Sampling
Gotye is a Belgian-Australian artist who is known for his music of the indie rock and indie pop genres. In 2011 he released “Somebody I Used to Know” featuring Kimbra. This song has become Goyte’s signature song and his most successful song ever.
In an interview with SoundOnSound, he says
Writing ‘Somebody’ was a gradual and linear process. I started with the Luiz Bonfa sample, then I found the drums, and after that, I started working on the lyrics and the melody and added the wobbly guitar-sample melody
I considered repeating the chorus, an instrumental bridge, a change in tempo or key, I even considered finishing the song after the first chorus. But nothing felt like it was strong enough
The song itself started off as a sample. The main hook of the song came forty-four years earlier from Luiz Bonfá’s 1967 song, Seville. Goyte has sampled that original hook and incorporated into his song. In terms of production style, he kept it almost original. That hook is played repeatedly throughout the song, and it is essentially what his song is built on top of that. He didn’t do much in terms of making the song interesting in terms of an instrumental bridge, or a change in key or tempo. He kept it simple and it worked really well for this song.
The technique used to take the same sound signature, but for a totally different style intrigues me. I would love to somehow implement this into my own remix. Find a catchy distinctive hook from a different style but to become a distinctive hook for a different style. Gotye pretty took the same melody and kept it pretty much the original.
Comments
Nick Wilson
Great example of a track built around sampling. You could go into this a little further. What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating a song in this way?
Tim Dalton
Your blogs are a little short, I’d like to read more.
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