Sampling Techniques on FL Studio
Learn why one of the simplest music production tools is also responsible some of the biggest hits.

We all admire how amazing the voices of our favorite artists are, but there's plenty of work that goes on behind the scenes. One of the major things that happen behind closed doors is the production. Back in the 60s, artists had to go to studios to get their music recorded and produced. The invention of digital audio workstations (DAWs) changed everything.

Today, you can make your music in your house with the help of a DAW. One of such DAWs is called FL Studio. Created by a Belgian company, Image-line, it allows you to do your music production from the comfort of your computer.

For ages, sampling has been a core part of music production. It involves taking part of an existing piece of music and making it part of the new music being produced. It's considered to be one of the major parts of hip-hop. FL Studio allows you to use samples, after all, what's production software without sampling?

Using these samples the right way is where things start getting tricky for many people. There are four major sampling techniques, each with their specific use. In this article, I'll talk about each one and give you a quick guide on how to do it. Don't worry, I'll plug a link to a more detailed article in each case.

Let's go!

Four Major Techniques

Chopping and rearranging

When using a sample, you might want to spice things up a bit. One clever trick is to cut the sample into different segments and change the order. Sometimes the result is so different from the original you might not notice the difference. This technique is called chopping.

It's almost completely self-explanatory. Chop up the sample into different parts and rearrange them however you feel is best. Chopping can be amazing if you know your way around FL Studio, but if you don't, it can sound terrible too. So let's learn how to do it.

You can either do it with or without plugins. When working without plugins, load up the sample and use the slice tool in the playlist view. Once sliced, you can then easily move around to rearrange. That said, plugins give you a wider variety of features to use.

You can load up to Edison and make the slices. Once set, you'll have to load them into Slicex so that you can do whatever you want to do. It gives you plenty of options, you can even turn the chops into an instrument.

Here's a visual tutorial to help you picture it better. It's less than a minute long.

Reversing

Have you heard of a guy named Kendrick Lamar? I bet you've heard of him. His song, Loyalty, is a shining example of this technique. The intro is simply a sample from Bruno's song, 24K Magic, and I hadn't the slightest idea until I read it in an article.

Reversing is a technique that flips the trigger and takes you from one end to the other. So you take a sample, but instead of chopping, you swap the beginning and end so that it'll play backward. Now, let's talk about how to do it.

Firstly, you have to put your sample in the channel rack. Find channel settings, then find sample settings, and right under precomputed effects, you'll find the reverse option. Once done, you can use it as you please. A MIDI keyboard or controller will be perfect for playing your reversed sample.

If you want a practical rundown of how to do it, you can watch it happen.

Layering

Layering is another exciting sampling technique you have to learn. Sometimes, you want a bit more thickness in your sound. Maybe it feels a bit too plain for you and you need some more fullness. Layering will fix that for you beautifully. Layering simply involves taking a sound and adding it on top of another, adding more layers of sound to your main sample.

Layering is also super easy to do. All you have to do is head over to "Add" and then click on "Layer"? to open up a new layer channel. Whatever sound you add is then up to you. Edit it as you see fit, but make sure you explore the different sounds you can add before you make a final decision.

You can layer lyrics, music, synthesizers, or instruments on your original sample, depending on what you want. For example, if the vocals on a song aren't as full as you'd like, you can layer on more vocals to make it sound fuller, maybe even giving each layer different parts to sing for even more variety.  Unless you have a specific job to prepare for, it's best to practice these things so you'll get familiar with them. Try out different things, it's a big cause for growth.

Looping

Last but not least, you can do awesome things by looping your samples. Looping involves the repetition of a sample over and over. It's simply like putting a song on repeat on your phone, except you can pick specific parts in a song to repeat. Here's how to do it.

You start by locating the playlist view from the top toolbar. The next thing you need to do is to locate the bar timeline so you can see the different parts of the song. Once that's done, you need to select the portion you'd like to loop. You can then drag and drop on whatever parts of the song you'd like to have the loop.

This article won't give me enough space to break everything down for you, but you can watch it happen for yourself.

Final Thoughts

Music production is one of the major and most hectic parts of the entire process. The invention of DAWs has helped take away the stress of having to go to the studio, and FL Studio is one of the best. Understanding FL Studio is a journey that will take you more than a day. I only hope this article has wet your appetite for more involvement in the production side of things.

Keep going, Champ!