If you have ever listened to a hip-hop track and recognised a drum beat from an old 1970s funk record, or noticed a pop song using a snippet of a vocal from a classic movie, you have experienced sampling.
Sampling is one of the most revolutionary techniques in modern music production. It completely changed how music is made, moving it from the era of needing a live band in a room to allowing anyone with a computer to rebuild older sounds into brand-new art.
Here is a simple, beginner-friendly guide to what a sample is, the different ways producers use them, and the rules you need to know.
What actually is a sample?
In music production, a sample is simply a snippet of pre-existing audio that you take from one source and reuse inside your own song.
This snippet can be absolutely anything. It could be a two-second clip of a famous guitar riff, a single hit of a snare drum, a line spoken by an actor in a black-and-white film, or even the sound of rain you recorded on your smartphone.
Once you bring that audio clip into your music software (your DAW), you can loop it, chop it up, change its pitch, or completely disguise it until it sounds like something brand new.
The three main types of sampling
Producers use samples in a variety of ways, ranging from taking whole melodies to using tiny building blocks of sound.
1. Loop sampling (The groove)
This is when you take a short section of music—usually a four-second or eight-second block of a drum beat or a bassline—and repeat it over and over to create the foundation of your song.
- Example: Taking the famous drum break from the 1969 track Amen, Brother (known as the Amen Break) and looping it to create the fast drum tracks used in jungle and drum & bass music.
2. One-shot sampling (The building blocks)
A one-shot is a single, short hit of a sound that does not loop. This could be a single clap, a kick drum, or a single piano chord.
- How it is used: You load these individual hits into digital drum pads or a MIDI controller. When you tap the pad, it triggers that specific sound. This allows you to play your own completely original rhythms using the exact texture of an old vintage drum kit.
3. Slicing and chopping (The puzzle)
This is where the real creativity happens. Instead of letting a sample play naturally, a producer will chop a melody up into dozens of tiny pieces and rearrange them in a completely different order.
- How it is used: You might take an old jazz saxophone phrase, cut it into tiny fractions, and trigger them in a brand-new order to create a unique, futuristic melody that the original saxophonist never actually played.
Where do producers get samples?
In the early days of hip-hop, producers had to physically go to charity shops and record stores to buy old vinyl records—a process called crate digging. They would take the records home and record clips from them using hardware samplers.
Today, while some producers still love the warmth of vinyl, getting samples is much easier and cheaper:
- Sample subscription services: Websites like Splice or Loopcloud allow you to browse millions of individual sounds, loops, and instruments. You pay a small monthly fee and can download exactly what you need.
- Free sample packs: Many music websites and producers give away free collections of drum hits or synth loops to help beginners get started.
- Your own environment: You can use your phone to record the sound of a train passing, a coin dropping on a table, or a running tap, and turn those real-world sounds into instruments inside your software.
A quick note on copyright (Sampling legally)
If you are just making music in your bedroom for fun, you can sample whatever you like. However, if you plan to upload your music to Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube, you need to understand the legal side.
There are two main categories of samples you will encounter:
- Royalty-Free Samples: If you get your samples from dedicated platforms like Splice, or from a commercial sample pack you purchased, the sounds are “royalty-free“. This means you have a built-in legal license to use them in your music, even if your song becomes a massive global hit. You do not owe the creator any money.
- Copyrighted Samples: If you take a clip directly from a song by an artist like Dua Lipa, Fleetwood Mac, or an old jazz musician, you do not own that audio. To release that song commercially, you have to go through a legal process called sample clearance to get permission from the record label and the songwriter. If you don’t, your song can be taken down, and you could face legal action.
Top tip for beginners: When you are starting out, stick to royalty-free sample packs or the built-in sounds that come free with your DAW. This allows you to practice the art of chopping, looping, and pitching sounds without ever having to worry about copyright issues.
