Band Name Generator

So I was looking at different ways to generate names for songs, and it dawned on me that random band name generators might come up with some cool things. There are TONS online. The best one I found is from this site called FAKE WORD. It has a random band name generator, which basically shoehorns 2 or more different words together and comes up with some funny random words.

Worth checking out if you need a name for your band.

Warning though, it comes up with some dirty-ass NSFW shit.

Favourite Sample Packs

I wanted to talk about some of my favourite Sample Packs. Everyone who makes house or hip-hop knows about the Vengeance samples. I like getting stuff from less well-known companys. 

Hip-Hop heat have some great products, my favourite being BANGIN DRUMS.

I also love to trawl through Tradebit for any juicy bits. Picked up a nice collection of SFX yesterday from SampleStars. 

Check out the DEMO MP3. Pretty nice collection of 50 samples for only 2 dollars!

How I record streaming audio.

I'm a radio guy. Always was, always will be. Nowadays I listen to a few podcasts, but I love the "live" feeling of internet radio. I also love to sample shows, and luckily this can be accomplished by recording internet radio, as it streams. It's easier than you might think!

The first thing to consider is that many shows are already available as free downloadable mp3 podcasts. So if you're a fan of a certain station or show, be sure to check our their website. 

Still, most internet radio listeners are more spontaneous, and if you're like me, you will constantly be coming across shows and think, "I'd love to be able to save this to listen to again later". 

If you want to record a radio stations live stream to your PC hard drive, you could also try something like Radio2mp3, which is an easy to use, and pretty cheap little application for Windows. This is what I use, mainly for its simplicity. It lets you surf internet radio stations and start or stop recording at the click of a button. The MP3 is then yours to listen to whenever you want.

Mac users can use Audio Hijack, a massively popular audio ripper for OS X. I've used it on my Macbook, and it's a simply brilliant bit of kit, but remember that you have to start up Audio Hijack BEFORE the application you want to sample. This could mean losing information in Safari tabs for example, so be careful!

Wether you're a Windows or Mac user, you can edit, trim, and export your audio files with hugely popular cross-platform software Audacity It's free too!

Good luck with your radio ripping.

 

Addicted to... sampling!

Everyone's blogging. 

It's about time I started. I wanted to write about something I'm passionate about, and that didn't take long to think of... SAMPLING..

Hi everyone, (stands up), my names Mal and I'm a sample addict. 

It started around 1996 when my older brother got his first computer. It was a piece of shit with about 3 gigs of hard drive space, a little 13" screen, and awful speakers. But it was a computer, and I didn't have one! 

I used to mess with it after school, teaching myself how to type, editing graphics, badly, and generally twiddling around aimlessly. Then one day I found a bit of software for making music. "WTF?", I thought, "I can make music with a computer?" and so it began, my hobby, my obsession. 

Since then, I've spent countless hours, early mornings and late nights, messing with software, hardware, microphones, records and magazines, making music, but more so, experimenting with sound and enjoying every minute of it. 

I've owned, or used most of the popular software: SONAR, Cubase, Ableton Live, Fruity Loops, and about a million VST plug-ins.

I've built up a cozy studio and have been through tons of kit, including a Nord Lead, a Roland Fantom, a handful of Junos, a few mics, mostly from Shure and AKG, AKAI MPCs, about 20 midi keyboards, and my vinyl collection takes up about half of my studio room. I must sell some, but, it's just so hard to say goodbye.

This blog is going to be about SAMPLES, LOOPS, HITS AND KITS. My favourite collections from the distant past, the methods in which we use samples, and the sample producers who I admire. 

Oh, and records... lots and lots of crackly old records!

I hope you'll join in, maybe learn something, or download something you like.