Bi-weekly record-diving sampling extravaganza | 23 | Dave Valentin - Sidra's Dream

aarb420 · 2023-08-13T02:48:52.117Z

Welcome to another new edition of our bi-weekly record-diving sampling extravaganza!

Thank you all for joining @natehorn and I for another week of sampling goodness! Before we get into our artist and track in focus, and in case you aren’t already aware, there are some other Mission Briefs/Challenges currently taking place that you may also fancy spending some time on here:

@malus_mons is hosting Elektronaughts Hip Hop Battle #23 - Love is Light and Light is Free
Last day for submissions: Sunday, August 13, 2023
@BLKrbbt’s Exquisite Corpse open challenge (no voting, no deadline)
@sleepside’s Open Challenge #15: ARPs & LFOs [VOTING OPEN!]
Has been reported to be closed, but still worth checking out
@ViolentMeals’s Open Challenge #14: Title Redacted
Has been reported to be closed, but still worth checking out (rd.2)
@Habit_Reform’s Electronic/Sythesized Hip Hop/Rap Beat challenge

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Hoping @everyone is/has been enjoying their holiday season, respectively, wherever you may be

I had been saving this sample for a few weeks, and even went so far as to keep this sample safe from the lovely folk over at the jazz appreciation thread, including @DimensionsTomorrow (who just partnered/collaborated with @Sleepyhead on his new 15 Minutes of Hiss Vol. 3: Sunflowers

This week, we’re going to be taking a closer look at the massively funky intro track, “Sidra’s Dream” from jazz flautist Dave Valentin’s album, Land of the Third Eye. The album was released in 1980 on Arista/GRP Records (GRP 5009). The track opens the album on a very strong, funky note, that carries on throughout the entirety of it’s play.

Here are some bits about Dave Valentin from wikipedia:

Valentin was born to Puerto Rican parents in The Bronx in New York City. He attended The High School of Music & Art.[2] He learned percussion at an early age, and by 10 was playing conga and timbales professionally.[3][1] When he was 12, he began to practice the flute so he could get to know a girl in school who played the flute, Irene Cathcart. He borrowed a flute, bought a Herbie Mann record, and started to teach himself. [4] Years later, he recorded an album with Mann called Two Amigos.[2] He took lessons from Hubert Laws, who became his mentor.

In the 1970s, Valentin combined Latin music with jazz in bands with Bill O’Connell, Lincoln Goines, Richie Morales, Robby Ameen, Sammy Figueroa, and Giovanni Hidalgo.[3] He was the first musician signed to GRP Records, a label founded by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen that specialized in smooth jazz, jazz fusion, and jazz-pop. He recorded his debut album with Ricardo Marrero in 1977.[2] Over time he recorded with Noel Pointer, Patti Austin, Lee Ritenour, Chris Connor, David Benoit, Eliane Elias, and Nnenna Freelon.[3] Until 1979, he was a schoolteacher.[1]

For several years Valentin served as musical director for Tito Puente’s Golden Latin Jazz All-Stars, and also toured with Manny Oquendo’s Conjunto Libre. In 2000, he appeared in the documentary Calle 54 performing with Tito Puente’s Orchestra.[5][6][7]

For seven years in a row, he was chosen best jazz flautist by readers of Jazziz magazine. In 1985, he received a Grammy Award nomination as best R&B instrumentalist.[2][1] In 2003, he won a Grammy for Caribbean Jazz Project, an album he did with Dave Samuels.[8]

In March 2012, Valentin had a stroke which left him partially paralyzed and unable to perform. In 2015 he suffered a second stroke, and worked to overcome his disabilities in an extended care facility.[9]

On March 8, 2017, Valentin died from complications of a stroke and Parkinson’s disease in the Bronx at the age of 64. His lifelong “special friend”, Irene, for whom he learned to play the flute, was at his side when he passed.

Here are two different youtube user uploads in case there are regional playback issues:

Here is a link to the best available .mp3 version of the track and a version that has been converted to 16bit/44.1KHz wav, please delete it after using:

DAVE VALENTIN - SIDRA’S DREAM (MP3)

DAVE VALENTIN - SIDRA’S DREAM (WAV)

Album Photos:

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(Images taken from google search)

THE BRIEF

YOU have been selected by the notorious Global Sound Syndicate for a top-secret operation. Not really, please, share with your friends, family, and even the friendly folk that mix the paint cans at your local hardware store.

Mission:

-Sample any part(s) of the track we’ve nominated
-Spend no more than 1 week turning it into music
-Post your creations here for us all to enjoy

Deadline: Sunday , August 20, 2023

Submit your entry no later than 11:59 PM, Sunday, August 20, 2023, or be faced with a brief moment of self-loathing for not participating. Submissions entered on later dates are also welcome!

Compensation:

Hearts and compliments from the community
(not guaranteed)

You can use as much or as little of the sample track as you like, you just have to use it. No winners, no losers, just good times!

Every two weeks we will post a track from our record collections, ideally something you’ve not heard before. Jams, full tracks, noodles - share whatever you like!

ViolentMeals · 2023-08-13T06:23:02.798Z

Just would point out that Open Challenge i#14 is over and done with. So is Open Challenge #15. A new one will arrive soon…

aarb420 · 2023-08-13T06:46:43.280Z

@ViolentMeals Aw dang right on, will update those links thank you for letting me know Looking forward to the future challenges man you guys got some sweet submissions

natehorn · 2023-08-13T10:11:52.948Z

Nice one thanks @aarb420 ! I would like to apologise for missing my last slot, things have been a bit busy my end and I’ve let you all down, please forgive me

aarb420 · 2023-08-13T18:03:09.648Z

@natehorn all good man it’s just nice to have you around, and hopefully we can get your take on this one if the universe allows you the time!

mtts · 2023-08-16T14:18:18.298Z

Wow, these are so much fun to do! Thanks!

All done on an MPC One.

aarb420 · 2023-08-16T20:06:00.614Z

@mtts super funky groove, and you got your MPC One to pump out some nice phatness Thanks for sharing man

proskynesis · 2023-08-17T10:29:07.794Z

aarb420 · 2023-08-18T01:01:04.506Z

@proskynesis nice progression on there man and lovely voyage, thanks for sharing the flaves

proskynesis · 2023-08-18T10:06:27.508Z

Thanks! Muddiest bass ever though so maybe will work some more on it.

aarb420 · 2023-08-18T17:53:12.260Z

Man muddy can be beautiful but I understand the desire for the clean phatties It sounds awesome though man really well done!

I keep starting/stopping over here and will jump in soon!

Yabba · 2023-08-19T15:42:52.930Z

Had fun working on this.
Great sample selection as usual @aarb420 🫡

I think the 93 till infinity single came out 30 years ago this month?
I chopped the main sample and used that acapella.
The acapella’s over 5 minutes long, so I had to convert the finished beat to a lower bitrate to get it to upload

.

aarb420 · 2023-08-19T20:51:04.054Z

Yabba:

30 years ago this month?
I chopped the main sample and used that acapella.

- Find & Share on GIPHY

Wow man this is so smooth nice hangs on the acapella man it sounds like an OG remix!

Yabba:

I had to convert the finished beat to a lower bitrate to get it to upload

Good call I’ve just been uploading to soundcloud for the ease

Yabba · 2023-08-20T05:24:13.197Z

Cheers buddy, and thanks again for the sample

aarb420 · 2023-08-20T21:06:21.736Z

Alright guys I’m happy to say I think Elektron fixed some annoying issues I was experiencing on OT where despite having the same samples on different banks, the mutes during pattern transitions weren’t working properly, which caused the sample to play through. That would force me to stay within patterns A1-16, which left little room for variation. I can finally navigate to multiple banks and really get the acapella chopped how it “should be,” and it feels so good lmao like I just moved mentally to a bigger place. Hope y’all are having a great weekend, and that no one is directly affected by the wrath of Hurricane Hillary

Yabba · 2023-08-21T17:08:18.075Z

Nice head nodder @aarb420 I really like the drum work as well as the sample chops.
Great track

aarb420 · 2023-08-21T19:30:29.393Z

@Yabba Thanks man! You did an amazing job on yours Was that the same formula you’ve been using with DT?

@everyone thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to hang out with us for another exciting week and for sharing your fresh jams for us to enjoy! Wishing you all a lovely week ahead full of inspiring moments and hope to see you all again soon with some fresh flavors to groove along with!

Yabba · 2023-08-22T11:10:54.652Z

Cheers mate, yeah exactly the same formula.
The beat was made on Digitakt and I recorded it as one stem from the master into Ableton then put the acapella over it.
I did a couple of dropout edits to the waveform and extended it once I decided I would put that vocal over it as I only recorded 3 minutes of it
aside from that, no other processing except for a Waves L2 limiter to maximise the volume on the whole thing

aarb420 · 2023-08-22T20:17:29.856Z

@Yabba That’s awesome man it sounds really nice from here