Original producers vs. Sampling producers?

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young_liam_

New member
Ok so my question is if you had to give a rough percentage; how many producers do you think actually know a little bit about theory and they make their own melodies and can play instruments vs. how many just sample.


right now, all of my stuff is instrumentation and while it has been tough i feel as though it will make me better in the long run. i have never sampled and i don't know how to.
 
Sampling is tricky, but snapping to transients and autochop fix that. and of course zooming in while regioning.

Sound design is both, synthesis and sampling.
Sampling gets simpler but it is time consuming.
 
I like making my own melodies using a midi controllers, I find it more convenient for me to work on Ableton. I know how to play guitar, and I use all my knowledge to play around with the keyboard and make sounds, most of the time it comes out as I want, so that's why I think is better for me.
 
Writing, producing, and mastering original music is always ideal, but sometimes a little sample can add that missing element to your song. I would say practice original productions 85% of the time and sampling 15% of the time. You'll feel a lot more accomplished with your work knowing that you created it from thin air. ;)
 
Anybody can learn theory and make original stuff but sampling is an art form that many people cannot master.
Click to expand...

Sampling is a skill that can be learned if you focus and put effort on it... just like any other skill
 
I've been playing guitar and writing songs for nearly 20 years, with hardly any notion of theory until a couple years back when I took a course of bass lessons. It was always a case of just finding what worked and what didn't.
I've been making sample based and electronic music for a few years now and I'm just not sure where the idea that sample based producers 'don't make melodies' comes from.
I always (OK, mostly) play my own baselines (4-string or synth) and often the sample chops are accompanied by a synth-lead or acoustic guitar line; but even if I didn't > samples are picked and manipulated in order to create groove and melody in a very similar way to picking what notes will be played and deciding on their sequence.
The thought of sample based producers 'not' being actual musicians is frankly ludicrous to me because I see a sampler (be it hardware or software) as an instrument. It has to be learned just like any other instrument. It takes practice and just like any other instrument as you develop and acquire skills you gain muscle memory... Eventually (one hopes) you become accomplished and can play with a certain flare > you develop an individual and recognisable (Dilla, Rza, MF Doom) style.
Personally, I think the argument that sample based producers are in some way inferior to those who only play 'real' instruments (oh the irony of soft-synths and the mouse/trackpad) come from those with a very limited understanding of how hip hop started and continues to be.

Do what you do. Play your instruments. Make shit that bumps.
 
I firmly disagree with the statement that sampling is a greater and rarer art form than understanding music theory and composing your own melodies. It's a lot easier to take a pre-made synth riff and slap a pre-made beat over it than it is to make your own synth riff and beat. I don't envy people that only know how to combine loops. Though that is where I started.


I can only imagine expert sampling takes a lot of skill. Some of it sounds really neat. Quite indescribable.

But ... I'd rather not go that route. Royalties get really tricky later on. Using a sample of most anything means a pretty big chunk comes out of your pocket. And if, at that point, you're already splitting royalties with songwriters and a producer, have to split for a record label or pay for your own distribution and marketing, covering pro engineering costs ... that sampling cut can really hurt.

I'm just at the very beginning of learning to sample. But I'm chopping and sampling my own recordings, vocal or instrument, not someone else's. Eventually, the practice will pay off. And at that point, I won't have to split royalties with my sample sources.
 
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