Samping vinyl for the first time

Since I was a kid, I've been very much into rap, and I've always been involved in hip-hop culture in some way. I learned break steps, attended events, and consumed a lot of information on the subject. My brother was always connected with music and was part of several bands. When he bought the first computer, he also acquired an external sound card to record guitar solos and bass lines.

Watching him, I learned to do the same, but I don't know how to play any instruments, so I just kept playing in the software and recording some no sense freestyle rhymes. With a large library of knowledge at my disposal, the world wide web, I researched and studied about music production, especially rap, to better understand how the construction of one of the pillars of hip hop culture worked.

I discovered FL Studio, Slicex, FPC and learned about the famous use of samples. Pieces of music that producers use to create other compositions, most from obscure and forgotten records in some corner of the thrift store. Of course, I also knew the tools used by the great beatmakers: MPC and turntables. World rap classics were produced only with these two instruments.

I still dream of an MPC, but the old Fruity Loops has amused me a lot and solved my need to create something completely different from an unknown work. This process fascinates me and whenever I'm listening to my raps, a computer tab sits on the WhoSampled.com so I can find out where that sample came from and try to unravel the process behind the production.

Every time, I'm really fascinated by the ability of these beatmakers to listen to something and imagine another song with that piece of guitar, bass, piano or, in some cases, words and phrases. A few seconds of samples are enough for the producer to craft a beat and completely transform the original composition. Only trained ears can trace the path to the music that originated the beat.

My first creations were reproductions of famous beats, with samples already known, and this already excited me. As I got to know the software better and getting the way to chop and rearrange the samples, I tried to create. My source was YouTube, where I spent hours of my day listening to songs from various genres trying to find a rough diamond to cut.

And that also formed my musical personality. I just listen to all kinds of music, and so I put up a lot of baggage. I don't know everything, obviously, but I'm surprised when I hear some beat and I can identify where it came from or think "I've heard it somewhere before". Researching and listening to new music should be in everyone's routine.

I had midi controllers that facilitated the composition process and cut many samples of songs downloaded on YouTube but listening and recording something directly from the vinyl player still hung in my imagination. I know there's not much difference in the final process, but I wanted to do it the same way the old ones did. And recently, I heard a vinyl and recorded the sound that it played on my computer to chop and create a beat.

I still have the sound card that my brother bought over 10 years ago, and it works great. Last month, I went to live with my girlfriend and she's passionate about music and has a vinyl player, plus, of course, a lot of vinyl. I chose something that wouldn't exist anywhere: a vinyl with songs by local composers, one of them from my own father-in-law, and it was this song that caught my attention. I haven't done anything too much, I just recorded the music on my computer. Soon I'm going to chop some parts that I found interesting and try to build something. I've got it all in my head.

And although it's not the same way the pioneers did - recording excerpts of the song at MPC and chopping the sample directly on it - it was a moment that gave me a lot of satisfaction and joy. Touching the needle on the correct track, regulating the volumes, and starting the recording was like I was playing music, feeling touchy, with my own hands. It was a magical moment.