How to Sample Music Safely and Effectively

Have you ever listened to a hip hop song, and knew that you had heard it somewhere else, perhaps from an an aunt or uncle, way back in your dad's CD/Cassette collection, or surfing the internet? That is the joy of sampling, and today.

Steps

1. Listen to groups/singers known for sampling (Beastie Boys, Kanye West) and get a feeling for how they put in bits of sound to create a natural feel, almost "organic" in nature.
   
2. Search Your Public Domain, or PD Archive. If it is old enough, odds are someone has sampled it. You will notice a sound occurring in many different songs, all seeming to have the same origin. If you listen to Heavy D & The Boyz (And who doesn't?) and on the song "Don't Curse" you hear that funky brass and drum combo looped throughout, you owe that pleasure to The J.B.'s, one of the most sampled groups of all time (you've probably already Googled them by this point), and that particular sample comes from their (Awesome) "Pass the Peas", a very funky song.
   
3. Aim Low, Or Have Cash. What this means is that use only sample songs that sound great, but are lesser known. If someone sampled something from The Beatles, you get your, uh, butt handed to you. Intense pressure from record labels, and the corporate pitbulls under their employ, have caused more lawsuits than 3 Million R. Kelly's.
   
4. Look EVERYWHERE. It can be a cheesy old George Romero horror film from the 1960s, or a mad sitarist from Calcutta. If it sounds cool, and can be cleared, use it. Why not.
   
5. Out of earshot, out of mind. If a sample is iffy, put it deep in the mix. It is kind of sneaky, but if something from Led Zeppelin is just UNAVOIDABLE, put it under 500 other sounds, and hope no one notices.
   
6. Try different effects. Another idea for samples, both clearable, and iffy, is to mix it up. Add effects. Add distortion, flanger, chorus, reverb, spacer, vocalizer, echo, slow it down, speed it up! The music world is your oyster.
   
7. Try and TRY again. If one sample doesn't work out with the rest, a key good side is that there are almost an INFINITE amount of songs to sample.
   

Tips

• Look up your law. If there is a history of trouble concerning one group/singer/song, avoid it. In 2001, over 800 artists INDIVIDUALLY, got sued over 500 lawsuits concerning the catalog of George Clinton, Funk pioneer.
  
• Looks Clear. The Winstons, or Winston Brothers, have the privilege of having one of the most versatile and most used samples of all time. The "Amen Break" is a drum section of "Amen Brother", a song of theirs. Listen to it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiUSbOnEqc4 It begins at 1:27
  

Warnings

• At your own risk. If you use a sample that is big enough, or has gotten used and caused a lawsuit, you are doing so on your own back.
  

Things You'll Need

• Internet
  
• Interest In Eclectic Music
  
• Some editing software (Go for free, like Wavepad or Audacity. Why pay?)
  

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