Using Samples

G

greenflydnb

Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Alright guys,

Basically me and my mate were having a bit of an argument yesterday about samples.

If i have a sample pack and use a sample straight out of there, cut it up a tiny bit (I mean tiny) and put it into a track as the main lead part without any inserts or anything, is that cool?

Sound
 
by cool you mean legal?
If the sample pack says they are royalty free samples and that you can use them in your own productions then yes they are legal (cool)

Or if you mean is it cool to use samples?
yes it is.
Or no it isnt depending on how much of a purist (douche) you are
im joking - lot of respect for people that look down on all sampling as a form of satanic worship or something.
 
Yeh man, 'legal'. It was from the Danny Byrd sample pack. I just wouldn't want people to be like "oh you got that from the Danny Byrd" sample pack lol, not about that.

Yeh tis definitely cool to use samples, just i reckon you should change them to make them your own, not just chuck them in your track as the main part lol.
 
Oh i see what you mean.
Er - its all down to taste really aint it?
do you care if people recognise the snare?
yes - then change it.
no - screw it leave it.
 
The way I see it, if you can use certain samples to enhance your tune, why not?
Just a bit lame to make it the main chunk of your track because frankly, what's so original about it then if you go that way?

But that's my viewpoint of it of course.
 
I wouldn't mind so much if its the snare, i only use drum samples for drums anyways, guess everyone does, but i reckon the main BL should always be your own, otherwise people will just automatically think the track is shit if people recognise the sample (if used for main BL), imo anyways.

MisterApe said:
The way I see it, if you can use certain samples to enhance your tune, why not?
Just a bit lame to make it the main chunk of your track because frankly, what's so original about it then if you go that way?

But that's my viewpoint of it of course.
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Yup totally agree mate, all about originality, pretty sure my tracks are different lol, dunno if in a good way or not.
 
yeah they're totally fine man

...but for me personally, i wouldn't like to leave a raw sample in that someone could recognise from a sample pack.

there have been occasions when I've heard a signed and released dnb/dubstep tune that has a virtually unprocessed sample that came free as a loopmasters demo. wouldnt wanna have that in one of my tunes
 
neddez said:
yeah they're totally fine man

...but for me personally, i wouldn't like to leave a raw sample in that someone could recognise from a sample pack.

there have been occasions when I've heard a signed and released dnb/dubstep tune that has a virtually unprocessed sample that came free as a loopmasters demo. wouldnt wanna have that in one of my tunes
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Yeh agreed, surely there won't be anyone that's like "omg dude, I totally love this track because I recognise that noise from a sample pack that everyone else has and they haven't put their own twist on it at all" lol.
 
a kick or a snare is just fine but like that dude from swedish dj mafia steve dorkface whatever sven speng something he got the whole hook for his track from a vengance pack and that was an international hit. which sucks and he sucks but they are the ultimate example of people using samplepacks, they have no shame whatsoever, just click a few loops together, model it on some other famous track and there is your product, and they are stars because of it. so does it matter? not really, no. its a question of artistry. but when you get down to it, a snare or a kick is one thing, isnt it, a whole pad loop from danny byrd is not cool, or a key sequence from ez rollers, you couldnt use that and be all like check out my tune im so cool with a clean conscience could you. you could. but you shouldnt, i think is my point. not sure i have a point tbf.
 
logikz said:
a kick or a snare is just fine but like that dude from swedish dj mafia steve dorkface whatever sven speng something he got the whole hook for his track from a vengance pack and that was an international hit. which sucks and he sucks but they are the ultimate example of people using samplepacks, they have no shame whatsoever, just click a few loops together, model it on some other famous track and there is your product, and they are stars because of it. so does it matter? not really, no. its a question of artistry. but when you get down to it, a snare or a kick is one thing, isnt it, a whole pad loop from danny byrd is not cool, or a key sequence from ez rollers, you couldnt use that and be all like check out my tune im so cool with a clean conscience could you. you could. but you shouldnt, i think is my point. not sure i have a point tbf.
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What the f***, that kinda stuff really annoys me man, I believe making music is all about being creative and having your own twist on it. But I do now agree with using samples, but processing them, best I can anyways, putting them into the piano roll and playing about with them cutting it up, putting effects on it, that's cool I reckon but not just banging it straight in, how can they get famous by doing that, dumb shit man.
 
never use bass samples if i cant make it myself itll be my mission to try
usually end up with something similar or better.lol
instrument samples i dont mind like guitars strings etc
but i tend to do my own strings guitars are a bit harder to get it sounding natural

but thats just me
really not bothered if other people do it if it works and it sounds good why not if thats the way u wanna make tunes
 
You'd be surprised at how many MASSIVE DNB tunes of late have had samples more or less straight lifted out of vengeance (amongst others) sample packs, with little more processing than a bit of EQ maybe. Talking about atmos, stabs, bass edits etc etc etc. Blatant parts that are easily noticeable. Also the risers fx and all that. Probably why so many tune's are 'samey' sounding as they're using the same sample source.

You'd be kidding yourself to think it doesn't go on, and that it makes you any less of a producer. If you want to spend time making everything yourself, that's fine. But if you find a sample you like and it fits and you hardly have to do anything to it - who cares?

Horses for courses.
 
yea ive used atmos bits from vengeance packs thru whole tunes but i usually play them backwards.lol
 
I remember this debate from a couple months back. I'm of the opinion that a quality sample pack can provide inspiration for a tune and can possibly provide a sound that you were looking for. To add, there are always a million different ways to manipulate a sample, so adding your own genius to it can help "make it your own."

At the same time, however, I tend to turn my nose down a bit when I hear tracks that I can tell immediately were created from a "construction kit" sample pack where the user simply followed the reference song to the beat and placed all of the samples accordingly. Now I won't go so far as to say it's "cheating" because it still takes a bit of EQ and general production know-how to get all the sounds to fit nicely. However, you're really robbing yourself of production experience when your entire track was essentially laid out for you from its inception, and you haven't bothered to do anything special to it.

To sum, I'm of the opinion that samples can help fuel the creative process and can aid in the creation of tracks. However, if your entire tune consists of nothing but samples that you haven't bothered to edit/mangle/chop/etc. in some fashion, you're never going to learn anything.

Cheers.
 
greenflydnb said:
..I believe making music is all about being creative and having your own twist..
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I believe there's a big difference between what music is all about to the people who make it and the people who just want to jump up and down..

Swedish House Mafia will have their five minutes, their fame and fortune, their bottles of Kristal stuck up a stripper's arse and they will fade away and disappear into the collective nonconcious.

Use samples if they get you where you need to go, I've switched computers and haven't been bothered getting my libraries transferred, it gave me some space to focus on meddling with oscillators and shit instead, it was refreshing but a bit cumbersome, you know, life is like a retard with an iPhone; you get apps and downs...
 
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