Sample Magic - sample dvd's and downloads for house, dance, electro and trance music

"Most dance producers hone their craft through a combination of listening, reading and many hours of painstaking trial and error in the studio. Sample Magic's new book, The Secrets of House Music Production, offers house producers a way to bypass all that, with a guide that unmasks many techniques used by he pros.

Spread across 144 pages, the book covers all styles of house, from electro and fidget to minimal, soulful and progressive, and features illustrated walkthroughs using Logic, Cubase, Ableton and a variety of other softwares.

Written by Marc Adamo, the text is easy to read but packed with intricate details, giving you the feeling that you're being allowed unprecedented access to a world of programming secrets.

The chapters move through essential topics such as making beats and basslines and adding instruments, vocals and FX, but also touch on song structure, synthesis, mixing and mastering. There are also tips from big name producers and a bonus 500MB CD featuring 500MB of 24-bit WAVs taken from Sample Magic's excellent sample libraries.

The illustrations and walkthroughs really are fantastic, showing precise settings for instruments and plug-ins, plus suggested MIDI arrangements for beats, basslines and chords in different styles.

The only down-sides are the slightly thin cover and the fact that there are no audio files on the disc to reference the topics discussed in each chapter. These niggles aside, this is a great book that is essential reading for any house producers who want to fast-track their progress and get hundreds of tips in one place. Although the walkthroughs lean mainly towards making house music in Logic and Ableton, there are plenty of techniques relevant to all genres of electronic music.

Musictech Feb 2010

"When renowned sampling masters Sample Magic takes on the subject of house music production, the expectations are very high. But after reading through the near 150 pages, it's clear that Sample Magic have created one of the most relevant texts about modern dance music production.

Although the analytical part of my brain automatically enter Skeptical Mode as soon as I hear the words 'the secret of' something - it's still something I find hard to resist. So when sample library masterminds Sample Magic announced a 148 page physical book, with CD about production of house music, I quickly made sure I would get a copy as soon as it was released. Could this really be it? I asked myself. Sample Magic is not a company that fools around. But 'The secrets of house music production'? Apart from the marketing side of things, that's a pretty bold statement, if you ask me.

The first thing that entered my mind when receiving my copy, was how well-produced the book was: the whole design smells quality. From the paper to the layout. After working in publishing for many years, I do know one or two things about magazine production, and one of those things is that the person responsible for the budget always says 'Over My Dead Body' to all extravagances such as glossy cover, thick paper and the use of an unusual format. Especially during times of economical downturn. Although the high standards of material indeed does make the price higher, I'm glad Sample Magic didn't do what everybody else is doing: printing on toilet paper in standard slightly-larger-than-a-pocket-book-size. The thick colorful paper looks good and the format is practical: the book won't flip shut if you don't hold it in place. This is a book that looks good and you'll be enjoying reading it.

All in all, The secrets of house music production is a book that goes through all steps in a dance music production. Although it doesn't deal so much on matter of the creative process and how to generate new ideas, the book covers pretty much everything from the bottom up. From the first beat of the drum to the arrangement and to the final master.

The first chapter is dedicated to the drums and starts off with the foundation of dance music: the kick. On the dance floor the kick is king and in optimum conditions the baseline is his closest ally. Writer Marc Adamo (DJ Magazine/Future Music) does a terrific job in dealing with the whole seriousness of the kick - from the selection to how and why to layer kicks, to compression. What impressed me here, was the fact that the writer is very sober about it (about all parts in the book as a matter of fact). If you're one of those who usually just dial up a nice kick and start rolling, there are a couple initial mental preparations you'll learn to go through before you do anything. The kick has a purpose and is you job to nail that purpose even before you begin, and Sample Magic does a great job in explaining this. In fact, all tools and techniques are viewed in the same clear light: it shouldn't just sound 'cool' - in the best of worlds it should also make sense in the context.

The book covers all other parts of the drum kit, teaching you many valuable tips on when and why to apply certain compression or when to use transient designers, and the chapter ends with a couple of examples on how drums in different genres are built up. You heard about swing and the legendary feel of the MPC? You've ever wondered how exactly is the best way to work with swinging up your beats? How much should you apply? Should you apply swing to just your drums or the whole track? The answers are in here.

The structure of the book is basically like this: each chapter starts with a short introduction, followed by a general discussion. Then it moves on to how to choose and finally how to improve the sound. There are lots of hands-on examples in programs such as Battery, Reason, Logic, Autotune, Melodyne and Live. Every section is also filled with small but relevant tips and tricks. Between the chapters are interviews with artists such as The Young Punx and Jody Wisternoff who tell about their way of working.

There are a fair number of pages dedicated to vocals and how you use vocals in the best possible way. Although the book doesn't teach you how to write lyrics, the advices it hands out are very good, and is more useful than many of the books I've read on the subject. If you really want to learn how to improve your lyric writing, I do recommend the book 'Writing better lyrics' by Pat Pattison (it's a very clever book that teaches you several different approaches and how to move forward when you are stuck). The chapter on vocals naturally discusses the value of the hook, how to cut up vocals to create a great take and how to create some advanced editing stuff with Melodyne. It's clear that the writers of this book have been recording vocals in real situations. The tips and advices are as with everything else in this book: practical practical practical.

Apart from the chapters concerning the kick and snare, I quickly moved forward to see what Sample Magic had to say about mixing. The chapter on mixing takes up no more than 18 pages - but this should be viewed against the fact that most of the production has already been dealt with in the previous chapters. The book even goes so far to present a 32 step guide on how to create a good mix. Although everybody develops their own methods for creating good balance in the music, this serves as a good round-up of what needs to be done.

If there is anything I feel Sample Magic missed out, it's the oh-so-boring but oh-so-powerful matter of pan. If you use panning sensibly and with some planning you can create extra space for your instruments. When I'm in nagging mode I might as well bring up the CD. The CD contains 671 loops and samples taken from the libraries of Sample Magic. While the samples are among the best out there and the fact you're getting them for free with the book (which greatly improves the value for the book) I sort of hoped for an exclusive Sample Magic release with fresh samples totally designed for the book. That would have been a blast. As it is now you're only getting some 520+ megabyte sample material for free. I know, I am an ungrateful bastard and unfortunately www.iwantmore.com is taken. I've already checked. Although the book is perfect in its form, I also feel that it would have been nice to see these techniques for real. To visually see the production techniques as video clips would have been absolutely fantastic.

Conclusion
This book has the destiny of becoming a classic. It's equally essential as KLFs The Manual (still spot on after all these years). Not only does the book focus on production that is relevant for makers of electronic music, but it's also executed in the best possible of ways.

You'll learn not just how to do it, but also why - and this with a minimum of blabber. Compared with the popular tutorials by Computer Music and Future Music - this book takes production, not one step further, but two. It gives you the answers of why and gives you a deeper understanding of how everything ties together.

Everything I've learned in music production have been through hard damn struggle. Here you have years of wisdom packaged in a glossy, wide format with 148 colorful pages. It's still only january, but I would be surprised if anything can top this one during 2010. Don't waste a moment. Buy it. This is the electronic musicians bible."

Plughugger Jan 2010

"It's not every day that a company known for making sample CD's publishes a book, so when I first heard about Secrets of House Production, my curiosity was piqued. I'll admit to being a bit skeptical, not because Sample Magic had a bad reputation or anything, but because usually these types of books are just horrible. I've seen a few books that claimed to be definitive guides to making and producing dance music, but most of them were a bit short on valuable info, trying to cover too much information in bite sized bits that don't get the depth they deserve.

From the get go, however, it's clear that this isn't your average "How to Produce ____" book. While we've all been taught not to judge a book by its cover, it's hard to not notice how nicely put together this one is. The cover and pages inside are all full color and glossy and the stock has enough weight that the book stays open easily if you have it in front of you in the studio. The layout inside is very appealing to the eye and includes plenty of illustrations to help you visualize the concepts being discussed or follow along with the tons of tutorials. My only complaint is that the main font used is a bit thin and difficult to read unless you you're in really good light. This only appears to be a problem when it is black text on white. The reverse is much easier to read. Keep in mind, my eyesight is not fantastic, but given how many of us spend hours parked in front of computer monitors all day, I'm probably not the only one that would have a little trouble. A bolder font would remedy this easily.

So it looks great, but none of that matters if the content is overly vague, outdated, or just plain worthless. Fortunately, the content measures up to, if not actually surpasses, the appearance. The book is sensibly organized into chapters covering drums, bass, vocals, music, song structure, effects, mixing and mastering, and an "outro" discussing the money aspect of music-making. These chapters are then further divided into still more specific sub-sections. For instance, the drum chapter has separate sections covering kicks, snares and claps, hi-hats, cymbals and percussion, synthetic percussion, and drum programming. These subsections are then divided into smaller headings that make it easy to find the answer to the question you're looking for quickly if you're using it as a reference in the studio. Again using the drum chapter as an example, the kick section is sub-divided into a section discussing the significance of the kick in house music, notes on depth, length, and vibe, a section on getting the right sound (further divided into specifics for classic, deep, electro, minimal, and progressive house), using compression, using transient shapers, using EQ, and layering your kicks. Sprinkled throughout are step by step tutorials and helpful quick tips relevant to whatever the section you're reading about is discussing. And between many of the chapters are interviews with various movers and shakers in house music.

I'm not meaning to get so detailed in my descriptions here, but I wanted to demonstrate the depth and detail that this book goes into on the topic. I wracked my brain, but I honestly couldn't think of anything they missed here. I guess there really isn't much mention of acid house, but I don't know how much of a contemporary acid scene there is to be honest, so perhaps that was on purpose. If you need to know something about making house music, chances are you're going to find it in here. I think that's why this guide succeeds where many others have failed. Instead of trying to cover every dance genre under the sun, they've honed in on a single one (one with a rather varied range of sub-genres, granted). This lets them dissect the genre to all of its respective parts in detail, leaving with you with few, if any answered questions. That said, don't turn your nose up at this book if you don't make house music. A very good portion of the information here applies to most types of dance music in one way or the other. Even experienced dance producers may find they enjoy this just as a study of what makes dance music work the way it does.

The writing style throughout is easy to read and understand (not always the case with tutorials), and the organization makes finding information a snap. The individual tutorials are easy to follow and cover a good range of subjects including showing you how to program your own sounds of various types on a synth. The interviews are brief, but interesting and provide an additional voice or two to the author's. Oh, and did I mention it comes with a free 500 MB sample CD to get you started? Well, it does.

If you can't tell already, I loved this book. Sample Magic got it right on just about everything. Everything but the price, perhaps. It's clear that this book couldn't have been cheap to publish. But whether or not people are willing to shell out $50 for a 144-page book in the age of the internet remains to be seen. I think they could get away with printing on a cheaper paper stock and no one would complain. Even at this price, though, I can't recommend it enough. This should certainly be essential reading for any budding house producer, but there is something here that just about any dance musician will find interesting or valuable. I do hope Sample Magic will consider making this into a series with future installments covering more genres such as electro, trance, drum n' bass, etc.

If they're done as skillfully as this one is, they'd quickly become the go-to encyclopedia of electronic music production. 10/10"

Waveformless March 2010

"With so many production tutorials floating about it's hard to pick the one that suits you. Sample Magic's effort covers all things house, whether it's producing the perfect kick or getting those vocals nice and sweet.

The book is split up into several chapters, which then cover each topic in a great amount of detail. Each chapter consists of a different element of a song, with loads of different tips and hints for those of you who already know a thing or two about music production. Towards the end of the book you should have a complete track finished and mixed down nicely. There's also advice about the music industry, which is a nice touch and an interesting read.

For a beginner the walkthroughs are brilliant. Everything is explained clearly and there are tons of illustrations to stop your mind from wandering. Loads of genres within house are covered and it seems it was written in the modern day, unlike some of the tutorials available that take ages explaining what a computer is. There are also tips on how to create certain elements from popular tracks, which is always fun as you can then develop your own sound.

The only downside to the book is that so many different DAWs and plugins are used in each chapter. Obviously most synths and audio effects work int he same way, but if you're completely new to the world of audio production you may struggle a little bit. Other than that though, this could be a useful tool for any budding producer.

Verdict: Clear, concise and informative. A worthwhile investment.

iDJ Magazine