He is known primarily as the founder of one of the earliest forms of electronic music, “musique concrète.” In his own words, Schaeffer describes this new theory and practice of music as “an opposition with the way musical work usually goes. Pierre Schaeffer (1910-1995) was a composer and writer, amongst many other things, in the fields of music and technology in post-Nazi France. Pierre Schaeffer, 1952, predicting the future of music through computer music studios.¹ “Cybernetic machines: Indeed, only machines of this type (probably weighing several tons and costing hundreds of millions!), with oscillating circuits equipped with a certain memory, will permit endless play with complex numerical combinations, which are the key to all musical phenomena.”
While I wouldn’t refer to the radio drama soundscape as “sampling” per se, it influenced the belief amongst future composers that technological applications and extra-musical sounds have a place in “audio performance,” which would only develop further in music as technology progressed into the post-war era. These radio artists used the technology and resources available to them to create sonic landscapes that reached far beyond the sound studio and household and while it may not have been utilized musically, these sonic landscapes had to be performed live, on-the-spot, cued to the dialogue as if orchestrated on the page. Many argue that outside of early tape music, this is history’s first example of sampling as well as using sound objects as a performance medium. These early productions featured live foley artists who would create sound effects on the spot using found objects and prerecorded tape sound. Early Origins in Radio DramaĪs radios - the first household audio device - began to invade American and European homes in the late 1800s, the “radio drama” (or “audio play”) became a widespread cultural phenomenon. Check out Soundfly’s new course with turntablist and sampling pioneer, RJD2: From Samples to Songs- he explores his creative process in detail, breaks down some of his most famous beats, and flips samples in real time. And it is only after experiencing these early practices from a listener’s perspective that we can become the creators of something entirely new in this field.įrom late 1800s radio sounds to 1940s France to Kanye West, here’s sampling, in theory and practice, broken down.īut first, if you’re producing hip-hop beats and looking for inspiration, creative alternatives, and to explore the work of one of the most influential beat makers of this century, look no further. Many artists perceive today’s sampling culture as having grown from hip-hop and dance music, but theorists would consider its humble origins to date back to the earliest incarnations of sound collage and tape music, which itself has origins in radio drama. It’s a beautiful thing, really, and while we must bask in these new endless freedoms provided by cutting edge technology, we can also benefit from an examination of the fundamental theories of sampling. Through sampling in 2016, we can hear a previously recorded sound, capture it on a pocket-sized device, and endlessly morph it until it has become what we want it to be via a home computer. It’s everywhere, and it’s due to the fact that 21st century musicians are realizing that while we may still be painting the same pictures as decades earlier, the canvas has changed drastically. When we utilize any MIDI instrument technology within our DAWs and hardware, we hear sampling. When we turn on the radio to any pop station, we hear sampling. + Learn to create and arrange original, instrumental hip-hop music from sampling pioneer RJD2 himself in his new course on Soundfly, RJD2: From Samples to Songs.
Araabmuzik performing on two samplers, photo by Evan Mesa.