cook_the_loop #3: the Four Tet technique

Photo by Juan chavez on Unsplash

absolutely... mind... blown.
was diving into youtube again yesterday searching for tutorials on new techniques and stumbled into something that's absolutely game changing.

there's a video recorded in 2014 showing the artist known as Four Tet creating a song in ten minutes while sitting at his computer and doing nothing but mouse-clicking. all the sounds in that song are sampled from Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

when i watched this, i was a little confused. i had never seen anyone create sound in real time by doing nothing but mouse-clicking. usually, there's at least an instrument involved. or a midi controller, to trigger the sounds from the computer. heck, a microphone, at least.

so i turned to the internet to try and understand what was going on there, and i found this other video of this guy that's explaining exactly what's up.
basically, he describes Four Tet's technique, which involves an unorthodox way of placing samples into a drum rack, and then arranging them as if you were to create a beat pattern. i'll let you watch the explanation yourself.

the innovative part of this is the way in which he overlaps different parts of the song as if they were different tracks on the drum rack, which creates a unique texture. now that i understand it, i also came to realize its precisely what gives the Four Tet sound its unique and distinct identity.

i feel mind blown by this, as mentioned. yesterday when i finished watching this i went to try it out and i am so sad i didn't record anything, because i had a blast with what i came up with.

so today i quickly cooked something inspired by the same technique but with a little different approach. i added a drum loop and a bass line just to see what would happen. it literally took me less than 3 minutes to cook, as it was recorded in real time.

it's using Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" for the samples that provide the texture.

i feel the possibilities are endless, and a new world of experimentation has been unlocked.

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