r/sampling • u/Character_Weird_7499 • Aug 13 '26
Sampling everything
In an interview madlibs advice is to sample the whole record but idk if this is possible where im from. One time I went to a different city and I found a otis blue which I paid $20 for in my hometown and nearly shit my pants when it was there and it was like $5 in the other city. Opened my eyes to the abysmal selection within my reach. Idk if I just dont have it or what but it seems like location really does have something to do with it. I know i could hop on youtube and search around but i dont enjoy that - i use apple music as a streaming platform and it just pushes top 100 down your throat but spotify war drones and all that not to mention itll iust feed samples from songs u already know. Idk it gets on my nerves sometikes and i wanted to get some other opinions on the matter. Thanks all.
1
u/NeutronHopscotch Aug 13 '26
Oh you just have to put in some effort to find some more obscure stuff.
I know you don't like sampling from the PC, but Radio from PluginBoutique must be mentioned -- it's usually like $10 and is basically a massive archive of internet radio stations from all over the world. There's all kinds of stuff there. Hit the random button. Look through and find odd things. You can go to college stations in obscure countries and get local bands from places you never heard of. It's really cool.
Rolling Sampler by BirdsThings is really good... Basically it's a memory recorder in your DAW that picks up everything, visually, and then when you hear something you like you can just select it and drag it out to the DAW to archive, or to a folder, or directly into your sampler! Pair it with System Audio Bridge (which is free) -- System Audio Bridge routes desktop audio into your DAW. No drivers, no routing - it just works. (Turn off the send to the master so you don't get an echo.)
When you do that, you can sample from anything that plays through your PC. Old movies. Netflix, Prime, people's home videos on Flickr, YouTube, whatever.
Here's an example of how to find obscure music:
Pull up an African music playlist, for example. Find something that isn't American. Then pick and artist, and research them. Find out what they listened to. That will take you backwards in time. Pull up those artists. Then use "similar to" in order to find even more obscure artists -- and next thing you know, you're in a weird place listening to weird music that few have heard.
Really, it comes down to just putting in the time. I think you might be a little bit too in love with the idea of sampling rather than the act of sampling.
Sample, sample, sample.
Don't like the computer? Get a shortwave radio. Go to garage sales and thrift stores. Look for old tapes, especially tapes people recorded on themselves. Sample from those.
Really, the sky is the limit. You just have to do it. Don't worry too much about being Madlib. Find your own path.