To sample a song, you take a short piece of an existing recording, load it into a music program, and reuse it as a new sound. The usual steps are: pick a section you like, separate the part you want, chop it into pieces, and rearrange them into something new. If you want just the singing or just the drums, the Acapella Extractor can pull that part out of the full mix first.
This guide covers how to sample songs and tracks in a way that actually sounds good. It also covers the part many guides skip: what you are allowed to do with the result.
A sample is a piece of recorded audio used inside a new piece of music. It can be a drum hit, a vocal phrase, a guitar riff, or a four-bar loop. Hip-hop producers made the practice famous, but it shows up in house, pop, lo-fi and film music too.
Sampling is different from covering a song. A cover is a new performance of the same song. A sample is the original recording itself, reused.
The best samples are short, have a clear character, and leave room around them. Listen for:
- A solo instrument. An intro, a break, or a bridge where only one or two things play.
- A phrase with a strong rhythm. A vocal line that already swings.
- A texture. A string swell, a vinyl crackle, or a chord that rings out.
Full, busy choruses are the hardest to use. Everything is playing at once, so whatever you keep brings the rest along.
Often the section you love is mixed with sounds you do not want. A vocal you want has drums under it. A drum break you want has a bass line on top.
This is where stems help. A stem is one part of a song saved as its own audio file, such as vocals, drums or bass. Separating a song into stems lets you sample only the part you care about.
Here is how to do it with Unmix Studio:
- Open the stem splitter and sign in with Google. New accounts get 5 free credits.
- Upload your file. MP3, WAV, M4A and FLAC work, up to 10 minutes.
- Press the big orange button. The price in credits shows on the button before you start.
- Wait about a minute or two. In our own test, a 4 minute 44 second song split into 6 stems in 56 seconds and cost 5 credits.
- Click each reel to hear that stem alone, then download the ones you want as MP3 files.
If you only need one part, a focused page can be quicker. The Acapella Extractor gives you the vocals, and the Drum Remover gives you a drums-only file. In our test, a 3 minute 22 second song went through the drum remover in 88 seconds.
Expect some leftovers. Tightly mixed songs, live recordings and tracks drenched in reverb can leave faint traces of other instruments in a stem. For sampling, that is often fine. A little bleed can even add character.
A DAW (digital audio workstation) is the program you make music in. Drag your downloaded stem onto a new audio track. Set your project tempo to match the sample, or use the program's warp or time-stretch tool to fit the sample to your tempo.
If you are not sure of the tempo, tap along to the sample until the project grid lines up with the beats. Listen for the loop point: the spot where the end flows back into the start without a click or a jump.
Chopping means cutting the sample into small pieces and playing them back in a new order. It is the core of the craft.
- Cut on the beat or on the sound. Place cuts right before a note starts, so each slice begins cleanly.
- Use a sampler. Most DAWs have one. Load the audio and the program can split it into slices mapped across your keyboard or pads.
- Play it back differently. Reorder the slices, repeat one, skip one, or change the rhythm.
- Change the pitch or speed. Pitching a vocal up or slowing a drum break down is the quickest way to make it sound like your own.
Keep your edits short at first. A good chop often uses just two or three seconds of the original.
Treat the sample as one ingredient. Add your own drums, bass or chords underneath. If the sample holds vocals, you can place them over a new beat, or use an instrumental of the same song as a bed to build from.
Some quick fixes:
- Too muddy? Cut low frequencies from the sample so your own bass has space.
- Too harsh? Pull back the upper mids with an EQ.
- Too dry or too wet? Add a little reverb, or reduce what is already there.
This part matters. A recording of a song involves two sets of rights: the rights in the recording itself, and the rights in the song underneath it (the melody and lyrics). Using a sample from a commercial release usually touches both.
- Practice and learning. Sampling a song for private practice, study or a beat you keep to yourself is a normal part of learning to produce.
- Releasing or posting. If you upload the track, put it on streaming services, or use it in a video you monetize, you generally need permission from the rights holders. That is called clearing the sample.
- Safer sources. Royalty-free sample packs, your own recordings, and music whose license allows reuse avoid the problem.
Splitting a song into stems does not change who owns it. Rules differ by country, so if you plan to release music, check with a music lawyer or a clearance service.
Pick a short section, separate the part you want into its own file, drop it into a DAW, and slice it into a few pieces. Starting from a vocal or drum stem is easier than starting from the full mix.
Yes. Use the Vocal Remover to get an instrumental, then sample that. You can also sample only the drums or only the vocals if you split the song into stems.
Most tools on Unmix Studio cost 1 credit per minute of song, and the price shows on the button before you run it. New accounts get 5 free credits, enough for a song up to 5 minutes. If a split fails, the credits go back to your account.
WAV is best when you have it, because nothing is lost. Our downloads are MP3 at 320 kbps, which sounds close to the original for chopping and layering. Each stem from a 4 minute 44 second song was about 10.9 MB.
It depends on what you do with it. Private practice is generally fine. Releasing music that contains someone else's recording or song usually needs permission from the rights holders.