3 Ways Sampling Music Can Benefit Your Audience

Many people overlook how producers creatively sample music, melodies, or even unusual sound effects to create a whole new unique piece of work. However, some music fans have a different take and instead look down on music samples used today as being unoriginal. There is a long history of samples being used in music (with examples arguably found all the way back in 1940!). Sampling can still be used creatively by artists and producers in ways anyone is able to love. Here is a shortlist of some of our favourite sampling techniques and why we think sampling should be here to stay.

1. Old Music Samples help Introduce younger people to old music

Personally, I can’t count the number of times I ran into a song and just had to look up the sample and ended up falling in love with the original artist. Many mainstream artists use hooks or background vocals from famous songs from the past that the youth might never get introduced to otherwise. In a blog by LANDR, it was made clear just how prevalent sampling is even as far back as the use of Ancient Greek chorus and verses. 

Artists also use samples to pay homage to their history.  For example, Kanye’s west song “Blood on the Leaves” uses chorus vocals from Nina’s Simone's song “Strange fruit”. The song is an eerily dark reminder of the suffering Black Americans faced during Jim Crow which was renewed to appeal to the present and pass on its importance to younger listeners.

Blood on the leaves - Kanye West

Producers: Kanye West, Ross Birchard, Elon Rutberg, Malik  Jones, Tony Williams, Cydel Young, Mike Dean, Lewis Allen

2. Producers can creatively create a new song from samples

Once I found out about music sampling, listening to song samples that sound completely different from the original song amazed me. Producers can get very creative while making music through sampling. They utilize production techniques to chop and screw, mix, loop etc. to create a new song as the use of microsampling. 

The YouTube video “What is MIDI” by LANDR, goes over MIDI (Musical Interface Digital Interface) which changed modern music profoundly with technology. 

Many hip hop artists have perfected this art of sampling such as Kanye West, Timbaland, Daft Punk, Pharrell and more. What’s great about this software is how more simple it makes the production process. If you aren’t familiar with production software, Jony Studios is a great service to help you with your recording, editing and mixing as well!

Blurred Lines- Robin Thicke  (sample Marvin Gaye’s Got to Give it up)

Producer: Pharrell Williams

3. Appreciation for different cultures

A lot of popular songs in pop culture actually take influences from cultures which connect music lovers around the world. During this digital age, through social media, the globalization of music is greater than ever as more music becomes available to use with permission. For example, Justin Timberlake's “What Goes Around Comes Around” which was produced by Timbaland and Danja samples a Yemeni Folk song. An article by ArabNews praises how more foreigners find a new appreciation for Arab Music as a result of sampling. 

Artists like M.I.A can also sample music to pay homage to their own culture such as she did in her song ‘Jimmy’ which was sampled by a Bollywood song by Parvati Khan. 

What goes around comes around - Justin Timberlake

Producer: Waylone Jennings, Richie Albright

Conclusion

Sampling in the future will likely become more unique and interesting as streaming services become more global along with increasingly advanced music editing software. Everyone loves timeless music with hooks and melodies that people loved years ago or miles away that will be loved by new audiences when transformed through production.

Do you think completely original songs are the only way for artists to be creative? Let us know what you think below.

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If you need further help creating your own music, we offer audio production and video production services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!

We look forward to being a part of your success.

Contact us here to get started.

Andrew Scheps Mixing Tips

Grammy-winning mix engineer Andrew Scheps, is one of the biggest recording and audio engineers in the industry today. Andrew has a background playing the trumpet and completed a Recording Engineering Degree at the University of Miami.

His career began interning at two studios in New York and California, before becoming a synclavier specialist working on the road with big acts like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder and it only went up from there.

Moving to LA in 2001 he began working closely with another incredible producer Rick Rubin (stay tuned for another Industry Legend Spotlight Blog) where he made news mixing the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s album entirely in analogue.

Since then he has worked with a star-studded list of artists including Adele, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, U2, Iggy Pop and more! 

Since then Andrew Scheps again ruffled industry feathers by going the opposite direction and making the decision to mix entirely “in the box”, that is, without any analogue gear, entirely on a computer. Despite such a drastic change, Andrew still maintains the top quality sound and music philosophy that got him success originally. 

To be such an incredible and experienced engineer and still being willing to share his insights is really inspiring to us at Jony Studios, and it is our pleasure to share some of our favourite tips he’s shared over the years. 

*With all mixing tips, there is no one size fits all. These recommendations come from one of the best mixing engineers working with some of the best musicians and recording engineers therefore if your samples don’t work quite as well don’t worry! Using your own ears to find the sound that YOU love is much more important than copying a legend exactly. Even Andrew Scheps won’t have the exact same settings or plugins on any two projects* 

Vocal Mixing

Vocal mixing can be one of the most intimidating aspects of a new song. Regardless of if it is your voice, a friend or a client, the vocals are (almost) always front and centre in the mix, and you just know they have to be perfect. 

Just getting your vocals to cut through and be in front is the first step, and Andrew Scheps, known for using a lot of parallel processing in his work, has just the ticket. This tip features only techniques “in the box” so it’s very easy to recreate at home even if you’re just starting out. 

The first chain is very simple: 

First

Cut low end at around 100hz with a very wide shelf cut of less the 3.0db and boost the high end at around 8khz of around 3.0db

Second

Heavily compress the high end with a threshold around -36.0db above 1khz with a soft knee and ratio around 4.0/1. Your attack and release should be quite high as well, around 10ms and 120ms respectively

Third

Boost the low end with another eq at 100hz at around 2.5db and cut a little top end at 10khz, around 1.5db

With this technique, a vocal can cut through even the more dense mixes with clarity. Using just the first two steps in the chain, you are essentially compressing just the high and mid of the vocal chain. These areas greatly affect the presence and comprehensibility but also add in a lot of air, or harshness. In order to level the vocal out again and remove the harshness while maintaining clarity, the last step of the vocal chain eq’s a slight low pass, low boost filter leaving you with a hyper-compressed but pleasant and stable vocal. 

Bass Mixing

As always, the first step to getting a guitar/bass tone that you like is making a great sample. Recording and playing a great take is essential, there is a lot you can do while mixing, but fixing a poor sample will always turn out worse than polishing a great one. 

Again, Scheps is a big fan of parallel processing to produce the sound he wants. In the case of an aggressive and fast bass, it is a common misconception that heavy distortion is what brings the energy. Scheps argues that the attack, or actual sound of the physical strings (in a recording) provides much more character, rhythm and energy. If you’re looking for the feeling that bands like Green Day get with their punk bass, try this parallel processing technique. 

First

The first chain is a simple eq boosting the mids by 5-7dbs around 1.75khz

Second

The next independent chains are where the distortion really comes in (you didn’t think we forgot about it did you?). Using several different amps, or characters also help to fill out the booming low end of a good bass section, therefore layering these should be the next step. 

Third

Finally, all three should be fed through a final processing chain, first drive some of the low end with a multiband compressor. Follow that with another multiband compressor, this time slightly leveling the whole frequency range, and finally top it off with an eq bringing up some more low end at around 700hz boosting around 3.0db

Guitar Mixing

Guitar’s are also unique in that they are often a focus of a track alongside the vocal. Especially in the case of rock or metal, a heavy distorted power chord or triad can often fight with the vocal for space in a mix, another difficult challenge for any mixing engineer. 

For Andrew Scheps, compressing and eq are also essential, but the final solution in some cases is panning. 

To start, it’s important to remember that certain plugins, or analogue gear for that matter, are meant to be used around a certain frequency. There are a very large amount of vocal processing plugins including enhancers, compressors and eqs. For the exact same reason why your guitars and vocals might clash, those same plugins might work just as well on guitar! Guitars occupy a very similar frequency space to vocals therefore some of the vocal processing tips gone over earlier can also work here!

Another thing to remember is that guitars inherently are an extremely resonant instrument. Here more than ever it is essential to get a great take because trying to take out too much fuzzy distortion during the mixing process can be difficult when so many other clean frequencies and the sound of the pick are up there as well.

Parallel compression can again really help mixing guitars without changing their sound too much and there really isn’t any single chain or tip here. 

First

Boosting some low end around 600hz slightly can really bring the tone of a guitar to life, but again be sure not to get too heavy with this as it can significantly change the energy of a take.

Second

Using very minimal parallel compression next is necessary in some cases to level the sound again but again, too much will be very detrimental. As stated regarding bass, the attack of an instrument is very responsible for the energy groove or aggression (depending on what you’re going for) so a flat guitar part can just feel lifeless. 

Once you have all this down with a solid take and the energy you want it’s time to position it in the mix. Especially with a busy or heavily distorted guitar part you might again notice the guitar and vocals fighting with each-other. While more eqing can help, Andrew Scheps has also come up with a unique solution. 

You guessed it, panning. An unbalanced mix is far from pleasant but by panning the guitar part, or other mid range heavy element, you leave more room for the star of the show, the vocals to shine through. Using this technique is very tricky and should only be used when absolutely necessary however using some reverb panned to the opposite side will greatly help keep imbalances to a minimum. Try panning other elements including backing vocals opposite the main guitar part as well to make sure the mix has a perfect balance at the end of the day. 

How to prepare for a session

Preparation is another one of those things that most professionals would just say takes practice. Getting ready for your first, fifth or even 100th recording session can always be stressful. 

Take it from the words of Andrew Scheps himself from an interview with Your Audio Solutions 

“Preparation.

You can never do enough preparation.

You need to have everything in your head and written down. For example, which microphones to use, placements, which preamps to use and where to put them all so you can get to the vocals really easily.

Where to put the musicians and one of the most important things, their headphones. How are they going to hear and see each other because that is the biggest thing to get a good recording - making the band feel comfortable. If they can’t hear what’s going on they can’t play. Every single aspect of that has to be right. 

Show up early, be completely ready to go, so if someone walks in and sits down by the drum kit you are ready to hit record.

You can’t decide everything in advance because the session goes how the session goes. But it’s good to have planned out as much as possible beforehand so you can react to the chaos and still be able to record. No matter what changes. For example, if they decide to record the drums in the control room, you can do that and make it work because you have everything under control. “

Conclusion

By taking just a few minutes to hear Andrew Scheps speak about his craft it is so clear just how passionate he is. It is that kind of energy that greatly inspires us at Jony Studios, and I hope it inspires you too. All these tips and many more are available on the internet through countless interviews, videos and online courses, mostly for free! We would like to thank Andrew Scheps for his great contribution to the industry, not least of which through the sharing of his expertise but also through his work on some of the most famous, and well-loved albums in the past 20 years. 

If you are interested in hearing more music, mixing, and marketing tips be sure to keep up to date with us on social media and keep checking our website for more blogs like this. In addition, check out our services page for more information on what we can do for your music career. 

- By Erik Steiner

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If you need further help creating your own music, we offer music production services that will help you elevate your sound and bring your song to life!

We look forward to being a part of your success.

Contact us here to get started.

Music Blogs That Will Feature Your Song

Remember when we talked about the best ways to promote your music online and get your music on playlists? Sharing your music with small indie and large blogs are a great way to start getting an organic following, and if they really like it you may even be asked to do an interview! 

Not everyone gets their start cold calling/emailing a blog though and there are certain important conventions to follow so your beat doesn’t get lost in the wind. To start you off, our past blog about getting your music on playlists talks about some of the most important things to remember when reaching out, and if you’re looking for some blogs interested in indie music then you’ve come to the right place! 

These blogs have all been chosen because of their generality and internationalism however, sending your music to a genre-specific or local blog will always be more effective when you’re just starting out. It is always important to ensure your song has the right fit, otherwise there is no way you will be featured. 

A&R Factory

A&R Factory is one of the biggest music blogs designed to bring independent and unsigned artists to the ears of labels and industry veterans. Their easy online submission form promises to be viewed by those who use this site as a resource for new music. Since its inception in 2012 it has grown immensely and now accepts music of all genres anywhere in the world. If you get on here then you know you got something good. 

Indiepulse Music Magazine

Indiepulse Music Magazine is an independent music publication devoted to (you guessed it) indie music artists. They are always looking for new music and artists to feature in their stories and interviews, therefore this site can be even more than a ticket onto a playlist. 

Xune Mag

This magazine is another publication featuring mostly independent and emerging artists worldwide. Their submission form is only gated by a little social media love therefore it should be accessible to pretty much anyone! Again, interviewing, reviewing and being placed on playlists are all on the table and Xune doesn’t discriminate by any genre. 

Indie Shuffle

This blog is an assembly of international writers united in one belief, that humans are better than robots at picking music. Their commitment is compelling, and dedication even more so. There are no bad reviews on the site, therefore if you are featured again, good things will come. Once again don’t worry about genre or vibe, all it takes is high quality music. Furthermore, submitting is extremely easy from their website and, if the writer in you takes an interest, you can even get involved that way!

The Alternative Feed

The Alternative Feed says they started to just be about good music, and they have done just that. Friends Lindsey Lanham and Garnette Ransom have made a unique music blog that is accessible and entertaining in the best way. Submitting your music online will nominate you for a review and/or feature on one of the most no nonsense music sites around, what could be better? 

The Line of Best Fit

This music newspaper/magazine features mostly established artists but maintains a strong discovery playlist on spotify that has almost 4000 followers! This website requires a very strong pitch to be featured as a completely indie artist and does not have a dedicated music submission button therefore you’ll have to put your best foot forward with some great emailing skills. 

Cut the Pause

Cut the Pause is a smaller specifically underground music blog with a playlist of only 21 songs followed by over 1200 people. Again, submit any genre from anywhere in the world for a chance to be featured on their site or on their playlist. 

BIRP.FM

This blog was started all the way back in 2009 as an indie/rock playlist but has now grown to many genres and styles. Based in Paris Texas, they are also always looking for remote writers and new music to feature on one of their many monthly playlists. BIRP is just as much a community as it is a blog, and it never hurts to get involved if you want to get your tracks reviewed. 

Emerging Indie Bands

Emerging Indie Bands has a uniquely international focus, unlike other blogs which plit songs by genre, this one does by region. For this reason, this is a great resource to find new bands that are not only really cool but close by! Getting in contact with the writers here is not quite as straightforward as other blogs however, there is no dedicated submission form therefore appealing to them through social media DMs might be the best shot.

Hearya

Hearya, based in Chicago is another music blog/publication with an interesting twist. They feature regular live streamed music sessions featuring some of the artists they love! Again, this blog does not have a submission form but most get in touch through comments on their website or through social media. 

Indie Music Filter

Finally, Indie Music Filter based in Toronto gives yet another incredible look into the best indie music around with articles, playlists and a podcast. On this blog, guest writers are regularly featured for even more unique perspectives and their article categories are even more unique with examples like East vs West and Mellow Mondays. Getting your music to the ears over at Indie Music Filter is as clear as it can be with a page dedicated to how best to send them music. 

Conclusion

There are countless music blogs out there on the internet from a fans local scene breakdown to a massive newspaper with countless writers and a multi-thousand plus playlist. Depending on your career stage, each one can be beneficial and getting your music on one blog will undoubtedly help get it on another. Although these blogs may be the biggest and most general indie blogs out there, they might not be the right fit for your music. Finding one that best fits you is always more effective than email blasting everyone you can find so make sure to do some research into each site before putting yourself out there. 

Also, getting rejected or not getting a response is always going to be part of the process, every has to start somewhere, and it is much better to leave the conversation peacefully than to vent your frustration and close those doors, they may not be featuring you right now but maybe your next release will be more their speed. 

If you are interested in the music promotional journey and other music related content, be sure to keep up with our blogs on our website here. Also feel free to reach out to us about your music.

We offer audio production, mixing and mastering services that can take your song to the next level, just fill out this quick contact form. Have a great day!

- By Erik Steiner