{"id":19197,"date":"2021-12-04T14:42:08","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T19:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=19197"},"modified":"2026-01-14T15:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T20:10:17","slug":"3-levels-of-sampling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/3-levels-of-sampling\/","title":{"rendered":"The 3 levels of sampling (beginner to pro)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The origins of sampling can be traced back to the 1940s, with the French experimental style of <em>musique concr\u00e8te<\/em>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>By physically manipulating tape with processes like splicing and looping, innovators such as Beatriz Ferreyra and Pierre Henry opened up new possibilities for how we could arrange sound. Then, Jamaican <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/what-is-dub-music\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dub reggae<\/a> producers such as Lee &#8220;Scratch&#8221; Perry began incorporating pre-recorded samples into their music in the &#8217;60s, and in the &#8217;80s, the introduction of commercial sampling hardware created the widespread boom of sampling, spearheaded by the likes of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa. Soon after, revolutionary artists like J Dilla, DJ Premier, and DJ Shadow pushed sampling to a whole new level\u2014and we fast-forward to today, where tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/sounds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Splice Sounds<\/a> now enable anyone with a computer to explore the world of samples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the video above, we go over this brief history of sampling and then dive straight into the three levels of complexity that exist within the process today. While we use FL Studio, Ableton, and Bitwig to demonstrate (along with plugins including XLN Audio&#8217;s <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"XO (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/plugins\/38536865-xo-vst-au-by-xln-audio\" target=\"_blank\">XO<\/a> and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"RC-20 Retro Color, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/plugins\/20283103-rc-20-retro-color-vst-au-by-xln-audio\" target=\"_blank\">RC-20 Retro Color<\/a>), you can use any built-in or third-party tools of your choosing to achieve the techniques covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What tips did you find most useful? What sorts of topics in music production would you like to see us explore on <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"our YouTube channel (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCb8xLPa5RP8TnCsU7E5ASKQ\" target=\"_blank\">our YouTube channel<\/a> next? Let us know in the comments section of the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Incorporate XLN Audio&#8217;s XO into your own beat making process:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/plugins\/38536865-xo-vst-au-by-xln-audio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Try XO for free<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We go over a brief history of sampling and then dive straight into the three levels of complexity that exist within the process today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":19198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1851,1852,1850,1854,1696,49],"tags":[1386,333,1781,1473,1254,1718,1780,918],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The 3 levels of sampling (beginner to pro) - Blog | Splice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We go over a brief history of sampling and then dive straight into the three levels of complexity that exist within the process today.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/3-levels-of-sampling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 3 levels of sampling (beginner to pro) - Blog | Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We go over a brief history of sampling and then dive straight into the three levels of complexity that exist within the process today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/3-levels-of-sampling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog | Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-04T19:42:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T20:10:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/3_levels_of_Sampling_BlogPost.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nick Chen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@splice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@splice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nick Chen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/3-levels-of-sampling\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/3-levels-of-sampling\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nick Chen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/006da68db2cca36c1730e68e67130d39\"},\"headline\":\"The 3 levels of sampling (beginner to pro)\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-04T19:42:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-14T20:10:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/3-levels-of-sampling\/\"},\"wordCount\":262,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/3-levels-of-sampling\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/3_levels_of_Sampling_BlogPost.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"history\",\"plugins\",\"rc-20 retro color\",\"rent-to-own\",\"sounds\",\"xln audio\",\"xo\",\"youtube\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ableton Live\",\"Bitwig Studio\",\"DAW\",\"FL Studio\",\"Tips &amp; 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