Vinyl sampling: What’s the best approach?
Grabbing hits and loops from vinyl records is one of the oldest and most widely used techniques in dance music production, but what’s the best way to go about this in 2020? The key thing worth aiming for is having a setup that involves as little hassle as possible. When you stumble across inspiration hidden on the b-side of your latest charity shop find, the last thing you want is to lose momentum as you untangle wires or replug a turntable into your audio interface. If you have space for a vinyl DJ setup in your studio, you have a simple solution – most mixers offer some kind of analogue or digital output that can be kept hooked up to a studio computer, allowing your DJ rig to double up as a sampling source (and you can use your mixer’s EQs and effects on the way in as a bonus). Some modern turntables come equipped with built-in USB outputs, which allow users to cut out the middle man and go straight from deck to digital.
Alternatively, recording directly into a hardware sampler is a classic approach that avoids the need to boot up a computer. Akai’s MPC Live is particularly good here, as its phono input, complete with ground connector, is ideal for hooking up a turntable, but most sampling hardware can be made to work with the right adapter, or via use of a mixer or amp.
Where to start with sampling the records themselves? A good technique is to have separate listening sessions, to note potential sample material. Add stickers to the record’s label to mark rough positions of your favourite material, or make notes on the sleeve. Listen for parts in isolation that can be ripped, like drum breaks, vocal solos or strong hits and stabs.
Modern samplers and DAWs make it easy to adjust the timing and pitch of your sample after it’s recorded, but for an authentic effect, use your turntable’s pitch control to fit a loop or drum break to the project tempo. You can fine tune this after, but fluctuations in the speed or pitch of your recording can add extra character.