DJ Premier selecting records to sample

In music, sampling is the reuse of a portion or sample of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise rhythm, melody, speech, or other sounds. They are usually integrated using digital hardware (samplers) or software such as digital audio workstations.

A process similar to sampling originated in the 1940s with musique concrète, experimental music created by splicing, manipulating and looping tape. The term sampling was coined by in the late 1970s by the creators of the Fairlight CMI, an influential early sampler that became a staple of 1980s pop music. The 1988 release of the first Akai MPC, an affordable sampler with an intuitive interface, made sampling accessible to a wider audience and had a major influence on the development of electronic and hip hop music.

Sampling is a foundation of hip hop music, with producers sampling funk and soul records, particularly drum breaks, which could then be rapped over. Musicians have created albums assembled entirely from samples, such as DJ Shadow's 1996 album Endtroducing. The practice has influenced all genres of music and is particularly important to electronic music, hip hop and pop.

Sampling without permission can infringe copyright. The process of acquiring permission for a sample is known as clearance, which can be a complex and costly process. Landmark legal cases, such as Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc in 1991, changed how samples are used. As the court ruled that unlicensed sampling constitutes copyright infringement, samples from well known sources are now often prohibitively expensive.

Precursors[edit]

In the 1940s, Pierre Schaeffer developed musique concrète, an experimental form of music created by recording sounds to tape, splicing them, and manipulating them to create sound collages. He created pieces using recordings of sounds including the human body, locomotives, and kitchen utensils.^[1] The method also involved the creation of tape loops, splicing lengths of tape end to end, by which a sound could be played indefinitely.^[1] Schaeffer developed a tape recorder, the Phonogene, which played loops at twelve different pitches triggered by a keyboard.^[1]

Composers including John Cage, Edgar Varèse, Karheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis experimented with musique concrète,^[1] and Bebe and Louis Barron used it to create the first totally electronic film soundtrack, for the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet. It was brought to a mainstream audience by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which used these early sampling techniques to produce soundtracks for shows including Doctor Who.^[1]

In the 1960s, Jamaican dub reggae producers such as King Tubby and Lee "Scratch" Perry began using pre-recorded samples of reggae rhythms to produce riddim tracks, which were then deejayed over.^[2][3] Jamaican immigrants introduced dub sampling techniques to American hip hop music in the 1970s.^[3]

Samplers[edit]

The Fairlight CMI, an influential early sampler released in 1979

The term sampling was coined by in the late 1970s by Kim Ryrie and Peter Vogel to describe a feature of their Fairlight CMI synthesizer.^[1] Designers of early samplers used the term to describe the technical process of the instruments, rather than to describe how users would use the feature.^[4] While developing the Fairlight, Vogel sampled around a second of a piano piece from a radio broadcast, and discovered that he could imitate a real piano by playing the sample back at different pitches. He recalled in 2005:

It sounded remarkably like a piano, a real piano. This had never been done before ... By today's standards it was a pretty awful piano sound, but at the time it was a million times more like a piano than anything any synthesiser had churned out. So I rapidly realised that we didn't have to bother with all the synthesis stuff. Just take the sounds, whack them in the memory and away you go.^[5]

Compared to later samplers, the Fairlight offered limited control over samples. It allowed control over pitch and envelope, and could only record a few seconds of sound. However, its ability to sample and play back acoustic sounds became its most popular feature.^[1] Though the concept of reusing recordings in larger recordings was not new, the Fairlight's built-in sequencer and design made the process simple.^[1] According to the Guardian, the Fairlight was the "first truly world-changing sampler".^[6] Though it was it was unaffordable for most hobbyists, early users included Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Thomas Dolby, Duran Duran, Herbie Hancock, Todd Rundgren, Icehouse and Ebn Ozn.^[7]

The success of the Fairlight inspired competitors to produce their own samplers, improving the technology and driving down prices dramatically.^[1] Early competitors included the E-mu Emulator^[1] and the Akai S950.^[7]Drum machines such as the Oberheim DMX and Linn LM-1 began incorporating samples of drum kits rather than generating sounds from circuits.^[8]

The designers of early samplers anticipated that users would sample short sounds, such as drum hits or individual notes, to use as "building blocks" for compositions. However, musicians and producers began sampling longer passages of music.^[4] In the words of Greg Milner, author of Perfecting Sound Forever, "They didn't just want the sound of John Bonham's kick drum, they wanted to loop and repeat the whole of 'When the Levee Breaks'."^[4]Roger Linn, designer of the LM-1 and MPC, said: "It was a very pleasant surprise. After sixty years of recording, there are so many prerecorded examples to sample from. Why reinvent the wheel?"^[4]

In response to demand, samplers such as E-mu's SP-1200 were developed to allow users to store longer samples.^[4] In 1988, Akai released the first MPC sampler,^[9] which allowed artists to assign samples to separate pads and trigger them independently, similarly to playing a keyboard or drum kit.^[10] It had a major influence on the development of electronic and hip hop music,^[11][10] allowing artists to create elaborate tracks without other instruments, a studio, or formal music knowledge.^[12] Today, most samples are made and edited using digital audio workstations such as Pro Tools and Ableton Live.^[13][4]

Impact[edit]

Sampling has influenced all genres of music^[6] and is an important part of genres including pop, hip hop, and electronic music.^[14] It is a fundamental element of remix culture.^[15] Commonly sampled elements include strings, basslines, drum loops, vocal hooks, or entire bars of music, especially from soul records.^[16] Samples may be layered,^[17]equalized,^[17] sped or slowed, repitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated.^[14] As sampling technology has progressed, the possibilities for manipulation have grown.^[14]

DJ Shadow created his landmark 1996 album Endtroducing entirely from samples

Stevie Wonder's 1979 album Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants may be the first album to make extensive use of samples.^[6]My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981) by David Byrne and Brian Eno is an important early work of sampling, incorporating samples of recordings including Arabic singers, radio disc jockeys, and an exorcist.^[18] Eno cited Holger Czukay's experiments with dictaphones and shortwave radios as earlier examples of sampling, but felt his and Byrne's innovation had been to make sampling "the lead vocal".^[19]Big Audio Dynamite pioneered sampling in rock and pop with their 1985 album This Is Big Audio Dynamite.^[20] Producer DJ Shadow used an MPC60 to create his influential 1996 album Endtroducing, which is composed entirely of samples.^[21]

Sampling is the foundation of hip hop, which emerged in the 1980s.^[22] Before the rise of sampling, DJs had used turntables to loop breaks from records, which could then be rapped over.^[23] Compilation albums such as Ultimate Breaks and Beats comprised tracks with drums-only sequences and were aimed at DJs and hip hop producers.^[23] The advent of affordable and easy-to-use samplers such as the Akai MPC made sampling easier.^[23] In 1986, three tracks, "South Bronx", "Erik B is President" and "It's a Demo", sampled the funk and soul tracks of James Brown, particularly a drum break from "Funky Drummer", helping popularize the technique.^[14] The sampling culture of hip hop has been likened to the origins of blues and rock, which were created by repurposing existing forms of music.^[15]

Some samples became widespread. The orchestra hit originated as a sound on the Fairlight sampled from Stravinsky's 1910 orchestral work Firebird Suite^[24] and became a hip hop cliche.^[25] According to the BBC, the most sampled track of all time is "Change the Beat" by Fab Five Freddy, which appears on over 1,150 tracks.^[26] Another common sample comes from a seven-second drum break in the 1969 track "Amen, Brother", known as the Amen break, which became popular first with American hip hop producers and then British jungle producers in the early 1990s.^[23] The sample became widely used across genres, used by rock bands such as Oasis and in television theme tunes such as that of Futurama.^[23]

In 2008, Guardian journalist David McNamee wrote that in the 1980s sampling had been a political act, but had lost its edge with ubiquity: "Two record decks and your dad's old funk collection was once the working-class black answer to punk ... Sampling, which once seemed world-ending in the eyes of the music industry, is now non-threatening and a bit passé, particularly with today's availability and ease of original music-making software."^[13]

Legal and ethical issues[edit]

Sampling without permission breaches the copyright of the original sound recording, of the composition and lyrics, and of the performances, such as a guitar riff or rhythm. The moral rights of the original artist may also be breached if they are not credited or object to the sampling.^[16] In some cases, sampling may be protected under American fair use laws.^[16] Clearance, the process of acquiring legal permission for a sample, can be lengthy and complex.^[16]

Richard Lewis Spencer, who owns the copyright for the widely sampled amen break, has never received royalties for its use and condemned its sampling as "plagiarism" and "bullshit". He likened the situation to "the man who goes to the sperm bank and unknowingly sires hundreds of children".^[23] In 1989, the Turtles sued De La Soul for using an uncleared sample on their album 3 Feet High and Rising. Turtles singer Mark Volman told the Los Angeles Times: "Sampling is just a longer term for theft. Anybody who can honesty say sampling is some sort of creativity has never done anything creative."^[27] The case was settled out of court and set a legal precedent that had a chilling effect on sampling in hip hop.^[27]

Biz Markie (pictured in 2016)

In 1991, songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan sued rapper Biz Markie after he sampled O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)" on his album I Need a Haircut. The court ruled that sampling without permission constituted copyright infringement. Instead of asking for royalties, O'Sullivan forced Biz Markie's label Warner Bros to recall the album until the song was removed.^[28]Nelson George described it as the "most damaging example of anti-hip hop vindictiveness", which "sent a chill through the industry that is still felt".^[28] According to the Washington Post, "no court decision has changed the sound of pop music as much as this, before or since", likening it to a banning of certain musical instruments.^[29]

Following the ruling, samples on commercially released recordings have typically been taken either from obscure recordings (such as on Endtroducing) or cleared, an often expensive option only available to successful acts.^[29] According to the Guardian, "Sampling became risky business and a rich man's game, with record labels regularly checking if their musical property had been tea-leafed."^[13] For less successful artists, the legal implications for samples can create confusion. According to Fact, "For a bedroom producer, clearing a sample can be nearly impossible, both financially and in terms of administration."^[14] The 1989 Beastie Boys record Paul's Boutique is composed almost entirely of samples, most of which were cleared "easily and affordably"; the clearance process would be much more expensive today.^[30]

The Washington Post described the modern use of well known samples, such as those by Kanye West, as an act of conspicuous consumption, similar to flaunting cars or jewellery.^[29] West has been sued several times over his use of samples.^[14] Though some have accused the law of restricting creativity, others argue it forces producers to innovate.^[29] Sampling can help popularize the sampled work; for example, the Desiigner track "Panda" topped the Billboard Hot 100 after West sampled it on "Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 2".^[14]

According to Fact, early hip hop sampling was governed by "unspoken" rules forbidding the sampling of recent records and reissues, other hip hop records, or from non-vinyl sources, among other restrictions.^[22] These rules were relaxed as younger producers took over: "For many producers today it is no longer a case of 'should I sample this?' but of 'can I get away with sampling this?'. Thus the ethics of sampling unravelled as the practice became ever more ubiquitous."^[22]

In 2007, producer Timbaland was sued over plagiarism^[31][32] on the song "Do It", performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado.^[6] Apart from the lyrics the song was nearly identical to used a piece from 2000 for the Commodore 64.^[33][34][35] Timbaland said: "Sample and stole is two different things. Stole is like I walked in your house, watched you make it, stole your Pro Tools ... Sample is like you heard it somewhere, and you just sampled. Maybe you didn't know who it was by because it don't have the credits listed."^[36][37] He also said "the dude is trying to act like I went to his house and took it from his computer".^[38]

To circumvent legal problems, producers may recreate a portion of a recording rather than sample it. This requires only the publisher's permission, and gives the artist more freedom in altering constituent components (such as separate guitar and drum tracks).^[39]

See also[edit]

• Interpolation


• Mashup


• Musical quotation


• Musique concrète


• Recombinant culture


• Riddim


• Sampler (musical instrument)

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Katz, Mark. "Music in 1s and 0s: The Art and Politics of Digital Sampling." In Capturing Sound: How Technology has Changed Music (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), 137-57.
  ISBN 0-520-24380-3
  


• McKenna, Tyrone B. (2000) "Where Digital Music Technology and Law Collide – Contemporary Issues of Digital Sampling, Appropriation and Copyright Law" Journal of Information, Law & Technology.


• Challis, B (2003) "The Song Remains The Same – A Review of the Legalities of Music Sampling"
  


• Ratcliffe, Robert. (2014) "A Proposed Typology of Sampled Material within Electronic Dance Music." Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 6(1): 97-122.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sampling (music).

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sampling

• 
  Samples and Loops at Curlie
  


• Who Sampled (online database of sampling)


• 
  COVER.INFO – Large database of cover versions, medleys, samples and other musical quotations


• Basic musical elements in terms of audio samples


• SampleSwap.org Sound Sampling Community


• History of early sampling instruments at '120 years of Electronic music'


• How to clear samples (Step by step guide)