Decks Appeal
Bootleg Booty: Sampling and Such

Grey Matter
Until recently, fans of both The Beatles and Jay-Z would have laughed if you tried to fuse the “White Album” and “The Black Album” together. But in 2004 a little known artist going by the name DJ Dangermouse did just that, and it might just be the best bootleg you’ve ever heard. If you have even a mild interest in either artist you should give “The Grey Album” a listen.
“The Grey Album” was the most downloaded album of 2004. Somehow a few thousand original copies evolved into millions of digital copies. You see, Dangermouse sent out 3000 promotional copies of the album. He complied with a “cease and desist” order from EMI, but the people who received the promos didn’t, promptly ripping them to MP3 and distributing them online. The album had never been on commercial release yet it had millions of listeners.

The Tools
So what do you need to start making bootlegs of your own? Well there are few programs that are intuitive yet effective, as the majority of professional sampling and sequencing programs require hours of attention to yield half-decent results (i.e. Propellorhead’s awesome Reason, Reaktor and Rebirth packages). The software that I use is readily available for paid download from the manufacturer’s websites or through a software retailer. The most invaluable tool in my repertoire is Cool Edit Pro 2.0 by Syntrillium Software (www.syntrillium.com). It is an effective yet simple program for recording and sequencing wave files (.wav). It also boasts a good selection of effects that really add to the overall sound of a song or sample.
Using Cool Edit you can remove the vocals (or the music with the according plug-in), perfect for inserting new vocals or melodies from a different song. When I use Cool Edit for sampling I tend to cut the original song into blocks, and using mathematical calculations I arrange new samples cut to the same length as the originals, this way the only thing you need to change is the pitch of the new sample. With Cool Edit it is easy to pick it up and start making songs straight away, provided you know where you’re going with the bootleg.
One program that helps with working out which songs should be mixed together is Virtual Turntables by Carrot Innovations (http://hops.cs.jhu.edu/˜gonzo/carrot). Using this program you can load up a number of songs, calculate their tempos, then match the tempos up and play both songs at the same time, just like using a real set of decks.
When working on a bootleg or remix it is often a good idea to use original drum loops to add variety to the track. For this I use FL Studio 4 (www.flstudio.com) (originally titled FruityLoops). This is one of the easiest to use rhythm generator programs available, boasting an intuitive design and easily accessible features (importing samples, sequencing loops, exporting to .wav, .mp3 or .mid) it is the first port of call for anyone who wants to create original loops with minimum effort. Even the included software is easy to learn (BeatSlicer particularly) and can yield impressive results.
Obviously there are thousands of other programs that can do the same task; these are only the ones that I use frequently. But from experience I can assure that they do not disappoint, all you need is a bit of imagination and the necessary skills and you can match any songs together. Just listen to “The Grey Album” for some inspiration.

Ian Dulley

© Substance Magazine 2005