how do you find your samples?

M

MessiahMarco

New member
im just wondering how do you find your samples? i sometimes use spotify but i can never really find anything that i like. so im wondering how do you find songs to sample?
 
For a longtime I used specific channels on YouTube (a bit of research will find channels of crate diggers who specialise in specific genres), a YouTube to MP3 converter website (of which there are many) and then Audacity (free software for Windows) to convert MP3 to WAV.

I now pretty much only sample from vinyl and have seen big improvements in both my workflow and the audio quality of my output.
I'm buying bits and pieces online (specialist online record stores and eBay) but the majority have been from brick and mortar record shops, charity shops (believe the US call them 'Thrft' stores) and 'donations' from family, friends & work colleagues.

It's a pretty 'hit and miss' process but I'm actually getting better at chopping and flipping because of it.

I've also been doing fun exercises such as the 'Drop the Needle Challenge' on a pretty regular basis. 'Drop the Needle' is I guess a bit of a spin-off of 'Rhythm Roulette' (check out 'Mass Appeal' on YouTube - and it's also an exercise I'd recommend trying) but really gets you going, especially it you give yourself a fairly tight time limit!
 
lol its first time that i see someone find samples on spotify, and sorry thats the weirdest way for me..:D

i also find them on youtube...after watching tutorial i learned that you can search the same song on the google with added 'blog' so you ill have album download and it will be really better quality of the same song....

@I'mNoGuru why would you convert from (already downloaded) mp3 to wav? how i understand it is impossible to make better quallity with that way (making a wav format)....?
 
Most of the time I scour youtube or ffshrine etc to find somethin to sample, and sometimes I get the cd version of anime/videogame/jazz albums if possible.
 
jocasrb said:
@I'mNoGuru why would you convert from (already downloaded) mp3 to wav? how i understand it is impossible to make better quallity with that way (making a wav format)....?
Click to expand...

I use NI Maschine and it doesn't play well with mp3's...
 
I use youtube and there are various channels there for crate diggers as mentioned in a previous post.
Ill sample from there and if I like the track, then Ill go buy the song to get a crisper and better sounding version of the song I sampled and just redo it.
This can sometimes be time consuming because I have to redo the chops. Which is why usually when I make a song or beat, I usually make 3 to 4 drafts before the final version...
 
finding mp3s on youtube then mixing them with different effects can still create a nice sounding sampled beat
 
Sometimes i find a sample on youtube and just search for a mp3 version on Soulseek.
Soulseek has all good stuff basically.
 
Record shops if you got some around your way. Specific Youtube channels (tons of dope diggers online). Whosampled.com in a pinch. Friends' suggestions. Listening to music for listening purpose. Plenty of options!
 
I find my samples on vinyl and youtube.
You should sample also thing that you dont like on first listen.
you never knwo what might come out of it.
 
Honestly the best I've done finding samples was just spending hours and hours randomly clicking stuff on youtube.

When I say hours meaning there were times where I was unemployed that I spend at least a good 12-15 hours in a given day clicking music.

In that amount of time I'd be lucky to get maybe 6-7 absolute tops things to sample, but I'm kinda picky.
 
Same, youtube and vinyl blogs. I'm saving up to set up a little vinyl station though so that I can get better audio quality.
 
its funny, when I started sampling back maybe 10 years ago, everyone on these type of forums hated anyone who didn't sample from vinyl... if I so much as mentioned mp3s people were like you ain't no producer, you gotta dig - you gotta dig in every record store etc etc. now everyone is youtube youtube. I got no problem with that, I sample everything and I mean everything. if its recordable, then it can be sampled... check out tv, sound tracks, spoken word, old records (of course) but also nowadays you can get cheap second hand cds of stuff not on youtube. youtubes great but its not got everything. I think the main rule for any one starting out sampling is 'you gotta find samples no one else has found'
 
You always get a awesome sound from vinyl, i love it.

But alot of people around my area are purist in that they only sample from vinyl anything else like some black magic or somehting!.

But its the 21st century now, we should move with the times... I sample from every ting, vinyl, CD, Youtube, Mini Disc, VHS, Floppy Disc... haha.. There is no limit on this stuff now, if it sound dope then sample it no matter where it came from.
 
I use youtube mostly. I pick a song thats kinda cool but can't really be turned into much and then I just keep clicking related videos until i've found the one!
 
Friends. That's the only way I find samples. They collect obscure records and such. I don't sample anything that is mainstream.
 
There isn't a specific way for me in finding sample,I collect vinyls from my friends' parents' vinyl collection,digging around youtube,listening to the radio,sampling old cd's and cassetes,there are many ways for me actually.I remember I even asked my dentist to let me record the sound from a dental drill just for a single effect haha,there are no restrictions seriously,so sample what you feel like sampling! :)
 
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First started on Youtube/WhoSampled. From there, started to look up producers of the records I loved and started to buy vinyl based on the preferences
 
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