As the saying goes - everything is a remix and the amount of new ideas in the world is incredibly small. It’s something of a shame that it’s becoming more difficult to justify sampling other records given all the moves towards copyright strikes and even identifying micro samples with technology. To me, sampling is like collage. It’s no less of an art form than regular songwriting, because you have to not only find your source material, but then put it back together in a way that works. Both have their place and both are valid.
I think the big difference is that it now feels like potentially the benefits of sampling or the technology aren’t always evenly shared. Because of those technological changes, I certainly feel like the options are to not sample at all or sample only using pre-made, commercial stock sounds. The part in the middle (recontextualising an existing song) is a high risk move unless you’re in a position to get that sample cleared or have the backing or funds to do so.
However, in my quest to learn about production, I found it fascinating just how commonplace the old version of sampling was. But even more-so also how commonplace it is to find a released record with a Splice loop in it. And to be honest, while it does slightly change my view of those songs, the fact they were made with commercial loops didn’t affect my enjoyment before I knew about it, so why should it affect it afterwards? As recently discussed, there are lines that can be crossed such as releasing a demo track for a sound pack as your own with minor changes. But most people are just on the hunt for material to make something cool with.
If you ask artists they will tell you that they will use whatever they can put their hands on. I’ve dug around in old sample discs and found stuff used by all kinds of artists. These days, that might be Splice or even Tracklib rather than pulling directly from a record. The main thing is to avoid a sludge match where one way of doing things is pitted against the other. Designing a synth patch doesn’t gain you any points if the song you make with it is rubbish. Likewise, using a pre-made loop doesn’t guarantee success in any way. Honestly, most people are combining all these techniques anyway. Everything is a remix - but it’s what you do with that remix that counts, not how you make it or what you make it with.
