Repetition Sampling Fundamentals

By Jasper Blunk (Performance Samples)

The general idea with repetition sampling is recording repeated phrases and then chopping and separating out select notes, timing them, and grafting tails on the ends. While the core concept is pretty simple, there are a lot of variations to this approach (at least in regards to my own experience), depending upon playing speed, articulation, instrument section, and so forth.

There are many reasons I prefer recording short articulations in repetitions as opposed to standalone samples, but the highlights are that there’s more general musicality and energy, increased tightness between the players, and attack consistency. Also, the musicians tend to find it more palatable than recording a standalone sample, waiting x seconds, and then recording another… and on and on.

I’ve included some audio examples showing my post-pro process for basic repetitions, demonstrated with violin spiccatos, cello spiccatos, violin pizzicatos, and cello pizzicatos.

For each example, you’ll hear:

1. The original recorded phrase.

2. The selected note attacks (RRs) in an untimed loop cycle. A loop cycle (in terms of this process) is a repeating sequence of note attacks crossfaded together (temporarily) with the ends truncated, with adequate pre-roll before the attacks (makes it harder to time, but more accurate — since everything will ultimately be performed in Kontakt with a healthy chunk of pre-roll). Once this is setup, I turn on a click, hit play, and repeat the loop cycle ad infinitum, while doing slip edits (adjusting the start within a region “container”) on individual attacks. If I have seven note attacks (RR), I will often start by muting the last 5 and just tightening the first two, then unmuting the 3rd, timing it, unmuting the 4th, timing it… and so on. Then I will often try muting every other note attack, so that I can hear how tight it sounds in a non-standard rhythm. I also check everything at slow, medium, fast, and ultra-fast tempi.. and on multiple mics (even though I use the closest mic as my basis). Gain adjustments can also play into this timing process (in terms of bumping certain note attacks up and down to better blend).

3. The selected note attacks in a timed loop cycle. For the record, these still sound fairly rough to me and could use more finesse (and perhaps alternate samples in some cases). That said, for this demonstration it’s fine.

4. The final samples with tail grafts. Although these examples share the same tail between all of the attacks, I often like to grab a few separate tails.

If you’d like to hear spiccato repetitions in a musical context, listen to any of the demos for the Fluid Shorts series. You can hear other variations of repetition sampling on display in Oceania and other Performance Samples libraries as well. Repetition sampling is a significant aspect of my approach, and will also appear in the upcoming Nashville Strings and other projects.

Originally posted 12-Feb-20 / Edited 12-Feb-20