Making of "The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up" in Ableton by Jim Pavloff
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as a fun, in-depth look at how sampling and music production work, and as proof that skilled humans can reconstruct tracks from scratch.
What it is
Jim Pavloff rebuilds the Prodigy track Smack My Bitch Up in Ableton, identifying the samples used and recreating the track by hand.
Recommended by 5 HN commenters across 4 different months, 2014 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec guruz · 2017-05 · on “Get started making music”
I think I've watched this video a ton of times: [this video] That guy is using Ableton Live to re-create a popular song of The Prodigy.
Recommends bigsassy · 2014-01 · on “How Daft Punk Created One of Their Most Famous Samples”
Here's a similar, but more in-depth, video on making "Smack my Bitch Up" from The Prodigy. My mind was blown when it shows how "Bulls on Parade" was sampled :D [this video]
Recommends klochner · 2014-01 · on “How Daft Punk Created One of Their Most Famous Samples”
A little older but similar idea (and fun to watch) - remaking of The Prodigy's "smack my bitch up": [this video]
Recommends xpl · 2024-08 · on “Judge dismisses majority of GitHub Copilot copyright claims”
There are legendary Prodigy tracks reconstructions by Jim Pavloff, see: 1. "Smack my bitch up" [this video] 2. "Voodoo people" [LINK] Those pieces sound exactly the same as the original, but it does not violate copyright because they've been produced by hand. Mind blowing!
Recommends dash2 · 2025-04 · on “Recreating Daft Punk's Something About Us”
Related: this recreation of Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up. I'm amazed at the level of musical knowledge needed to do this. [this video]
Cites szastupov · 2019-11 · on “Ableton Connection Kit (2016)”
Keep in mind that Lite version barely has any instruments so you'll have to either use 3rd-party plugins or rely on sampling. A few month ago I decided to start fresh and removed all pirated DAWs, plugins, purchased Lite version and started learning it in and out. I was surprised how far you can go with just sampling. It was so much fun discovering new sample packs, chopping and remixing songs, trying to make tonal instruments out of weird noises. I've also realized how many popular songs use sampling (for example [this video] ). So yeah, setting creative constraints is important ;) I'm at the point when I'm super at home using Ableton and ready to spend more money on Suit, but holding hopes for
Cites 0x0 · 2022-07 · on “Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” synth sounds”
Was this the breakdown you saw? "Making of "The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up" in Ableton by Jim Pavloff" [this video]