Remember that whole sampling YouTube thing? Well Dirpy does all the prep work of sampling a YouTube video. No need for extra software, just enter a URL and it’ll convert it to an MP3 for you.

FFFFUUUUUUUUU-

I have backups, but the recovery will take some time. It seems I’ll be taking a little vacation from mixing, sampling, or anything else that requires doing something creative on my computer.

Sure, if you had the money, equipment, and access to dope record stores around town, you will find some sick sampling material.

This guy. More skills than you.

However, if you’re like me and have none of these things,  you have to get creative. The audio for a lot of these YouTube vids have improved considerably. It’s not audiophile quality or anything but, considering that some of these videos are of music from several decades ago, the source isn’t going to be all that great anyway. In the end, ripping the audio track off of YouTube videos can be a pretty good way to find a sample. Here’s how to do it. Did I mention for free?

You will need two things:

1. A simple video extraction program. For Mac, I use MPEG Streamclip. There’s also a Windows version. Both are free.
2. A simple audio editing program. You probably already have one, but if you don’t, get Audacity. Again, free.

Finally, you need to save the YouTube video to your computer. This is actually very easy thanks to PwnYouTube. Simply add “pwn” before “youtube” on any video link. Lets say you want to sample the audio off of this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx8Ya2VNk2k

Just add “pwn”:

http://www.pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=Vx8Ya2VNk2k

The site makes a link of the video you can save to your computer. MPEG Streamclip can handle both video formats PwnYouTube outputs.

In MPEG Streamclip, select the section of video you want and go to File -> Export Audio.

That’s it! From there, you can use your audio editing program to convert it to whatever file type suits you. Plug that into your sampling software and you’re good to go.

First off, to answer a few of the comments on the Auto-Tune post, Ableton Live and Antares Auto-Tune have been updated to newer versions of the ones I wrote about many months ago. The walkthrough is probably old. I intend to write a new one, but haven’t had the time.

The reason I haven’t had time is because 1) work and 2) I’m making an instrumental album! A select few already have a rough cut. It’s going to be really short: 10-12 tracks, and probably not all that good. But, it has been a lot of fun to make and I hope people enjoy it.

My last session recording the album

Keep checking this page. It’ll be out some time in the next month or so.

Well, RPM is over and I failed miserably – barely got 5 tracks down. The good thing that came out of this was learning a better approach to making music – having never done this before. Either way, I’ll keep trying to make beats and post them up here!

…And another one:

‘Nati Soul

I’m giving the RPM Challenge a shot. The idea is to make an album (at least 10 tracks) in a month. Of course, they picked the shortest month of the year. So far I’m 1/5th of the way there!

“Never Felt This Way”

“Cave Party”

Not that he’s been completely normal and sane these past few years… but this video that he posted on his vimeo site a week ago is pretty damn “baffling.”

OK, “Martin.” I think I’m going to listen to the Freshmen Adjustment mixtape again.

Two albums – over 2 hours of uninterrupted goodness inside.

Download Homework

Download Extra Credit

Homework Track List:

1. Intro
2. Cloud 9 (Strange Fruit Project)
3. Brooklyn Freestyle (Mos Def)
4. Brooklyn On My Mind (9th Wonder feat. Mos Def & Jean Grae)
5. U (Black Milk feat. Ty & Kory)
6. Loungin’ (Spectac feat. Legacy)
7. Politics (DJ Rocket)
8. The 6th Sense (Common)
9. Money Makes the World Go Round (Buckshot & 9th Wonder)
10. 2nd Childhood (Nas) (Bluegrasspedro Remix)
11. No Equivalent (Cormega feat. Tragedy Khadafi)
12. Interlude – Kweli Speaks
13. Wheelz of Steel (Outkast)
14. Baby (The Roots feat. John-John & Malik B.)
15. Make ‘Em Pay (Gang Starr feat. Krumb Snatcha)
16. More Rice (Madlib)
17. Paper Trail (Kidz in the Hall feat. Phonte)
18. I Need to Know (Kanye West)
19. Just For You (9th Wonder)
20. Pretty Little Sexy Mama (Consequence)
21. Give Her Everything (Nicolay)
22. How Ya Livin’ (AZ feat. Nas)
23. Interlude – NC to NY
24. All Things (Hieroglyphics)
25. Ya’ll Know Who (The Roots)
26. Dancing Girls Theme (Madlib)
27. Wont Do (J Dilla)
28. Outro

Extra Credit Track List:

1. Intro (Strange Fruit Project)
2. E=MC2 (J Dilla feat. Common)
3. Live and Direct (Skyzoo)
4. Dontstop (Musiq Soulchild feat. Bilal)
5. Raw Shit (Jaylib feat. Talib Kweli)
6. Speakers Pop (Giant Panda)
7. Until (Musiq Soulchild)
8. All or Nothing (The Foreign Exchange feat. Darien Brockington)
9. Life is Better (Q-Tip feat. Norah Jones)
10. Movie Finale (Madlib)
11. One for You (9th Wonder & Buckshot feat. Big Lou)
12. What More Can I Say (Jay-Z) (9th Wonder Remix)
13. Long Story Short (Black Milk)
14. Moment of Truth (Gang Starr)
15. The Manifesto (Talib Kweli)
16. The World is Yours (Nas)
17. Dead Presidents II (Jay-Z)
18. Luchini (Camp Lo)
19. Don’t See Us (The Roots) (Bluegrasspedro Remix)
20. Live Life (Rapper Big Pooh feat. Spectac & O-Dash)
21. Jazz (We’ve Got) (A Tribe Called Quest)
22. Talk to You (Lil’ Darlin’) (Talib Kweli feat. Bilal)

Extra Credit rounds out Homework with upbeat hip-hop and R&B, plus some chill underground remixes.

Torrent Link (hosted by mininova.org)

Direct download link

Track List:

1. Intro (Strange Fruit Project)
2. E=MC2 (J Dilla feat. Common)
3. Live and Direct (Skyzoo)
4. Dontstop (Musiq Soulchild feat. Bilal)
5. Raw Shit (Jaylib feat. Talib Kweli)
6. Speakers Pop (Giant Panda)
7. Until (Musiq Soulchild)
8. All or Nothing (The Foreign Exchange feat. Darien Brockington)
9. Life is Better (Q-Tip feat. Norah Jones)
10. Movie Finale (Madlib)
11. One for You (9th Wonder & Buckshot feat. Big Lou)
12. What More Can I Say (Jay-Z) (9th Wonder Remix)
13. Long Story Short (Black Milk)
14. Moment of Truth (Gang Starr)
15. The Manifesto (Talib Kweli)
16. The World is Yours (Nas)
17. Dead Presidents II (Jay-Z)
18. Luchini (Camp Lo)
19. Don’t See Us (The Roots) (Bluegrasspedro Remix)
20. Live Life (Rapper Big Pooh feat. Spectac & O-Dash)
21. Jazz (We’ve Got) (A Tribe Called Quest)
22. Talk to You (Lil’ Darlin’) (Talib Kweli feat. Bilal)

Couldn’t… stop… laughing…