Splice Vs Sounds

Two royalty-free sound libraries in the mix

- By Sam Lewis

So, you’ve decided to take the plunge and get into music production? Whether you’re going down the professional route or just wanting to have a bit of fun, the likelihood is that you’ll be using a digital workstation to piece together your music. Unless you’re physically creating and recording your own music, you’ll probably need to add external sounds, drumbeats, or sound effects to your production. Created by other artists, these are known as samples.

Sampling is a term that describes taking a portion of an existing song, whether it’s a drumbeat, a line of vocal, or a few notes from an instrument, and adding it into a new song. Perhaps the most famous example is Vanilla Ice’s hit Ice Ice Baby, which sampled the bassline from Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie. Yes, that’s the sort of level we’re aiming for.

Anyway, these samples can be clips from a song, instruments, loops, or vocals that can be used in any way you like to create your own production. Using a DAW, you can tweak these samples to suit your style and add some depth to your work, without spending ages trying to replicate them yourself.