The Most Overused Samples (And What to Do Instead)

Every producer knows that moment when you hear your beat on someone else's track. Not because they stole it, but because you both used the same sample.

That crisp snare, that moody vocal chop, that perfect bass loop – turns out it was more popular than you realized.

Great samples get used a lot – there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.

However, when everyone's working from similar sources, the results begin to blend together. 

Some samples have been so thoroughly used that they've become musical shorthand, like the Amen Break – that six-second drum solo from The Winstons – which has formed the basis of entire genres and subgenres. Others like James Brown's "Funky Drummer" are instantly recognizable. 

This article doesn't just warn you to avoid popular samples. Sometimes they're exactly what your track needs.

But if you want something that stands out, look beyond the obvious choices.

The Most Sampled Songs Hall of Fame

Some samples have been worked so hard they've become part of modern music's DNA across virtually every genre. 

Among the most popular samples ever, the Amen Break from The Winstons' "Amen, Brother" has powered everything from NWA to Prodigy to countless electronic tracks.

It's probably the most recognizable drum pattern in music history. It practically spawned jungle music, and in turn, drum n' bass, which still heavily leans on amens today.

James Brown's "Funky Drummer" has similarly been sampled over a thousand times across hip-hop, house, and rock productions.

Producers are still reaching for these classics. Metro Boomin's "Like That" pulls from "Everlasting Bass" by Rodney O & Joe Cooley, a track that's been flipped since the late '80s. Rodney O actually sued them for it.  

Besides those, some of the most sampled tracks include:

• Lyn Collins' "Think (About It)" – That vocal sample everyone recognizes.
• The Honeydrippers' "Impeach the President" – The snare that appears everywhere.
• Apache by Incredible Bongo Band – Sampled across countless hip-hop and breakbeat tracks.

These samples work because they capture an infectious groove or memorable melodic content. Plus, they can't be recreated. They're truly one-of-a-kind, frozen in time, and instantly recognizable.

They come from a time when production was about surfacing incredible samples that nobody else had found. Sampling then was an art unto itself (check out our article on the art of sampling here).

Producers were looking everywhere – weird Japanese pop records, classical compositions, children's television soundtracks, library music, international folk recordings. Nothing was off limits.

The Bomb Squad was pulling from metal and noise records for Public Enemy's revolutionary sound. Prince Paul, working with De La Soul and Stetsasonic, was digging through comedy albums and cartoon soundtracks. 

We may have lost the art of sampling, a practice that has taken on new dimensions with the advent of the "sample pack."

Now, sample packs can trend on well-known marketplaces, spreading quickly across multiple tracks. That atmospheric pad or drum sequence that’s hot and on sale right now might be incorporated in dozens of beats within weeks.

Major platforms heavily promote trending packs, presenting the same content to millions of users. That’s not ideal for anyone looking to create non-derivative, non-cookie-cutter music. 

So, how do you surprise people when building tracks with samples?

The User-Generated Sampling Renaissance

A sampling renaissance is taking place through user-generated content. 

Instead of relying on sample packs promoted by major platforms, you can now access sounds created by individual producers worldwide who are sharing their work with the community.

Someone might upload a guitar loop they recorded in their living room, or field recordings from their neighborhood, or weird textures they created using unconventional methods.

These sounds exist nowhere else because they were made specifically by that person, often just for the sake of creating something new.

It's an ecosystem where creators share their work with creators for the sake of it – for the principle of helping each other out. People upload sounds because they know other producers need material, and they've been in that same spot of searching for something that doesn't exist yet.

The advantages of UGC sampling are multi-faceted:

• Made by real producers – Everyone from bedroom experimenters to professional sound designers.
• Weird and wonderful – Sounds that would never make it into commercial packs but can add awesome originality to your productions.
• Royalty free – No royalties or attribution to worry about.
• Constantly evolving – New uploads every day from creators worldwide.
• No algorithm pressure – Sounds shared because creators wanted to, not because they tested well.
• Equipment diversity – From phone recordings to high-end studio captures.
• Cultural variety – Musical influences from every corner of the planet.
• Professional quality – Many contributors are working producers sharing their best work.

Platforms like Sample Focus work on this principle – providing access to user-generated content rather than pushing the same trending packs that everyone else is downloading. 

This recreates some of what made traditional crate digging special: the thrill of discovering something nobody else has, the satisfaction of finding the perfect sound for your track, and the creative challenge of making unexpected elements work together.

And don’t forget all Sample Focus samples are 100% royalty-free with no attribution required!

A Guide to Modern Crate Digging

The internet offers music in more forms than we can even imagine, but knowing where to look is key – and you need to understand what you can use fairly.

Like old-school crate digging, the best finds often come from sources that weren't made for sampling. Think educational films, foreign TV shows, and archival recordings. These are the kinds of sources that dominated the crate-digging era. 

Here are a few ideas of where to start:

• Random discovery tools – Sites like SampleRoulette generate random YouTube videos from curated collections. Hit a button and get served obscure vinyl rips and rare recordings you'd never find searching normally.
• Archive sites and databases – Archive.org has full movies and documentaries with original soundtracks you can stream. NASA and BBC have released huge collections of field recordings for free download.
• Reddit communities – Subreddits like r/vintageobscura and sample-sharing groups where producers post rare finds.
• International radio stations – Radio Garden lets you tune into live stations worldwide. Late-night shows and specialty programs from different countries play music you'll never hear elsewhere.
• Specialized YouTube channels – Channels dedicated to uploading rare vinyl rips, library music, and forgotten recordings. Search terms like "library music," "production music," or specific decades can help you find curator channels, some of which might be years old.

In virtually all cases, being specific with searches helps. Instead of "jazz," try "Japanese fusion 1970s" or "Italian library music." 

Understanding Sample Clearance and Fair Use

If you plan to release music commercially, you often need two separate clearances:

• One from the copyright owner of the song (usually the music publisher), and
• Another from the copyright owner of the master recording (usually the record company). 

Fair use is more limited than most producers think. There's no rule saying it's fine if you use "less than two seconds." Fair use allows copying for limited purposes, such as education, criticism, or parody. However, it generally doesn't apply to most music sampling.

Copyright doesn't last forever, though. In the US, recordings made before 1923 are in the public domain and free to sample. For more recent music, it's complicated – generally, recordings enter the public domain 95 years after publication, but the rules have changed several times. 

The key factors courts consider for fair use include the extent of your use, whether you transformed the material, and whether you caused financial harm to the original owner.

If you're just making beats for practice or playing for friends, you likely don't need to worry about copyright litigation. But when you want to release tracks and make money, don't be surprised if you're de-platformed.

Of course, the more obscure the samples, the less likely it is that you’ll have issues.

But take zero chances – copyright issues are more common than many assume!

Making Samples Your Own

Finding samples is one thing, but making them work in your music is another.

While samples are often used verbatim without changes, it’s certainly more typical (and safer) to process them. That way, you'll really embed them into your track and place your stamp on them.

Here's what to consider when processing samples:

• Pitch changes affect more than just the key. Shift something down and it sounds darker, shift it up and it becomes more urgent. Extreme changes can turn recognizable sounds into something completely different.
• Time stretching lets you fit samples into different tempos. Push it too far and you get interesting artifacts that might work better than the clean version.
• Effects: Altering samples with FX, from reverb to distortion to delay and more advanced chained FX.
• Layering: Layer your samples with other sounds and textures to change their timbre and tone.
• Creative chopping finds new rhythms in existing material. Try cutting your samples in unusual places or isolating small pieces rather than using obvious loops. Linkin Park’s “Faint,” which samples the James Bond film “From Russia With Love,” is an amazing example of this. 

The main idea is to make samples serve your music rather than the other way around.

When you combine processing with original elements, you get something that can't be replicated just by downloading the same source.

Sampling In The Future

Sampling culture started with producers spending entire weekends in record stores, hunting through dusty crates for that one perfect break nobody else had found. 

They'd come home with stacks of vinyl, most of it terrible, but occasionally they'd strike gold – a drum pattern or bass line that would become the foundation of something completely fresh.

That hunt never really ended; it just primarily moved online.

Now you have producers delving into rabbit holes of forgotten library music and obscure international releases.

And the thrill is the same – finding something amazing that nobody else knows about.

User-generated platforms like Sample Focus have added a new layer to this. Instead of just discovering old music, you're accessing sounds published by creators who share their work with other creators. 

All you need to do is start digging to uncover your next hidden sample gems!