x

Is using samples cheating?

Home 2023 › Forums › The DJ Booth › Is using samples cheating?

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • August 16, 2012 at 8:53 pm #1009818
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    When I play guitar and I use a riff in my song that was invented by Steve Vai, but I play it slower and work it into my scale is it cheating? It will sound different…
    When I make a sculpture and make it from used car parts is it cheating?
    Do not infringe copyrights and pay respect to the inventor of something. Apart from that it is art and art can start with something you sample.

    August 16, 2012 at 9:01 pm #1009821
    Prude leRude
    Participant

    I don’t think using samples is cheating, a lot of great songs use samples, the difference is they make something totally new. Taking samples and claiming it as original material is a different story!

    August 16, 2012 at 10:09 pm #1009827
    D-Jam
    Participant

    I don’t call it cheating, especially for how many tunes have used the Amen Break.

    I do call it “cheap” when one slaps a basic beat on a known track and then tries to pass it off as a “new production”.

    August 17, 2012 at 12:37 am #1009833
    twicx
    Member

    you three all put the point i was trying to make into much simpler, clearer terms! hahaha!

    I agree with all 3 of you. It really comes down to how it’s used. Prude leRude hit a good point. Claiming it as your own is just disgraceful. Terry’s point on the Steve Vai thing is interesting. Didn’t Coldplay get sued by Satriani for something like that?

    At the end of the day, samples are really an aid or a tool. It’s like saying “oh everyone uses sylenth and massive!!” Maybe so, but I bet they all use it differently. maybe I’ll make a piss-take video on the do’s and dont’s of samples :p

    August 17, 2012 at 1:16 am #1009834
    synthet1c
    Member

    the amen break is the foundation for more than half of the drum n bass ever created and a fair bit of breaks. There is no shame in using it as it sounds so good, but you should really try to resample it to make your own fills and make the loop your own.

    In any track I have ever made I use drum loops on the background but make the kick and snare/clap individual to the track by layering, compressing and eqing different sounds. I have never used a melody loop and try to avoid synth presets as it’s more rewarding to make your own.

    August 17, 2012 at 3:27 am #1009837
    Judojerry
    Member

    It’s definitely not cheating if you take them and remake them into your own thing, I regard it as pretty close to cheating to do what Steve Angello did with Knas, where an unaltered sample is the basis of your song, but I really don’t think you can call what Avicii did with Penguin, or the Prodigy with Smack My Bitch Up, in anyway ‘cheating’.

    August 22, 2012 at 8:36 am #1010070
    Lj Stevens
    Participant

    Definitely not! When i first started DJ’ing years ago I used to make up loads of loops and samples in Cool Edit and play them out as fills and links but then took it took the next level of producing my own bootlegs! Then i started buying 2 of each 12″ so I could start bouncing between them using samples. DJ’ing is about expressing and sharing your creativity and music collection with others, taking an audience on a journey and if you have to use samples, loops, or what ever then thats you personality coming through! Keep it up!

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • The forum ‘The DJ Booth’ is closed to new topics and replies.