Selecting Samples

Just wanted to get some advice on how you guys pick out samples?
what do you guys usually look for when finding samples?

what do listen for?

Thats like asking a photographer how does he choose what to photograph. Maybe you should sample as much as you can. After a while you will get an idea of what works for what you want to do so that will give you more direction. I hate sample packs and out of thousands there is 2 that I'm thinking of getting and its more for the vocal accapellas than anything else. You can sample anything you want, just do it creatively, and play around, till you learn more.

I usually go to i-tunes and buy mp3's of popular songs that I hear on the radio, then I just sample the most horrible sounding parts and make a really crap beat

@Bliprock-
@niN -

Really depends. Sorta have to know what kind of tone you want to establish w/ your beats? I've got my list of influences..I'll listen to the music that they listen to in order to get a feel for what samples I want. Majority of my influences listen to a broad spectrum of genres so that encourages me to listen to as much music as I can.


Your post reminded me of this video I saw w/ some renowned cats like Rock, Just Blaze, 9th, etc. Gave me a new perspective on sampling.

browniez wrote:Your post reminded me of this video I saw w/ some renowned cats like Rock, Just Blaze, 9th, etc. Gave me a new perspective on sampling.

That's a good vid.
I do that thing of playing stuff over the top of my running sequence (not bothering to match any tempo) and if a sound suddenly fits right with the sequence I go back and sample that sound. I do it with youtube vids, films, records, etc.

Damn that vid is hella legit !

the more you sample sounds and try using them in beats, the better you'll get at working out what to look for.

Not sure if its natural of something I picked up over time buy i just throw on some records and my ears just perk up when i hear certain tones or riffs

ArKyve-31 wrote:Not sure if its natural of something I picked up over time buy i just throw on some records and my ears just perk up when i hear certain tones or riffs

I guess this is normal behaviour for 99.9% of people on these forums.

No-one can teach you how to feel music and sound rraderbeats. Just experiment with anything that creates sound till you get hit emotionally, then whack it about a bit.

@beach_break-Thats what im starting to notice. Thanks!


@ArKyve-31- Ya i feel you now. Maybe its just the vinyls i have that arent working for me.
Time to expand the crates.


@jimmie- Youre Right about that. Just gonna get ExPeRiMeNtAL
beat a day takes the pain away ahahaha

i'll have a feeling or thought in my head of a beat and how i want it to sound and then i'll dig until i find sample that matches the feeling i have for the beat in mind.

sometimes though, i'll just go through my records and accidentally find something that makes me say "oh shit, i gotta use that", then i go from there.

but usually it starts in my head with a feeling i get from watching a movie, feelings/relationships, hearing other songs..

i just looove music.. I came to the roots of hip hop through hip hop.. now I'm hooked to that 60's Jazz, that Funk, Soul, them grooves, you know..
I go to record stores quite frequently to look for new (old) stuff, that I never heard..take it home, listen to it, a lot (while cooking, while drinking, ..in the park,..on the bus,.. in bed with the girlfriend.. you know).
Then after a while I just know.. , some shit may strike you the fist time listening (that's usually why you'd take it home )
Then i just sit down with my MP, and sample the shit out of an entire record (without even makin a beat),
that way i just about allways have the right sample for the right situation allready on my MP, so anytime I'm makin a beat, and say; I'd be thinkin
" this needs some horns" (or whatever) .I'd just go through my list of samples and 8 out of 10 I'd find sumthn suitable
That's about what i do..


btw.: Likin ur signature. I got that album the pic is from, it's DOPEee

Alot of cats forget that sampling is not just the notes and sounds youre looking for, but its the SILENCES, transitions and interactions between them thats important.


Edit: Dilla MASTERED this, and its what made him one of the best.

Still in my crawling stage of beat crafting, at first I use to look for open grooves that was little to none on the drums, kicks, snares, etc. with my recent beat I'm working on I took the beginning which was heavy on the horns, sliced it into 2 chops, then took those 2 chops through the mpc and auto sliced em into 8 a piece with a 16margin on both sets.

the more and more I'm noticing, the actual sample itself doesn't NEED to be rhythmic but if you have some nice drums and instrumentation it can make a Frankenstein sound like a mona lisa.