The Digging Advice Thread (great for beginner diggers)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nicro
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I only go for cheap ass records, cause thats the records nobody wants lol and so the sample might not be overused. The first thing I do is to look a the cover, I figured out that the corniest ones often got dope ass stuff on it to sample. Then I look what instruments were used.

I dont care about how rare/expensive a record is or what musician is on it, cause that means shit imo. Sure, sometimes it can be helpful, but I feel like its limiting myself.
 
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A lot of great advice on here. I don't sample much but I definitely want to start experimenting with it more. The few times I do dig for samples, I generally go by "if I like it, flip it."
 
I've got ~7 crates of records sitting behind me and to my left. Number One advice is do not underestimate the value of thrift shops. Yes, they carry a lot of garbage records, but for every 10 garbage record, they're going to have one dope/rare/unique one. The great thing is they don't realize it. They'll sell a $100 record for $2 because they don't have the time to sort through and price items at Value Village.
 
i just go to the nearest place that sells records, whether that be a thrift store a record store or anywhere else, grab a bunch of records that look good and take them home and listen to them. if i dont like them ill just take em back if i still got the receipt and just repeat the process
 
My love and extensive knowledge of all types/genres of music- past and present, whosampled.com, youtube, Spotify, and via word of mouth --- all of those I use when digging/looking for samples, or when I already know what I want to sample for a beat of mine. Older music has a lot of great breaks in it, Labi Siffre, a gay pop artist predominant in the '70s has a lot of songs that have great breaks- drums, piano, percussion, etc. in it ideal for sampling. I've sampled 4-5 of Siffre's song thus far, and I intend to sample more of his music in the near future.

Matter fact, I was introduced to sampling him through whosampled.com where I found out for the first time that Dr. Dre used his song "I Got The (1975)" and sampled it for Eminem's My Name Is, which I never knew. Most samples in hip hop use the tune/music of the song, whereas some just use a vocal sample like Kanye did on Champion with Steely Dan's Kid Charlemagne.

Below is the Dre's My Name Is sample of I Got The, just to give people an idea (I sample a lot of my beats the same way Dre did so here btw) of how he flipped the sample into the beat.

Eminem's My Name Is sample of Labi Siffre's I Got The... | WhoSampled

---------- Post added at 09:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:10 PM ----------

^^^ Oh, and in addition to my post above, I wanted to add how great it is, and how grateful I truly am as a producer, nowadays when making music/making beats & looking for music to sample in a beat. Back in the day, if you wanted to go sample searching for songs to sample in your beats- even as recent as 10-12 years ago, you had to buy the CDs, vinyls, etc. instead of having the luxury of being able to search for thousands of music online for free and saving so much money in the process of doing so. This applies to making beats/rapping, and DJ, with free DJ programs now such as Deckadance available online for download.
 
Too add to all this, I'd say choose something obscure enough to not be noticed first listen. There's nothing better than watching someone twig where one of your samples is from, particularly when you're playing it out
 
so... not strictly for vinyl (as I know lots of other folks have better advice on that) but as far as digital diggin', I've found some GREAT random rare tracks on SLSK. Soulseek is still around, it's an old napster-clone from way back in the day, still maintained by it's loyal followers, which makes me happy. Now, obviously one can make the point that the music has to be uploaded and put online in order to be found, so you can't really 'find' it on your own - but as far as just diggin' for good old rare music, I've found some random rare/foreign/wtf tunes in there that I would have little-to-no chance of finding in a record store..

So, yes, record stores are still preferred IMO, for sample collection building... BUT, there are other routes, and SLSK is one of 'em. Still somewhat (more or less) unknown, as far as I can tell, to the mainstream public, as a lot of folks have gone in other directions to get music that old school napster clones from the late 90s (or maybe early-early-early 2000s?)

Anyway, sorry to rant. And sorry if I'm being off topic. Just thought I'd put in mine. Happy mixin!!
 
I used to have a serious vinyl addiction. My advice is work with what you have. I've seen guys make some nice beats with dollar records and I've seen some pay alot more for a record. I've learned to pay more attention to the beat making process than the actual record themselves. More than likely someone has used the record before and it's your techniques that will differentiate you amd give you your own signature sound.
 
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Also don't be afraid to try those samples you think you can't make a beat out of just another way of standing out and choppn samples nobody else thought about,you'd be surprised what tweaking the sample does
 
when i go record shopping the first thing i look at is the year it was released. albums with programmed drums and electronic instruments normally wont have many good samples so im usually looking for something released before the 80s unless i know whats on it. i also look at the instruments that were used on the record. i personally wont spend more than a couple bucks on a record until ive heard it first. always have my phone ready to do a youtube search. condition of the record is definitely make or break. if its in the dollar bin i wont hesitate to grab a record with crazy album art cuz its usually complimented with some crazy sounds. mostly i just look for samples that havent been touched yet. i also like to digi-dig. lossless preferably, but if i have to settle for mp3 i will use it then go back and hopefully replace it with the hq version later. for beginners i would suggest saving up for some drum breaks. the paul nice ones are cool. ape breaks are fun to work with. 60s/70s funk and soul breaks are everybody's favorite to dig for. biggest tip i can give is do your research. go to the record store with a list of records you want but also dont be afraid to get random stuff from the dollar bin too. you'll get the idea.

a few side notes: dont be afraid to use a sample thats layered with drums plus other instruments. i made that mistake early on and had to go redig thru all my records over again. just remember you can always eq out the bottom/some midrange so only the high end of the drums as well as the sample are heard. doing that will make your mix sound a lot more full and it will give your other drums some character as well. also, listen to the entire song. you never know where the song is going to go. and lastly, once you get home and you're digging thru the records you bought, dont be afraid to sample something even if it sounds like you cant flip it. load it to your sampler, timestretch/pitch shift/etc and see what happens.
 
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Yo I'm new to sampling and digging and just wanted to know how do you guys get the samples you like from Vinyl to your DAW?
 
Odawg216 said:
Yo I'm new to sampling and digging and just wanted to know how do you guys get the samples you like from Vinyl to your DAW?
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all you're doing is recording the part you like from the vinyl to your daw. search amazon for any of the stuff below and you'll be set up. but do yourself a favor and do some research before you buy something.


ok heres what you'll need for hardware

- a turntable with a rca output
- a preamp (or a mixer with a built in preamp)
- an audio interface


here what you'll need for cables
*an rca cable is the cable with red/white plugs that you'd connect to your tv from an n64/cable box/xbox etc*
*male is what you would plug into something, female is what you would plug something into (male sticks out like a dick, female has a hole like a pussy lol)*

- an rca male to male cable (possibly with ground wire depending on turntable)
(this will connect your turntable's output to your preamp or mixers input)

- an rca male to male standard cable
- an rca FEMALE to 1/4 inch male
(when you connect these 2 it will plug your preamp or mixer's output to your interface's input)


from there you just need to hook up your interface to your daw. if you're just starting out and looking to save some money id go with the alesis iO2 express interface. it has 2 channels with a 1/4 inch jack and an XLR jack on each channel. so if you want to start recording vocals or even sampling sounds you recorded thats always fun. you can find them for around 100 bucks. thats what i started out with and ive never had any issues with them. i also started out with the cambridge audio 540P preamp which was around 100 bucks. nice interface for the price. but if you have a 2 channel analog dj mixer i would just use that instead of the preamp

turntables is a whole other issue. you can choose between belt drive or direct drive. id personally go with direct drive. they do add a little bit of background noise but it wont really pick up in the mix so it doesn't matter. plus if you wanna do scratches you will definitely want a direct drive. if you are strictly using the turntable for listening and sample (no scratches, mixing, DJing, etc) then go ahead and pick a nice one up. if you wanna save some money and have fun doing some scratches and ****ing around on the turntable. i wouldnt invest too much into the turntable. i like the Numark TT200 cuz when you hear a sample you like, you can press reverse and go back to start of the sample without picking up the needle. regardless of what you get, buy a good needle!

one tip, if you've never sampled before then start out with digi-digging. try to get some lossless or wav files (mp3s if you have to) off the internet. i assume you're making hip hop no use in spending a bunch of money on analog stuff if you decide its not for you.

if you do decide to get it and this is at all confusing, go to your local music spot and they will help you out. youtube is always a lot of help also. good luck
 
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SeigeWins said:
albums with programmed drums and electronic instruments normally wont have many good samples so im usually looking for something released before the 80s unless i know whats on it.
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agree 100%. a lot of soul/funk type music in the 80s had corny ass drum machines, loud as hell, making the tracks impossible to sample (due to the prominent drum machine.) key words to look for are "linn drum" and "drum programming" or "dmx" or generally the name of any drum machine.
 
ego killer said:
agree 100%. a lot of soul/funk type music in the 80s had corny ass drum machines, loud as hell, making the tracks impossible to sample (due to the prominent drum machine.) key words to look for are "linn drum" and "drum programming" or "dmx" or generally the name of any drum machine.
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Yeah drum machines are wack, I mean who would want to sample something that used a drum machine like the TR-808? On a more serious note I myself am a fan of 80s music every era of music has it's good stuff and it's corny stuff. It just comes down to personal taste and what you're looking for in a sample. Remember the best samples are the ones u stumble onto by accident so don't limit yourself too much
 
If your new to digging go in by just looking for things that standout to you such as album art that is unusual, names your familiar with, labels you know and also go outside the box and grab those albums that peak your curiosity for what ever reason. That's just a simple way to start without overwhelming yourself.
 
I just chopped some kris kristopherson and it came out so dope. I love the 70s vinyl saturation and fidelity
 
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