Music Sampling 101

Sampling in music is a powerful art form that has played a crucial role in shaping various genres and evolving the musical landscape. From hip-hop to electronic music, sampling allows artists to pay homage to those that came before them, create entirely new sounds, and connect different musical eras. 

Our music team listens to hundreds of songs a week, so their ears twitch when they hear a sample done right. 

Let’s look at the history of sampling, some techniques used, and of course, some of our favourite samples. 

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The history of sampling

Sampling, the practice of reusing a portion of a sound recording in another recording, dates back to the mid-20th century. The concept gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s with the advent of musique concrète, a form of experimental music that used recorded sounds as raw material. However, it wasn't until the 1980s that sampling became mainstream, largely due to the rise of hip-hop.

Pioneers like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa began using turntables to loop breakbeats from funk and soul records, creating the backbone for many hip-hop tracks. The introduction of affordable samplers, such as the Akai MPC series, revolutionised the process, allowing producers to manipulate and layer samples with unprecedented ease.

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Techniques and tools

Wondering how sampling takes place? It can involve various techniques:

1. Looping: Repeating a section of a song to create a continuous background or rhythm. This technique is fundamental in genres like hip-hop and electronic music.
2. Chopping: Dividing a sample into smaller segments and rearranging them to create new patterns. This allows for greater creativity and innovation.
3. Pitch Shifting: Changing the pitch of a sample to match the key of the new composition. This can completely transform the original sound.
4. Time Stretching: Altering the speed of a sample without changing its pitch. This is useful for fitting samples into different tempos.
5. Layering: Combining multiple samples to create a rich, textured sound. This technique is widely used in genres like EDM and ambient music.

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Our favourite samples

We tasked our Music Consultant, Magnus, to pick his top 5 favourite music sample examples of all time. It was a tough job, but these were the finalists and why he loves them: 

Todd Edwards - Wishing I Were Home

What a vision - Todd Edwards stood there in his ‘Jesus Loves UK Garage’ T-shirt, dropping possibly the most stunning example of sampling found on any dance track ever. Say no more (I mean, just look at the crowd). 

Song sampled: Carpenters, Maybe It’s You

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A Tribe Called Quest - The Love

This is a wonderfully textured string section sample with so much harmonic flavour. Smoky, slightly melancholic and rich - it lends itself to so much creativity. 

‍Song sampled: Freddie Hubbard - Little Sunflower

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MF Doom - Rapp Snitch Knishes

The beauty of this sample is that it’s from some seemingly random 1977 cover of David Bowie’s Space Oddity. It makes you think - how did MF Doom find it?! With the right artistic vision and production techniques, essentially any track can be re-packaged in wonderful ways.

Song sampled: David Matthews - Space Oddity

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J Dilla - In Space

Where to even start with this sample? If you listen closely, you’ll hear the key-like synthesiser line and fragments of the guitar from the original track coupled with J Dilla’s own machine to create a totally hypnotic 6 bar loop that draws you in like no other.

‍Song sampled: Perigeo - Via Beato Angelico

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Shadez of Brooklyn - Change

This track has one 5 chord snippet from a structurally fragmented jazz record, turned into one of the most reflective and meditative hip hop beats of all time. Wonderful production.

Song sampled: Ahmad Jamal - The Awakening

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Ethical and Legal Considerations

While sampling is a creative and transformative practice, it comes with ethical and legal challenges. Artists must navigate copyright laws, which require them to obtain permission and potentially pay royalties to the original creators. Failure to do so can result in legal disputes, as seen in high-profile cases like the lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over "Blurred Lines." 

We looked at some of the biggest copyright legal battles in recent years. 

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What’s to come, for music sampling?

As technology advances, the possibilities for sampling continue to expand. It’s very exciting. 

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are beginning to play a role, enabling more sophisticated manipulation of samples and even generating entirely new sounds. 

Despite its challenges, sampling remains a vital and dynamic aspect of music production. It bridges the past and present, allowing artists to honour their influences while pushing the boundaries of creativity. As long as there are sounds to be discovered and stories to be told, sampling will continue to shape the future of music.