Warping Full Tracks in Ableton for Sampling

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I recently saw an eye-opening video on sampling from Beatport TV featuring Ilyus and Barrientos which got my creative juices flowing. The ease with which they warped their full tracks in logic was quite different from the experience I had warping full tracks for sampling experiments.

Warping Full Tracks

Seeing that Ableton is known for its outstanding warp engine, I knew there was an easier way for accurately warping full tracks. So I did a little research on the quickest, most precise methods to do so. This is what I found.

• Determinte the natural tempo of the track
• Set project tempo to track tempo BEFORE warping the track!
• Find the first downbeat and drop a warp marker on it
• Right click “warp from here”
• Select complex or complex pro
• Check results / Make adjustments

The easiest way to determine a song’s tempo (if it is not readily available to you) is to use the tap tempo button. The APC40 Mk II controller has a dedicated tap tempo button, but if you don’t have that particular piece of kit, you can always use your mouse with the tap tempo button on the upper left corner of the screen. Once you are confident you are as close to bang on as possible, you can round the tempo to the nearest whole number.

Now you can change project tempo back to the tempo you want – and the whole song’s tempo will follow. Be aware, however that there is no guarantee that a track will maintain a tempo throughout its duration. Many bands of the past recorded without a metronome, and slight tempo fluctuations are inevitable. Even the best drummers can lag a miniscule amount, and that amount will affect the accuracy of your warping.

Finding the Sample

The next thing to do is find the sample you wish to use. Oftentimes, this sample will be the basis of the track, so choose your sample wisely.

To find your sample, set your loop to the length of a musical phrase – 2, 4, or 8 bars may be appropriate in this situation. Use your judgment. Next, move the loop around to different areas of the song to find your sample. It could be a vamping groove, a verse or even a chorus. Again, use your judgment to find that magic sample. Remember that this is electronic music – glitched and choked sounds are inherent in the genre, so don’t be afraid to abruptly cut off a vocal or a instrumental line. As long as you have an appropriate downbeat selected, the sample should work

A Word of Warning

Sampling is so commonplace these days that its impossible to keep up with, but be aware that in order to legally use a sample in a production you plan to sell, you need to obtain the appropriate rights from the copyright holder and the artist. The specifics of this are beyond the scope of this article, but it is worth checking out.

That said, many people use samples without the appropriate rights to no consequence. They are either not found out – often by producers mangling samples beyond recognition – or they have too small a reach to make a difference. Either way, appropriating samples without the proper rights could leave a door open for legal trouble down the line. Either a cease and desist or worse. Again, use your best judgment.

Until next time,
Audiomunk

Want to read more about Sampling? Check out these other articles here at Audiomunk.com!
–Is It Cheating? Pre-sets, Samples, and Pre-made Loops
–Layering: Using New Sounds to Enhance Old Sounds