Photek felt like the peak of an already high bench mark of the genre ! All of his releases from the studio pressure stuff to modus operandi to form and function vol 1&2 ! Hidden cameras and nbk are all classic productions !!!! He is sadly missed ! And his long time and effort making his productions are a lesson a lot of the new era producers could learn a lesson that in music time and effort is very important if you want to make your music timeless!!!
Yea for sure! Photek's productions were such high quality. The amount of time & dedication he would put into a single tune is the opposite of what a lot of people teach today like this 'make 5 tunes a day' nonsense. It really inspired me making this series & I learnt a lot from breaking down both his production techniques & his mindset! ✌️🥷
Yea he's really great - I almost like his stuff pre 1995 the most. Where is a bit more jungle/ambient/rolling vibes. Great much - loads of raw talent you can so easily see.
Yea, really wicked pinoeering producer. I actually got into these scene more through clubbing in London. Like Dj Hype, Metalheadz etc and didnt know too much about Photek until I started producing. Actually making this series was really inspiring for me learning about all his techniques!✌️
Hey THFLW - thanks so much for your comment mate! I'm really trying to share everything I know and through making these video's I always ended up improving my own knowledge and skillset! Artists like Photek are so talented - even with difficulties of producing with all the old hardware they made such great music. It's really helped me to realised that if it takes me week or even a month to write the drums for a track thats absolutly nothing wrong with that and its all part of the process! ✌️
Thanks man! I put a lot of effort into these breakdowns so really appreciate getting such positive feedback. I'm currently working on my next Paradox Breakdown vid. Lots to do but hopefully out next week sometime! :)
Cheers Matty, I love delving into all these techniques. I've always felt that music is for everyone so I'm more than happy to share all the knowledge I have!
If you wanted to do this tuning (39:15) part in Renoise, you can open the spectrum analyzer and hover over frequencies the same way and it will tell you the notes.
Thanks for the tip, I was actually using that today. I always forget that Renoise has that handy visualizer. Because it's always been there hardly notice it! ✌
Hey, I don't even know where to start. That was a journey, I learned a lot about production and music history! I get a few workflow techniques to try now, fortunately I can do all of that on Bitwig. Also, thanks for keeping your content accessible (as you mentioned), so people like me, who lives in a poor country, can support your work. Despite the obvious hardwork and research I really hope you make more videos like this!
Hey Moloko - thanks dude! Yea I think it's quite fun to show where all these techniques originated from and to look back at the pinoeers of DnB and Jungle. There is so much to learn there and all these techniques are all very transferable. I think Renoise is amazing for sequencing and drums etc but being comfotable in a DAW like Bitwig or Logic is also amazing too, espeically for sound design. I really enjoy making these vids and its truely my dream to turn this into a fulltime career, so hopefully lots more to come! ✌️
Hey there! And many thanks for your excellent work, been slowly digging through your channel. One thing I would like to ask about: How about a tutorial where you focus on the "Bristol Sound" from the early 90's, I would love to watch a tutorial in the style of your Photek/Bukem videos for the sound of Krust / Die / Size, think "Play it for me", "Set Speed" or "Special Treat". Keep up the great work, and lots of love from Germany!
Cheers for the comment Patrick! Glad you’ve been enjoying all my vids, that’s another epic idea for a breakdown! Die has such a unique sound. Would be super interesting to break it down! Much love back to you brother! :)✌️
Thanks so much for the comment Dan. So many cool techniques can be learned for all these pinoeering producers! I'd love to do one on Paradox in the future who also has epic drums. ✌️
@@groovining will look forward to that. Paradox is still using his Amgia if I'm not mistaken? I've mainly produced Jungle Techno of that 92-94 period, focusing more on the Synthesis side like Jack Smooth did. Drums have always been a weaker aspect so these videos are absolutely amazing as I'd like to branch out into that Atmospheric early D&B vibe. Will be keeping an eye on your channel. 👍
At 6:05 you can see the quotes mention Roland JV-1080 and Proteus. It's worth mentioning Roland offer VSTs of the JV-1080 (and XV-5080), and that the Emu Emulator X3 is abandonware which can emulate various Proteus sound banks like the Proteus 2000 or PROcussion
Thanks for the info! I actually ended up buying an Emu e5000 Ultra I was so inspired by making this vid. I think it came with loads of the banks preloaded on a HD. I'll have to check! Just got a new LED replacement screen so its looking fresh! ✌
I bought an emu64 about 10 years ago for 70 aud and sold it for about double because i didn't have a clue on how to use it back then. I wish i had kept it!!
Ah, I feel you. There already selling well and definitely coming back into fashion. I have a sneaking suspicion they will be worth a fortune in another 10-20 years just like those old MPCs. Just dropped on an EMU e5000 Ultra - couldn't resist after making this video - got to reward yourself! ✌
Wicked breakdown, really well explained. With the satson it uses positive saturation, that's why you loose the bottom end it boost all positive harmonics. Check out rift by minimal audio or the drop by cytomic if you like the sound of z plane filters, bit easier to automate than the soundtoys one, although it does sound very tasty
Thanks so much dude! For sure pick and choose the bits of my videos that suit you. That's what CZcams is all about! Ah thanks for that I've heard loads about rift - seems fantastic. After completing the next part of this series I actually rewarded myself by going and buying an EMU e5000 ultra so now I have the real deal z-planes to play with! nice tip about the low end also :)
@@groovining Really really useful tool, the ease of automation makes for some really mad bass sounds! O noicccce that's on my gear list, my brother has one the downsampling sounds awesome very bad company esque with basic waves, quite noisy and slow mind but well worth it. If you see the 2nd harmonic boosted above the 1st usually that will be the culprit, i think it was a baphometrix video that taught me it.
Cheers mate - was very insipiring learning all about Photek - I ended up getting an EMU after this vid cas I just had to know what it was all about! :)
Thanks so much mate, I appreciate your comments! I'm always trying to find the right balance with these videos. My style goes slightly against the grain as the what the CZcams algorithm wants but I like really doing these in-depth breakdowns. I always learn so much myself going through the process!✌️
i dont produce, my last daw was mtv music generator 2. however, it was super interesting to know about Photek's (and dnb) production to this level (so f'in intricate). cant believe ithis was an hour! felt like 30 mins.
Thanks mate! Yea Photek + a few other pioneers of jungle/dnb we so creative with the techniques the were using. Glad you found the vid so interesting. As you can probably tell I love all this stuff! :) ✌️
Well, I did not read every comment, BUT (apart from the great description). Many guys in the 90s an after used Propellerheads Recycle for the EASY chopping of the samples. The Versions up to 2.1 (I thing) supported exporting the chopped sample back to AKAI (or EMU Sampler) via SCSI. What was really fast compared to using 1.4MB Disks back then. The actual version of Recycle (2.2.4) does not have the dialogs for the SCSI transfer, but still works geat for chopping and slicing for any tempo ... give it a try... (I am not with Propellerheads, just a customer with many years of experience) thanks for the guid anyways...
Thanks for all this info mate! It definitly makes the process of getting slice drum break into the akai/Emu so much easier! I'm considering getting an older PC so I can do the SCSI transfer but am yet to get round to it. I have an Akai s1000 now but the slicing takes forever. Much easier on my EMU as I have a ZULU Scsi and it reads WAV so its no problem. Cheers ✌️
@@groovining Yeah, I have ZuluSCSI'd my Akai S6000 and my Kurzweil K2000R V3 and K2500RS, too. Makes things much easier... I am still trying to create my own breaks for DnB instead of using samples breaks from winstons or james brown. But whatever Tutorial I on DnB I see, they all insert one of the typical breaks into "their" beat... Sad... Apart form Photek (Hidden Camera is one of my favourites), I recommend Omni Trio, EZ-Rollers, 4Hero and Tek9. Keep it up and thanks!
Nice selection of samplers there! I do a bit of both for breaks. I'm more than happy to sample them but also enjoy building from scratch. Did a bit of that in this project - czcams.com/video/A-rE3nqjeUw/video.html
@groovining so basically my friend and I have been a little obsessed with replicating photek, he's purchased on vinyl the original records he sampled. We've been playing around but have produced some 1 minute clips that really capture the sound. If you'd like to connect let us know!
A few things worth noting...In the mid 90s, time compression expansion WAS solid on EMU / akai samplers, and even better / easier on sound forge. We would have to do: current BPM x Desired BPM = time compression %. That is how we did it. The warping and all that now is MUCH better yes but it was not terrible in the 90s. To say it was NOT being used is inaccurate. I know these guys were time compressing these loops! Sometimes you had to do it to save memory for sample space. You would time compress this shit out of it (not changing the pitch as you stated) and then transpose! When I started, I was producing using early versions of cakewalk using midi devices on the old school motu midi express via parallel port. I still have a copy of the Jungle Warfare, 160db and 260db sample CDs that were used in ALL those old dnb and jungle tunes. I was stretching them out to make breakbeat tunes, which would then become "nu skool breaks" (which is just slowed down drum and bass). BTW This inspires me to knock the dust off of my E64 sampler. 😎🙌
Yea for sure, it was a while ago when I made this but I was so inspired myself from learning all this stuff that I bought myself an Akai and an EMU! The Akai of course has that classic cyclic stretch and the EMU has time compression i've also messed with a bit. They're definitly quite a fair way off from modern day warping/stretching in terms of artifacts but they do give you quite a unique sound. I think the pitch up/down technique is talked about a lot more as the people these days are after that lofi/dusty quality from sample rate reduction. Both definitly have there uses! Thanks for the info. I love using my Emu but often just resample things back to the DAW to make things easier :)
Cheers for the Sub dude! I went on more of a hunt through his other aliases for the second part of this series. I loved a few of his Studio Pressure tracks! ✌️
@@groovining Yes for real his studio pressure alias churned out some bangers. First Sequence being one of my favs. Here are a few others which you may or may not have heard under his " The Sentinel " moniker. The Sentinel - Heavy Vibes The Sentinel - Awakening The Sentinel - ( feat CoCo) -Toulépleu The Sentinel - Dig Deeper
@@groovining yeah been watching a few, some quality content here, I'm getting back into DnB after a break from music for a while then last couple of years been doing hip hop beats. Some gold content here mate, keep up the good work,
Thanks conrad! Yea lots of these techniques are found in both Hip-Hop and DnB so your can really apply them to both. I actually find the old-school style of jungle/boom-bap have a lot of similarites from heavy sample use to chopping breaks etc. Lots of the skills are transferable :)✌️
For sure lots of people we using recycle - artists like paradox and i'm sure many others would still do things manually. There are also lots of techniques like the way Photek would slice the break into Tri-sets when your not chopping all the hits up. Instead you program longer sections of the break.
Just discovered your channel, immediate sub! great stuff. Question though: I just downloaded the Mackity plugin and I'm trying to use it in Reason, but it seems to have no GUI at all. How does your version have a GUI with settings and things?
Download this! www.airwindows.com/consolidated/ It's essentailly all the air windows plugins in a nice wrapper with UI & a bit of info on them all. It's the best & just came out. 😊
The intro of Sly & the family stone - Rock dirge , is the break/drums that Photek used a lot on Modus operandi and Form n function. John Rolodex - The Rainmaker , is the only 'non-photek dnb track that i know of that uses the same sample (great track , recommend) If anyone know more tracks that use it , i would love to know.
An album, maybe most people might not know around that time was Plug Drum And Bass For Papa. 1997 aka Luke vibert . I think it's as good if not better than photek around that time. 👍
Yes that was one I created myself! I actually went into a lot more detail on this topic here - czcams.com/video/a27dQEYRQoE/video.html There are also some more free presets where I've really precisely matched my EMU e5000 Ultra to Decimort 2 :)
You can record slow as in turn down the speed of the turntable to record. This will also pitch down the audio. You can then pitch it back up and technicall have achieved a heigher sample rate. However I've never really noticed it doing to much this way round :) ✌️🥷
Can you tell me what is the best way of taking this devastator break and turning it into a mono sample as both left and right channels are different ?. If so how do you choose what side you should render out ( left or right depending which is better )or do you just mono the channel and make a mono break that way ( I hope I’m making sense )
Yea for sure. You can basically choose which is best. Most often I will render both sides mixed into mono. But with old funk breaks I will quite often test rendering out the sides and compared it all to see which sounds best. In Logic the easiest way is with the gain plug-in. You can mono/pan and then bounce either the Left/Right or the mix. Logic does some weird thing where it looks like a stereo track but it’s actually in mono.
@@groovining thanks alot for replying to me as I took this devestator song from Spotify and it’s got some weird stereo stuff going on ( the bongo drum is panned ) and this way I can take the better side and make it mono….I use logic to it will be easier to follow what you said PS great channel
Yea i'v heard some great things about TAL Sample. They just release a new plugin also. I'm a massive fan of Decimort 2 as well which has a fantastic Sample Rate/Bitcrushing!✌️
@@theresafennell8006 This is my own custom one. The Emu 64 has a 44.1Khz Sample rate and a 16 Bit Depth so you have to down sample/Bit Crush to get the effect in the EMU. It's just a nice preset really which sounds similar to what the Sample Rate Conversion and Bit Reduction sound Like on my EMU e5000 Ultra :)
Can anyone having difficulties installing the Mackity plug in? I've tried moving it to the VST and Components folder but I'm not having much luck. Thanks
I actually lived through the 90's.. and lemme tell you, by about 2002 everybody had gotten so SICK of hearing that Amen break that nobody wanted to hear it ever again. It found its way into breakfast cereal commercials FFS... I groan every time I hear it, and for the record I had both Photek albums back in the day and I loved them... to a point.
Cool story bro. Lots of us lived through it too getting sick of amen and the timeless tunes of the era tells me you've got a major malfunction you need to correct ..
This was all done by sampling, that takes time. Having a hardware sampler and making your own samples from audio is better than sample packs. Sample packs are weak and limited. No digital sound just beefy analogue sounds plus spring reverb on the kicks. DAW's are good but not as much fun as seshing it old school making fat beats. Modern equipment will not replicate the tricks of 80's and 90's samplers.
I agree that for sure. I actually got so inspired making this video I went and got a EMU e5000 Ultra and an Akai s1000. Love them both. You can get close in the DAW the old gear just feels more alive & real. :) ✌️😊
It would have been more accurate to say martial arts as a whole. Photek was hugely inspired by his trip to Japan but is also clearly referencing kung fu movies and the way they would intertwine fighting FX with the music. 🥷
This is all great for learning but isn’t it strangle that with all these advancements in music tech so may or us are spending time and money trying to recreate the sound and techniques of 20 years ago? I grew up with jungle in the early 90’s and I love it but as an artist myself I strive to create sounds never heard before. Of course we can all learn a lot about the techniques of the past but it’s like Marshall Mcluahan said, we March into the future looking through the rear view mirror at the past.
100%, I definitly agree with taking all of these techniques and bringing them into your own style and workflows. I do also think that we lost a lot of what we love about this sound. The advancements of computing really took music production in a whole different direction being more effecient/cheaper/quicker. However we lost some of the magic that was there with the analog gear and the old samplers. Simple workflows, with less tools & plugins often force you to be more creative with what you have. Samplers such as the Akai s1000 were super simple and really focused you on core principals like volume, panning, filtering, sample start and end, looping, pitching. Sample rate tricks, clipping the desk, live resampling FXs. All these techniques came out of producers being resourceful with what they had at the time :) ✌️
Photek felt like the peak of an already high bench mark of the genre ! All of his releases from the studio pressure stuff to modus operandi to form and function vol 1&2 ! Hidden cameras and nbk are all classic productions !!!! He is sadly missed ! And his long time and effort making his productions are a lesson a lot of the new era producers could learn a lesson that in music time and effort is very important if you want to make your music timeless!!!
Yea for sure! Photek's productions were such high quality. The amount of time & dedication he would put into a single tune is the opposite of what a lot of people teach today like this 'make 5 tunes a day' nonsense. It really inspired me making this series & I learnt a lot from breaking down both his production techniques & his mindset! ✌️🥷
Photek tunes back in the day were just immense. Two he did under the pseudonym of Studio Pressure, Relics and Jump MKII just 👌
Yea he's really great - I almost like his stuff pre 1995 the most. Where is a bit more jungle/ambient/rolling vibes. Great much - loads of raw talent you can so easily see.
Water Margin!
@@grooviningHis earlier stuff is undoubtedly the best.
Love his stuff as Relics.
The Two Swords technique is what I listen to whenever I need some break inspiration bruv, thanks!!! ❤
Also just found your channel today I’m subbed
Cheers Ledge! Welcome to the channel - you've come at a great time with some cool vids lined up 🚀✌️
Thanks dude. I'm the same - always refering back to Source Direct, Artemis/Shogun, Photek for some inspiration. ❤️✌️🚀
Photek was the first DnB I ever heard, so great.
Yea, really wicked pinoeering producer. I actually got into these scene more through clubbing in London. Like Dj Hype, Metalheadz etc and didnt know too much about Photek until I started producing. Actually making this series was really inspiring for me learning about all his techniques!✌️
Love your channel. This is the kind of deep content that the internet is magical for
Cheers mate :) glad you've been enjoying the channel so much 🌴🚀
What an incredible masterclass! Big ups and all my respect. You only share ”crème de la crème” knowledge.
Can’t wait for the next one.
Hey THFLW - thanks so much for your comment mate! I'm really trying to share everything I know and through making these video's I always ended up improving my own knowledge and skillset! Artists like Photek are so talented - even with difficulties of producing with all the old hardware they made such great music. It's really helped me to realised that if it takes me week or even a month to write the drums for a track thats absolutly nothing wrong with that and its all part of the process! ✌️
Dude… your attention to detail and explanation are amazing. A true Masterclass here.
Thanks man! I put a lot of effort into these breakdowns so really appreciate getting such positive feedback. I'm currently working on my next Paradox Breakdown vid. Lots to do but hopefully out next week sometime! :)
Actually I took the time to see it from start to the end!!! Many thanks for this tut!!!
Good effort mate! Glad you enjoyed this one. Photek is a ledge - Such a unique sound and style. 🥷😊
This video is absolutely solid. A lot of tribal knowledge is lost between the translation from analogue to digital so this is proper helpful
Cheers Matty, I love delving into all these techniques. I've always felt that music is for everyone so I'm more than happy to share all the knowledge I have!
If you wanted to do this tuning (39:15) part in Renoise, you can open the spectrum analyzer and hover over frequencies the same way and it will tell you the notes.
Thanks for the tip, I was actually using that today. I always forget that Renoise has that handy visualizer. Because it's always been there hardly notice it! ✌
Great video! Lot of amazing techniques and knowledge in here
Yes mate! Love your channel also - was just watching your Tal sampler video the other day. we're neck and neck on subscribers haha! :)
Hey, I don't even know where to start. That was a journey, I learned a lot about production and music history! I get a few workflow techniques to try now, fortunately I can do all of that on Bitwig. Also, thanks for keeping your content accessible (as you mentioned), so people like me, who lives in a poor country, can support your work. Despite the obvious hardwork and research I really hope you make more videos like this!
Hey Moloko - thanks dude! Yea I think it's quite fun to show where all these techniques originated from and to look back at the pinoeers of DnB and Jungle. There is so much to learn there and all these techniques are all very transferable. I think Renoise is amazing for sequencing and drums etc but being comfotable in a DAW like Bitwig or Logic is also amazing too, espeically for sound design. I really enjoy making these vids and its truely my dream to turn this into a fulltime career, so hopefully lots more to come! ✌️
Love the video man! Great work, I notice the little details that make it jump out quality wise. Well done!
Appreciate that mate! I love doing these deep dives - Actually about to film a new one on Lemon D and Dillinja! Coming soon 🚀 :)
Hey there! And many thanks for your excellent work, been slowly digging through your channel. One thing I would like to ask about: How about a tutorial where you focus on the "Bristol Sound" from the early 90's, I would love to watch a tutorial in the style of your Photek/Bukem videos for the sound of Krust / Die / Size, think "Play it for me", "Set Speed" or "Special Treat". Keep up the great work, and lots of love from Germany!
Cheers for the comment Patrick! Glad you’ve been enjoying all my vids, that’s another epic idea for a breakdown! Die has such a unique sound. Would be super interesting to break it down! Much love back to you brother! :)✌️
;o such a great video. big ups to Stranjah.
Stranjah is great! ✌
@@groovining yes he is a cool cat been subbed for awhile.
Just found this channel... right up my street, thank you man great work!
Cheers Chris, Thanks for the comment mate. Lots more to come like this. Potentially a deep dive into Paradox in the near future!✌️
Utterly superb mate. This aspect of Jungle is something I really want to get my teeth stuck into. 👌
Thanks so much for the comment Dan. So many cool techniques can be learned for all these pinoeering producers! I'd love to do one on Paradox in the future who also has epic drums. ✌️
@@groovining will look forward to that. Paradox is still using his Amgia if I'm not mistaken?
I've mainly produced Jungle Techno of that 92-94 period, focusing more on the Synthesis side like Jack Smooth did.
Drums have always been a weaker aspect so these videos are absolutely amazing as I'd like to branch out into that Atmospheric early D&B vibe.
Will be keeping an eye on your channel. 👍
I used to use Steinberg's ReCycle for cutting up the breaks and reloading back to a sampler. When it first came out it was a godsend.
Yea I can imagine. I think a few people still use it today. I know it interfaces with the Akai's really well if you have an old computer. 🚀✌️😊
At 6:05 you can see the quotes mention Roland JV-1080 and Proteus. It's worth mentioning Roland offer VSTs of the JV-1080 (and XV-5080), and that the Emu Emulator X3 is abandonware which can emulate various Proteus sound banks like the Proteus 2000 or PROcussion
Thanks for the info! I actually ended up buying an Emu e5000 Ultra I was so inspired by making this vid. I think it came with loads of the banks preloaded on a HD. I'll have to check! Just got a new LED replacement screen so its looking fresh! ✌
a ton of great processing techniques here! great stuff
Thanks LDM, Glad you enjoyed the breakdown!✌️
I bought an emu64 about 10 years ago for 70 aud and sold it for about double because i didn't have a clue on how to use it back then. I wish i had kept it!!
Ah, I feel you. There already selling well and definitely coming back into fashion. I have a sneaking suspicion they will be worth a fortune in another 10-20 years just like those old MPCs. Just dropped on an EMU e5000 Ultra - couldn't resist after making this video - got to reward yourself! ✌
Fantastic work, man. This is exactly what I've been looking for
Thanks so much mate! Glad you enjoyed this one, I need to get started on my next production breakdown soon!✌️🥷
mate love your channel! is absolutly amazing! epic tutorial!
Thanks so much, Christian. It's really rewarding getting nice feedback! Went deep on this one! :)
Wicked breakdown, really well explained. With the satson it uses positive saturation, that's why you loose the bottom end it boost all positive harmonics. Check out rift by minimal audio or the drop by cytomic if you like the sound of z plane filters, bit easier to automate than the soundtoys one, although it does sound very tasty
Thanks so much dude! For sure pick and choose the bits of my videos that suit you. That's what CZcams is all about! Ah thanks for that I've heard loads about rift - seems fantastic. After completing the next part of this series I actually rewarded myself by going and buying an EMU e5000 ultra so now I have the real deal z-planes to play with! nice tip about the low end also :)
@@groovining Really really useful tool, the ease of automation makes for some really mad bass sounds! O noicccce that's on my gear list, my brother has one the downsampling sounds awesome very bad company esque with basic waves, quite noisy and slow mind but well worth it. If you see the 2nd harmonic boosted above the 1st usually that will be the culprit, i think it was a baphometrix video that taught me it.
Seriously mate.
Like seriously.
Holy shit.
Amazing.
Thank you.
Thanks for the comment John - glad you enjoyed this video so much! :)
Crazy levels of detail here lad!
Cheers Jacko! Got a super in depth new breakdown series coming the start of new year on Paradox which you might enjoy also! Merry Christmas 🎄
Photek is the ultimate producer. I have all the 90s d&b an he is the best. Source Direct close second
Yea he was killer, very technically gifted. I love both of them. Source Direct had so much potential if they had stuck togeather a few more years! ✌️
Nicely done. Thanks
Photek is a legend. Glad you enjoyed the vid mate! :)
Rings Around Saturn will always be my favorite track of his
One of my faves too. Dope tune - legendary producer.✌️
All of this info for free??? man this is awesome. Thank you!!!
It certainly is my friend :) Glad you're enjoying the content! Lots more to come this year ✌
That's some real research, absolute respect
Cheers mate - was very insipiring learning all about Photek - I ended up getting an EMU after this vid cas I just had to know what it was all about! :)
Loving your videos so far, man. You do a good job of blending history and practical concepts.
Thanks so much mate, I appreciate your comments! I'm always trying to find the right balance with these videos. My style goes slightly against the grain as the what the CZcams algorithm wants but I like really doing these in-depth breakdowns. I always learn so much myself going through the process!✌️
madness. makes u appreciate the sound. this is so intricate, great vid.
Cheers mate. Yea Photek was an incredible DnB pioneer. I picked up so many cool technique going back through all his work like this! ✌️🥷
Another great video, big respect
Cheers Ashley. Big Ups! ✌
Thanks for all your hard work and insight in making this 🙏❤️🙏
Cheers for all the comments! Glad you've been finding some cool stuff on my channel 😊❤️
@@groovining Have been loving your vids absolute goldmine. 🙏
⛏️ ⚱️😊
i dont produce, my last daw was mtv music generator 2. however, it was super interesting to know about Photek's (and dnb) production to this level (so f'in intricate). cant believe ithis was an hour! felt like 30 mins.
Thanks mate! Yea Photek + a few other pioneers of jungle/dnb we so creative with the techniques the were using. Glad you found the vid so interesting. As you can probably tell I love all this stuff! :) ✌️
Ni Ten Ichi Ryu is a dope tune
🥷🥷🗡🗡🥷🥷🔥
Well, I did not read every comment, BUT (apart from the great description). Many guys in the 90s an after used Propellerheads Recycle for the EASY chopping of the samples. The Versions up to 2.1 (I thing) supported exporting the chopped sample back to AKAI (or EMU Sampler) via SCSI. What was really fast compared to using 1.4MB Disks back then. The actual version of Recycle (2.2.4) does not have the dialogs for the SCSI transfer, but still works geat for chopping and slicing for any tempo ... give it a try... (I am not with Propellerheads, just a customer with many years of experience) thanks for the guid anyways...
ADDENDUM: I used the SCSI transfer with my Kurzweil K2000R Sampling Option as well.. worked like charm...
Thanks for all this info mate! It definitly makes the process of getting slice drum break into the akai/Emu so much easier! I'm considering getting an older PC so I can do the SCSI transfer but am yet to get round to it. I have an Akai s1000 now but the slicing takes forever. Much easier on my EMU as I have a ZULU Scsi and it reads WAV so its no problem. Cheers ✌️
@@groovining Yeah, I have ZuluSCSI'd my Akai S6000 and my Kurzweil K2000R V3 and K2500RS, too. Makes things much easier...
I am still trying to create my own breaks for DnB instead of using samples breaks from winstons or james brown. But whatever Tutorial I on DnB I see, they all insert one of the typical breaks into "their" beat... Sad...
Apart form Photek (Hidden Camera is one of my favourites), I recommend Omni Trio, EZ-Rollers, 4Hero and Tek9.
Keep it up and thanks!
Nice selection of samplers there! I do a bit of both for breaks. I'm more than happy to sample them but also enjoy building from scratch. Did a bit of that in this project - czcams.com/video/A-rE3nqjeUw/video.html
Love Photek, can't really get enough, top video again Big Up !
Photek is amazing, I learnt so much from breaking down his techniques and following his workflows! :)
The satsun channel had an auto gain reduction feature ,which is accessible on the back, click the "satsun" logo to the left of the plugin..
Ah that's handy - Thanks for letting me know! :)
Superb tutorial, incredibly well researched
Thanks so much mate! I'm still inspired from delving into all this stuff on Photek - czcams.com/video/dL8joYvyExA/video.html
@groovining so basically my friend and I have been a little obsessed with replicating photek, he's purchased on vinyl the original records he sampled. We've been playing around but have produced some 1 minute clips that really capture the sound. If you'd like to connect let us know!
Yea absolutely, I'd love to hear! shoot me a link :)
tremendous info here mate! thank you!
Thanks so much! Next part breaking down all the sequencing techniques coming soon!✌
Bless you man. this is top notch !
Thanks Kernel, Glad you enjoyed the vid mate! :)
Man this is huge
Thanks dude! Photek was legenary. This was really the beginning for me of a long journey into the 90's sound! ✌️🥷
Fantastic tutorial!
Legend! thanks! :)
Top class video, awesome
Yes Aqua! - was quite complicated to put this one together but I think I got there in the end!✌
A few things worth noting...In the mid 90s, time compression expansion WAS solid on EMU / akai samplers, and even better / easier on sound forge. We would have to do: current BPM x Desired BPM = time compression %. That is how we did it. The warping and all that now is MUCH better yes but it was not terrible in the 90s. To say it was NOT being used is inaccurate. I know these guys were time compressing these loops! Sometimes you had to do it to save memory for sample space. You would time compress this shit out of it (not changing the pitch as you stated) and then transpose! When I started, I was producing using early versions of cakewalk using midi devices on the old school motu midi express via parallel port. I still have a copy of the Jungle Warfare, 160db and 260db sample CDs that were used in ALL those old dnb and jungle tunes. I was stretching them out to make breakbeat tunes, which would then become "nu skool breaks" (which is just slowed down drum and bass).
BTW This inspires me to knock the dust off of my E64 sampler. 😎🙌
Yea for sure, it was a while ago when I made this but I was so inspired myself from learning all this stuff that I bought myself an Akai and an EMU! The Akai of course has that classic cyclic stretch and the EMU has time compression i've also messed with a bit.
They're definitly quite a fair way off from modern day warping/stretching in terms of artifacts but they do give you quite a unique sound. I think the pitch up/down technique is talked about a lot more as the people these days are after that lofi/dusty quality from sample rate reduction. Both definitly have there uses! Thanks for the info. I love using my Emu but often just resample things back to the DAW to make things easier :)
Great video, thanks!
All good friend! Glad you enjoyed this one :)
Code of practice, System X , The Truper were a few of his other pseudonyms., Intresting video by the way , subbed. Rupert also used the Korg 01/w
Cheers for the Sub dude! I went on more of a hunt through his other aliases for the second part of this series. I loved a few of his Studio Pressure tracks! ✌️
@@groovining Yes for real his studio pressure alias churned out some bangers. First Sequence being one of my favs.
Here are a few others which you may or may not have heard under his " The Sentinel " moniker.
The Sentinel - Heavy Vibes
The Sentinel - Awakening
The Sentinel - ( feat CoCo) -Toulépleu
The Sentinel - Dig Deeper
BRO why am I not already subscribed to your channel.
Haha welcome friend :) Lots of jungle/dnb/tracker content to be found here with heaps more coming soon! ✌️🥷
@@groovining yeah been watching a few, some quality content here, I'm getting back into DnB after a break from music for a while then last couple of years been doing hip hop beats. Some gold content here mate, keep up the good work,
Thanks conrad! Yea lots of these techniques are found in both Hip-Hop and DnB so your can really apply them to both. I actually find the old-school style of jungle/boom-bap have a lot of similarites from heavy sample use to chopping breaks etc. Lots of the skills are transferable :)✌️
great video mate
Cheers swimfast! Photek is a legend. Glad you enjoed it mate ✌️
Thank you so much!
I don't believe in time stretching either!! 10:05
Pleasure mate - glad you enjoyed :)
Recycle by Propellerheads was released in 1994, so I don't think they had to do the slicing and re-sequencing manually...
For sure lots of people we using recycle - artists like paradox and i'm sure many others would still do things manually. There are also lots of techniques like the way Photek would slice the break into Tri-sets when your not chopping all the hits up. Instead you program longer sections of the break.
Check out his work under System X. Absolutely inspired jungle
you ever use discord btw? Have the perfect group for you if interested :)
Yea I don't use it much but I have before - link me for sure :)
@@groovining check your DOA pm's!
@@ghal3on epic thanks man! Just saw a pic of your beautiful stack of Akai's!
I❤. Sooo good
Cheers Lego - appreciate you mate :)
Just discovered your channel, immediate sub! great stuff. Question though: I just downloaded the Mackity plugin and I'm trying to use it in Reason, but it seems to have no GUI at all. How does your version have a GUI with settings and things?
Download this! www.airwindows.com/consolidated/
It's essentailly all the air windows plugins in a nice wrapper with UI & a bit of info on them all. It's the best & just came out. 😊
@@groovining Got it downloaded! Thanks for the super speedy reply.
Ace! Subscribed.
Thanks mate, been enjoying your stuff on insta!
The intro of Sly & the family stone - Rock dirge , is the break/drums that Photek used a lot on Modus operandi and Form n function.
John Rolodex - The Rainmaker , is the only 'non-photek dnb track that i know of that uses the same sample (great track , recommend)
If anyone know more tracks that use it , i would love to know.
Yea its a dope crunchy break. I'm not sure of any other tracks that use it! DOA is probably the best place to ask! :)
An album, maybe most people might not know around that time was Plug Drum And Bass For Papa. 1997 aka Luke vibert . I think it's as good if not better than photek around that time. 👍
Yea Luke Vibert mate mad music also. Very creative & Raw a lot of his tunes.
my version of decimort doesnt have the E64 preset . . .did you create the preset yourself ? great Vid BTW
Yes that was one I created myself! I actually went into a lot more detail on this topic here - czcams.com/video/a27dQEYRQoE/video.html
There are also some more free presets where I've really precisely matched my EMU e5000 Ultra to Decimort 2 :)
Is there such a thing as slow record, like slow motion video recording? Like, can you record using a tape deck at a slow rate?
You can record slow as in turn down the speed of the turntable to record. This will also pitch down the audio. You can then pitch it back up and technicall have achieved a heigher sample rate. However I've never really noticed it doing to much this way round :) ✌️🥷
Can you tell me what is the best way of taking this devastator break and turning it into a mono sample as both left and right channels are different ?. If so how do you choose what side you should render out ( left or right depending which is better )or do you just mono the channel and make a mono break that way ( I hope I’m making sense )
Yea for sure. You can basically choose which is best. Most often I will render both sides mixed into mono. But with old funk breaks I will quite often test rendering out the sides and compared it all to see which sounds best. In Logic the easiest way is with the gain plug-in. You can mono/pan and then bounce either the Left/Right or the mix. Logic does some weird thing where it looks like a stereo track but it’s actually in mono.
@@groovining thanks alot for replying to me as I took this devestator song from Spotify and it’s got some weird stereo stuff going on ( the bongo drum is panned ) and this way I can take the better side and make it mono….I use logic to it will be easier to follow what you said PS great channel
Anyone tried TAL Sampler? It promises a pretty damn accurate downsampling process of both the EMU II and S1000.
Yea i'v heard some great things about TAL Sample. They just release a new plugin also. I'm a massive fan of Decimort 2 as well which has a fantastic Sample Rate/Bitcrushing!✌️
@@groovining I cannot find the EMU E64 preset, is is a factory preset or your own custom presets? Great video by the way!
@@theresafennell8006 This is my own custom one. The Emu 64 has a 44.1Khz Sample rate and a 16 Bit Depth so you have to down sample/Bit Crush to get the effect in the EMU. It's just a nice preset really which sounds similar to what the Sample Rate Conversion and Bit Reduction sound Like on my EMU e5000 Ultra :)
Yes Then. Genuinely deep suss of Photek’s choppage. Cheers. System X, Mind Games. 👊
Thanks mate! Photek was legendary - learnt a lot from exploring his work. ✌️
Can anyone having difficulties installing the Mackity plug in? I've tried moving it to the VST and Components folder but I'm not having much luck. Thanks
Try this, it has Mackity inside. www.airwindows.com/consolidated/
@@groovining Thank you, that worked a treat! Are there any other AirWindows plug ins you'd recommend for Jungle?
I think there are heaps but I mainly use Mackity at the moment - Maybe Galatic or something like that is cool to mess with :) ✌️🚀
coolest drums are the ones jack dangers does
Just checked him out. Has some cool older breaky stuff! :)
@@groovining i like his latin breaks as tino also
How’s that new logic update?
Not really intrested to be honest. Stem split looks useful but I have a few other tools for that already. Just more Ai nonsense it looks like. 😊✌️
@@groovining good to hear, I won’t be bothered with downloading it then
what command are you using in logic, to zoom in like that?
Alt and then select an area I think. Whats the time stamp?
@@groovining 19:03
Hold ctrl + alt and mouse wheel to zoom
Where I get the sample pack?
Check the comments of this video☝️
Rupet was making tunes for a long time before he was photek
Yea for sure, in the second part of this series I showcased a lot of his work under other aliases ✌️
I actually lived through the 90's.. and lemme tell you, by about 2002 everybody had gotten so SICK of hearing that Amen break that nobody wanted to hear it ever again. It found its way into breakfast cereal commercials FFS... I groan every time I hear it, and for the record I had both Photek albums back in the day and I loved them... to a point.
Cool story bro. Lots of us lived through it too getting sick of amen and the timeless tunes of the era tells me you've got a major malfunction you need to correct ..
@@jchief40 You did too many durgs back in the 90's. Only a true etard would never get sick of the Amen break.
This was all done by sampling, that takes time. Having a hardware sampler and making your own samples from audio is better than sample packs. Sample packs are weak and limited. No digital sound just beefy analogue sounds plus spring reverb on the kicks. DAW's are good but not as much fun as seshing it old school making fat beats. Modern equipment will not replicate the tricks of 80's and 90's samplers.
I agree that for sure. I actually got so inspired making this video I went and got a EMU e5000 Ultra and an Akai s1000. Love them both. You can get close in the DAW the old gear just feels more alive & real. :) ✌️😊
Says "Japanese culture", uses a cover with Chinese martial artists on it.
It would have been more accurate to say martial arts as a whole. Photek was hugely inspired by his trip to Japan but is also clearly referencing kung fu movies and the way they would intertwine fighting FX with the music. 🥷
@@groovining I totally get that but it's lazy at best to equate Japanese & Chinese culture as the same thing.
cool usefull stuff
Thanks friend! :)
This is all great for learning but isn’t it strangle that with all these advancements in music tech so may or us are spending time and money trying to recreate the sound and techniques of 20 years ago? I grew up with jungle in the early 90’s and I love it but as an artist myself I strive to create sounds never heard before. Of course we can all learn a lot about the techniques of the past but it’s like Marshall Mcluahan said, we March into the future looking through the rear view mirror at the past.
100%, I definitly agree with taking all of these techniques and bringing them into your own style and workflows. I do also think that we lost a lot of what we love about this sound. The advancements of computing really took music production in a whole different direction being more effecient/cheaper/quicker. However we lost some of the magic that was there with the analog gear and the old samplers.
Simple workflows, with less tools & plugins often force you to be more creative with what you have. Samplers such as the Akai s1000 were super simple and really focused you on core principals like volume, panning, filtering, sample start and end, looping, pitching. Sample rate tricks, clipping the desk, live resampling FXs. All these techniques came out of producers being resourceful with what they had at the time :) ✌️