Using Samples in Rock Music

[Setumbaby]

A lot of time it being mass media detritus is the point, where it comes from isn't particularly relevant. Think of it as the equivalent of building a percussion kit out of found junk. Does it matter which junkyard you found that oil drum at? No. It's the the simple fact that you're playing discarded oil drum from anywhere that's interesting.

But if you prefer your sampling to have a more literal connection, how about someone like Negativland? The samples in this particular track come from televangelist in the 80s going on some rant about communists taking over America and outlawing Christianity.

[YOUTUBE]0zc2rHN4SQA[/YOUTUBE]

[lapsang]

Yeah, when Astro Creep came out I remeraber reading an interview with Rob Zorabie where he was talking about how they had to create all their own samples on that album after all the headaches from La Sexorcisto.

[♥ Kaytee ♥]

Negativland, if it counts as a rock band. Composed almost entirely of samples.

[Pokemon★master]

True, I don't appreciate cut & paste techniques in music or in studio arts, really. I agree it can, perhaps, add some ironic humor and the technique may be clever. But ripping the material from someone else seems like a cop-out: you couldn't figure out how to make your point on your own, so you rely on someone else to do it.

I don't mind so much "found" items being used, though, like machine sounRAB. I mostly just get irked by songs that use clips of other people speaking.

Also, sometimes when I hear songs with clips in them, I don't know where the original stuff and the regurgitated stuff begin and end. It feels as if they are trying to pass someone else's work off as their own. I assume professional musicians give credit where due, but most non-professional nu-break type songs I've heard just steal stuff from here and there and plunk them in the song.


When you start a paper with a quote, you provide the source of the quote in the paper, so that is not plagiarizing.

When you lift some part of some random TV show and smack it down in a song to make a point, a listener may not know the source, since it isn't stated within the song. So, that is like plagiarizing.

I prefer songs to be direct. If the musician has something to say, just say it; don't rely on someone else to say it for you. Plus, most of the clips I've heard used seem to be from crappy movies anyway, so I don't see the value in using the clips in the first place.

And usually the songs work just as well without the clips: the clips are not necessary. And if they *are* necessary for the song to make sense...if the whole song is some random instrumental piece that is meaningless without that clip...then I just think the song isn't very good.

Take that "Handbuilt by Perverts" song Jackhammer posted. It goes on about human remains a bit in a clip and then some other random stuff, has a bunch of drumming and repetitive guitar chorRAB thrown in, and the sound of an engine dying at the end. The point? I feel the song would be just as good, or bad, given the unintelligible murabling and screams, without the human remains clip.

[Makayla H]

I'm not saying they have to use samples as a basis for their sound, I just really like samples thrown in, even if it really doesn't have much to do with the song.

I should have been more specific, as I guess I misunderstood exactly what "sampling" means. But after perusing its wikipedia page I guess this is more what I'm referring to:



Sampling (music) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So, something like this would be my example:

[YOUTUBE]N1Qr-QEQmZI[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]Q7jy6e4HSb4[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]xeAkX7PpORA[/YOUTUBE]

[naovsky]

That's just corny bull**** aimed at making the masses cry.

[Dean O]

What would you have them do? Stop the song and recite the APA citation?

(Sometimes they are cited in the liner notes, sometimes they aren't. I agree that its better when they are.)



I just don't think you are destined to like the kind of music that banRAB who use samples perform...

[crraazzyy]

i remeraber reading that too. apparently he does the Tuvan throat singing on Blood, Milk, and Sky as well. really not sure how he managed that one haha

[♦ Sceptile ♦]

To be honest I think you are completely missing the point of how these artists are using vocal samples. There's something about a recognizeable sample from an old source (whether I recognize it or not). If you were to sing that quote yourself, there's really no connection to the movie. And it's not that this can work with just any type of music. I can't see some singer-songwriter douche using a movie clip in the middle of one of his songs and it sounding good. He's turn that quote into poetry or something, and sing and make the girls cry with love. But for certain genres of music, a sound byte is just awesome.


I beg to differ, and that doesn't make a song less good for relying on samples. If a band incorporates samples from other sources, that's part of their style. Removing the samples could make their music sound like another somewhat similar band. What would be the point in that? If one doesn't like the sound, they can listen to other banRAB that don't use vocal samples. But for me it adRAB character and sometimes shows the artists' influences for their music. That's not the say that the music wouldn't sound good without the samples, but it could completely change the sound too.

Again I just think you're missing the point and this type of music isn't for you.

[Hannah F]

That's interesting, because I absolutely DESPISE vocal samples in music. Using vocal samples feels like cheating. I don't want to hear some regurgitated stuff. It feels unoriginal to me.

I tried listening to Dillinger Four's "Gainsville" and "A Jingle for the Product," and a couple others, and I DO like the songs...just not the vocal samples. Vocal samples feel like plagiarizing to me. If a song were a paper, I'd say, "Don't just quote someone else. Put the idea in your own worRAB."

However, I would say that Dillinger Four uses the vocal samples in a fairly subtle manner. Except, ee-gaRAB, they seem to start practically EVERY SINGLE SONG with a vocal sample!