is the amen break overused???

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my head says there's so many other breaks out there which could be used more and which would sounds more original ...

but my heart says more amen!! (especially with the mad edits Grin )
it's just so damn jungley break it can't be overused if it's done with style.
Until being introduced to the Inperspective style of Amen edits, I'd have said yes, it is indeed overused. It's certainly overused in the unedited, straight looped form... But since being exposed to proper choppage... BRING THE AMEN ON! Twisted
i like the break, but for me it isn't sooooooo much better than any other break. i prefer the sound of the nt kool and the gang break, myself. that is my amen.

but with regard to the amen, people do overuse it imho. it gets a bit dull when a dj's whole set is amenamenamenamenamenamenamenamenamenamenamenamen..... Yawn

there is only so much amen twistage i can take before i get bored and want to hear realistic drum breaks. but then i am a drummer, so i am after live sounding shit all the time.

i might make an amen tune one day, but it would get treated the same as any other break. for me, it isn't that special, as drum breaks go. i appreciate the 'heritage of amen' though, so i allow it. and fracture's latest is a bit special, i have to admit.

but i will say it again, nt has it over amen every time for me. Yes
I expect to get flamed for that.
Macc Wrote:But with regard to the Amen, people do overuse it IMHO. It gets a bit dull when a DJ's whole set is AmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmen..... :yawn

I dunno, I've heard Equinox do it, and I sure as hell wasn't bored by it!
Phokus Wrote:Until being introduced to the Inperspective style of Amen edits, I'd have said yes, it is indeed overused. It's certainly overused in the unedited, straight looped form... But since being exposed to proper choppage... BRING THE AMEN ON! Twisted

yeah thats true .. i think a lot of jump producers use it just to get a crowd reaction but i can't get enough of the way someone like breakage twists it out ...

i do think a set needs a bit of variety tho ....
I like it. Doesn't have to be mentally chopped for me either, although I like that too. JUNGLE.


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dee bee one Wrote:yeah thats true .. i think a lot of jump producers use it just to get a crowd reaction but i can't get enough of the way someone like breakage twists it out ...

Exactly - if it's edited well and chopped to hell and back, then it still sounds as fresh as ever to my ears Smile
yeah i thought i'd heard everything that could be done with an amen till i heard colemanism Icon_eek
dee bee one Wrote:yeah i thought i'd heard everything that could be done with an amen till i heard colemanism Icon_eek

That and Breakage's Acid Rain RMXs are responsible for re-igniting my love of the amen

Lovesmilie the Amen Drums Grin
Thing is, once it's been chopped to fuck, then how much of Amen is left? Once it's chopped to fuck then all you really like is the sound of the drums, not the break, cos that's gone.

Drums
And is it not 'Jungly' sounding cos soooo many tunes have made with it over the years?
Düffah Wrote:Thing is, once it's been chopped to fuck, then how much of Amen is left? Once it's chopped to fuck then all you really like is the sound of the drums, not the break, cos that's gone.

Drums

Yeah, but it's still the sound of the drums that make it what it is... it's still the amen break.
***Pedantry follows***

Surely it's then the amen drums?
Düffah Wrote:***Pedantry follows***

Surely it's then the amen drums?


haha!! you're right there.. Smallprint
I haven't heard a good amen tune since Goldie's-Timeless l.p(i think the trak was Death of a rock star?) & before that Water Margin by Photek.Hasn't been any decent amen biznizz since then!
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Lovesmilie the Drums
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ALPHA OMEGA Wrote:I haven't heard a good amen tune since Goldie's-Timeless l.p(i think the trak was Death of a rock star?) & before that Water Margin by Photek.Hasn't been any decent amen biznizz since then!

You best get on the case then, CL! Twisted
i love amens if theyve been suitably fucked up and/or chopped but i hate it when i hear a really weak/poorly arranged amen
it's a break with a lot of power and dynamics, it can make a tune sound much faster than it actually is and is the dogs... I think the 2 step if far more overused than the amen despite these "amen whingers"..
beats are there to be broken http://musicindevon.org/
Phokus Wrote:
Macc Wrote:But with regard to the Amen, people do overuse it IMHO. It gets a bit dull when a DJ's whole set is AmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmenAmen..... :yawn

I dunno, I've heard Equinox do it, and I sure as hell wasn't bored by it!

That was actually what I was referring to. Hahaha

It was okay for like, the first hour.......
it depends on the energies behind the track.and the appropriateness of a the break..

people gravitate towards using amens because of the specific energy they bring to the track..

in Toronto we have a lot of ragga jungle nights...nights of pure chopped amens with jump up basslines and ragga samples...and that stuff goes right through me..it's just noize..

if we had atmospheric nights where there was nothing but atmo amen tunes..I would be all in it...

I guess it depends on the presentation...there are many tunes that end up being amens, sub bass, and a sparse vocal sample or pad...which is kinda boring/basic when you think about it? I like tracks to be more layers (no matter what the break)

interms of being overused...you can't really pick on a sound..because sounds can be EQ, Compressed, Expressed in so many different ways...that's like saying they use the 808/909 is used too much in house, trance, techno...

my friend interviewed Liam Howlett of the prodigy in 1994...and asked him "What do you think about all the new jungle drum and bass that's coming out?" and LH said "I love the programming..I just hate that they use all the same sounds"

that really made me think..especially when you think about how drum sounds were put together in "the experience"...it would be challenging to do that approach with a faster jungle tempo

j

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magdusia Wrote:I just can't take it...omg omg...I just..I just can't...
That's funny, cos on another board I visit, Liam Howlett has been dissed for being boring with his drums, in fact accused of being nothing more than, 'a compressor and an insert cable'.

Now, I don't personally subscribe to this attitude, and I ain't into hijacking this thread, but it's fucking instructive to me to see how wildly opinions vary. I know I got mine, and frankly, I think Liam Howlett is a bit of a genius.

All this Amen talk though, surely it's simple? The Amen break, is a direct sample of the break that occurs about 30 secs into the tune. Once cut up and fucked about with, it's the Amen Drums. Ie, just the sound. The break is the actual breakbeat as played by the Winstons drummer.

No?
Düffah Wrote:All this Amen talk though, surely it's simple? The Amen break, is a direct sample of the break that occurs about 30 secs into the tune. Once cut up and fucked about with, it's the Amen Drums. Ie, just the sound. The break is the actual breakbeat as played by the Winstons drummer.

back to your pedantry again, I see Wink Personally, when I refer to a break, I could be talking about the actual drum sounds or the original pattern they were played originally - I use the term interchangeably for both meanings.

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