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A Little of What You Fancy...
A Beginner's Guide to Sampling
by Michael King
While many musicians identify sampling (digital snapshots of songs, speeches, and other audio) and looping (samples that have been
prepared to play over and over again) with hip-hop, R&B, or techno
music, the truth is that sampling has been around for decades.
For instance, after the invention of the tape recorder in the late 1930s, avant-garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Edgar Varèse began using tape loops to patch together fragments of prerecorded
sounds in an early form of electronic music called musique concrète.
Pre-Fab Four
In the 1960s, The Beatles introduced sampling to the pop music world through their use of the mellotron, which is an analog sampler based on an earlier invention called the Chamberlin. The mellotron plays prerecorded tape samples of real musical instruments through an amplified speaker. The classic, and very experimental, Beatles single “Strawberry Fields Forever” begins with notes played on a mellotron.
It wasn’t until the mid 1980s that sampling really became part of mainstream music making. With the invention of digital samplers, the sampling process became an integral part of the production of a wide array of pop music, including at the time the music of Depeche Mode, Erasure, Run-DMC, and MC Hammer.
Until recently, samplers were available only as expensive hardware units with complex operating systems and limited capabilities. To get into sampling required a substantial investment both in terms of time and money. But over the past few years, a whole crop of inexpensive software tools have been introduced that open the doors for anyone with a desktop computer system to explore the art of sampling.
Sample This!
Digital samplers are by far the most convenient and versatile option for anyone interested in sampling. Digital samplers allow musicians to easily record and manipulate sounds in unique ways, such as playing sounds backward; layering different sounds on top of each other; cutting sounds up and splicing them back together in a new order; or changing the pitch, sustain, attack, and release of sounds.
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“Digital samplers open up a whole different way of approaching sound,” says David Doms, professor of the online music production course Sampling and Audio Production at Berklee College of Music’s online extension school. “You’re able to capture everyday occurrences, like wine glasses clinking together in the kitchen or steam coming out of the kettle, and then transpose, reverse, or manipulate them. Digital samplers provide you with the freedom to explore and play musical ideas based on sounds you’ve actually created.”
MIDI What?
Digital samplers work hand in hand with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), a communications protocol that allows a sampler or any other electronic instrument (such as a drum machine or a sequencer) to “talk” to a computer.
“A sampler is not only a digital recorder of sound, but also a performance instrument,” explains Doms. “MIDI allows you to hook up a keyboard, which functions as a triggering device for your sampler. Working with a keyboard means you can manipulate your sampled sounds to achieve some really cool effects, such as pitch shifting, filtering, and envelope shaping, all in real time.”
Loop On and On
Once you’ve got the basic hardware together (a decent Mac or PC, microphone, and MIDI controller), the easiest way to get started is to purchase host software like Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Reason, Cubase, or Sonar, which either include built-in samplers, or allow you to work with inexpensive plug-ins.
Apple’s GarageBand software is a good place for beginners to sketch out ideas and experiment with loops and built-in virtual instruments, but it lacks the capabilities of more powerful applications.
“In my online course we use Propellerheads’ Reason software because it comes with a solid set of different sampling modules, as well as a built-in sequencer,” notes Doms. “For someone just starting off, I definitely recommend using software samplers as opposed to the hardware option. With software you have a larger screen to work with, which makes it easier to learn.” Another big plus of using software is the price, adds Doms: “Software synths are a fraction of the cost of the real thing.”
Blank Slate
Sampling does more than open up the door to the creation of your own unique sounds. There are extensive sound libraries that you can use to add convincing orchestral sounds, like a brass section, into your compositions
Ultimately, a sampler is a blank slate, which you can use to take your music in any direction you like, from John Cage-esque esoteric sound collages, to composing homemade electronica, to adding sampling to contemporary popular music in the vein of Radiohead or Beck.
Many people find David Doms’ online course, Sampling and Audio Production, at Berkleemusic.com, to be helpful. It helps students create fully functional sampler programs from their own source material, as well as prepare an audio project based entirely on the use of sampling and samplers.
Looking for more articles on MIDI's? |
| Keyboards and Accessories |
| It's All in the Mix |
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