The Art of Production: Sampling
The art of sampling has existed since the 1940’s and was popularized in the 1980’s by hip hop groups using sampling machines by Akai from the 70’s. Historically, hip hop producers have drawn from soul, jazz, and funk to gather melodies, drums breaks, and one shot percussive instrument sounds to rearrange them into their own song. In this tutorial, I will teach you the basics of sampling, where to look for samples, and how to use one legally.
First off, Take a look at some examples of top notch tracks with great Sampling
In my mind, there are three ways to go about sampling:
The Subtle Approach (Rihanna - Work)
Sampling “Sail Away (Riddim)“ by Richie Stephens and Mikey 2000, Rihanna’s “Work” is the perfect example of using just a hint of the sample (either in terms of length of time or how prevalent it is in the mix) to add to her song. The whole time, you can hear the percussion from “Sail Away” but don’t feel like it’s too much looping.
Looping (Future - Mask Off)
Metro Boomin, famous for his 808 drums, ambient dark sounds, and certified bangers, used Carlton Willams’ “Prison Song“ and looped the flute the whole time. In the intro, he briefly uses Gross Beat to half time the sample. This type of sampled beat works well with trap and boom bap and, if done well, can become a hit.
Complete Flip (Travis Scott - Antidote)
Travis Scott’s “Antidote” uses Lee Fields’ “All I Need“ perfectly, taking the melody to the next level using effects and completely changing the sound and feel of the original sample. WondaGurl and Eestbound killed it by using a perfect amount of effects to revitalize the sample and make it sound completely different than it originally was.
You may be asking “Where do I find samples?“. I can’t speak for everyone, but I know where I find mine.
Places such as Youtube playlists full of untouched old records pulled from Vinyl and music/vinyl collector forums are great places to start finding samples if you want to keep it purely digital. However, if you intend on embarking on a serious musical journey, head to your local records store and try and find some rare, unused, funk, soul, jazz, and whatever looks weird or catches your eye. Chances are that you have something nice to work with. For drum sounds and percussion, there is simply no place better for free than Reddit Drum Kits. Another place you could look is Loopmasters if you aren’t going for older sounding music to sample. If you record with vinyl, play your record through a turntable with a USB output and record it on your computer using the free audio software “Audacity”. From there, load your sample onto FL Studio 12, match the BPM of the project to the sample and begin cooking!
Here’s the thing: if you want to make money using music that you don’t own, it can get tricky.
I myself, who makes mashups on SoundCloud, have had my fair share of copyright strikes and almost got banned from every receiving money for my music again on SoundCloud because I didn’t understand this simple fact. Sampling without permission breaches the copyright of the owner of the original recording and can get you into legal trouble if money is made off of it. That said, it might be an ethical dilemma for some, but if you hide your tracks well enough and change the sample you used to the point where it can no longer be detected that you used it, it should be fine. To change it, consider chopping it up so that it isn’t a long continuous sample, altering the pitch, adjusting the BPM. If you really want to get creative, you can use a wide range of effects and plugins like Reverb, Delay Bank, and Gross Beat.