Sampling in Logic | DJ L-Roche’s Blog # 3
Sampling in Logic | DJ L-Roche’s Blog # 3
We have all been experimenting with the synths in our own time; whats clear to us now is that once you’re more experienced, you know what sound you want to make as well as exactly how to create it. Whereas right now its more by chance if we create a sound we want to use.
So this week’s session was all about sampling in Logic, and as I said last week, I was so excited about this… the majority of the songs I love have samples in them and I love recognising an old classic that has been turned around. E.g. Ollie Macfarlane – Someone Warm, with a sample from Stevie Wonder – For Once In My Life.
Sampling started in the late 70s and was first embraced in hip-hop. People who didn’t have access to make music from scratch or to music education could still make music this way, by modulating an already made song. At first there were no laws, therefore no restrictions on what material could be used. Larry showed us some early examples; The Winstons – Amen Brother has a very famous drum loop and Lyn Collins – Think (About It) which has been sampled in copious amounts of songs.
Some albums have been unfortunate victims of circumstance because of sampling; The Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique album actually made a loss and Massive Attack – Blue Lines didn’t make any money from getting played out because of samples used.
Music sampling has affected cultures differently; it is obvious sampling has huge influence on hip-hop but in contrast, the Jamaican music industry were very slow to enforce any sampling laws, for a long time no music made in Jamaica was copyrighted, consequently that is now the culture of their music, i.e. that is why it is the norm to hear the same backing track with numerous different vocalists making different versions.
Pretty much any form of sound can be sampled, in the session we just worked with already famous tracks but there are no limits; crowd sounds, vocal snippets from film etc. A synth is used to modulate the sample just like you would with any other sound you created.
We spent time sampling in Logic with tracks, sampling drum hits and changing the tempo, which beat goes where then pitch, filter, etc. I think sampling really tests your creativity, to be able to listen to a track that anyone else can hear then plan how to transform it or use it as part of a completely different sound or genre.
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