Kanye 808s and heartbreak samples how to#

Some should end on a downbeat, others on the backbeat. Some 808s should be short, others longer. Almost like it's stumbling.Īdjust your clips to make sure the 808 stops on the right beat. If a sample fades out too early or not fast enough, it can make the song seem unbalanced. The length of an 808 sample has a big impact on the production. Optimise the timingĪfter you have set the right tuning, you need to make sure that the timing of your 808 is just as good. In any case, make sure that it harmonises with the other instruments in the track. Alternatively, try tuning the 808 sample to a fifth (seven semitones) above the key signature. Ideally, you should tune it to the root of the key, but this is not always possible. Very important: always voice your 808 basses to the root (tonic) of your song After you have selected your sample, you tune it to the key of your song. Since the 808 is only a sine wave, it has a fundamental frequency and can therefore be tuned.

Kanye 808s and heartbreak samples how to#

Hip-Hop Production: Akai's MPC How to produce fat and massive 808 basses In the nineties, Aphex Twin, one of the representatives of experimental electronica, also used it for several pieces, while in recent years it has been reinvented by producers like Jaime XX. It also inspired its creator Kakehashi to invent the TR-909, the machine that would bring Chicago house beats to life. Thanks in part to the 808, New Order found a source of inspiration for one of the most iconic dance songs of the eighties: 'Blue Monday'. Planet Rock itself influenced people like Juan Atkins, the acknowledged pioneer of techno, who started playing techno in the hangars of Detroit, expanding the genre. Meanwhile, 808 basses are used everywhere in modern hip hop, by producers like Young Mesh, Murdabeatz or Beatdemons. In the middle of the last decade, Kanye West dedicated an entire album to the device with 808s & Heartbreak, on which the songs were composed exclusively with the drum machine. Today everybody does that, but back then it was different,' says the producer, citing Run-DMC's song 'I Like It' as an example in which this theme can be heard in detail.įor Rick Rubin, the famous producer of artists such as Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers and others, the 808 was a major influence on his early work in the industry with T La Rock, Jazzy J and the Beastie Boys. They had to go home and rewrite it, they couldn't rap over it because it really wasn't contemporary anymore, so they ended up rapping to the beat of the machine. ' They didn't know what to do with the beat. One of the first popular songs to use the 808 was 'Planet Rock' by Afrika Bambaataa, a seminal track in hip-hop culture that brought rap to dance floors in the 1980s.Īccording to a statement by Arthur Baker (producer of 'Planet Rock') in a documentary about the instrument, ' rappers hated it at first.' Nowadays, 808 basses like this are made with synthesizers.Ī good example of 808 bass in modern hip-hop/trap is 'Gucci Gang' by Lil Pump. It has the fast attack of the Tr-808, but then it was modified to have a long sustain and release, more reminiscent of a bass than a drum machine. This is the typical bass sound used in modern trap music. These are two loops from my Moog 808 Sample Pack, which I recorded from my Moog Subsequent 37 synthesizer. In modern hip-hop music production, the following sounds are known as 808: In modern Hip-Hop, you hear the 808 everywhere too. Today, the 808 can be heard on some of the most iconic songs in history, from Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody' to Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer' to Jamie XX's 'Gosh', and although it's not talked about much anymore, it remains one of the favorite instruments of some of the most important musicians on the scene today. The legendary Roland TR-808, now worth a fortune

For the Roland company, the console used an analog system that gave hip-hop and dance music some of its most famous sounds, such as the explosive bass and the famous cowbell, and served as a precursor to the 909 and many other consoles that are still used today by musicians and producers with a clear preference for retro sounds. The device is the work of Japanese engineer Ikutaro Kekehashi.