Sampling - using popular riffts or intros has been a thing that has been happening for many years now to great effect (Like it Or Not ), but do you see it as a good thing or a bad thing ?, are Bands or Musicians being 'Lazy' or just plain "Very Clever" at what they do and see a Hit record probably aimed at a specific Audience whilst being Fans them selves of the Music they Use. Hear is a Great Example, So Let's hear what YOU think! The 'intro' and that 'Sax Lick' will be instant to most of you. 

 

Great thread !

Ok, heres my two cents worth.

As a long term beatmaker and producer I sample from records constantly, its also very rare for me to go more than a couple of days without switching my equipment on and working on some music in some form or other.

I'll be heading into the studio after the weekend is over for example to put the finishing touches to a 25 minute long composition I've been working on almost every day for the last 4 months and I'm looking forward to hearing the finished results very much.

I'm a massive admirer of sample based music and there's some very creative people making some great music this way

There's also a lot of garbage being made too i'll be the first to admit.

The problem is that the majority of producers who make sample based recordings (both professional and amateur ones) is they are lazy when it comes to 'flipping' and manipulating the samples they use.

The fact is sampling, in its most basic of forms is pretty easy to adapt to in terms of it's simplicity and ease of use but the art of 'sample manipulation' is something only very few have truly mastered in my opinion.

Anyone can sample a four bar James Brown drum beat and loop it to eternity but not everyone can take those sounds and create a totally new groove with them which is where the true art form lies for myself personally. 

For a good comparison I like to think of how artists like Public Enemy or DJ Shadow's early output revolutionised Hip Hop with their ground breaking and unconventional approach to sampling and then look at someone like Fatboy Slim looping up a section of 'Sliced Tomatoes'  and adding literally nothing to the creative process whatsoever with the samples that they take. 

Daft Punk are another lazy act who spring to mind ..just go to the  Who Sampled.com website and listen to the artists who's work they've sampled ..I can remember hearing those original tracks and thinking, oh, they've not actually gone and done anything special here,which was a major disapointment to say the least.

The most important factor is the samples themselves and too many people just use the same dusty old school Soul and Funk samples over and over again that every other producer has used, things like  the 'Funky Drummer' and the Skull Snaps 'Its A New Day' break really have been totally  done to death and people really ought to be over that shit by now but yet again it seems to come down to laziness and an unwillingness to try and push the boundaries of the art form.  

I spend a lot of time digging and  like to look far and wide and use obscure stuff for my own sample sources because i'm also trying as a producer to develop a 'signature sound' which I think is massively important and not follow the herd of lo-fi beatmakers who have a tendency to sound very alike to one another which is why I don't use obvious loops myself and prefer to build my own custom loops from single 'one shots' and isolated instruments.

So yeah, I absolutely love sample based music but its also the same as every other musical genre where there's the really outstanding stuff and a heck of a lot of complete and utter dross also.

 

Edited March 31, 20187 yr by Soulsides

57 minutes ago, Soulsides said:

Great thread !

Ok, heres my two cents worth.

As a long term beatmaker and producer I sample from records constantly, its also very rare for me to go more than a couple of days without switching my equipment on and working on some music in some form or other.

I'll be heading into the studio after the weekend is over for example to put the finishing touches to a 25 minute long composition I've been working on almost every day for the last 4 months and I'm looking forward to hearing the finished results very much.

I'm a massive admirer of sample based music and there's some very creative people making some great music this way

There's also a lot of garbage being made too i'll be the first to admit.

The problem is that the majority of producers who make sample based recordings (both professional and amateur ones) is they are lazy when it comes to 'flipping' and manipulating the samples they use.

The fact is sampling, in its most basic of forms is pretty easy to adapt to in terms of it's simplicity and ease of use but the art of 'sample manipulation' is something only very few have truly mastered in my opinion.

Anyone can sample a four bar James Brown drum beat and loop it to eternity but not everyone can take those sounds and create a totally new groove with them which is where the true art form lies for myself personally. 

For a good comparison I like to think of how artists like Public Enemy or DJ Shadow's early output revolutionised Hip Hop with their ground breaking and unconventional approach to sampling and then look at someone like Fatboy Slim looping up a section of 'Sliced Tomatoes'  and adding literally nothing to the creative process whatsoever with the samples that they take. 

Daft Punk are another lazy act who spring to mind ..just go to the  Who Sampled.com website and listen to the artists who's work they've sampled ..I can remember hearing those original tracks and thinking, oh, they've not actually gone and done anything special here,which was a major disapointment to say the least.

The most important factor is the samples themselves and too many people just use the same dusty old school Soul and Funk samples over and over again that every other producer has used, things like  the 'Funky Drummer' and the Skull Snaps 'Its A New Day' break really have been totally  done to death and people really ought to be over that shit by now but yet again it seems to come down to laziness and an unwillingness to try and push the boundaries of the art form.  

I spend a lot of time digging and  like to look far and wide and use obscure stuff for my own sample sources because i'm also trying as a producer to develop a 'signature sound' which I think is massively important and not follow the herd of lo-fi beatmakers who have a tendency to sound very alike to one another which is why I don't use obvious loops myself and prefer to build my own custom loops from single one shots and isolated instruments.

So yeah, I absolutely love sample based music but its also the same as every other musical genre where there's the really outstanding stuff and a heck of a lot of complete and utter dross also.

 

That's a Nice Read and a very interesting one, very enjoyable take on what musicians producers and writers are doing from their studio or Bed Room or where ever it may be from or created, Thank you for that insight and opinions on this thread  

My pleasure,Rick !

Hehe ..I don't need much encouraging to be drawn into a conversation regarding sampling to be honest, it's been a long time fixture in the type of music I like to both make and listen to.

I do play several other musical instruments too but my samplers to me are as equally important if not more so than (my for want of a better word) 'real' instruments

Here's a great example of how a sampler can be used to it's true creative potential in my opinion.

This track was made with just an Akai MPC 60 sampler an eight channel multitrack recorder and a handfull of processing effects.

The chopped up drums were made from the intro. drumbreak to Frankie Seay And The Soul Riders 'Soul Food' track.

 

 

 

Another one by The Cinematic Orchestra, a band of live Jazz musicians who sample themselves during performances and then chop,rearrange and replay the edited samples to use as the building blocks of their tracks.

Also, a collaboration by The Cinematic Orchestra with Fontella Bass whichi I really liked.

 

How the sampler should be used in Hip Hop by the greatest Hip Hop artists of all time in my humble estimation.

This was the group that made me aware of how the sampler really could be used in the studio to create something new and spectacular..the Mandrill track 'Two Sisters Of Mystery' is used to great effect in this.

 

Edited March 31, 20187 yr by Soulsides