Sampling can unlock creativity and inspiration in ways you didn’t expect. If you’re new to music production and want to learn how to sample, this guide will help you get started. From finding a sample to recording the audio straight into your DAW with the help of our plugins OMNIBUS and INJECT, it covers all the essential steps.
Step 1: Find a sample and make sure it’s right for you
The first step is to find a sample that you like. This could be a drum beat, vocal riff, or sound effect, whatever you want. You’ll want a feel for the sample’s tempo, rhythm, and key to ensure it fits your composition. Otherwise, you may be wasting your time and not doing something beneficial for your track.
You may also be wondering where you can find samples to use in your tracks. Firstly, it is essential to ensure that you have the right to use the audio that you are sampling or that it is within the public domain.
Public domain work is all creative work that has no exclusive intellectual property rights applied to it. Therefore, you can use samples of this audio within your tracks without encountering any copyright issues.
Many resources are available online to find royalty-free samples to use in your production.
Step 2: Recording the sample
This is where we are here to help. Both our plugins, OMNIBUS 2.0 and INJECT, allow you to record sampled audio straight from your web browser into your DAW.
Watch Abbey Road Studios’ Head of Audio Products, Mirek Stiles, below, as he shows us how to use the OMNIBUS 2.0 app to sample audio straight into your DAW.
And if you have our new plugin INJECT, you can follow the steps below.
- Select your computer’s audio as the INJECT driver.
- In your DAW, open up an aux track, insert the INJECT plugin on this track, select the external plugin input to the INJECT driver, and choose channels Stereo 1 & 2.
- To record the audio into your DAW from INJECT, you can either route the aux to a bus and then into an audio track or use the built-in recorder, which supports up to 16 channels and allows you to drag and drop recordings directly into your DAW.
INJECT is available now exclusively on Audiomovers.com in VST, VST3, AU and AAX plugin formats.
Step 3: Arranging the sample
After you’ve listened to the sample and understand its structure well, it’s time to either “chop it up” or arrange it. Chopping a sample means cutting it into smaller pieces, usually by using a DAW of your choice. The goal is to extract the parts of the sample that you want to use in your own music.
Once you’ve chopped up the sample, you can start to arrange it in your DAW. This involves placing the chopped pieces of the sample onto your project timeline, where you can sequence them in any order you want. To enhance the sample, producers often use effects and other processing tools to manipulate the sample further.
Step 4: Add your own elements and mix it together
After you’ve arranged the sample, it’s time to add your own elements to the mix. This can include additional instruments, vocals, or effects. The goal is to create a unique music piece creatively incorporating the sample rather than just an exact recreation.
In conclusion, sampling music can be an innovative and rewarding way to create new music. Remember always to have the right to use the audio you’re testing, and if not, use royalty-free or public-domain samples.
