Not sure that I am posting this in the right section so apologies in advance.

I can't help noticing the huge number of sample discs that contain construction kits and I was wondering if anyone actually uses these?

Seems to me these kits are nothing more than songs that someone has recorded, chopped up, and you put them back together in whatever form you want. Something like a remix.

With many people reconstructing the same song it's not as if you are producing something unique that is going to bring fame and fortune. I did try one once just for fun, put it on Youtube, and got hit with copyright challenges from others who had done the same.

Is there any real point to these kits....or am I missing the point?

 

As soon as I see a mention of construction kits I don't bother with that sample bank due to lack of variety in samples. I prefer sample banks with as many different sounding single samples possible because there's a better chance some of them will fit into your mix. I also presume it is much easier to make a couple of generic tracks, chop them up, and call it a sample bank.

 

Seems to me that a lot of construction kits dont even allow you put the song 'back together' after it has been 'chopped up' as the samples tend to be too brief sounding like an intro to a song or something like that. Cant think i heard many that have different song sections to make a whole song ???

 

You can use every construction kit, if you buy the using rights. The Youtube Copyright protection is a Hoax!
Remember you can write hundreds of songs with only 3 or 4 same chords. The whole copyright system is outdated.

 

Construction kits aren't really for musicians, they are for people making Youtube videos and the like who want to throw something together quickly as a backing track. Lastly yes, if you legitimately purchased the kit then you do have the right - any Youtube copyright claim is BS.

 

They teach beginners how to arrange songs and about layering.

 

My opinion is that using construction kits could be problematic for copyright, even if you legally buy the sample pack. If you produce music for business stay away from construction kits

 

they are out there but few and far apart... have to agree.

I think most are just useful for inspiration or to practice matching, layering tracks...

They can be of some limited use, but really.. a real musician should craft all his own music....IMO.

 

Simply put, when you buy a sample library you buy the rights to use the samples included in your own musical creations. The only thing that is illegal and can lead to a rights violation is re-packaging/re-publishing the same loops or samples as they are, as a commercial sample product yourself. And i say as they are because if you alter/edit a sample or loop beyond recognition from its original form then its a new sample/loop and it is justified as your creation. Having said that you have to be careful with what really "beyond recognition" means and how it can be achieved but that's another story. What the member called recycle indicates, i 'm sorry my friend but its false. There is no legal problem whatsoever with using construction kits you bought in your own compositions/mixes etc even if you use the whole construction kit(s) itself. How this will sound of course is for you to decide. There is no law that will tell you what a musician should or should not use, if you are within the legal boundaries. Everyone has his/hers own preferences and workflow. One Reason states that in his opinion " a real musician should craft all his own music". While this is true to some extent, the "creation boundary lines" nowadays are blurred. What does "craft all his own music" mean? Compose it from the get go like play it all with midi or real instruments or both? If this is the case, isn't Liam Howlett an established musician and producer? His music is so heavily sample and loop based that there's hardly anything really "played" in the Prodigy songs. Of course he does his own sampling but still the Prodigy method of composing is far from any traditional method of composing songs. Same goes for Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and many other artists that emerged in the 90s electronic scene etc (Actually Norman Cook was the bassist for the UK indie pop rock band The Housemartins in the 80s before he landed his first electronic project in 1990). These artists have influenced myriads of musicians and electronic (or even non-electronic) producers all over the world with their innovative use of sampling and all this not to mention the first pioneering (rap/hiphop and house) sampling generation of the 80s. In my sense there is no right or wrong. If you 've heard "enough" you know that there can be totally sample based tracks that sound fkn original and totally newly composed and recorded "by musicians" tracks that sound just like everything you heard before, and of course there's every other combination that falls in between. So to sum it, because music is first and foremost art, its the inspiration behind a song or musical piece that makes it stand out or not. Not the composition/recording/mixing and mastering processes themselves. You CAN polish a turd but sure as hell you can't make it smell good.
Thank you for your time

 

Last edited: Feb 9, 2016

I would say that the artists you mention do "craft all their own music" by carefully finding obscure sample sources and carefully altering/editing them to fit together. This requires skill, musical taste and so forth.

There is a difference between using pre-canned construction kits and creatively made sample-based music.

 

@Psychoacoustic : I definitely agree on almost all you say. Where i beg to differ is the "pre-canned" definition. Take a Rhodes loop from a construction kit that is playing a G and Am chord sequence, use Melodyne and make it play any other chord sequence you can imagine. It's not "pre-canned" anymore. Yes it requires some skill level but wouldn't you agree that you can make something good out of almost everything if you have inspiration and motivation ? Construction kits can help newbie musicians that are just stepping into producing their own tracks because they show how a small full track is structured/laid out. It takes skill,time and experience to understand structuring and how to use particular sounds. Going back to my youth era (late 70s-early 80s) there was no information whatsoever that my generation could read and understand how to make modern tracks. Books on production were rare or non existent. It was a magical secret world that we had to dwell in the hard way (that is trial and error with every piece of gear we could get our hands on). If you had a synthesizer in your possession you were either rich or you had worked your ass off to buy it. Owning a sampler in 1983 was pretty much science fiction for 99% of the musicians/producers. We used delays and 4track tape recorders for looping and re-sampling purposes and trust me it was a time consuming procedure. Fast forwarding to now and the freedom that the computer world gives musicians and producers, i am amazed at how many people DO NOT appreciate how much information is constantly been handed to them literally for free. I agree, its not as creative to use ready made samples as making your own loops and samples. Still,i think you would agree one has to start from somewhere and in my sense these construction kits, apart from sampling material also stand as a small free lesson in music production and structure. Lastly, as much skill,musical taste etc are required to select an old record and make a cool (never heard before) loop from it, skill and musical taste etc are also required to tweak a loop from a construction kit to make it sound yours. But you already know this of course. Thank you again

 

No, not at all

I uploaded on soundcloud a track containing samples from Big Fish Audio "Soul City ".

Uploaded aborted from site with this message:

Our automatic content protection system has detected that your track may contain the following copyrighted content: "Good Times Just a Taste" by Sweet Kenny owned by WaterFall Records. As a result, your track has been removed from your profile for the time being.

I guess that the whole royalty free samples is a scam...

 

My response is largely a reiteration of previous responses, barring those which veered off-topic.
Construction kits are for

a) non-musicians who want to put together something "musical" (i.e., for a video for YouTube or a short film);
b) people learning how to put musical "objects" together in a DAW;
c) musicians who want to jog their creativity or sketch sounds/parts out for later revision/embellishement;
b) dumbasses who slap stuff together and put it on Soundcloud and call themselves "musicians."

A couple years ago, I had toyed with the idea of putting mutiltracks of one of my songs on Bandcamp. A neophytic singer-songwriter who's in it for "the career" instead of having something to say with his songs responed, "Oh, so people can make their own music!"

 

Figured this was as good a place as any to ask this question.. When we see "multi track" or "stems" such as the David Bowie or Beatles posts that were on the sister site recently, how are those made? Does someone get access to the original tapes? or are the tracks EQ'd to isolate the frequency of the instruments / vocals? Just wondering..

 

I'm only guessing but it is logical to assume the stems come from original multitrack tapes. If there is some magic software out there that can isolate individual parts of a mix I have never seen it. Reminds me of the discussions about vocal removers to create karaoke tracks and I don't think that can be achieved.

Having read the replies I still can't see any real value in these kits apart from maybe a bit of inspiration. Maybe those that have midi files included may be more useful but to me it is far more satisfying to create something from scratch rather than build on some elses ideas.

 

Thanks Peter, I know about those vocal remover scams, but I just can't imagine too many people having access to the original multitrack tapes of classic albums, those things are probably in vaults somewhere. I suppose they allow some of them out, but you would think that Abbey Road would be off limits, yet there it was for all to play with.

 

@recycle I am sorry for your bad experienced and for the late reply but... You have been conned and somehow mislead. What i state in my post is official music law and applies to every sample cd on the planet EXCEPT: When a company/publisher/individual has released a sample cd without checking if the content included is original or sampled from copyrighted sources (music albums,live shows,movies,etc) then it is their fault and NOT yours. And it certainly does not make an exception to the rule, apart from the fact that you have the right to ask for money back and even legally ask for compensation from the aforementioned Publisher who ILLEGALLY published those samples, if the use of the intended sample(s) has caused you damage in your profession as a music creator / producer etc. And because i have met this before, you will be forced to take down your track or in case of a proper release you will need to remove it from all stores physical and digital, and then you will sue the publisher of those samples and the publishers in their turn, will sue the creator(s) of the sample cd who provided the material. It is a vicious cycle i know but that's life. If you buy a new car from your area's car dealer but then its confiscated by the police because it turns out it's a stolen car ... It is exactly the same story.
Same goes for the person who disagreed. Law is law dude. I suggest you get your facts straight and read what's legal and what's not and what your rights are when you buy a sample library, before you press the disagree button, no offense intended of course.
I have been a professional recording artist/producer/studio owner for 25-26 consecutive years and dozens of times have i used material from sample libraries on official album or single releases, including at least a top10 album and top 10 single (in my country), yet never had any legal problems whatsoever.
Thank you for listening

 

https://www.producerloops.com/Download-Fox-Samples-Miami-2-Ibiza-Vol-3.html

kit #2



plus, see

http://mylittleremix.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=7591

really funny!

 

its cool if you use say a piano loop and build your beat around it , its just like sampling but if you use more than that not cool peace

 

Royality free sample?
OK, i’ll give you an example:

• I buy a new samplepack with 5 construction kits
• I sing over every construction kits
• I now have my brand new album with 5 songs (half an hour job)
• I release tracks on beatport/itunes/juno/googlemusic etc.

From here to eternity, those construction kits belongs to me. Shaazam will recognize that sound with my artist name. The youtube/soundcloud algorithm will connect the samples in the song with my name.
Every other user of that samplepack is fucked up because this sound is MY SOUND

Royality free sample? yes, until the first producer use it and publish his song with it