The real alchemy here, is how Shadow picked those samples, out of billions of recordings that he could have chosen from. Pure alchemy, just magical.

@HeapsMad

Жыл бұрын

Not really... most random and chance. He played through many almums and those samples stood out. There's no magic... on a long enough timeline everything cease to exist replaced by new things.

@brmbkl

Жыл бұрын

@@HeapsMad homeslice said alchemy, so I would agree with that part, it's an obsessive endeavour, and hugely rewarding enterprise to the maestro, with a magical result as a gift to us. name one other producer who can craft this kind of cinematic music with records from all corners that sounds like real musicians playing together?

@limbsmith

Жыл бұрын

@@brmbkl pretty much any modern sampling enthusiast, listen to kashiwa daisuke or Akita yamaoka, their stuff is heavily sampled too while going way beyond just a mashup of samples in terms of final product

@Dandroid5000

Жыл бұрын

@@limbsmith I just spent the last 15 minutes listening to their 'music', and found it incredibly bland, uninspired and hugely derivative.........it's just soulless background muzak for computer games produced on laptops. It's sterile and insipid and lacks the grit and dirt that comes with sampling direct from vinyl. DJ Shadow was an innovator, nobody had ever done what he achieved with an MPC60 and a roomful of vinyl, way back in the early 90's....and nobody will, ever again. I get the distinct impression that the younger generations think the sampling process is just this straightforward and simple interaction with technology, because all you've ever known is a world of instant mindless convenience at the push of a button. Just try to imagine how difficult it was to produce an album like Endtroducing....the dedication involved in saving up all your money and driving for hours to search out rare, esoteric vinyl in dusty old record stores for years and years.....slowly developing your tastes and honing your skills at mixing and matching random, disparate elements into a coherent and cohesive palette of samples.......and then, when you've learned all that, just pray that you've got the dedication, patience and downright genius required to master the ins and outs of a deceptively complex sampler such as the MPC60. DJ Shadow put his soul into those early releases, and that's why his music has stood the test of time........

@lorenzo3987

Жыл бұрын

​@@limbsmith As you said, any modern sampling enthusiast... that was 96 brother. Today is sooo much easier

All these years later, this album still impresses. I was getting into electronic and sample-based music right when this came out. I remember coming home with the CD, purchased from Other Music in NYC. It's just mind blowing. Sample manipulation and slicing is one thing, but it's a whole other level when you think about the intuition, critical listening, and patience it must have taken to find all these samples, "hear" that they'd fit together in the way they do. I read somewhere that he'd vacuum up vinyl records from the used bins, transfer them to tape, and drive around listening and connections would start to form. One of the defining albums of the 1990s.

@KarlBoltzmann

Жыл бұрын

Without a doubt it's a masterpiece. Shadow was in his peak with his musical exploration and experimentation when creating this album. You can hear just how much love went into these recordings. Corners were not cut.

Really nice work. The fact DJ Shadow made this in the mid 90s on (what is now) a vintage MPC is so amazing (that's your next challenge!)

@KarlBoltzmann

9 ай бұрын

To make this amazing music with the equipment they were using will always be incredibly impressive. It would have taken a lot of time, focus and dedication.

ah that's a great insight re leaving space either side of a drum sample and then allowing samples to overlap. And duplicating tracks to increase stereo width - classic techniques here!

YES!! Finally someone who understands that I need to know what that song at the beginning on the keyboard is!!! Thank you so much 🙌

I remember him talking about taking the air of the sample and putting it into the drums in a old issue of Keyboard magazine. Nice technique.

ahhh one of my favorite songs .. ever. beautifully done, sir.

I feel bad giving this a like and pushing it from 420 to 421 but this was too good to ignore.

Awesome video and project , thank you for doing this . I just turned 40, but was in High School when I 1st heard DJ Shadow . His music was a big influence in shaping my musical taste . In the late 90s I was broadening my taste from the mainstream Rap/Rock/Pop of that time , and into other genres like Trip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop, and Electronic music (aka modern EDM). So many good memories listening to DJ Shadow and other similar artist as I went from a teenager to a young man .

@KarlBoltzmann

2 жыл бұрын

We're around the same age then and definitely had a similar experience. The musical memories are plenty...A soundtrack for those days. Shadow, Portishead, Massive Attack just hit me in a way music never had and to some degree I've been chasing that dragon ever since. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

@justinskomarovsky3546

Жыл бұрын

@@KarlBoltzmann "Shadow, Portishead, Massive Attack just hit me in a way music never had and to some degree I've been chasing that dragon ever since." That's pretty much my story too! I sort of need my favorite music to have some swing to it, so for new music I stick close to R&B/Soul like James Blake and Frank Ocean. Totally different genre, but there is a rhythmic throughline from the feel of trip hop.

Hello Mark, thanks for this amazing video of one of my favourite DJ Shadow tracks. Your deconstruction and reconstruction really make me appreciate (even more) the samples and journey that he undertook in finding all those artists and songs. Each track is such a crafted masterpiece. Much appreciated and have a lovely week!

dang just took those keys straight out of that track, that sets the whole vibe of the whole song IMO

I always feel the keyboard vibe from Tears For Fears - Sowing the seeds of love 😍 great breakdown!

phenomenal, thank you so much for this! this is one of my favorite songs ever, cool to see how it was made!

These deconstruct videos are fantastic hope to see more of them. Feels like i'm seeing some of the behind the scenes genius that went into one of my favorite albums

This is incredible. You are like a surgeon. It shows what a genius Shadow is. I always thought he just threw some samples over each other, especially back in those days, but what we see here is the acrobatics he had to go through to end up with that masterpiece!

@KarlBoltzmann

9 ай бұрын

Absolutely. He's got an amazing talent for finding and picking out extremely obscure samples that are each little masterpieces and deserve to be heard. Plus, he puts in the work on his tracks. No cutting corners...

This is an epic series Karl!

Very happy that Tuesday’s are still the best day of the week. These deconstructions are super informative 🎉

Underrated channel.

The band in the beginning aka Pekka Pohjola, or lets say the the artist Pohjola, he played base with Mike Oldfield. And the band Made in sweeden. recommend the album (the magpie), if you like Prog Rock. Love these reconstruction videos. Great work!

@KarlBoltzmann

9 ай бұрын

Thank you for the recommendation! Checking it out now.

The drum sample sounds like the one used on Erick B and Rakim's Rest Assured.

Amazing stuff

Loving these vids man! It's surprisingly hard to find videos that really discuss DJ shadows sampling/breaking down his process. Quality content man keep it up! 👌

@KarlBoltzmann

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Derps! More vids coming

My hat goes off to you for really doing the research in finding the samples. if it's not on whosampled who I kind of give up I don't even know how you found the right interview where he dropped the sample.😮 that's amazing!!

@KarlBoltzmann

10 ай бұрын

Thanks! I was pretty determined to make this video, so I took my time going over all the Shadow interviews I could find to figure it out. Was a good day when it all came together.

Your content is so fantastic! Not only Johnny Ryall and Shake Your Rump, but this song which is my favorite of DJ Shadows' !! Love watching your stuff, it's so fascinating and gives me a new level of appreciation for these songs that I already loved!

@KarlBoltzmann

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I really appreciate that.

These episodes are amazing man

@KarlBoltzmann

3 ай бұрын

Cheers, thanks. I've come across your work before btw...Unreal. Incredible detail and artistry.

@chrisrigoni

3 ай бұрын

@@KarlBoltzmann Thanks man, really appreciate it !

this is sick - thanks for this deconstruction of a classic

Great stuff, watching this encouraged me to dig out the rest of the samples and reconstruct myself.

@MusicbyMrE1

11 ай бұрын

Struggled to find the oboe/pipe type sound and getting tribes 'midnight' to sound decent, but had great fun temporarily feeling like Dj Shadow 😁

@KarlBoltzmann

11 ай бұрын

It's great to go over the samples like that. Gives new perspectives to the process he would have gone through to make these amazing tracks.

Great vid

Seriously amazing, thanks for doing this!

Just... fantastic... thank you man!

Obsessed with this song, great content!!

WOW!!!!!

Love it! Really informative and great. Keep it up

@judekraft8104

2 жыл бұрын

WATCH THE FUKN MOVIE FOR CHRISTS SAKE DARK DAYS

Thank you for deconstructing this track. Really cool watching you sample everything and lay it out!

@KarlBoltzmann

2 жыл бұрын

Cheers! Thanks for stopping by.

Great stuff!

Now imagine doing all that with an mpc

@KarlBoltzmann

2 жыл бұрын

Right? It's absolutely ridiculous the effort and skill involved.

@BobbyBriscoeBeats

2 жыл бұрын

@@KarlBoltzmann And also luck/fate. He talks about it a bit during his interviews in the Scratch documentary.

@KarlBoltzmann

2 жыл бұрын

Great movie...From my perspective, making music for a couple decades, I absolutely agree with the sentiment that luck and fate are a huge part of creating and recording music. You just never know when things will come together and work out just right, but when it does, nothing feels better. The never ending combination of sounds/textures and musical variations is a big part of what makes music so special.

@JBeadlehand

2 жыл бұрын

@@KarlBoltzmann I can only imagine the vibes when he first tried that 'Sower of Seeds' sample, even the background guitar fits perfectly.

@BeatsImmortal

Жыл бұрын

What baffles me are the drums.. I’ve read it in an article that he’s fading his drums in and out just like in this video. What a dedication to do that on the mpc.. awesome

This is so interesting!

Awesome! One thing about the actual track is that I always felt like the vocal notes didn’t match the melody. I still love the song. Just one thing that always stuck out to me. Maybe it does match, just sounds off to me.

@KarlBoltzmann

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I can hear that with the 'Baraka - Sower of Seeds' sample. Although it sound just as it should to my ears now because I'm so used to it.

@markofsaltburn

2 жыл бұрын

I love how the “Sower of Seeds” sample doesn’t quite fit. It makes it more unsettling.

Ti amo

It´s so cool and inspiring to whatch your Videos. Thanks so much ! How do you find all those orginal loops ?

@KarlBoltzmann

6 ай бұрын

Thank you! There are a lot of sampled hunters out there who's hobby it is to find samples and a lot of that info is online (whosampled.com for example), but I do have to occasionally find samples through reading interviews and using other methods when that info isn't available. Generally though, I am not what most would consider to be a sample hunter. My main focus is how the tracks were produced/assembled and mixed.

subbed!

Thanks for deconstructing one of my very favorite songs of all time! I've often wondered where some of the samples came from. One commenter talked about the vocals not being in key - that's one of the most brilliant bits of this song, when around 3:30, he juxtaposes her AbMaj chords against the GMaj keyboards. It doesn't sound like a mistake to me - just sounds like the perfect dissonance. kzread.info/dash/bejne/e6J6xKSloKe6lrQ.html Great video, Karl.

@KarlBoltzmann

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, those vocals are amazing and add a lot of character to the track. It's something that's missing and often edited out from a lot of music I hear now. These types of musical transgressions, where on first listen it might sound a little odd, end up being such an important part of making a track special and interesting and something you can listen to again and again.

@BobbyBriscoeBeats

2 жыл бұрын

@@KarlBoltzmann This strange tonality used to happen more in hip hop when mixing samples together because to match tempo you would have to alter pitch. Sometimes samples would sound good together, sometimes they wouldn't. It's not like today with Ableton where you can make pretty much any sample fit with another.

You forgot the INSIGHT FORESIGHT MORE SIGHT intro

@KarlBoltzmann

22 күн бұрын

I was concerned about the length of these earlier deconstructions, so I unfortunately left a few samples out. If I ever do an updated video, I'll include it all.

could you maybe do some massive attack/portishead stuff?

@KarlBoltzmann

3 жыл бұрын

Oh yeah!

your videos are so good man, can you do a video about bowery electric , they are a duo that mixes shoegaze with trip hop sounds like a mix between MBV and Portishead

@KarlBoltzmann

2 жыл бұрын

I'll check it out! Thanks for the suggestion

Hey, just checking-you're familiar with WhoSampled, right? They've got the majority of the samples he's used listed there. I appreciate how much legwork you put into this, regardless, but I thought that might ease your search.

@KarlBoltzmann

2 жыл бұрын

Hey, yes I am! At the time that I made this video some of the samples, including the drums, weren't on WhoSampled, so I just went looking in interviews!

This music sounds like Tartaria