Is it just me or is it really difficult to find good samples?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sanfransicso49ers
  • Start date Start date
S

sanfransicso49ers

New member
ive spent so much money on vinyl and every single time i come up with nothing good. So i was just wondering is it just because im not buying good lp's or is it difficult to find good samples?
 
hahaha thats the trick man, listen for obscure shit that you woudnt normally listen for. as for me i live in Jacksonville which basically means no dope record shops. theres a few good ones but they have all the shit thats been used by evetyone, so i try to buy weird records that i hope most people have just overlooked
 
Last edited:
i have the same problem but i think it's more-so just me not recognizing a good sample
 
It's not just you. I normally base my purchases off of the year it's released and the cover art, haha. It seems to work out most of the time. Occassionally I'll buy an album based off the record label, producer, or musicians in the band but that doesn't seem to have a much higher success rate than just looking at the year and album art. *sigh...
 
yah, it's difficult. just picking up digging for samples lately. lots of time i find something cool then find out it's already been used.
 
it's just you.
No matter the album,no matter the year or distributor,it's easy to find at least 1-2 songs to sample
per album.

Peace
 
when i just started i found it hard to find good samples to.
you will learn to do more stuff with different type of songs and get more creative overtime.
but if you know how to add your own melodies on top of a sample basically everything becomes sample-ble. def
 
I'll probably get crucified but I've only been making beats for 5 months and I do all my digging online at this point...
Friday evenings before I go out is spent e-digging for samples to mess with the following week...
 
Start sampling artists on Soundcloud. I go on there, listen to instrumental music and I always find something new and cool to sample. Most of the times, I can find the record on iTunes or another site and purchase the track. If I plan on releasing the track, I contact the artist and try to work out a deal.
 
Sometimes you have to just relax and approach it differently. I tend to find good samples when I'm not even searching for them. I may be playing the radio or my girlfriend will be playing a old school song cd and I'll hear a part of a record that I like. Listening to records a just being a fan of music can help your selction immensely. Devote some time to just listening to old music even if you dont always find a sample.
 
benji2 said:
Sometimes you have to just relax and approach it differently. I tend to find good samples when I'm not even searching for them. I may be playing the radio or my girlfriend will be playing a old school song cd and I'll hear a part of a record that I like. Listening to records a just being a fan of music can help your selction immensely. Devote some time to just listening to old music even if you dont always find a sample.
Click to expand...

This! Step away from trying to make a beat and then something will come to you. Probably is self imposed stress. It's like " i gotta make something" so you start trying to chop cowbells and pitch'em. You gotta just chill and listen to music when you can't touch your gear.
 
Last edited:
It's about recognizing the samples, don't just look for loops, don't not look for loops, I personally go for anything that catches my attention. Maybe certain records I only chop up drums or one shots and don't make any beats but typically I get 2-4 beats out of every record
 
benji2 said:
Sometimes you have to just relax and approach it differently. I tend to find good samples when I'm not even searching for them. I may be playing the radio or my girlfriend will be playing a old school song cd and I'll hear a part of a record that I like. Listening to records a just being a fan of music can help your selction immensely. Devote some time to just listening to old music even if you dont always find a sample.
Click to expand...

great advice right here..if you're straining your ear to find samples you'll most likely miss something right in front of you. A lot of the time i wont feel like making beats i'll feel like digging so i'll just keep moving and save anything i do find, then come back later and get stuck into it
 
Dont beat yourself up over not finding the perfect sample it could be a mixture of things. Sometimes i can find a super dope sample but just cant flip it at that moment and have to come back to it and sometimes i cant find anything at all when im digging. My advice is when you feel like you cant find any dope samples flip the one you think is the hottest or has the best chops and just make something happen. If anything you'll learn a lot from just making something up or you might even find a new sound you didn't have before.
 
you don't have to sample everything though.
Just listen to music ad see how it's put together.
Take some time to just chop samples.You don't have to use them then and there,just stack
them up and get them organized for a slow day.


Peace
 
benji2 said:
Sometimes you have to just relax and approach it differently. I tend to find good samples when I'm not even searching for them. I may be playing the radio or my girlfriend will be playing a old school song cd and I'll hear a part of a record that I like. Listening to records a just being a fan of music can help your selction immensely. Devote some time to just listening to old music even if you dont always find a sample.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with this, you dont need to spend much $ on vinyl to get good samples, dig around on discogs figure out what you like, thin hit up your local flea market or thrift shop. Just listen to A LOT of stuff, and after a while you will be able to pick out good samples quickly and easily.
 
For me it's whatever catches my ear or sounds pleasing. I usually don't go for breaks and look for the quiet segments usually in the intro/outro where there are no drums or vocals. A good record to listen to to train your ears on what to look for is Adrian Younge's Venice Dawn Something About April, that record was made essentially created for the crate digger and is also a really good listen.
 
What I love doing is finding a store where they have a crate of random LPs for very cheap and listen to everything. never know where your sample can come from
 
you gotta love listening to records (or whatever format) on it's own merit to enjoy sampling, if you need instant gratification (and i do myself sometimes) you should gravitate towards synth/key based beats.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top