Is using samples/melody lines cheating?

[Tupello]

Okay so, i'm a fairly new producer to dubstep/brostep, i've been a fan of the genre of the past 2 years or so, but only in the last 3-4 months have i actually started to produce my own. I've been a musician for many years, and play many instruments, but this is a whole different league i have to say. I love Skrillex & Zomboy and much much more, those two are just the most inspiring.

Anyway, enough of my life story.
Basically i have been having trouble being creative and writing tunes, more specifically the intros, i'm pretty adequate as far as writing the drops, but the intros and melody lines always have me stumped, i was watching a video shunning Zomboy the other day because he used a melody line sample from a vengeance pack, and i'd done the same not too long ago when making a new song, and it got me thinking? Is it cheating to use samples? Should everything be your own? Making the synths from scratch with Massive or FM8? Making each drum your own? I feel so guilty about putting a pre-made melody line in my song now, should I feel this way?

Cheers,
Chris A.K.A. Tupello

[zosomagik]

Using samples is definitely not cheating, but there's a big difference in using a oneshot and just throwing in one of those melody loops your talking about. If you chopped it up and messed with it and made it your own, that's cool. But if you just throw it on an audio track, that's not.

[Sure_Fire]

I think the whole shunning of producers that use samples and melodies they didn't make is kinda dumb. I'm not a fan of it myself, but I've heard some great songs come out using sample pack material.

There's a video on youtube with Martin Garrix going over how he made Animals. Most of the track is presets, loops, vengeance samples as well as samples he ripped from other tracks. That song became one of the most popular tracks of 2013, shun him all you like but he made a tonne of money from using sample packs. It just goes to show that it's not what you use, it's how you use it.

At the end of the day if the music is good and you haven't broken any copyright laws it should be fine. You might cop some flack from people but I'd just ignore em.

[Hex047]

If you make music for nerds, engineers and geeks then you might have a problem with using loops and if it's for regular music listeners/fans then it's fair game, as long as the tune is good no one cares how you made it.

[nowaysj]

The song is all important. When you are making seven figures annually, you'll be paying someone or a team of people to write and engineer the whole song for you anyway, so you can go to big industrial parties and fist pump in front of a crowd for a few hours. Don't sweat the details dude.

[zosomagik]

The song is all important. When you are making seven figures annually, you'll be paying someone or a team of people to write and engineer the whole song for you anyway, so you can go to big industrial parties and fist pump in front of a crowd for a few hours. Don't sweat the details dude.

[rockonin]

I never use loops. Just single drum hits, and some fx sounds. I prefer to make my own sounds/synths and play my own material. I'd rather make a track that's terrible and it be my own work rather than a great track with other peoples work. But that's just my view on it.

[nameless133]

Loops are not bad until you customize them. I never use them.
Using samplers? This is totally okay.
I use only samplers nowdays. I hate softsynths and I have no money to buy a hardware one , so I use samples from hw synths.

[Filthzilla]

No it's not cheating, stop being a hippy and make tunes.

Such a stupid question. The kind of shit DubstepForum cultivates.

[syrup]

wires.

anyway. i would feel stupid putting a dry loop/melody line in a track and call it mine, but there are some people who don't have an issue with that

[ehbes]

The kind of shit DubstepForum cultivates.

[bennyfroobs]

No it's not cheating, stop being a hippy and make tunes.

Such a stupid question. The kind of shit DubstepForum cultivates.

OP:

its all in the way you use the sample man.




if ur heart is telling u that u r a lazy plopper for ripping off a whole melody, then i guess ur a lazy plopper

get creative n slice that shit up man

[dddemain]

The kind of shit DubstepForum cultivates.

[OfficialDAPT]

There's a pretty clear difference between sampling and stealing IMO. If you even have to ask yourself, "is this cheating?" then you are probably stealing.

[Hex047]

Seriously who said using loops was lazy and not creative???

[syrup]

it is tho

[nowaysj]

Making a song is so much more than just a line. A line is like 1/100th of a song.

[Today]

all about flipping samples on the offbeat.. OP quit brostep, make boom-bap

[nowaysj]

WHOA!

Blast from the past.

[Today]

just checked to see if I necro'd this thread, but are u just referring to seeing me here?

i still lurk once in awhile.