Wouldn't Ableton be easier to use?
September 21, 2009 3:27 PM   Subscribe

 
i'm not sure his is how prodigy did it.

if so, i'm more impressed than i can express at prodigy's magic.
posted by el io at 3:34 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


So it was some sort of EKG spool? I am taken aback. I thought it would be sympathizers and maybe a frequencer.
posted by everichon at 3:35 PM on September 21, 2009 [3 favorites]


I was hoping they would get to the rest of the samples in that track.
posted by idiopath at 3:36 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


The video is way more awesome than the content.
posted by Saxon Kane at 3:42 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Saxon Kane: The video is way more awesome than the content.

What on earth does this mean? The content of what? It's a SLYT post - the video is the content...
posted by Dysk at 3:43 PM on September 21, 2009


Brother Dysk: "the video is the content"

I think Saxon meant the music produced was less interesting then the fake mechanisms of music production.
posted by idiopath at 3:45 PM on September 21, 2009


I've always wondered: Which smack? Which bitch?
posted by Sys Rq at 3:46 PM on September 21, 2009


What on earth does this mean? The content of what? It's a SLYT post - the video is the content...

The music video for this song is a bit notorious in the UK.

Link NSFW
posted by djgh at 3:51 PM on September 21, 2009


djgh, I'm aware of that, but fail to see the relevance. "The video" in the context of this thread is surely the video linked in the thread, not a related but at the time as yet unmentioned music video...?

(Incidentally, I think the ending of the Prodigy's video validates both the rest of said video, and takes the edge off the offensiveness of the lyrics.)
posted by Dysk at 3:58 PM on September 21, 2009


Brother Dysk, That was the first time I saw the video, and the ending does cause you to rethink your assumptions, for sure.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 4:05 PM on September 21, 2009


This is great. I like the content and the video. If you dig through his other videos, he also did something similar for Toxic.
posted by smackfu at 4:13 PM on September 21, 2009 [2 favorites]


smackfu, maybe you could explain to me what the distinction is between the content and the video? I'm really, genuinely confused.
posted by Dysk at 4:15 PM on September 21, 2009


Brother Dysk: "smackfu, maybe you could explain to me what the distinction is between the content and the video? I'm really, genuinely confused."

The machine is made of pieces of paper and tape. The machine produces, as output, content: the content takes the form of music.
posted by idiopath at 4:22 PM on September 21, 2009


What on earth does this mean? The content of what?

He means the idea of producing with paper and pieces of tape, etc, and the way it was put together, as opposed to just identifying the samples that prodigy used.
posted by empath at 4:36 PM on September 21, 2009


djgh, I'm aware of that, but fail to see the relevance. "The video" in the context of this thread is surely the video linked in the thread, not a related but at the time as yet unmentioned music video...?

I read it as "The video [of the song] is way more awesome than the content [of the song]". - i.e. the music is crap but the video is interesting, otherwise in my mind the comment doesn't really make any sense at all.

Or it could be that the comment just doesn't make any sense and I'm shoehorning it into a meaning because otherwise my head asplode.
posted by djgh at 4:39 PM on September 21, 2009


Well, the fact that I'm confused, and djgh takes it to mean one thing, while empath and idiopath take it to mean another, at least indicated strongly that the wording is ambiguous.

Also, empath, idiopath: you're describing a process/content distinction, not a video/content distinction. The 'content' in question is contained within the video.
posted by Dysk at 4:43 PM on September 21, 2009


video is distinct from audio. video can mean the visible part. so he is distinguishing the visuals (he is interested), from the audible (uninterested).
posted by idiopath at 4:46 PM on September 21, 2009


...like a pimp.
posted by Artw at 4:46 PM on September 21, 2009


He likes the medium but not the message. Is that better?
posted by smackfu at 4:47 PM on September 21, 2009


idiopath, fair enough, except that 'content' is a poor synonym for 'audio' or 'music'.
posted by Dysk at 4:48 PM on September 21, 2009


Can we beanplate something I say next?

The purple bed woman would have been scotch tape under the card used to cut the cocaine, but that's why nobody kicked the shit out of her.
posted by idiopath at 4:51 PM on September 21, 2009


See, I was just worried he was going to smear the marker.
posted by smackfu at 4:54 PM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


...like a pimp.

...like a boss? NSFW
posted by djgh at 5:03 PM on September 21, 2009


The content is better than the music, but not as awesome as the content, which is video, and the video is awesome, but not as good as the music.
posted by swift at 5:29 PM on September 21, 2009


I was hoping they would get to the rest of the samples in that track.

Yeah, what there is was impressive, and the presentation was great. Just wish the video was longer. Always leave 'em wanting more, I guess.
posted by adamdschneider at 5:44 PM on September 21, 2009


I never did it.
posted by box at 6:14 PM on September 21, 2009


Can't believe I never saw that video before. Great ending.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 7:40 PM on September 21, 2009


That was fun.
posted by geekhorde at 8:05 PM on September 21, 2009


That was brilliant, thank you flatluigi.

909s and 303s are awesome too, but it's nice to see how the rest of the hotdog is made.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:19 PM on September 21, 2009


Nice title, btw.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:22 PM on September 21, 2009


This is a cool video, but ugh I hate SLYT posts. Including his other works such as the Britney Spears (which is great also) and a bio on the guy would have made this a much better post.
posted by radioamy at 8:35 PM on September 21, 2009


Yeah, what there is was impressive, and the presentation was great. Just wish the video was longer.
So you'd have had the presentation cut out before the video finished then?
posted by tellurian at 9:58 PM on September 21, 2009


I liked the same user's how-to for Britney Spears - Toxic as well. (I have the same experience playing Rock Band sometimes, where I'm all of a sudden impressed by the technical skill of music I find annoying.)

PS, how the heck did iuhg figure out that sample?
posted by jhc at 10:12 PM on September 21, 2009


Toxic doesn't use the sample he says it does, unless they got access to the strings prior to mix down. The string song in Toxic is far too clean. Notice there's a bunch of stuff in the background of the string sound in the bollywood movie.

I'm going to bet that they just hired someone come in to play the cello or whatever instrument that is. For a record company with their budget, that's a lot easier than tracking down some bollywood movie company to try to clear that sample and get a clean recording of it.
posted by empath at 11:05 PM on September 21, 2009


"Toxic doesn't use the sample he says it does, unless they got access to the strings prior to mix down. The string song in Toxic is far too clean. Notice there's a bunch of stuff in the background of the string sound in the bollywood movie.

I'm going to bet that they just hired someone come in to play the cello or whatever instrument that is. For a record company with their budget, that's a lot easier than tracking down some bollywood movie company to try to clear that sample and get a clean recording of it.
"

I'd be willing to bet, that with a little tender love and EQ, you could get that sample sounding right. If you listen to the Toxic hook carefully, you can still hear the harp.
posted by potch at 11:13 PM on September 21, 2009


More along the same lines.
posted by empath at 11:13 PM on September 21, 2009


You might be right. I had to listen to it a few times, but I do hear it faintly in the background. Nice job on that. They definitely had a cleaner source than that guy was pulling from though. Or maybe they layered it and detuned it to make it sound thicker.
posted by empath at 11:18 PM on September 21, 2009


What kind of sticks with me is, whether it's Prodigy, Britney Spears, or Daft Punk in these videos, the implication is that they're "hacks" who have to resort to "stealing" other songs' hooks*. It's not as though any of these musicians are claiming originality. Prodigy and Daft Punk fit pretty much into that vast "electronic" spectrum that leans heavily on samples, and Toxic is as "electronic" as Britney Spears gets.

Or do these folks on Youtube also do similar GOML posts about hip-hop songs and how they're ripping people off?

The Prodigy video was pretty clever in its delivery, though I couldn't tell what the maker's intent was, but the Daft Punk one was pretty accusatory.

*Of course Britney Spears doesn't do her own music, but she has talented producers doing it for her.
posted by explosion at 4:21 AM on September 22, 2009


The day I was supposed to give birth to my son (Xmas day), I made a playlist. I transfered very sentimental, memorable songs such as Danny's Song, Maybe I'm Amazed, Two of Us, etc. At midnight my water broke and off we went. I never checked the playlist.

My husband loads the Ipod for the big moment. When it came time to push, he hits play.

My son came out to Danny's Song--perfect. But then as they were taking care of my son and were finishing up with me, the songs changed (we didn't notice with all of the excitement going on) and our doc said "um, what kind of music is this?"

Low and behold "Smack my Bitch Up" started to play. As time went on the next song was Rob Zombie.

It seems that I had other songs checked in the background when I transfered the "baby" music.

Well there went that beautiful moment.
posted by stormpooper at 8:14 AM on September 22, 2009 [4 favorites]


the implication is that they're "hacks" who have to resort to "stealing" other songs' hooks*.

What contributes to this is that they will just play the original sample, and then just play the part from the song that uses it. But the sample is often only 3-5 seconds of the original 3 minute song. A song you have never even heard (or heard of), maybe even by an artist who never had a hit. Finding and using that particular sample to make a catch record is the hard part, and these limited examples minimize that.
posted by smackfu at 8:18 AM on September 22, 2009


To be fair, Daft Punk likes to loop a 30 second sample, fuck around with a filter for 5 minutes and call it a day.

I mean, it's more than that, but it's not MUCH more than that on at least a few of their songs.
posted by empath at 8:51 AM on September 22, 2009


Uplift, get swift, then drift off and do my own thing. Switch up, change my pitch up...
posted by Artw at 2:46 PM on September 22, 2009


WCityMike: "Orinoco Flow + Smack My Bitch Up."

I like Lenlow's edit of it a bit better. It's off his site, but you can get it here.
posted by flatluigi at 8:13 PM on September 22, 2009


the implication is that they're "hacks" who have to resort to "stealing" other songs' hooks

I didn't get take that away from the Prodigy one at all. I thought it was great, and if anything gave me a better appreciation of the song. As smackfu says, it's pretty astounding that they're able to snag these samples from everywhere, tweak them and make something new out of it. Bravo.
posted by adamdschneider at 6:17 PM on September 23, 2009


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