The Art of Sampling

In music, every new technology is met with a mix of excitement and apprehension. Classical composer Johannes Brahms refused to use the metronome in any capacity, and when synthesizers became popular, it wasn’t unusual to hear “traditional” musicians calling it the end of music creativity.

Today, we have AI music, which seems to be taking more of that artistry away from us, the makers. Yet, whenever a new technology arises, there’s always an opportunity for those who decide to fully embrace it. That was the case with all previous technological innovations, and especially when sampling revolutionized the way music was made in the 20^th century.

Music sampling is when you take a piece of music from one recording and use it to make something new. You’ve probably heard samples being used in music countless times: in hip-hop, electronic music, and pop. Legendary artists like Fatboy Slim, DJ Shadow, and The Prodigy literally built their careers on mastering the art of sampling.

Sampling was the first area where creativity, technology, ownership of art, and laws clashed, and when you think about it, the current discussions about AI in music are not that different from those that arose when sampling first became popular.

Learning from the past is the best way to learn how to embrace the future. So let's shine a light on the cultural impact sampling has had in music making, and get ready for a new age of creativity and responsibility that the early pioneers of sampling faced in the 20th century.

The Evolution of Sampling Technology

Music sampling started in the 1940s, with composers working in the field of experimental music called Musique Concrète.

This was an experimental way of making music that used everyday sounds recorded on tape. While you may be familiar with experimental music “superstars” like John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, French composer Pierre Schaeffer was the first to play around with recordings using tape loops and editing techniques to create new and unusual sounds.

In the 1950s the Mellotron was invented; an early keyboard instrument that played back recorded loops of orchestral sounds, which gave musicians the opportunity to imitate the sounds of instruments like strings and brass without needing to record them live.

At first, the Mellotron was outrageously expensive, but by the 1960s it was affordable enough for artists to incorporate it into their music. The Beatles famously used a Mellotron in their 1967 song "Strawberry Fields Forever."

Then, in 1979, the Fairlight CMI was released. It was one of the first digital sampling synthesizers, and it allowed musicians to record sound samples digitally and work with them through an interface that worked with a light pen and a screen.

The Fairlight could accurately recreate real sounds like strings, pianos, and horns and let artists manipulate those sounds. Musicians like Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, and Prince were among the first to use it. Needless to say, it was a game-changer.

Hip Hop

Sampling became a key part of hip-hop culture in the late 1970s and early 1980s. DJs like Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash started using turntables to play loops from funk and soul songs, creating a new sound for MCs and breakdancers.

In the early 1980s, drum machines like the Akai MPC and E-mu SP-1200 made sampling even easier. Simple but extremely effective, these machines allowed producers to take short pieces of music, arrange them into new beats and layer different sounds. Most of all, they were affordable and easy to get!

As technology relentlessly improved, producers began to cut samples into smaller pieces and rearrange them to create entirely new songs. From DJ Premier's clever chopping and looping that defined the New York hip-hop style, to Public Enemy’s "Fight the Power", artists started creating rich sounds by sampling countless sources.

The legendary J Dilla deserves a special mention. He was truly ahead of his time, and what a loss it was to lose him in 2006, aged 32. His album "Donuts" shows J Dilla could uniquely blend different musical elements into one cohesive work.

He was the Jimi Hendrix of sampling, if you ask me.

The Problem with Copyright

You need to be careful about where you get samples and how you use them; when you use parts of other songs without permission, you may be breaking copyright laws.

An easy way to avoid this issue is by relying on trusted sources, like Sample Focus. SF offers thousands of samples, free to use for any kind of purpose, carefully cataloged, and ready to be uploaded to your DAW.

But if you want to use a sample from a famous song, you need to get approval from whoever owns the original recording and composition. This usually means paying a fee upfront and sometimes agreeing to share royalties.

As a whole, this process is called "sample clearance," which involves finding out who owns the rights (usually the record label, the songwriter, or both) and then getting permission. That usually means signing a licensing deal and agreeing to certain terms, like how much of the song they can use and how profits will be shared.

But it’s not enough to just get a license: you also have to follow the rules set out in that agreement by the right owners, as The Verve learned when they released their hit “Bitter Sweet Symphony.”

The 1997 song sampled an orchestral version of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.” The Verve had permission to use the sample, but only a small part of it. When the song came out, it was clear that the sample played a much bigger role than allowed. The Rolling Stones’ label, ABKCO Music, said this broke the agreement and took the case to court.

The court sided with ABKCO. As a result, all rights and earnings from the song were given to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, leaving The Verve with no rights to one of their biggest hits. Not fun.

Luckily, today things are a bit easier thanks to sample clearance services and online platforms that help artists license samples legally. Still, if you want to use hits for your samples, the process can be complicated, time-consuming, and expensive.

Sampling Today….

Today, sampling music is easier and more varied than ever, mainly because there are many online libraries that offer free samples! This makes it possible for even beginner musicians to use them.

Sampling is still very popular in music styles like hip-hop, electronic music, and pop. Big artists like Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake often use samples in their songs and sometimes change them so much that you barely recognize them. In electronic music, artists like Burial and Four Tet use a mix of vocal and instrumental samples to create rich sounds. The list is endless.

Thanks to digital audio workstations, modern sampling offers way more than just repeating a beat or melody. Musicians can now change the pitch and speed of samples to make something completely new. Producers like Flume and The Chainsmokers offer great examples of how sampling is evolving, and so are the works of pop stars like Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Ariana Grande, who use timeless melodies to create nostalgic and catchy hits. 

….And Sampling Tomorrow

AI-generated music is starting to change how we think about sampling. When a piece of music is created by AI, it's not clear who actually owns the rights to it, and copyright laws haven’t fully caught up yet, which creates a legal gray area.

At the same time, AI is opening up new ways to create and manage samples. Some tools can now help with the copyright clearance process, including negotiating with rights holders, a task that has traditionally been one of the most time-consuming parts of using samples legally.

As this technology improves, it’s easy to imagine a future where producers are constantly reinterpreting and reshaping tracks to fit new trends. In this context, having a reliable source of samples is the best way to optimize and speed up your creative workflow.

If you're looking for well-organized, ready-to-use samples across all genres, Sample Focus is a great place to start. Our community-driven library offers an endless source of inspiration to enhance your workflow, whether you're producing hip-hop, electronic music, film scores, or anything in between.

Happy sampling!