How to Sample Your Favorite Songs Using Reason and ReCycle
Aug 18th in Production, Reason by Eric Shafer
Have you ever been listening to a song and realized "Hey, I've heard part of this before!". What you discovered is called "sampling", a process by which part of a song, or a sound, is captured and played back to create a new song.
In this tutorial I will show you what you need in order to begin sampling, and some of the techniques the professionals use. Lastly, I will walk you through the creation of a famous Billboard Hot 100 song. We'll be using Reason and ReCycle for this one, but the principles could be adapted to any DAW.
Eric Shafer is a music producer and audio engineer from Chicago, Illinois. He has worked on both classical and popular music projects, and is currently composing music for today's top artists and future artists.
Note: this tutorial contains embedded audio that will not display in a feed reader. Click back to the site to read the tutorial with audio or download the Play Pack at the end of the tut.
Introduction
So what constitutes a good sample? Well, most importantly, the sample should reflect your personal tastes. Choose one of your favorite genres, and start thinking about the songs you really like. Try to think of a 5-20 second clip that would sound interesting if played back or looped in various ways.
When sampling, you need to take into account the current audio, and try to work within those bounds. For example, if it has drums, you're going to have to take that into account. The best way to work around drums is to drop the EQ on the low-end, muting the drums at least a little bit so that they aren't prominent in the sample. Then, when you incorporate the sample into your work, playback your drums over the top to draw even more attention away from the muted sample drums.
Another common issue with samples is vocals. Your best bet is to try to search the internet for an instrumental of the song you want to sample. However, using vocals in your samples can actually work out to your advantage. It provides a common theme, which is useful for songwriters, and it often helps seperate the chorus from the verses. A very famous artist who makes excellent use of samples with vocals is Kanye West, famous for songs like Stronger, which is sampled from Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.
Hopefully this gives you some ideas you can use for samples. The only limit to sampling is your imagination. Let's move on to the actual process.
Step 1
The first things you will need are a loop editor and a playback program. There are endless possibilities for you to choose from, but for the purposes of this tutorial, I will be using Propellerhead's Reason 4.0 and Recycle.
Let's get started. We need a song to sample, so following the rules from above, choose a song that has a sample you're going to want to use. In this tutorial, I'm going to be using a sample from the song Born on Halloween by Blue Magic. Don't worry if you don't have the song, as the concepts will be the same for any song you choose to use, but we've also included a .WAV version of the below audio in the Play Pack for this tut.
blue_moon_sample.mp3
Open up ReCycle (or other loop editor). You should be prompted to select a file, but if not, simply go to File -> Open and select the source file that we will be sampling. Note that the source file must be in .wav or other acceptable format; mp3s do not work.
Step 2
Now that our file is open, use the left and right locators at the bottom of the screen to select the portion of the song that you want to sample. Then go to Process -> Crop Loop, and it will remove everything but what you have selected.
Step 3
We're making good progress. Our next step is optional, but is quite useful in certain situations. What we're going to do is add slices to the audio file. It will keep the audio file intact, but will allow smaller parts to be played back seperately. Using the "Sensitivity Amount" tool, move the slider until slices begin to appear. You can play back each slice and hear it by simply clicking on it. You can also use the pencil tool to draw your own slices.
Step 4
Now, let's do a quick trick to make our audio file really bang. Go to Process -> Normalize and select "Whole File". You should notice the transients become amplified.
Step 5
Time to export the file to a readable format for Reason. Go to File -> Save As, and name it. Make sure it saves as an .rx2 file, which is used by Reason's Dr. Rex player and NNXT Sampler, and allows the slices to be read. Take note of the tempo you save it at, as you will need this number later.
Step 6
Now, open up Reason 4.0. I usually start with an M-Class Mastering Suite Combinator, followed a Mixer. To create these, go to Create -> M-Class Mastering Suite Combi, and Create -> Mixer 14:2. Once you have this set up, go to Create -> Dr. Rex Player (although NNXT sampler will work too). You now have a new instrument to work with. Open up your .rx2 sample that you saved from Recycle, and set your project tempo to the tempo you saved it at. You can select a different tempo, but there may be playback issues.
Click the "Preview" button in Dr. Rex, and listen to your sample playback. You can now add it to an already constructed song, or you can make a new song surrounding it by using the "To Track" button on the Dr. Rex player. Likewise, you can also use your MIDI controller to playback, as each slice will correspond to an individual slice in the sample, starting with the lowest key on your controller.
Step 7
Unfortunately, Dr. Rex does not provide as many playback options as one would desire. To combat this, go to Create -> NN-XT Sampler. Use the open button to open up our sample. Then click the little arrow to the left of the "NN-XT Remote Editor" text to expand the remote editor, so we can actually edit our sample.
At first, the NN-XT sampler can seem a bit overwhelming, but don't panic. In the blue piano roll, it lays out each slice of the sample. Simply click the slice (or select multiple slices) to begin editing.
The knobs directly below the piano roll allow you to edit the slice's properties such as loop start, loop end, as well as other properties. However, the knobs you will find most useful is the LFO1 Pitch, Filter, Level and Delay (at the bottom left). You will also want to use the Mod Envelope Attack, Delay, Sustain, Release as well. These will allow you to directly edit the sound of your sample, allowing you to gain greater control over it.
There is such a thing as too much editing however, as going too far can distort your sample. As I said before, the only limit is your imagination, so feel free to tinker around. Just make sure you keep your original sample intact so you can reload it if you do take things too far.
Conclusion
If you used the sample that I did, listen to the final instrumental version of the song Go Getta by Young Jeezy and R. Kelly (produced by the Runners). You should notice the prominent sample used, the same one that I just walked you through how to create. All that was changed was the playback tempo, and the addition of drums.
go_getta_sampling.mp3
One thing to note however, is that if you intend to use a sample in a commercial work, you need to clear the sample with the original owner. Do your research on ASCAP and clear the sample to avoid any legal troubles in the future. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned something new!
User Comments
( ADD YOURS )Jon August 18th
Great Site & Tutorials!
( )Mr. Tunes August 18th
Just a friendly critique: i have found that most ReCycle tutorials leave out a lot of details regarding how you prepare your loops so they play well at different tempos in Dr. Rex. It’s a fairly cumbersome process, and even a lot of sample libraries on the market don’t get it right either unfortunately.
( )Eric Shafer August 18th
Mr. Tunes: Hopefully this will help you out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBKFS98EV7E
And yeah, it is a pretty cumbersome process and I actually use different methods depending on the sample I’m using. Dr. Rex tends to playback loops without slices pretty well, but when you start adding slices, the audio file starts getting choppy. It’s one of the reasons that I recommend using NN-XT for playback of loops that have slices, as it gives you much more control. But in general, the loop tempo follows the project tempo in Reason, so if you’re having playback issues, make sure the loop tempo from ReCycle matches the project tempo in Reason. Sorry for not explaining this better in the tutorial, but if you use NN-XT like I suggest in the last step, hopefully you can avoid most of the tempo problems.
( )twiroo August 18th
super!
( )Dave August 20th
Any reason as to why the software keeps crashing when i try to play back the clip?
( )Joel Falconer August 20th
Dave: You might be using the Tiger version on Leopard. You need the latest update. Same thing happened to me at first.
( )Eric Shafer August 22nd
Yeah, Propellerhead’s software has issues with various OS setups. The Propellerheads site should have all the information on making Reason 4.0 and ReCycle work with your system setup.
( )Everestmindz November 8th
Thanks very much
( )Talentless Producer January 30th
Thank your for the tutorial. However, I noticed that the first file you posted (the blue moon sample) skips at the end. I have this same problem when extracting a 10 second sample out of a complete song. Why does this happen? I’ve created a .wav sample and played it in media player and dragged and dropped it into Sonar 8 Prod. Edition. I’ve also tried saving as a .rex file and playing in the RXP player in Sonar, all three methods produce the same results: a file that skips at the end just like your posted sample. Thanks in advance.
( )Eric Shafer February 1st
It’s due to whatever program you’re using trying to alter the tempo to match the existing track. There’s two ways to combat this:
1. Change the tempo of the sample in Recycle.
2. Change the tempo of your song in your DAW.
Usually #1 is the preferred method, though it’s not perfect. Usually you have to clean up the audio file a bit when you’re done (in this case, chop of the last little reverb-y/skipping bit at the end of the sample).
( )Talentless Producer February 1st
Thank you for your response Eric, I really wasn’t expecting one given that your last post on here was in August. Does the article (or this website) notify you when there’s posts? I will try your recommendations. Will I have to keep changing the tempo and hitting “export sound” and then playing the file again with media player before I know I’m successful or is there a way to know within Recycle (because the clip seems to sound perfect in Recycle always no matter what)? Also, did your clip skip because you weren’t able to get it just right or because you just didn’t care to make it perfect? I’m new to sampling (and producing for that matter) so excuse my stupidity and relentless pestering.
( )Eric Shafer February 3rd
I just check the comments on posts I’ve written for AudioTUTS on a daily basis.
As far as I know, you will have to keep exporting the sound and playing it in Reason. Recycle isn’t the most advanced loop editing program ever made unfortunately, so it can’t be wired directly into Reason (maybe in a future version).
It skipped on here because I didn’t chop off the ending part of it, in reality, I should have chopped off the part where it seems to reverb, and then added an RV7000 to help smooth it out. The .wav file that is being played on here is just the raw loop from Recycle, it wasn’t loaded in Reason for playback. If you load it up in Reason, you might be able to do some simple editing in there to get rid of a small portion of what you don’t want.
One of the other things you should consider is, do you want the ending part? If you’re mapping the sample to your MIDI controller, then you might want the last little bit on there so that when you hold the key, it plays the whole sample and you can time where you want it to stop before playing again. If you chop it off, the sound will end abruptly when it reaches the end of the sample (though with reverb it would sustain for a bit longer).
Hope that helps!
( )Talentless Producer February 3rd
Thanks again Eric, very helpful.
( )Mitch February 15th
“A very famous artist who makes excellent use of samples with vocals is Kanye West, famous for songs like Stronger, which is sampled from Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”
haha what a joke. most people dont even realize that Daft Punk samples pretty much all of there most famous songs. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger is made up from a bunch of old funk samples. So Kanye west really is sampling a sampled song. Very sad that music has come to this, make your own!!!!
( )audio March 3rd
What is the best method of getting an acapella sync with project in Reason using Reason (note not an outside Daw)
( )Ronan Fox August 4th
hi i am a beginner in reason 4. i understand alot of the tutorial, i got my sample in recylcle,loaded it into reason using dr.rex. it plays perfectly. but i want to edit it in the nn-xt sampler, heres my problem,i dont know how to play the sample in nn-xt sampler, i can play it in dr,rex by clicking preview but there is no such option in the nn-xt sampler. my problem is probly very simple to fix but i just cant get my head around it. do i combine the two devices or somthing else……….email me at bigfox06@hotmail.com. i want to make my first track from edited samples and anyone that can help me with this i would appreciate it alot
( )Newbie August 30th
im having a problbem with the play and stop buttons. im not able to use them, they stay grey (does that make sence?). ive reset recycle, removed and reinstalled it but am still not able to start or stop the sample. even in the graph bar im not able to click on any parts and listen to it. help please?
( )Newbie August 30th
ok….got it workn. sorry guys, didnt think to check my audio sound in preference……brain fart
( )Omega August 31st
im having a problbem with the play and stop buttons. im not able to use them, they stay grey (does that make sence?). ive reset recycle, removed and reinstalled it but am still not able to start or stop the sample. even in the graph bar im not able to click on any parts and listen to it. help please?;. All the best!!
( )tom October 22nd
thanks so much for the how to! massively appreciated
( )brian November 8th
Hello there. I have a very basic question, which I searched and the closest thing I found to the search results was your tutorial, but this isn’t quite it yet.
I’m from the “old school”. I have an Ensoniq ASR-10 samping keyboard. What I want to do is the same thing as that, but have it be electronic, using software instead of actual hardware, however, I still want to use a MIDI controlled keyboard to actually PLAY the samples. Recycle definitely gets you close, but I don’t necessarily want to slice up one audio sample into a bunch of pieces. I want that one sample to start every time I press a midi key on the keyboard, like the old samplers.
I hope I’m explaining this right, but more importantly, I hope someone has an answer to this, as I’m really looking forward to selling my old gear and going completely computer/software based.
I am really hoping that Reason has this functionality in it, and that I just haven’t had the “lightbulb” turned on in my head to understand how to do it.
Thank you for your tutorial.
( )Korg November 14th
does anyone know where i can find some .wav files to try and sample
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