As the breadth and depth of original music continue to grow, songs that use samples are increasingly popular. Sampling, which involves using a portion of an existing song in a new track, often introduces new generations to types of music they would never typically have come across.
Some genres have embraced sampling more than others, of course. It tends to be genres with heavy electronica elements, such as EDM, and hip hop. On the other hand, it is rare for a rock song to sample another song.
What do You Need to Make a Sample?
Getting a sample itself can be relatively straight forward; it all depends on precisely what you need. If you want to make something using a section of a song wholesale, complete with any vocals and instrumentation, you can put that song in some audio software (Audacity is free) and snip out the bits you need.
If you need isolated parts of the song, such as the vocals or particular melody, things get a little trickier. “Acapella” versions of songs can sometimes be found on sites like YouTube, which are tracks that just include the vocals with no melody. Likewise, karaoke versions that have the music and no vocals are usually available for popular songs.
You can use YouTube to find what you need and then get the audio using a “YouTube to MP3” service such as y2mate.com. You should be aware of copyright if you intend to sell your music, however. Many music distributors have a mechanism for selling covers and sample songs legally. Things can get complicated if you use a sample from a karaoke version, as a third party usually makes them.
If you can, recreating the part you need yourself is also an option. It gives you far more control over how the sample sounds and eliminates the need to go hunting for the audio sample online.
Creating a Sample From an Existing Audio File
Once you have your audio file-be it a complete song, acapella version, or karaoke version-extracting the parts you need is relatively straight forward. As mentioned above, Ableton is a free audio editing application that allows you to cut out pieces of an audio file relatively easily.
There are even free online tools that allow you to drop in your audio and trim it right there in the browser; mp3cut is an excellent example of this. Searching for “free audio trimming tools” should turn up plenty of results, both on and offline. Once you’ve got your audio sample, you’re ready to drop it into your track. Always try to get the highest possible audio samples. The best option is usually .wav files, which are uncompressed and compatible with just about everything.
Creating a Sample Yourself
Creating a sample without using existing audio has a far higher barrier to entry. For one thing, you need to be able to perform the part you are sampling. Secondly, you will need the equipment to record it with.
On the first point, musical ability is a real roadblock. If you want to sample a vocal part and you can’t sing, consider asking a friend who can, or even hiring a singer. Don’t feel limited to accurately recreating the part you are sampling. If you can play the guitar and you want to sample a melody that was initially on the piano, you can always transcribe it to your instrument.
For recording, there are many free software options like Audacity. However, you will need equipment to record the sample, and that is where things can get expensive. Any computer microphone, be it a built-in one or a desk mic, should be considered a last resort. Look at cheap condenser microphones, and you’ll likely need an audio interface or preamp as well.
If you can afford a better microphone, it’s a worthy investment for a musician.
Software for Making Your Track
Finding the best software for music sampling doesn’t need to be expensive. For example, Ableton Live 10 Intro offers many of the features you need at a very affordable price, though it places limitations on things like how many tracks you can have.
FL Studio is very popular in the electronic music scene, and offers comparable pricing options to Ableton; however, the entry-level package does not allow audio files, which makes it all but useless for sampling.
Pro Tools is an industry-standard in DAWs, and as such, you can expect to pay a small fortune to buy their full package. However, they do offer both a subscription model and a free version, albeit one with far fewer features.
Audacity is great for a free application, but it is incredibly limited when compared to the other software we have mentioned.