FL Studio allows you to add static or noise to your tracks with extra samples or audio plug-ins but it’s just not the same as the real thing. These sonic imperfections lend samples a certain old-school vibe, something you simply don’t get when you sample a digital version of a song or piece of audio. Sampling vinyl is still popular, favoured for the warmth and crackle that comes with playing a vinyl record. Wu-Tang Clan famously borrowed dialogue and sounds – as well as their name – from martial arts movies. Many hip-hop beats come courtesy of the percussion tracks on soul or jazz records but there truly is no limit to what you might want to sample. You might isolate a drum break and use it as your rhythm, or you could take a melody, vocal or any other part and chop it up as you see fit. The act of sampling an existing record roughly equates to taking a portion of it and using that as the bedrock of an entirely new track, or blending it with other samples to create something akin to an audio montage.
