Otherwise, get ready to chop, automate volumes, and much more to get rid of vocal blips or some random drum break. You've managed to get by on easy street this time. If you find the perfect section of a song to sample that doesn't have overlapping vocals or other instruments joining the orchestration, then consider yourself blessed.
So how do we work with these sections with or without vocals? Create the Loops: How to Chop Samples If you can't find that but are determined to use the specific song, then you'll have to take various pieces and chop them together to create a smooth transition and loop. If you don't want a sampled segment that features vocals, you'll have to hunt for the perfect portion to loop. If you do, remember that as you match the tempo's the voices and instruments will be pitch shifted up to sound like a chipmunk or down to sound kind of demonic. The last consideration is whether or not you want vocals to appear over the sampled segment of your instrumental. Taking notes over the years passively as you enjoy music will speed up the process of finding the right sample when it comes time to make a beat. I've seen them organized by genre and even by emotion.
There are producers that I know that have entire notebooks full of various songs by artists, noting which album they are from and the time stamps of the portions they want to sample. Keeping finance and legality out of the picture, you need to know the kind of song you're wanting to produce and the emotions you want to provoke in the listener. While diverting into that discussion is beyond the scope of this article, we'll be returning to it in a future column post. The first and most important set of questions to ask after you find a potential sample is.Ĭan I clear the rights to use the sample? Is it public domain? If not, what will it cost me? Can I afford it? So know what you want first, and then set out to find the best option. The reality is there are literally millions of songs to sample and they could all be hits. Without an end destination, you're going to get lost in the ocean of possibilities. If you don't have an idea in mind before you start, go back to the drawing board. Perseverance is the final quality you'll need. But that doesn't mean you'll be nailing it right off the bat. Lastly, and not remotely the least, is that you'll need to have the technical ability to rip the track, cut the sample, pitch shift it, modulate the volumes and tempos, loop it, hack it, and so much more.īy the end of this article, you'll have all of the information you need to get it done.
You'll need to be listening to a lot of music from a lot of genres.īeyond that, you've got to have the vision and creativity to recognize a hot sampling opportunity when you hear it. You've got dudes like Necro sampling classical music and old spaghetti westerns and 1950's horror flicks. Guys like Timbaland are sampling Indian music. So many producers are using the most insane samples and pumping out hits with them. Beyond that, you need to have a passion for all types of music. You need to first and foremost be patient, because choosing the right sample and then pulling it out of the original recording takes time and effort. That's who you want to be.īut I hope you have several qualities to yourself before you try to learn how to sample. They made their name as sample based producers and are now either at the top of the rap game, becoming actors while doing soundtracks for movies, and being tapped for the biggest records by all of the stars. Look at guys like Kanye West, the RZA, the Alchemist, Just Blaze, and on and on. When done right, you can even make a name for yourself.
There's nothing like hearing a track with the perfect set of samples looped in. The truth is that there's a very meticulous process to successfully pull it off like the East Coast and Midwest producers do, and that's what we're going to talk about… They want you to believe that sampling is an easy shortcut, that it bypasses needing to know music theory, creating your own sounds, etc. This is why producers who want to be purists and not use them at all will turn around and talk smack about a producer who does prefer to and knows how to sample. Sampling is funny business, because doing it right is no easy task.