Bi-weekly record-diving sampling extravaganza | 02 | Brother Jack McDuff - Mystic John (1970)

The Lounge Mission Briefs
#1

Welcome to a new edition of our bi-weekly record-diving sampling extravaganza!

To start off, @natehorn and I would like to thank all of the wonderful participants that attended, and submitted songs for the first challenge! We are honored to be able to have witnessed some very unique, and interesting uses of sampling take place that led to magnificent jams being shared from different parts of the world.

As promised, we have collected samples, videos, and full tracks from the participating members who attended our first event. Each member has generously donated the files they used in their sampling endeavors to be shared with the wonderful elektronauts community!

The Sample Extra 01 sample pack can be accessed, and downloaded, by following this link:

SAMPLE EXTRA 01 - VELS TRIO

Please, share the pack with anyone that you think will benefit from it’s use, and if you enjoyed the samples, kindly share some love to the artists who helped make them. :beers:

On to the good stuff…

This week @natehorn and I have chosen to focus on a criminally slept on musician by the name of Brother Jack McDuff. The track is titled “Mystic John” and comes from the inconspicuously funky album, “To Seek A New Home,” which was recorded on March 23–26, 1970, and released the same year on the Blue Note label.

Here is a link to the track, please delete it after using:

[Brother Jack McDuff - Mystic John]
(note: the original file link is not available)

Album Cover:

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You can use as much or as little of the sample track as you like, you just have to use it. No winners, no losers, just good times!

THE BRIEF

YOU have been selected by the notorious Global Sound Syndicate for a top-secret operation. Not really, please, share with your friends, family, and the curious odor having synth hoarder down the street.

Mission:

-Sample any part(s) of the track we’ve nominated
-Spend no more than 1 week turning it into music
-Post your creations here for us all to enjoy

Deadline: Sunday , October 16, 2022

Submit your entry no later than 11:59 PM, Sunday, October 16, 2022, or be faced with a brief moment of self-loathing for not participating. When the event is over, we will release a sample pack containing samples that were used in the making of each track (if you would like to contribute to the sample pack please feel free to message either @natehorn, or myself to send in your one-shots and slices!)

Compensation:

Hearts and compliments from the community
(not guaranteed)

Every two weeks we will post a track from our record collection, ideally something you’ve not heard before. Jams, full tracks, noodles - share whatever you like!

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Bi-weekly record-diving sampling extravaganza | 01 | Vels Trio - Yellow Ochre
#2

:raised_hands:

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#3

Can we use additional drum or Fx samples?

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#4

Yeah man do whatever you feel! :muscle:

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#5

So I got a few ideas I’ve been playing with but this is the one I’ve developed further - took it in a way different direction! Everything but the vocal is from Mystic John :v:

Obree | Nate Horn


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#6

(cheeky track edit, I’d uploaded the wrong version…)

#7

Great stuff @natehorn - really like both the composition and sound design. And that vocal sample/s really suits the music. I’ve also been trying a few different approaches and have settled on something a bit downtempo. Hope to get it finished with a bit of time on the weekend.

Have to say I’m really enjoying this thread/s - it’s really helped me define a direction for exploring my new (old) Octatrack. And being focussed on actually producing some music is preventing the usual analysis paralysis I can often get stuck in.

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#8

:raised_hands: Thanks mate glad you enjoyed it. Yea same! It’s forcing me out of my comfort zone in a lot of areas and have so far been enjoying where it’s taken me.

Look forward to hearing your track!

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#9

@natehorn ALLLLLLLROYT!! Seriously :beers: on your sampling style. That is a dreamy motivational groove man, well done!

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#10

Wanted to comment earlier but my niece and nephew were over and demanding attention :older_man:

It’s so awesome to hear both of your takes and experiences with this thread, and admittedly I feel the exact same way.

@Switchmode I just got an OT earlier this year, and it was a long overdue purchase for me, and this challenge is forcing me to get better acquainted. Glad you’re reigniting the flame with such a great piece of hardware and can’t wait to hear what you brew! :beers:

What matters is that we all do it together so it doesn’t feel so uncomfortable (pause)

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#11

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#12

AHHHHH YEAH! That is a funky track, and love the different directions you took the song structure. Incredibly thick man what a journey that was! :muscle:

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#13

I like the bit where it sounds like a jazz man is clicking their fingers, some great uses of the sample in here!

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#14

Thanks, I struggled with what to do with this sample at first, but then something came together and it clicked.

Too much fun, just kept going so it’s the extended mix. Also I forgot to mention kick/hat/snare~a few drum samples were added everything else was from the original track

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#15

Note that Buad jam mashups are welcome! Let’s russkie up some guys

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#16

Another awesome tune @1-2, but as a simple “4 on the floor” kind of drum programmer I can’t wrap my head around how you program those complex beats - how do you get that ‘controlled randomness’ thing happening?! Are you using an Elektron box with conditional locks or something else?

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#17

@Switchmode

thoughts on drums

I love using trig conditions and polymeter on elektrons, but in this case I used mpc. No true randomness just some subtle variations. No step seq used, but played in live, I like to use the note repeat feature extensively- some parts were multi pad live played full drum grooves, some were just a hat pattern or a track of extra kicks or extra snares etc done in isolation for layering up. Note shift was used a couple times, like microtiming but for the whole track. Swing was used in different percentages in a few different parts when quantized, some bits were played in live unquantized for a looser feel as most of the the quant parts sounded pretty gridded

The main groove was individual drum samples played in, but some parts were little fill chops and hits from the og track which had there own timing variations, even if it was only a few drumhits chopped from part of a fill splashed in here and there. Some pitching and velocity to start point was used for these. For the main groove drum samples some velocity modulation was used on filter and sample start for some subtle variation and for at least the snares 4 samples were layered and come in at different velocity zones for a bit of dynamic timbre and slight bit more natural sound than a static sample

Some parts were a by a small or larger amount a different groove played in from scratch, but for the most part I just kept the main groove going here and it was copied sequence to sequence, I went in later and removed or added a couple hits here and there for some small variations but not too much. Some very light humanization (dequantizing) and velocity altering was used but just barley and only in a couple little parts

Most was pretty standard 4/4 here but there were some triplets put in here and there, also the snare didn’t always land on the two and 4 and there were some little ghost notes or larger velocity gaps around some of the main hits kind of like happy accidents as my timing is a little off with note repeat at a high division, and most of these were just left in (pad pressure aftertouch is set very sensitive). Just played by feel, I can’t play drums too well but its very fun and informative and thinking like a drummer can help, even when sequencing

Some parts were then resampled, chopped up and restructured so the little timing variations and such were already built in even if played out full quantized on a perfect grid

I use some of these techniques on the digitakt too so they can be applied to the sequencing mindset, especially with elektrons

I also like very rigid drum machine type sounds too, but making these kind of drum patterns is very fun for me - Hope this helps explain things, I’m happy to chat drum programming and sequencer strategy or answer any question but I think this covers a lot

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#18

Pulling out all the stops there @1-2 - thanks for that insight into your craft. Seriously impressive.

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#19
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#20

Damn, the Double-OT Model1 setup is cleeeaaaan!

Great beat and loved how you used the sample :clap:

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