The Slow Art of Soul Samples

Sacred Flame RnB & Soul is a new sample pack by Oneself Records (Pauline Mancini). Rooted in real instrumentation and inspired by the emotional depth of modern R&B and soul, this pack captures the essence of music that feels intentional and lived-in rather than quickly manufactured.
In this interview, we explore the artist’s journey, their perspective on the pace of the industry, and how they stand out in an increasingly disposable musical landscape.

Pauline: I started making music in secret at 16. I was very shy and knew nothing about music. I couldn't play an instrument and had no idea I could sing. One day, out of nowhere, I bought a ukulele and taught myself four chords from a YouTube video. That same night, I wrote my first song. After that, I composed and wrote something new every single day, I was completely addicted. I recorded everything on an old recorder, and one day I played it for my mom. She listened and said: "That's amazing, who's the artist?" I told her it was me. She was shocked. And that was the beginning of everything!

From there, a lot happened. I performed on stage for a few years, singing my own songs but I gradually realized that what I loved most was composing and producing. That's when I downloaded FL Studio and taught myself everything from scratch. More than ten years later, I'm living my dream as a music producer. Honestly, I still find it hard to believe.

What's funny is that everything started moving forward when I stopped focusing on social media and started putting all my energy into creating and reaching out to the right people. What I will say is that the pressure of short-form content has pushed a lot of music toward the immediate and the disposable and I think that creates space for something slower and more soulful to stand out.

I've always been deeply inspired by strong women and spirituality and that's exactly what I wanted to capture with this pack. Artists like Alina Baraz, Sabrina Claudio, Snoh Aalegra, Jorja Smith, and Olivia Dean were real inspirations: the way they use space, vulnerability, and groove together is what makes their music so relatable and so human.

In this pack, everything sounds like it was played by someone who meant it. That's essential to me especially at a time when soulless, AI-generated music is everywhere. Sacred Flame RnB & Soul is the opposite of that.

I've always loved finding ideas, that moment when a melody or a drum groove just clicks. When I was producing music for myself as an artist, I was essentially building my own sample libraries without even realizing it. At some point, it just made sense to share them.

What I love about this format is that it demands precision: every sample has to work on its own and inside someone else's creative vision. There's something genuinely special about knowing that music I made in my studio is being used by talented producers all over the world.

BOS_SF_75_Music_Loop_Divine_Bm without a doubt. It was the very first loop I worked on when the idea for this pack came to me. It's smooth, vulnerable, and recorded with real instruments. I could honestly listen to it on repeat for hours.