Sample This
- by Carson Barker, Open Labs Staff Writer
Music sampling is the act of taking a segment of a recorded sound and using it as means of instrumentation or reproduction. The type of sample itself can range from a sampled drum loop, to a person's voice, to random sounds of any nature. The boundaries of sampling are virtually limitless, as anything that produces audible sound can be used as a sample. However, many types of samples, like music, speeches, or commercials have copyrights attached to them, and require the original author's approval for reproduction.
The art of music sampling has been around since recording technology became possible. Today's sampling mainly consists of hip-hop, techno or electronica artists, although most genres of music have been known to use sampling in some form. A popular method of sampling is for a musician or composer to take a short, recorded clip of another musician's previously recorded work and either loop it in their own musical production, or sync the sample to play at specific points in the body of work. For instance, the 1986 song "She's Crafty" by Brooklyn hip-hop act The Beastie Boys contains a looped sample taken from legendary rock band Led Zeppelin's "The Ocean." Musicians sampling other musicians is one of the most widely used format of sampling. James Brown, the godfather of soul, is to this day the most sampled musician in history, with his samples being used by musicians from Depeche Mode to Ice Cube.
"Sampling has recently taken on a whole new meaning in the DJ world," said Austin-based DJ Veedub. "Mash-ups, which are comprised of drumbeat loops and sampled parts from hit songs, are now the most popular music played in nightclubs."
There are several methods that one can use for sampling; the main one being a sampler or software that emulates a sampler.
Samplers
Sampler instruments reproduce previously recorded sounds, rather than invent a sound on their own. Some of the first samplers invented, like the Mellotron, were very large, heavy machines, and could only produce a single sound at a peak of three octaves. Since these instruments relied on magnetic tape, if the player wanted to change sounds, they'd often have to change out the tapes. Modern, digital samplers however, utilize microprocessors, which are smaller and can handle multiple samples simultaneously.
The two types of samplers that are in production today are phrase samplers and studio samplers. Phrase samplers have a number of touch-sensitive pads or pedals, each one routed to a single note. These samplers have a more simple design, and are easy to use with other interfaces, therefore preferable in a live setting.
"A Phrase sampler is when you use a type of sound that was used before or created by another musician or producer," said DJ Manny, owner of DJ Dojo music store and studio. "You can hear it and recognize where it came from. It's a piece of sound that has been cut and used to enhance an expression of a piece of music."
Studio samplers work in the same way, but are physically housed in a rack format rather than a box format like the phrase samplers. Also, studio samplers have a key mapping system that has several keys over one sound, and creates a more realistic interpretation of the sample.
"A studio sampler is an instrument where you can put a type of sound or noise for use in production. It's more like hardware that you use to trigger a certain type of audio," said DJ Manny.
Aside from studio and phrase samplers, there are many types of music software with sampling capabilities embedded inside them. These types of samplers are all digital, without any kind of hardware besides extra gear like MIDI controllers, which the user might add on for a more hands on approach.
Legal issues
The age-old legal question that's been hovering around sampling since its conception is, "Where does sampling cross the lines of legality and ownership?" Over the past few decades, this topic has been a battle in the courtroom, because much of sampling is based on taking a short recording of another musician's published material and working it into a song. If the original publisher of the sample has their work reused by another artist for financial gain, then shouldn't the artist pay royalties to the original publisher? Most events like this are handled in a case-by-case manner. Though many traditionalists believe that sampling is stealing another artist's sound, it's mostly regarded as an acceptable form of original composition.
"It is an art form," said Sean Anderson, owner of DJ record label, Harmonious Discord records. "Just like DJing, you're taking a sample sound and manipulating it into something else. With every sound you are doing that, whether it's the sound of a typewriter or a synthesizer that creates tone out of electricity, you're still manipulating that sound to make something new. When you build a patch for an instrument, or detune a guitar, you're doing the same thing, only with sampling it's prerecorded."
The first notable court case of sampling legality issues occurred in the 1980's, involving rap act 2 Live Crew and country singer/songwriter Roy Orbison. 2 Live Crew heavily sampled Orbison's famed song "Pretty Woman" without permission from the artist, his representatives, or the publishing company who owned the reproduction rights of the material. The copyright company of "Pretty Woman" claimed copyright infringement, while 2 Live Crew claimed that they had the right to sample the material under the Fair Use Doctrine. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, with the final decision in 2 Live Crew's favor.
Numerous other similar incidents have appeared since the "Pretty Woman" event, including a case involving DJ and producer Danger Mouse in 2004. The New York DJ had produced an album that was half composed of samples from The Beatles' "The White Album" and the other half from hip-hop icon, Jay Z's "The Black Album," which ultimately became Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album." Danger Mouse had gained permission from Jay Z's representatives to use the samples, but had no permission from "The White Album" record company, EMI. In retaliation, EMI sent out cease and desist letters to retailers selling the album and to Danger Mouse himself, but no court case was ever filed. In response to EMI's letter, an activist group called Downhill Battle worked to have "The Grey Album" download-able for free from various Internet sites for 24 hours.
Despite legal issues, sampling is still widely used today, and there is no immediate legal threat to stop its existence. Many artists have crossed genres with their sampling, combining hip-hop to heavy metal, and have not only made a steady income from it, but also draw more listeners to the original material's work. Sampling is widely considered a valid form of creating music, and continues to play a progressive role in the music industry.