter** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:59 pm

Are you wondering about the hiphop sound? Cuz there are some ok sites that have free samples. As the say STFW. I just don't know what sound your going for. ie. I hardly use samples to make hiphop because of my original sound.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Fri May 13, 2005 11:08 pm

winter wrote:Are you wondering about the hiphop sound? Cuz there are some ok sites that have free samples. As the say STFW. I just don't know what sound your going for. ie. I hardly use samples to make hiphop because of my original sound.

Yeah, well you want to be OG for sure! I was just wondering. I'm trying to do a backing track for a Poker commercial, and the client wants some kinda edgy, authentic sounding hip-hop music. The imagery is basketball, cars, chicks, etc. More than anything, I'm just running out of ideas. They keep turning my shit down (even though everyone in-house liked it)...I'm starting to feel very Canadian, ha ha...

stale bread · Post by **stale bread** » Fri May 13, 2005 11:55 pm

bduffy wrote:the client wants some kinda edgy, authentic sounding hip-hop music. The imagery is basketball, cars, chicks, etc.

this is prob the issue, those two statements are conflicting.

based on the imagery you might want to try a beat that is roughly the average tempo of the ball being dribbled, some synth bass with a counter theremin melody, the snare mixed with a clap, and some samples of basketball 'swooshes' rhythimicly offset by 'on the court chatter' along with a refferees whistle for tension and also to signal a breakdown. (only once though) maybe end it with some turntable scratching of fans clapping.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Sat May 14, 2005 12:06 am

stale bread wrote:
bduffy wrote:the client wants some kinda edgy, authentic sounding hip-hop music. The imagery is basketball, cars, chicks, etc.

this is prob the issue, those two statements are conflicting.

based on the imagery you might want to try a beat that is roughly the average tempo of the ball being dribbled, some synth bass with a counter theremin melody, the snare mixed with a clap, and some samples of basketball 'swooshes' rhythimicly offset by 'on the court chatter' along with a refferees whistle for tension and also to signal a breakdown. (only once though) maybe end it with some turntable scratching of fans clapping.

Conflict? Interesting. They basically are requesting rap music, I don't know if my terms are off or something. So I gotta make rap music with no rapper.

I can't go too crazy on the sound FX, basketball is not the message, and I already got some foley of the guys playing in there. The message is that this guy just got rich quick from gambling.

Thanks for the good suggestions.

Armadillo · Post by **Armadillo** » Sat May 14, 2005 12:10 am

You are getting paid to do a track yet you still want the samples for free? Come on, quality costs money you know.

For Hip hop beats Foundation sounds like the bees knees.
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1131.html

For riffs and licks maybe VLP120 will do the trick.
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/459.html

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Sat May 14, 2005 12:23 am

Armadillo wrote:You are getting paid to do a track yet you still want the samples for free? Come on, quality costs money you know.
For Hip hop beats Foundation sounds like the bees knees.
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/1131.html

For riffs and licks maybe VLP120 will do the trick.
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/459.html

Dude, I'm an employee, I don't have carte blanche to go out and buy libraries on a whim. And I don't think I'd be able to talk my bosses into spending $300 US just to get me some samples for one project. This is the first time we've been asked to do Rap/Hip-hop, so I doubt I could sell them on that, thanks though.

I'm just looking for something quick and dirty, my inspiration is low.

You know, screw it. I got it in me to do this, I've just been working on this same goddamn project for 5 or 6 days and I can't think anymore. Probably best to hit it and quit.

gambaytheunspoken · Post by **gambaytheunspoken** » Sat May 14, 2005 1:11 am

What you might wanna do is head over to acidplanet.com and download the free loops from their various sample libraries. It's all royalty free, and it might get your ideas flowing.

stale bread · Post by **stale bread** » Sat May 14, 2005 2:24 am

yeah man looks like you've been workin at this hard, a break will do you good, what i meant by conflict was that I thought they were looking for 'rapmusic' which imediately told me they were not looking for 'the client wants some kinda edgy, authentic sounding hip-hop music'....
so probly goin with the vibe that you hear on the radio will sort you out and any rapsong that involves money as a subject matter will get points for the 'cha ching' sound. the synth bass is synonamous with commercial rapmusic, anyway peace and goodluck
with your endeavor. stay positive.

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Sat May 14, 2005 3:16 am

Thanks, man. TGIF is all I gotta say.

I'll just kick back and just give a wicked beat on Monday. Maybe I'll post it if anyone's curious.

Thanks everyone. I'll check out the Acidplanet thing roo. :}

Kim Lajoie · Post by **Kim Lajoie** » Sat May 14, 2005 10:27 am

How about listening to other music in the style you're trying to emulate, and then copy the sounds and style with the tools you already have?

Forever,

Kim.

unic · Post by **unic** » Sat May 14, 2005 10:58 am

When cheking the Acidplanet, check the free library demos that are downloadable - there's usually a disclaimer, too, so you'll get *cleared* samples.

Pantsdown666 · Post by **Pantsdown666** » Sun May 15, 2005 10:08 am

just found a really good free 'general' hiphop soundfont - for emulating commercial styles , which sounds like what you need :

+Hip Hop Combo.sf2 from http://www.sf2midi.com (you need to register there, it's free)

Lots of complex kits, wah wah guitars, synth basses, scratches, Rhodes phrases, trumpet and sax phrases etc. etc. . Quality varies across presets, but there's some great stuff there all in one soundfont . Ten drumkits that each fill a keyboard with FX etc .
It's 6.1mb

Kim Lajoie · Post by **Kim Lajoie** » Sun May 15, 2005 10:56 am

Pantsdown666 wrote:just found a really good free 'general' hiphop soundfont - for emulating commercial styles , which sounds like what you need :

+Hip Hop Combo.sf2 from http://www.sf2midi.com (you need to register there, it's free)

Lots of complex kits, wah wah guitars, synth basses, scratches, Rhodes phrases, trumpet and sax phrases etc. etc. . Quality varies across presets, but there's some great stuff there all in one soundfont . Ten drumkits that each fill a keyboard with FX etc .
It's 6.1mb

I think that's an EMU kit, and I'm not sure if it's legit. EMU used to sell soundfonts once upon a time...

Forever,

Kim.

Pantsdown666 · Post by **Pantsdown666** » Sun May 15, 2005 11:02 am

Jeez wrote:
Pantsdown666 wrote:just found a really good free 'general' hiphop soundfont - for emulating commercial styles , which sounds like what you need :

+Hip Hop Combo.sf2 from http://www.sf2midi.com (you need to register there, it's free)

Lots of complex kits, wah wah guitars, synth basses, scratches, Rhodes phrases, trumpet and sax phrases etc. etc. . Quality varies across presets, but there's some great stuff there all in one soundfont . Ten drumkits that each fill a keyboard with FX etc .
It's 6.1mb
I think that's an EMU kit, and I'm not sure if it's legit. EMU used to sell soundfonts once upon a time...

Really ? I'll edit out the link if anyone can confirm .... I used to have the EMU "Planet Phatt" module, and this isn't that one ...

Any good, free Hip-Hop/R&B samples?