Bored of the Same Old Samples?

Who knew that your every day household appliances could be used to create beautiful pieces of music?

If you are completely bored of using the same sample libraries over and over again maybe you should try this to reignite your creativity.

In this video I record my tumble dryer and transform the sound into something quite unique!

How I record everyday sounds

You don’t need expensive gear for this. I spent too much of my career worrying about not having the right equipment, then realised I was earning a good living with very little. I’ve recorded with a cheap Rode NT1A, a podcasting mic, my iPhone and a Zoom recorder. If the mic works, you’re good.

The one setting worth thinking about is sample rate. If you can record at 96k, do. There are more samples squashed into each second, so you can stretch a sound or drop it down three octaves and it sounds like a huge new instrument rather than a glitchy version of the old one. Keep an eye on your levels too, so the source is clean before you start processing it.

Then go looking for character. A fridge is a good example: the hum of the cooling mechanism, the door closing, the shelves rattling. I’ve also had great fun with yoghurt pots with elastic bands stretched over them. Ask yourself whether you can get tonal sounds out of the object as well as percussive ones, because that gives you much more to build with.

The twist that makes a sound yours can come from the object itself, from how you play it, or from how you record it: close up, far away, or with a contact mic.

Once I have a recording, I’ll often load it into a sampler and turn it into a pad. Layering copies at slightly different pitches creates a rich, slightly uneasy interference, and compression, delay, tape effects and reverb help turn the raw recording into something atmospheric. Pads don’t have to be long held notes either. They can be gated or rhythmic and sit underneath as a wash.

For more ideas, 9 Ways To Create Drones That Make Your Music More Awesome includes making drones from found sound, TMCP 041 is a chat with Si Begg about homemade instruments and contact mics, and A Single Violin Pluck Did All This builds a whole piece from one sample. My Horror Music Mastery course goes further into making your own sounds from found objects.

Happy composing!Rich