Lo-Fi Vibes: Creating Ambient Music from YouTube Samples
Tutorial | Apr 17, 2024
In this video, I share my process for creating ambient music using samples from YouTube. I demonstrate how to record audio from the Windows output and use it in a granular sampler to create unique pad sounds. I also incorporate a minimal beat, piano melodies, and effects like reverb and delay to build a chill-out tune.
You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon and download the project
Today, I explored using a unique YouTube video as a sample source for creating ambient music. Here's a summary of the process:
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Sample Source: The video featured a variety of sounds including animal and pad sounds, enriched with lo-fi elements like tape saturation and noise. This diversity makes it an excellent resource for ambient music without purchasing new synthesizers.
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Capturing Audio: I used a system audio bridge tool to route Windows audio output directly into Bitwig, allowing for direct recording into the sampler.
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Sampler Setup: I set up the sampler in Bitwig to manipulate these sounds. Key techniques included adjusting playback speed, adding reverb, and utilizing a granular sampler to vary playback positions within the samples.
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Musical Structure:
- Scale and Key: I identified the scale and root note to maintain harmonic consistency.
- Dynamic Variations: By varying velocity and applying effects like reverb and delay, I added depth and texture.
- Looping and Layering: I looped certain sections and layered different sounds to build up the track.
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Additional Elements:
- Minimal Beat: Introduced a simple beat to complement the ambient textures.
- Bass Line: Added a monophonic bass line to ground the track.
- Effects: Employed a glitch effect and high-pass filtering to enhance the atmospheric quality.
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Final Touches: Integrated environmental sounds, like recorded rain, to enrich the aural landscape.
This session demonstrated how effectively one can utilize freely available YouTube samples to craft a chill-out tune, highlighting creative sampling and effect application in Bitwig.
Questions & Answers #
Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
Can I use YouTube samples to create music? #
Yes, you can use samples from YouTube videos to create music. In this video, the creator demonstrates how to record audio from a YouTube video and use it in a sampler within their music production software. This allows them to incorporate unique sounds and textures into their compositions without the need for additional synthesizers or instruments.
What tools and techniques are used to create lo-fi ambient music? #
In this video, the creator utilizes a sampler, reverb, delay, EQ, and other effects within their music production software to achieve a lo-fi ambient sound. They also use techniques such as random position selection and velocity scaling to add variation and interest to their samples. Additionally, they incorporate animal sounds, pad sounds, and bell sounds from the YouTube video as source material for their ambient composition.
How can I incorporate a minimal beat into my ambient music? #
The creator demonstrates how to create a minimal beat by programming short, simple rhythms in their music production software. They then layer these beats with their ambient samples and manipulate them with effects such as reverb and delay to add depth and texture. This combination of minimal beats and ambient sounds creates an interesting and unique sonic landscape.
How can I enhance my ambient music with additional sounds? #
In addition to the YouTube samples, the creator shows how to incorporate additional sounds into their ambient composition. They demonstrate using recorded rain sounds and atmospheric textures to add a sense of space and depth to their music. These additional sounds can be layered with the ambient samples and manipulated with effects to create a more immersive and atmospheric experience for the listener.
Transcription #
This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.
[00:00:00] So I want to make a bit of music today and I found yesterday this video here on YouTube
[00:00:05] it's called 8 hours of new H cassette tapes 74 92 lot of weird sounds in there mostly
[00:00:12] without drums and lots of tape saturation and noise on top.
[00:00:17] So you get this lo-fi sound from the get go basically lots of weird panning also animal
[00:00:27] sounds, pad sounds, bell sounds.
[00:00:51] Let's go for something like this.
[00:00:52] So this is the perfect sample source actually if you want to make some ambient and you need
[00:00:58] some new pad sounds and you don't want to you know buy the next synthesizer.
[00:01:03] So you can just record your something from my windows, a windows output.
[00:01:10] You can use either your sound code sound code features for this loop back device or loop
[00:01:15] back feature or you use something like here it's called system audio bridge.
[00:01:20] I put the link in the description below it's from the same developer as quick sampler and
[00:01:27] what this does is basically it brings in the audio output of windows into your chain and
[00:01:34] then you can directly record into the sampler if you want to.
[00:01:38] But I don't need to have here basically already routed stuff into bitwig.
[00:01:45] So with this I can just hit record here or actually without without the pre-roll here.
[00:02:10] So it's perfect for the sampler right for some granular samplers.
[00:02:21] So I call up here the sampler.
[00:02:23] It's probably also in a scale so if you stick to just one track or a sample session or project
[00:02:31] you have probably all the notes in the scale within one track without drums.
[00:02:39] So delete this.
[00:02:58] You can find a scale or a root note here because it's probably mutable notes.
[00:03:12] Or D sharp okay.
[00:03:20] You can also use here to make sure that we are in the scale we can use chroma during the
[00:03:26] scale.
[00:03:34] And then use a reverb after that.
[00:03:44] And use textures mode.
[00:03:55] And then let's use a random mode here.
[00:03:59] With this to hold and also note so every time we press a key we get a different value and
[00:04:04] then use a different position inside of the sample here.
[00:04:21] So maybe let's record just some notes.
[00:04:41] So even though we have the same notes then in a note clip every time we trigger with
[00:04:46] the note we get a different position here inside of the sample so it sounds a bit different.
[00:04:53] Wait a minute.
[00:05:07] So I just hold down one root key and then I trigger multiple different keys in the scale.
[00:05:15] And then I just repeat this here.
[00:05:38] You can make this shorter.
[00:05:50] Then I want to increase the release and maybe cut out some of the low end here.
[00:06:07] So here then I change the velocity scaling or velocity spread so we have a different
[00:06:12] velocity on each play through.
[00:06:27] So on that I put maybe this EQ.
[00:06:51] Okay so let's see if this actually matches here with the piano.
[00:07:04] And change the playback speed to 85.
[00:07:11] And maybe use the same reverb.
[00:07:32] Before we start to record maybe I use some kind of minimal beat here.
[00:07:47] Like this.
[00:07:48] Maybe.
[00:07:49] Yeah, why not.
[00:07:50] Like this short here.
[00:08:07] (upbeat music)
[00:08:10] (upbeat music)
[00:08:12] Just a small beat.
[00:08:39] (upbeat music)
[00:08:41] And then we can play here something on the piano.
[00:09:06] (upbeat music)
[00:09:09] Pre-roll.
[00:09:12] (upbeat music)
[00:09:16] (upbeat music)
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[00:09:21] (upbeat music)
[00:09:24] (upbeat music)
[00:09:27] (upbeat music)
[00:09:29] (upbeat music)
[00:09:57] And all these jumps, we want to use a bit of reverb.
[00:10:02] A bit of delay.
[00:10:11] And maybe a chain.
[00:10:18] Put this into chain.
[00:10:23] Then a tool.
[00:10:27] (upbeat music)
[00:10:30] And curve.
[00:10:35] And reset.
[00:10:40] One to half here, maybe four bars.
[00:10:44] (upbeat music)
[00:10:48] (upbeat music)
[00:11:17] And slowly push this here into the delay.
[00:11:19] Let's use a glitch.
[00:11:34] Mix and high pass.
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[00:12:19] (upbeat music)
[00:12:48] And we need a bass probably.
[00:12:49] (upbeat music)
[00:12:53] (upbeat music)
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[00:13:57] And we need monophonic.
[00:13:59] (upbeat music)
[00:14:25] Yeah, I think this is basically how we construct
[00:14:28] then nice chill out tunes
[00:14:31] just with some recordings from YouTube.
[00:14:35] If you run out of ideas with pad sounds or pad sound design.
[00:14:40] (upbeat music)
[00:14:43] I can put in here some rain.
[00:14:49] I recorded something with my new
[00:14:53] fourth channel VR recorder.
[00:14:57] (upbeat music)
[00:15:00] (upbeat music)
[00:15:02] (upbeat music)
[00:15:05] (upbeat music)
[00:15:07] (upbeat music)
[00:15:10] (upbeat music)
[00:15:39] Maybe a photo.
[00:15:40] (upbeat music)
[00:15:43] Yeah, maybe I use some kind of step mode.
[00:16:01] (upbeat music)
[00:16:03] (upbeat music)
[00:16:06] (upbeat music)
[00:16:22] On the master, you'll take your three.
[00:16:27] (upbeat music)
[00:16:30] (upbeat music)
[00:16:32] It's called a space.
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[00:17:06] (upbeat music)
[00:17:35] There are some positions here inside of the sample
[00:17:37] are too quiet.
[00:17:38] Probably here, this one, this bit.
[00:17:42] (upbeat music)
[00:17:46] It's called this new age, huh?
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[00:18:01] Yeah, I think that's it.
[00:18:16] That's it for this video.
[00:18:17] I want to show you basically that you can
[00:18:20] use your some YouTube samples as a source.
[00:18:23] Also, you're a nice YouTube video you can explore.
[00:18:26] Link is in the description below
[00:18:27] how you can sample it into a bit rigged
[00:18:30] and then you use it inside of the sampler
[00:18:32] with some pitch tracking here
[00:18:34] and with the chroma plug in with a bit of reverb
[00:18:37] and then add some additional sounds to it
[00:18:39] and create an idea from that.
[00:18:42] That's basically the video.
[00:18:44] Thanks for watching.
[00:18:46] Leave a like if you liked the video,
[00:18:47] subscribe to the channel, see you in the next video and bye.
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