Daft Punk’s “Discovery” album has been a huge influence on my musical tastes and their array of samples has inspired me to venture deeper into the originals they have sampled and give me an appreciation of those original tracks. Perhaps their most famous of these is Edwin Birdsong’s "Cola Bottle Baby" which was sampled for "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", which then went on to be featured on the collaboration with Kanye West from the debut single from his 2007 Graduation album, on “Stronger”.
The French duo of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, 70’s disco is prevalent through many of their earlier successes, particularly 2001 Album “Discovery”. Sampling is not something they hide, and try to elaborate on the samples by incorporating their style of French House rather than just a dry, un-effected loop.
A quote that stands out is from de Homem-Christo “It’s really easy to sample something but really hard to find a good sample.” I feel this is important for me to keep in mind in this early stage of my creative process.
Daft Punk use a range of analog equipment including the Roland S-760, an Ensoniq ASR X, a Roland MPC and an E-mu SP-1200 drum machine. They try to use equipment in ways never used before, creating new sounds and genres off those original samples. Their main synths include a TR-909, TR-808, Juno-106, ARP Odyssey, E-mu 3 and AMS Phasers.
“By experimenting with some crazy ideas, you find some crazy sounds.” de Homem-Christo. It’s this mantra that’s led to the diversity in their albums and their more mainstream success. 1995’s Da Funk is a great example of a track that’s successful in the mainstream (reaching #1 on the US dance charts) despite breaking the norm of a 90’s pop hit. It’s made from the influence of US G house, inspired by Warren G’’s Regulate, and staying as an underground anthem until the quality of the work slowly reached the masses, partly in thanks to The Chemical Brothers featuring it during their live tour.
Their use of samples has continued as another of their “crazy ideas” again generated a new sound, on the opening track of Kanye’s Yeesus album - On Sight. It’s these type of productions I hope to be able to incorporate in my EMP remix, an homage to the greats whilst generating my own sound and creating a fun, heavy club vibe.
