AMEN INITIAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

I have been researching the Amen Brother idea and fleshing out some research into the topic. One slight disappointment was that whilst I hoped that the idea for an installation piece on the "Amen Break" would be an original idea it had been done already. When I first discovered the clip below on youtube I assumed it was an audio documentary of the Amen Break.



However upon further investigation I realised it was an actual audio gallery installation entitled "Can I get an Amen" by Nate Harrison. The installation was an 18 minute recording put onto a record documenting the Amen Break that was situated in a gallery for an audience to listen to. The other aspect of the documentary was some wall mounted paper documents dealing with the copyright issues of the break. The audio "documentary/installation traces the drum solo from the original Winstons track to the key ingredient in "contemporary free expression" attempting to "bring into scrutiny the techno-utopian notion that "information wants to be free" - it questions it's effectiveness as a democratizing agent." It also examines the breaks awkward relationship with copyright law. The audio deals with key tracks that utilized the break as well as its use in the creation of the drum and bass musical genre. Ending on its move into and mainstream culture in adverts and title music.

Below is a BBC radio documentary about the Amen Break. This is another excellent source but perhaps a little more lowbrow and less academic than the Nate Harrison version above. It is quite populist and does focus more on the Drum and Bass and Hip Hop elements and less on the other uses in Pop, Rock and Soul genres though. It did not tell me too much that i did not know but is useful for filling in a few blanks and is great at suggesting tracks that have used it in the drum and bass field.


A revelation was the "Who Sampled" app which I will need to get. This app lets you choose a record and to see who sampled it which is obviously a real boon. This still means a lot of research and listening but it is great for enlightening me as to who had sampled it. It also seems to not only tell you who sampled the break, but links to sound of the usage and provides a time for when it appears in the track.

Another useful clip is the one below. It gives another five uses of the Amen Brother drum break but also it is mixed so badly it shows me a what not to do and that more finesses will be needed in my piece. The crashing edits stop the flow of the break one blending into the next and the pauses put the breaks on any possible recognition as one moves on to the next.


From this research I have been planning the way forward for my Amen Brother piece.

• 2300 songs would be great but may do a smaller sample. 1% Amen featuring 23 songs OR even 10% Amen featuring 230 songs. Could obviously be other derivations too 2% etc.
• There are lots of songs that have sampled it BUT a lot are derivatives of the drum and bass genre of music and very similar.
• Smooth transitions from one piece of music to the next. 
• Possibly building tempo of the tracks slow to faster during the piece. OR complete contrast throughout to show the variety of the music that has sampled the beak.
• Could the piece be an audio installation?
• Visually none of these are interesting and this is something I really must develop if I want to do a video installation.