The Anatomy of a Sample
A while back we gave fans the opportunity to vote on a brand new cover tune for our show at Rams Head Live in Baltimore, MD. While Prince made a run at it, Wilco's "I am trying to break your heart" was victorious by more than a few votes. While the band began working out the arrangement, I turned my attention to putting a unique auditory stamp on this classic. Wilco records are full of great production, unique sounds and general oddities so I wanted to make sure we were true to form.
I got to work piecing together a sample that would subtly weave its way in and out of our version. You can find a wealth of samples on the information super highway but loads of them are fairly one dimensional and lack much character on their own.The sum of the parts is always greater than the whole so I began gathering a variety sounds and piecing them together like a puzzle. In the end I wound up using about 9 different pieces of audio, some original recordings and some yanked straight from the interweb. A little panning, blending, and an effect here and there and voila, you have a unique piece.
Off we go on a trip through some of the pieces that I used, in the nude.
Every sample needs some good old fashioned AM static
Sonar adds a nice dimension
A jet landing provides a good balance of white noise and movement
A rhythmic element for all you finger tappers out there
Classic reel to reel camera is a must on principle alone
And what sample is complete without the ubiquitous and glorious gift from above, bacon
And now here is the actual completed sample, the puzzle complete. Can you find anything else in here?
If you want to check out the version from that Valentine's Day show you can snag it here for a whopping $.99. Listen for the sample to poke its head out at several places, some more discretely than others. Life is all about the nuance. ~ktb