Lot of artists and producers (including me) use sample cd’s to spice up their musical productions. So what are sample cd’s?


Sample cd’s are collection of audio samples (or sample libraries) which you can use in your songs. They come mostly in wav or aiff file format or as in audio cd. Usually, sample cd consists of ready made 4, 8, 16 or 32 bar loops (drumloops, bassloops, synthloops etc.) which you can use in your song. For example, drumloops are great for fastly creating the rhythmic part for your song. There are also various kind of effects, vocal samples, synth samples and single drum hits like basskicks, snares, claps, hihats, etc. which you can use to build your own “loops” or musical ideas.


Sample cd’s are usually genre specific meaning the samples they contain are specially made for a certain type of music like hiphop, rap, reggae, drum&bass, house, trance, ambient, film music and so on though you can use the samples however you like and whichever genre you wan’t. Your imagination is the only limitation here.


Few years ago, sample cd’s were mostly available only as physical cd’s, but these days (thanks to high speed internet connections) most of the sample vendors offers also a downloadable version in addition to the actual cd.


Price range of these samplepacks are anywhere from few bucks to thousands of dollars and most of the sample cd’s (if not all) are royalty free which means you can freely use the samples in your own commercial or non-commercial production without paying any additional fee’s besides the license you’ve bought.


I myself find these sample libraries come in very handy in my own music production. Sometimes I’m out of ideas for cool drum comps or I need some sort of specific effect and I start to crawl my sample collection and find something that suits perfectly for my needs or get my musical ideas going again.


Although the sample cd samples are cool and you can create almost a whole song using just loops, you shouldn’t build your music based completely on sample cd’s or at least you should tweak them to something original. I mean isn’t that’s what music is all about: creating something musical from our own original ideas. Use the sample cd’s with good taste and how to put this.. sparingly. If I find some sample that I’m going to use in my song I usually edit it like chop and rearrange or put it through various effects just to make it a something fresh. I see the samples from sample libraries like a building blocks to achieve my goal which is introducing my own musical ideas in a form of a song. Also, if you use a sample cd in your song, giving a credit to the manufacturer is appreciated.


All in all, sample cd’s are good aid for musicians which can – if used properly – ease up (and speed up) your music production greatly.


Finally, here’s a list and links to some popular and well known sample cd’s and manufacturers. There are a LOT more, but in my opinion these are one of the best:

• First, for TONS of free samples, check out FLstudiomusic.com or Sampleradar or Theflipsideforums free samples linklist.

Next, the commercial ones:

• Big Fish Audio – Big Fish Audio is one of the biggest sample cd producers and they have a huge selection of sample libraries covering almost any genre there is and quality is top notch! I have couple of Big Fish Audio products in everyday use.




• Zero-G – Zero-G has also wide range of sample collections on various genres. I have several of their products as awel and quality is awesome.




• Vengeance Sounds – Vengeance Sounds products are MUST for every dance music producer. I think their samples are almost a standard in dance music production. Highly recommended.




• Mutekki-Media – Another manufacturer with professional quality audio sample libraries. Especially for all kinds of dance music.




• Best Service – Best Service has put out some of the most usable sample libraries there is.




• PeaceLoveProductions – I have several PLP’s sample libraries and I’ve used their samples in almost every song I have produced.




• Ueberschall.com – Legendary sample manufacturer.

Here’s a links to online stores where you can buy sample libraries:

• Producerloops.com – Huge selection from almost every sample manufacturer there is! I use them regularly to buy my sample libraries. After you have maid the payment, you isntantly get a link where you can download the product you’ve bought.




• Soundstosample.com – Also a very nice collection of sample libraries.




• Soundsondemand.com – Good collection of audio libraries as well. Been using them also.

Related posts:

1. Over 12,000 Free Samples
2. Tons Of Free Samples And Loops
3. How to make electronic music with computer? Where to start?
4. Giving Your Electronica That Recording Edge