What is song sampling
Song sampling is quite common in popular music. This is more so in the Hip-Hop music genre. But practically artists across various music genre, have at one time or another, and even till today, use sampled materials in their songs. This begs the question, what does it mean to sample a song?
Sample by its very simple definition, means just that-a sample which is equivalent to a small porton of something bigger. The online merriem-webster dictionary defines it as,
"a representative part or a single item from a larger whole or group especially when presented for inspection or shown as evidence of quality." source
For those of you engaged in commerce, especially with the buying, selling and distribution of clothing items. Sometimes new products come out of the production line. If you are interested in selling them to your customer base,you request that some samples be sent to you so that you can show them to prospective buyers.
This sample method is quite different from the method used when it comes to music production. In the creation of music, a sample indicates a portion or,
"excerpt from a recording (such as a popular song by another performer) that is used in a musical composition, recording, or performance." Source
In simple terms it means that a small portion or excerpt is taken from an already created song, and used in the composition of a completely new song. The portion taken from the sampled song remains in its original form.
The distinct flavor of the portion, be it the drumbeat, the vocals or intrumentals taken from that portion, is used in the creation of new music.
Song sampling over the years
Song sampling has a historical timeline that anyone interested in sampling songs should know. This is because today it is much easier to sample any song with very little effort.The technology to do that is available. let's touch on it briefly.
Back in the days, people in the music industry had to come up with creative ways to sample songs. This was more prominent in the early 1970s. When Hip Hop emerged, hip-hop parties were a thing back then.
Djs like Kool Herc and Grand MasterFlash would use the breakbeat technique. This involved the use of two turntables to mix and scratch records.They would sample funk and soul songs, and would mostly isolate drum breaks to extend danceable portions. They would then play them in continuous loops, while MCs would rap over the sampled section, live.
As the 70s progressed and the interest in sampling songs increased, digital sample machines began to be used. In the 1980s, tools like the Fairlight CMI was introduced.
This was followed in the 1990s by the popularity of the digital sampler Akai MPC series. At this point going forward, sampling became fully digital and artists and producers used digital samplers a lot to sample songs.
Today,producers and artists alike, have a plethora of sampling tools to choose from in the creation of new music. The technology has advance to the point wherenow, Ai is also being used to sample songs.
How a sampled portion is used
A sampled portion of a song can be used in various ways. This however depends on what is being sampled. Because a lot of elements can be sampled and incorporated in different portions of a new song. But to help you understand what this all means, let's take an example of a popular song that used the elements of sampling to create a new hit.
Stardust was a French musical group, that on 20 July, 1998 released a song, that became a one hit wonder titled, Music Sounds Better than You. It was a typical electronic, French house style music that became very popular.
However the song was made by sampling another song, sung by soul/funk/disco queen, Chaka Khan. The song titled Fate, was taken from her-Whatcha gona do for me album, released in 1981. Stardust took a very small portion of that whole song and made a new song out of it.
How Fate was sampled.
To understand how Fate was sampled, you have to understand that in today's world, there is more information about a song, digitally. And so you can know the full length of time a song plays from start to finish, just by looking at it on any digital multimedia program.
Fate is a song that lasts about 3 minutes and 14 seconds.The song starts with a sort of introductory instrumental portion that last up to about 13 seconds.From then on, Chaka Khan comes in with the vocals.
The sampled portion uses the introductory instrumental part which starts at the very beginning of the song or point 0:00. This instrumental part ends at around point 0:12 seconds, the point from where Chaka Khan enters with vocals.
So basically, 12 seconds of the Chaka Khan song was sampled. Stardust then added other elements such as drumbeats, vocals, etc., and the final product is what has been dubbed, the national anthem of house music.
The Stardust song lasts about 4minutes and 23 seconds. The sampled portion took off right from the very beginning of the song, at point 0:00 and then practically runs throughout the song. After listening to the whole song, a simple breakdown of the song could go like this.
Point 0:00 Song starts immediately with sampled part
Point 0:16 Enter Drumbeats
Point 0:46 Enter vocals
Point 1:48 First break where you hear only the drumbeats
Point 1:52 Enter sampled portion which continues
Point 2:23 Second break where you hear only vocals with drumbeats in the background
Point 2:54 Vocals absent and drumbeats more prominent.
Point 3:00 Sampled portion continues along with vocals till end of the song.
The Stardust soundtrack used the sample as is. This means that they used the sampled portion without making any modification in the making of their new song. The only possible change with respect to the original version, is that Stardust may have adjusted the speed to match the speed used in electronic/house music.
What is possible to sample
Producers and artists take great care to select what songs to sample when it comes to creating music. This is because the music creation process is a project with specific goals in mind. And depending on the project or what the artist and producers want to obtain, a song can contain a single sample, or can incorporate multiple samples taken from different songs, or different portions of the same song.
Each of the sampled portion comes into play at a precise specific point in the recording process of the song. The possibilities are limitless because you can sample drum beats, vocals, bassline. But you can also take samples of spoken lines from movies, radio shows, online video, etc.
