how'd he do it? [was Re: DJ Shadow]

Tony Reid (t-bird@salata.com)
19 Feb 97 19:41:32 -0800


i hope we haven't burnt this thread out, but there's a few things i have to
comment on as a dj/musician/producer/loudmouth/dessert topping...

jb> I'm going to have to disagree here....I think it's largely
jb> sequenced...first of all, the drum programming has to have been done by
jb> sequencer. If you listen to some of those choppy breaks in the middle
jb> of the songs (where the beats sound like machine guns) that can only be
jb> done through sequenced midi data.

not true! i've done the same thing w/a turntable (sample source) and a pc
w/digital audio editing software (sample manipulator) that i *wish* had midi
capability--oh my god, not a mac? i've done whole tracks that way w/no
sequencing at all...

jb> Given that he's sitting in front of
jb> the machines for that purpose, I really really really highly doubt that
jb> he didn't use them for sample purposes as well.....

i think sampling is all he used them for.

jb> I don't think that they're mutually exclusive - samplers or turntables
jb> - he obviously used the tables to create sounds when he scratched and
jb> probably did not use them to trigger loops and things of that nature.

how do you trigger a loop w/a turntable? well, i thought of one way, but it
would be pointless... i'm sure he used decks for soundsources (loop fodder,
scratching, etc.--i'd be really surprised if he sampled someone else's deck
stop in "changeling").

jb> I'd bet that hard disk recorders were involved too, esp on that intro
jb> track (though that could have been laboriously done with a sampler and
jb> sequencer too).

my point is that w/the proper program, you could do the whole album w/a hard
disc recorder--which is what i think he did.

t-bird