How common is sampling?

[DJ Warmonger]

Sampling is totally common. I guess not using samples is already avantgarde

Newbies often use samples because they can't make a thing, but professionals who can... still use samples just to have the job finished faster.

That being said, Vengeance samples are haunting me. I keep hearning one or two SFX literally in every 5th trance song I play, this is ridiculous.

[samsam]

Would imagine not serious...?

[Zexila]

I think we mix here some terms, using commercial samples, recording own material and sampling commercial records, which is the most popular and accepted definition of term sampling. What OP had in mind actually?

[Distorted Horizon]

Sampling is totally common. I guess not using samples is already avantgarde

Newbies often use samples because they can't make a thing, but professionals who can... still use samples just to have the job finished faster.

That being said, Vengeance samples are haunting me. I keep hearning one or two SFX literally in every 5th trance song I play, this is ridiculous.

AFAIK the question was about sampling, not using samples?

[captain lysergicacid]

I think we mix here some terms, using commercial samples, recording own material and sampling commercial records, which is the most popular and accepted definition of term sampling. What OP had in mind actually?

I am a newbie, so please excuse me if i use the wrong words or confuse topics...

I was talking about using pieces (or samples) of songs from other people..

I asked the question to myself while watching this video:


To which degree would you say is this technique ok? Is it ok if the samples are not recognisable anymore?
When is it considered "stealing"?
When is it considered "lame copy and paste?"
Is this technique (using other peoples songs) very common?

Without wanting to be a dick,
but i have studied a scientific subject.

When i wrote thesis or paper works, i could use as much other sources as i wanted or needed, AS LONG as i listed them in the bibliography. Everything not listed would be labled "stealing" and result in failing the work and earning a very serious bad reputation.

I sometimes think the same should apply to music.

It really bothers me when some friends (not everybody as interested in music as me) talk about how great this and that song is from this and that artist, but actually its just stolen and the original musicians are not even mentioned.

Great great David Bowie Song:


The same song just with another title stolen by Allen Ellien
Honestly, where is the point?
It's basically the same song without any changes (except the lenght and maybe minor EQ changes) but people are celebrating Allen Ellien instead of David Bowie
(at least she labeled "ft. David Bowie")


Anyways, I digress...

To be honest, i love The Prodigy and they have made great tracks, but after watching the "Make of" Video from the prodigy it made me somehow really sad.

All the magical questions that appear when you hear a great piece of music: How is this made? Which Accords are used? Which tempo, which beats, which scales, and so on .....

Just get answered by "10 minute copy and paste from unknown songs that nobody will recognise"

I mean common, can this really be called "real music" when basically zero musical artistry and knowledge are needed and used?

Where is the respect towards all the artists sitting nights long in smoky rooms drinking and composing?

Is it all just done so somebody can steal parts of your songs, chopp it, rearrange it, play it so that people can stand infront of you acting out to your stolen music?

Sorry again,
I digressed again..

As i said, i don't want to be a dick, neither i want to disrespect any musicans and i love the prodigy by the way.. but anyways, maybe somebody can enlighten me up

[Zexila]

There's plenty of work put in those tracks, but personally I found harder to make anything with sampling than actually sit down start from zero and work out the thing exactly as you want it, finding good stuff to sample isn't just random choice, it seeks as much dedication as leaning how to play instrument, so just learn how to play keys, get nice instruments and synths and forget about sampling.

[vurt]

as far as i remember, the prodigy have usually credited anything they've sampled, and at least since they achieved mass appeal will have been paying royalties. the record company at that level wont risk waiting till after release as getting sued costs a lot more than getting permission.


as for when is it lame and when is it genius?
when it works its genius

[vurt]

then you can look at the artists who end up getting more fame than when they released the song, just from being sampled.
fbs : praise you
moby : the whole of play

[Zexila]

It's genius in Prodigy's case, it took that guy more than 10 minutes to actually do research and make it all out for that video and it took them less to originally do it, let's not forget that's another era and for that era that's genius.

So, in some genres sampling is really common, there's hip hop guys that even sample own made drum parts just for the sound of the MPC and workflow, I guess some french house guys would process their parts the same way they would sampled part even if they did the whole thing from the zero, it's just the preference of the genre.

[Distorted Horizon]

To which degree would you say is this technique ok? Is it ok if the samples are not recognisable anymore?
When is it considered "stealing"?
When is it considered "lame copy and paste?"
Is this technique (using other peoples songs) very common?

In my opinion, it's ok if you do it right and it works. It can be recognizable if it works, but then you have to take care of the clearance.

Examples of "proper" copying.
- Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's delight <- pretty much a copy paste on music part but became significant part of musical history.
- THE Amen break <- a whole genre is built around this.

It's stealing when you give nothing to it. Just copy paste and maybe rearrange a bit. Though there are tiny exceptions. For example some movie one liners etc are quite common in psytrance. Aaaaand it's quite difficult to even imagine a song or two without those For example Infected Mushroom - Release me. That "stolen" piece of speech instantly gives a story and place for that song. It has made the song memorable. If there wasn't that part in the beginning (releeeease.... meeeeehhhhhhhh..), it'd be just a cool sounding song that IM used to have in the early days.