LEARN HOW TO CHOP ANY BREAK!! | Ableton DNB Tutorial

The first 1,000 people to use this link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/stranjah03221
Learn the anatomy of a break. This will allow you to have the skills to chop any breakbeat whether it is the amen, think, funky drummer or whatever break you find.
Download the FREE Breaks → stranjah.ck.page/7e0d4cb749
Buy My Products:
All Products → deviantaudio.com/shop
Ableton Kits → deviantaudio.com/ableton
Preset Packs → deviantaudio.com/presets
Sample Packs → deviantaudio.com/samples
Shirts/Caps → www.stranjah.com/merchandise
Free Packs:
STRANJAH Sample Pack → bit.ly/2WPpyoj
STRANJAH Serum Preset Pack → bit.ly/3cFKLtg
STRANJAH Slicing Preset → bit.ly/3doS6ji
Favourite VST/Tools:
bit.ly/40rlt72
My go-to sample site is Splice
Get 2-weeks FREE → bit.ly/41f0wNI
My Skillshare Class 1 Month FREE → skl.sh/stranjah06221
Join my Discord → / discord
Follow Me:
Instagram → / stranjahbeatz
TikTok → / stranjahbeatz
All Social Links → linktr.ee/stranjah
0:00 Intro
0:56 COLD SWEAT BREAK
9:29 FUNK DRUMMER
16:07 THINK BREAK
23:31 Combined Track
23:53 Final Thoughts

[@STRANJAH]

😀 Name the MOST underrated break!

[@vnayini]

Not sure if there are other names, but I love hearing the "control vocal break" from blu mar ten's jungle jungle sample pack. :)

[@georgeespley9177]

Tramen 😏

[@STRANJAH]

@@georgeespley9177 Love that one

[@STRANJAH]

@@vnayini Will have to revisit that pack!

[@alexdelarge5800]

The popcorn break

[@matthewstein1110]

Out of anybody I watch, I always learn the most from you. Most of my knowledge of jungle/breakbeats/DnB come from you. You’re a legend, my man!

[@lb5tr]

15:13 ah yes, the Powerpuff girls break

[@memetotheextreme6775]

great tip about turning loop length down to zero to get rid of them weird noises after slicing to midi :) always wondered why that happens

[@STRANJAH]

Glad to help!

[@pkokott1]

Stranjah! I wanted to thank you for your awesome videos. You make learning musictheory so accessible! Also thanks for your free Samples & break-packs - I start chopping away right now!!! Always keep going with your lessons! Much love from germany

[@nkogliaz]

This is one of my favorite things about Dev (paradox), before he plays tunes on his amiga 1200 / akai sampler rig, he plays a snippet of the original song he sampled the break on the tune from and tells a bit of the history behind it, using the beat warp mode in Live, you can chop flams and hihats of breaks and then use the quantize tool with the brick wall mode of the warper to really create some tight movement of the accents and hats on whatever break you are using and really add some hefty transient and attack to not only kicks and snares, but hihats and rides as well, cheers for the vid, respect! 👊🎶

[@STRANJAH]

That's a very interesting technique!

[@ericpeck5983]

You have any links for reference?

[@nkogliaz]

@@ericpeck5983 I don't, this is something I figured out within the software by using it, I've been a Live user since it was released in 2002, there were a ton of things you can do early on in Live that people still aren't quite using, I've thrown around the idea of making some video segments of some of those things on youtube, there was a ton you could do with flstudio also by doing math on your bpm and quadruple the tempo to be able to program I think it was 32th or 64th note slices on the grid mode, crazy for breakbeat', you could really rip and tear drums around like early squarepusher tape style, very useful for breakcore. 👍

[@rahimkisoor7004]

Thx again. I was really fighting with this. You the man 👊🏾

[@buzzandjim4265]

Thanks man. Always a pleasure

[@k-hz2742]

This is the best, love THIS!!!

[@opticalman6417]

Thanks for all your great videos

[@zivoskyjoseig1381]

thank you so much! i am just starting to chop up breaks and this is so helpul!

[@orbital_ex]

Man i'm having so much fun with this, i might consider making a serious EP after practicing enough. This is priceless, thank you so much!

[@muradi9058]

Big up baby! Awesome vid, really vibing!

[@STRANJAH]

Thank you Bjorn!!

[@maciek741]

big ups for this 🙌 chopping breaks has been a pain point of mine but you made it so straightforward. can’t wait to get stuck in

[@STRANJAH]

You got this!

[@Andrey_ny3blpbkoB]

Hello. Thank u very much for that video.☀ Love the Amens! energy bones of dnb.

[@dumafuji]

Great video. That was like audio meditation to watch somebody do all the chopping! I do think you need a whole video ONLY on the Think shakers/tamb. That loop makes every track better. ;)

[@nicolesproducerpack]

Really great tutorial!

[@tylermcneil5239]

Love chopping breaks

[@spceboi]

Thank you for this amazing video

[@bwah9481]

really educational, thank you!

[@nerdexproject]

Duuude this vid had actually so much value for me! Now I even know the names of these breaks that I hear sometimes! 😃 Thank you!

[@StanAllDay]

Thank you! Big ups!!

[@TaiBaSs40]

Thx for all those useful course !! Have you ever made a video witch explain how to create a slicing preset? Thx 😉

[@cclark8088]

awesome vid!

[@jackmermigas9465]

You just opened a door to my imagination with this! This is right down my alley of funk and dnb but less robotic. Gonna smash this thanks man!

[@STRANJAH]

glad you enjoyed it!

[@rhymetry8482]

Great vid - thanks for the tips! Have you covered your slice-to-midi preset in a different video? I'd love to see your setup and the parameters you have pre-mapped.

[@StanAllDay]

I really appreciate the video! Time to practice. Yes, we are talking about practice.

[@HooverCD]

cool tutorial just following along one cool thing I've been doing while deconstructing the break is to color code the sections (red for kick, blue for snare for example) really helps to visualize everything

[@theworldthroughmyeyes26]

You're a legend brother

[@rainwatson3584]

Thanks!

[@timshady7099]

I actually bought an original 45 of Amen Brother from the Winstons. It makes a good decoration in a frame on my wall, plus I get the added piece of mind that I actually own it, so I dont feel so bad for the Winstons when I use it. lol

[@jamesdrevett]

This tutorial is the shit! Thanks

[@gravityassist]

Thanks for clearing up the Think breaks. I've been confused when people said it's the Think break, and then it was a different vocal part than I knew or expected. Pretty confusing to have 5 different parts to sample from, and calling them all the same.. :-D

[@TehAwesomer]

It gets even weirder with breaks like "Sing Sing" where the stereo panning is significant enough that it's a different break if you take the right or left channel...

[@MultiRockGamer]

Thanks

[@uxartmusicvideo-andphotogr2043]

You can add punch or deepness with synthetic kick/bass drum to original speed and pitched up break bass drum 😉

[@asiullopes]

you're amazinggg

[@s6produccion281]

Merci🙏

[@knallbertkrach9263]

Delicious again Alan!!!🔥

[@STRANJAH]

most welcome!

[@TOPBOYish]

I would love to see you show us how PHOTEK chopped up and used breaks for his beats ? Come on stranjah give us a PHOTEK tutorial !

[@STRANJAH]

sure, that's a good challenge!

[@TOPBOYish]

@@STRANJAH Thats Great Stranjah as i was around on the scene back in the 90's when Fabio was dropping his best tunes at his weekly club night he did with Bukem called speed and then later at his own night called swerve at the velvet rooms in London, And everyone was trying to follow his style and no one could match what he was doing with the breaks, just listen to tracks like ni-ten-itch-ru and the water margin and then night vision to see the complexity and diversity he had with the breaks in his tunes ! PURE GENIUS !

[@alsimonuk]

this might be helpful... kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIacl5Z3nbaNa9k

[@TOPBOYish]

@@alsimonuk Yeah i see this only this week ! amazing sampling and very cleverly used ! Do you think it was mostly sampled breaks he was using or also creating his own breaks ? as the way his beats shuffle is to this day very unique ! just listen to the way the Hi Hats shuffle on Knitevision this is the link to that track kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmmmoGmPbbeYobs How Does he create that kind of shuffle ? it sounds like the Hi Hats are made with needles ! AMAZING !

[@krass76]

aaaawesome!!

[@nexusobserve]

A god send

[@johncitizen8828]

Awesome video Stranjah - do you have any tips for using breaks at a SLOWER tempo than their original speed? Obviously it’s a toss-up between having gaps at the end of your slices, or using an algorhythm that adds artefacts when warping - what is the best approach to get clean breaks when slowing them?

[@clarkeagling2835]

u-ziq's "Brace Yourself" (Remix) was the first Cold Sweat break I really got hooked on.

[@worksofein6449]

I don't know anything about breaks, how about a break primer for newbies like me?

[@windowbreezes]

peace, stranjah! to follow this, dnb breaks layering part2? with fx? or even synth layering? or a more in depth anatomy of a break.... dare i say, Tramen deconstruction? haha

[@chrisisinthehouse1]

You let the cat out the bag with this one homie 😻

[@tobymcguinness6478]

A shuffle isn’t a cymbal followed by a ghost note, it’s a triplet pattern where you leave out the second hit of each triplet so when you count time as 1 trip let 2 trip let… you play the quarter note followed by the let of every beat

[@matthewswain5881]

Weird compliment but I like the way you speak. Very clear and you make complex stuff sound fun / simple / funny. Is english your first language?

[@riezzo1350]

amen brother ! no seriously the amen break XD

[@cityfunk8244]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@snarlysausage4604]

Video on the ''Tramen'' break would be cool

[@jungletek]

Check out this guy's video on the subject: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWGno5Sgf8-deMk

[@eb2342]

03:52 The 'Uhs'

[@maxDazzler]

This was a really helpful video! I’d love to see you cover the Apache or Soul Pride breaks at some point 👍

[@STRANJAH]

will do!

[@johncitizen8828]

Soul Pride x 2!

[@madpro39]

Hey there, wondering if anyone can help...once you have chopped your break, what is the best way to save it for use on other tunes?

[@freddiefranklin1]

Anyone else downloaded the link and having problems with the rx2 files in Ableton? For me it's saying they're either corrupt or not licensed

[@Niteshift56411]

13:16 Is this your Aircon unit that I can hear? Recently you uploaded a video about how you had been losing sleep due to that

[@ForestWhitakerTulpa]

I believe in think break supremacy

[@jessecampbell4580]

Noooooo the sample pack link doesn't work anymore! I was looking forward too always pure breaks.

[@omenjh]

I would like to give a couple of cool tips. First start by creating a folder in your user library called 'ALC' then create a sub folder called 'Breaks'. Once you have your break chopped to midi and nicely timed on the piano roll you then need to drag the midi clip to the ALC breaks folder. This will store the midi clip + drum rack for later use. Of course this can be done for any midi device including synths etc, I do this with any synth chain and rift ideas I come up with when jamming. You can the preview the ALC files with up/down/left/right arrows. When you pull these ALC files back into Ableton it will pull the midi and the drum rack into your project ;) Also don't mess with moving single hits in the piano roll to reconstruct different variations of the break, just chop and move the midi clip around in the timeline like you would audio ;)

[@33wanwan]

The silver blade break

[@prototype9000]

do beetles strawberry fields break

[@tactical1981]

Off topic, but been bugging me. Your 2004 release on 31 Records… is it Ruinz or Runiz? I’m guessing it’s Ruinz and there was a typo on the label?

[@redmondartwork]

I make long tracks of a 1 to 4 measure beat with various randomized and automated effects sweeps, stutters etc. Some of it makes no sense. Im thinking of dropping it into a grid and chopping it into 8ths and 16ths. 4ths... is there any advice? Ive tried doing it before ...but i fucked it up. Should i find a good naturally/loosely broken/interesting measure...and use your methods. Was going to load a bunch of cuts as clips into ableton. Last tine i did it, i ended up with about 50 cuts.. all seemingly...gatbage.lmao

[@redmondartwork]

Garbage timing and cohesion.

[@MrOuija-rr8kq]

Funky drummer is the best break ever. Fight me.

[@jasonlieberman4606]

10:01 jungle in a nutshell

[@jizzcumdinkleberry2055]

lmaoo i was watching this and i noticed that the transition between the funky drummer and think break said "think beak"

[@STRANJAH]

Ooops!

[@jizzcumdinkleberry2055]

@@STRANJAH amazing video tho mate,never fail to teach me something new

[@ctmp91]

is there any reason for pitching up the sample, or just because it sounds better?

[@joechapman8208]

Psychologically, pitched-up drums immediately suggest a more exciting performance. If you play a real kit fast and loud, it's going to be slightly higher in pitch and have more high frequency content than if you played slow and loose. But it's a hyperkinetic effect with sampled drums because even a 1-semitone shift goes way beyond what happens if you simply drum faster. When people started doing it, they wanted their drums to feel rushy to match the sensations of the drugs, and they were happy for things to sound unreal and impossible. Vocal samples went the same way: pitching up felt euphoric and intensely emotional. There was certain inevitability to styles emerging this way because of the short amount of storage time available in the samplers. This limitation pushed people towards finding sensible workarounds. In hip-hop's use of early affordable samplers, it was common to sample from a high-speed vinyl deck so that you could fit more in the machine, and then play it back slower to restore the normal pitch. Dance music's aesthetics were different, where that same practice was bound to result in direct creative use of the helium/chipmunk sound (and then decades later, it eventually found a place in hip-hop too via Kanye West and other producers). When this trend started, we already knew these breaks whether we recognised them from the original funk and soul music or if we knew them from hip-hop. Either way, they were ingrained in us at a slower tempo so when we heard them for the first time sped up it bent our heads a bit. The more times we heard it, and the more genres mutated into new genres, the more layers of meaning got laid down. When I hear or use a pitched-up break now, it's putting something into the present that also reaches back in time. The breaks become part of a language, alongside other classic samples like the Mentasm synth or Reese Project bass (or new sounds with familiar synthesis techniques). There's a special depth and weight to a style if it can use these totems and still sound fresh.

[@KH_1]

Because you just can't play audio faster without pitched up in hardware era, like reel deck, vinyl turntable, hardware sampler whatever you use when you play old funk breaks in Jungle/DnB bpm it will pitch up a lot, so the high-pitched break become signature sound of DnB.

[@ctmp91]

That makes sense, thank you guys :)

[@STRANJAH]

Well said man, there is definitely something abou the kinetics of a pitched up break!

[@STRANJAH]

I like pitching them up because they sound tighter, and makes more room for the bass!

[@Jose-oq6kj]

After one of my friends overdosed, another friend showed me griddim. Amazing. Now messing around with breakcore drums + metal guitars and it's a fun mess. Thank you stranjah!

[@Guntherthefool]

How was the overdose related

[@Jose-oq6kj]

@@Guntherthefool It was how we got onto to the topic of music he enjoyed, including stranjah.

[@foneticklee]

Holy shit man. This is the Bible.

[@davidmarshall5665]

Scorpio’s view by Lalo Schifrin

[@davidmarshall5665]

It’s a great break

[@mark-yj5sg]

Nice vid Btw Let’s Go Brandon