DJ Shadow Used Turntable Pitch Control To Layer Samples on ‘Entroducing…..’
DJ Shadow’s objective was simple when he started working on his 1996 debut Entroducing…..“I definitely set out to do an entirely 100% sample-based album,” he told Keyboard Magazine in 1997. “That was my mission.”
Armed with an Akai MPC60, Alesis ADAT, and a Technics SL-1200 turntable, Shadow kept his rig bare bones throughout the creation of his first album, often relying on his keen ear for guidance. Using ingenuity and workarounds to pluck finite fragments of sound from his record collection and rearrange them into a dizzying array of compositions, Shadow’s artistic dexterity helped him overcome his limited setup.
By the time Entroducing….. was complete, Shadow’s simple initial goal of making an entire album out of samples had resulted in a landmark work that would help shape the future of sample-based music. Though he couldn’t have imagined his first album would be a key influence during the making of Radiohead’s seminal album OK Computer just a short time later, Entroducing….. broke new ground in the sample-based genre while wowing countless critics and respected musicians in the process.
