THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO
From sourcing samples to extracting acapellas, rearranging your audio to creative effect processing, let’s take a deep dive into the art of the vocal ‘flip’
The role that sampling has played in democratising music making can’t be understated. Since the technology became widely available in the late-’80s and early-’90s it has offered a workaround for independent and cash-strapped musicians to achieve things that would previously have required access to high-end studios and expensive session musicians. Need a string section? Sample it from an old disco record. Looking for drums? Why not slice that convenient drum break. As technology has progressed, things have only gotten more convenient, to the point that it’s conceivable to create a Hollywood-quality orchestral score entirely from your laptop with access to the right sampled instruments.
One area where this democratising has been particularly pronounced has been vocals. Traditionally the cornerstone of rock and pop, and a key element of dance genres like house, a vocal line is particularly hard to capture without access to the right talent, tech and know-how. But by sampling a pre-existing recording, or accessing a commercially available sample pack, solo producers can get their hands on the raw materials without ever having to plug in a mic.
As much as it should be celebrated, sampling can also be contentious. Every few months, it seems some dinosaur of rock production will pop up to vent about how modern music is inadequate because it’s all based on loops and samples, and nobody is a real musician anymore. While that’s an obviously tiresome opinion and easily dismissed, it is true that there is such a thing as ‘lazy’ sampling. We’ll name no names, but undoubtedly anyone reading this can think of a track or two they’ve heard over the years where a pop, dance or hip-hop artist has built a hit around a sample very obviously lifted from a well-known source with very little creative flair.
When it’s done well, however, the vocal ‘flip’ is an art form all in itself. Whether that involves putting a recognisable source in a new context, or completely deconstructing and reworking a sound so that even the best internet sleuths can’t figure out your source material, creative use of a vocal can turn an otherwise pedestrian track into a classic.
It’s this process we’re focussing on this month; the journey of finding, capturing and reconstructing vocal samples, and how creative processing and effects can make them your own.
In 2023, there are a multitude of ways to access sampled material, each of which offers benefits and drawbacks. Before we dive into the process of working with samples, let’s explore these options, and the best ways to make use of them.
VINYL: A TIMELESS APPROACH
Before digi
