The Prodigy’s Music – Recreated “From Scratch”
If you remember the 90s, you probably remember Smack My Bitch Up and Voodoo People from The Prodigy. It’s generally known that both these tracks tracks use a lot of samples, but just how many samples – and to what effect – wasn’t clear until Ukranian music producer Jim Pavloff put together a masterful recreation of the two tracks using Ableton Live.
As part of the same phenomenon that allowed entire musical genres to crop up from a 6-second drum sample called the Ahmen break, The Prodigy was able to create these tracks at a time when copyright law had not yet caught up with sampling trends in the music world. Recreating The Prodigy’s process using more modern software, Pavloff copies, pastes, stretches, cleanses, folds and manipulates the samples until The Prodigy’s rave hits emerge. Secrets are revealed: SMBU samples Rage Against The Machine’s “Bulls On Parade”, while Voodoo People opens with a riff inspired by Nirvana’s song “Very Ape.” Kool and the Gang, The Last Poets, Led Zepplin, Johnny Pate, Ultramagnetic MC and others make an appearance in the songs.
And now you know how The Prodigy hot dog is made. Does it alter your enjoyment/perception of the songs?
December 28th, 2011 at 1:50 am
not that i found the songs so magical to begin with, but it does take away some of the magic by dissecting it so.
December 28th, 2011 at 2:05 am
now what’s interesting to think about is how the prodigy managed doing all of that before ableton was even a thought in someone’s head.
December 28th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
“cleanses, folds and manipulates…”
I see what you did there. ;)
December 29th, 2011 at 6:09 am
I probably appreciate them even more – imagine having a vision that complex in your mind and embodying it or, if not having a full vision, having the talent to grasp the right threads of invention in the curtain of possibilities!
And I can’t explain how much in awe I am of Jim Pavloff.
January 1st, 2012 at 10:43 pm
I have always loved The Prodigy and this diminishes that love not one whit – I am awed by their skills, complexity and layering – all before most people had any idea at all about any of this stuff! Thanks so much for sharing :)
January 2nd, 2012 at 12:40 am
Props to Jim!! This is super entertaining. I think he did a great job on the reconstructions.
March 5th, 2012 at 10:42 pm
[…] Coilhouse » Blog Archive » The Prodigy’s Music – Recreated “From …Dec 27, 2011 … If you remember the 90s, you probably remember Smack My Bitch Up and Voodoo People from The Prodigy. It’s generally known that both … […]