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Making of "The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up" in Ableton by Jim Pavloff

Jim Pavloff · tutorial · Watch on YouTube

Music theory, synthesis & production

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.

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.

  • 5 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “I think I've watched this video a ton of times”

    Recreating a Prodigy song in Ableton Live

    guruz, 2017-05 · Strong recommendation · in “Get started making music”

  2. “My mind was blown when it shows how "Bulls on Parade" was sampled”

    In-depth remake of Smack My Bitch Up showing its samples

    bigsassy, 2014-01 · Recommendation · in “How Daft Punk Created One of Their Most Famous Samples”

  3. “(and fun to watch)”

    Fun remake of a Prodigy track

    klochner, 2014-01 · Recommendation · in “How Daft Punk Created One of Their Most Famous Samples”

  4. “There are legendary Prodigy tracks reconstructions by Jim Pavloff”

    Hand-made reconstructions of Prodigy tracks that sound identical

    xpl, 2024-08 · Recommendation · in “Judge dismisses majority of GitHub Copilot copyright claims”

  5. “I'm amazed at the level of musical knowledge needed to do this.”

    Recreation of a Prodigy track in Ableton showing deep musical knowledge

    dash2, 2025-04 · Recommendation · in “Recreating Daft Punk's Something About Us”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: ableton, sampling, the prodigy, remake, electronic music

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