How to Sample Drum Breaks and Vocal Phrases from Stems

Sampling means taking a short piece of a recording and reusing it. The hard part has always been getting the piece without the rest of the song on top of it. Stems make that much easier.

What makes a good sample

• A drum break: a section where the drums play alone or nearly alone, usually just a bar or two.
• A vocal phrase: a short line, a shout, or an ad-lib that has a clear start and end.
• A bass note or riff: a short pattern that loops cleanly.
• A texture: a sustained chord, a sweep, or an ambient sound from the "other" stem.

Step 1: Find the part you want

Listen to the song for sections where one instrument stands out. Intros, breakdowns, and the spaces between verses and choruses are good places to look. Make a note of where the sound starts and ends.

Step 2: Isolate it with stems

Upload the song and let it split. Then solo the stem that holds your sound: drums for a break, vocals for a phrase, bass for a riff. Because the other instruments are out of the way, you can hear the sample cleanly and pick the exact start and end points. Expect a little bleed from the other parts. A hint of vocal in a drum stem is normal, and it is less obvious once the sample sits in a new track.

Step 3: Mark and trim the region

Select the part of the waveform you want. A few tips:

• Start just before the first hit. Cutting right on the attack keeps the sample punchy. Starting a little early adds silence you can trim later.
• End on a natural point. For a loop, end where the pattern would repeat. For a one-shot, let the sound ring out a bit before the cut.
• Avoid clicks. If you cut in the middle of a loud waveform, you will hear a click. A very short fade in and out on the edges prevents it.

In Stemline101, you can mark a region on a stem's waveform and save it to a sample library. The sampler page lets you trim it more precisely. Saved samples can be loaded back onto the mixer.

Step 4: Make it fit your track

• Tempo: if a drum break plays at a different speed than your project, stretch it to match. Small changes sound natural, and big ones can smear the hits.
• Pitch: a vocal phrase or bass note may need shifting by a semitone or two so it matches your key. See our guide to BPM and key basics.
• Layering: put a sampled snare on top of your own drum pattern to add character, or lay a vocal phrase over a new beat.

Creative ideas

• Chop a drum break into single hits and re-arrange them into a new pattern.
• Repeat a single vocal syllable as a rhythmic hook.
• Reverse a sample for a swell that leads into a drop.
• Lower the pitch of a sample to make it heavier, or raise it for a brighter, thinner sound.

A note on rights

A sample is a piece of someone's recording and, usually, someone's composition too. Using samples privately while you practice or experiment is common. If you plan to release or sell something that contains a sample, you generally need clearance from the rights holders. Check the rules that apply to you before you publish.

Want to try it? Open Stemline101.