Maverick Talks Sampling Rules, Vinyl Sampling

DC based Maverick lists production influences such as Primo, Easy Mo Bee, Large Professor, and Buckwild while discussing record selection and vinyl digging tactics.

More traditional crate and production enthusiasts will pay attention to his notes about session players, record labels and being careful of what you sample, looping vs chopping, and rules about handling open drums.

Random Thought:

Does anyone else instantly recognize the open snare from “One Love” by Nas when it’s jacked by other producer/beatmakers?

1,804 thoughts on “Maverick Talks Sampling Rules, Vinyl Sampling”

  1. Very informative video . I see those alesis mk11 monitors up there I have a pair they hit hard . That recorder he has can be found on ebay or craigslist for around 200 bucks . I like his setup D.J. Toomp and many many others qu thier drums this way. You found a excellent clip as always Semantic !

  3. The drums I recognize 99% of the time are the ones from Impeach The President and Sinnerman.
    As far as the One Love open snare……your ear is stellar if you can tell the differnce between the original sample and the one from the song! I’m talkling Wolverine from the X-Men hearing!

  4. I believe in those rules, but dont see em as rules. Maybe its integrity I dont know.
    I Think its a gay move to take drums or sample a sample.. i hate it when i read ,especially on youtube guys yelling out im gonna sample this, or I sampled my beat from this dj premier joint..

    its like the maffia, even if they steal stuff they still have rules, if not it would be chaos.

    Damn im impresses by my own comparison.

  6. Thanks for posting the video, Semantik…very appreciated…

    @Digs: those things were definitely “rules” for the longest. I started making beats in the late 90s and those things that I mentioned were highly enforced. If people recognized that you had some Premier drums, your song wasn’t really respected. And producers did alot of layering on their drums so you could instantly tell whose drums were whose. The Beatminerz, Beatnuts, Pete Rock, DITC…everyone had their way of doing things because people experimented and then came up with something to call their own…

    I still stick to the rules because I realize that those rules helped me with an appreciation for music as well as production. I used to dig for breaks and drums…that process caused me to be more of an active listener to music and since that is how I started, I have kinda stuck to that…

    • Word, same with al the other elements of hiphop. biting was a no no, and those rules are loosening up in every element.

      I respect that, and very well said, that sticking to those rules made you dig deeper and dig different. So it’s only good thing.

      Some old on to the fundaments of hiphop, and a lot of other people think its rigid and stuff, and want it to loosen up, but like women, when they get too loose they become sluts, so lets stick to the fundaments or at least most of em, cause there arent many.

      thank man, and very nice video, imma check out your music.

    • Informative bruh! Thanks for the insight! It’s peeps like you that interact with “we up & trying to come up” producers that make it all the more worth while! I know you can’t return a reply at every comment, but it shows you’re down to earth & not above anyone just because you’ve “made it”! Thanks for talking to us, it makes us strive harder!

  10. the only time ill jack drums is if I find em on an old hip hop record from the 80s… I will not touch anybody’s drums… I feel like Im cheating even if I use library drum kits.. I need to chop my own breaks and make my own drums or I dont feel right…

  11. There are alot of people who say that we should do away with the rules…but the truth of the matter is that alot of the rules have been adhered to in order to keep the creativity of hip-hop in place as well as to keep things original. If everyone was jacking Premier drums or Dilla drums, what would all of the beats sound like? Plus, alot of these producers put time and work into finding these sounds and then EQing/mixing them. And then, someone comes right behind them and jacks them…

    I know that there is a huge divide between the producer schools of thought these days, but alot of the rules on biting and jacking really helped to keep alot of the music fresh. So when you complain about how “hip-hop is dead” and how stagnant things are, realize that you might be part of the problem by biting the things that another producer is doing. We take alot of influences from the things that we hear, but try your best to take it and add to it…not just take it…

    • i believe that when creative people do there thing there not going to come up with the same result just like 9th wonder do the right thing and mf doom orris root powder and oddisee everyday people they used the same sample but came up with different results so as long as you keep it creative and it sounds dope the problem is not biting it that no one wants to be creative and be looked at as a outsider thats the problem

      • @Unique Osmosis: I am not really talking about sampling the same sample…I am talking about when you sample 9th Wonder or MF Doom or Oddisee. You are absolutely correct…you can take a sample and flip it and do your own thing with it. But when Oddisee samples the Impressions and someone samples Oddisee, that is where the problem comes in. I know that a bunch of producers do certain things to a sample to really put their stamp on it…from chopping it on certain beats to running through certain processors to degrading the audio quality. So that is what I am referring to with the biting. Sampling the same thing is not a problem because we can all flip things a different way. But when you are sampling someone else who already sampled, where is the end in that?

        • oh ok my bad i see what your talking about now that’s foul without even thinking about it as they say stealing is not cool it cool to let people you inspire but don’t take it that far

      • the idea is no matter what road you take on the sonic landscape or what tools you use and how you mix it the final product is the only thing that is relevant, which is what really attracted me to production in the first place. Its an open field fck where you came from what you do etc the only thing that matters is when you press play. As far as what is good it takes me about 2 or 3 seconds to tell if something is good if it grabs me within that time frame its gold if not on to the next.

        I dont want to take credit for that its not my argument its generally a industry rule ive heared it a million times.

          • ok let me finish his statement hip hop is not just beat making its djing ,dancing,art its a culture if it wack or not is a matter of opinion to each person hip hop doesn’t have a sound or rules how can you tell someone to be creative and then give rules in which to be creative wouldn’t that limit your creativity hip hop it the freedom of expression of not limited by the opinions of others so when he means if it sounds goods its good its whats good to your ears

  13. 1st dude looks mad sleepy thought he was a merecat
    2nd there are no rules with beats im an 80’s baby jack any drums any where
    if you cant stack and eq em to make em sound different your a lame
    em uses dre drums
    pete rock, q-tip, and lrg pro shared drums
    its not a big deal wack 808 nursery rhyme cant speak english wack azz flocka mc’s
    premo said it best on much more !

    • LOL…okay, Mike P. Thanks for keeping us focused on the topic with the merecat comment. I hear some of what you are saying on the drums…true, some of the greats like Pete Rock, Q-Tip and Large Pro shared drums (and I am not sure of how true that actually is because of the Pete Rock/Large Pro issue regarding the TROY sample). To use the same source for your drums is not the problem that people are discussing, or at least I don’t think it is…

      So many people have used the Synthetic Substitution break or the Hihache break. But at the same time, like I was saying before, take it and add to it. Yeah, people have done it before…take it and make it your own. Em might take Dre’s drums but hopefully, he does something to flip them and make them his own. Dre runs his drums through a couple of different pieces of equipment in order to get his sound. I know that Hi-Tek does also. So, to take their drums as is and just throw them on your song is also taking some of their creativity and claiming it as your own…

      As for the rules, I am not a hardliner on the rules. But at the same time, I do understand why alot of people abide by them. People in these comments list names of creative people like Oddisee and say that they don’t hamper their creativity with these rules. But it is funny because Oddisee was just talking to me yesterday about this interview that you guys are commenting on and agreed that drums are not open season for producers and you can’t just go jacking people’s drums as is…

      Random experiment: name your favorite hip-hop song of all time. Then ask yourself if you don’t think that the producer of that song abided by some parts of the unwritten code regarding biting and jacking. Just think about it. We don’t have to be so rigid in the rules, but at the same time, do your best to make your own sound…I, for one, am not going to sit up and say that your song is not good because you took someone’s drums. But always try to keep it creative and original…

  14. Creativity… requires limits, for the creative act rises out of the struggle of human beings with and against that which limits them.

    • I agree with your creative answer 100%, dear!

      Now it’s time to finsh your chores and get of the interwebs and message boards!

  15. Like Maverick said, at the end of the day what matters is if it’s dope or not. If you sample a sample and flip it crazy and make it sound dope then who cares.

  16. There was an unwritten rule to sampling but now all that’s out no rules why do we have to limit ourselves but don’t bite either flip it to where it becomes something different. Break all rules , fools follow rules.

    • do you never stop at red lights, people suddenly become rock r roll when it suits them..
      It aint about rules its unwritten code, but do whatever you like i dont really care, but still think its gay though.

      • Were talking about music and yeah I run red lights and stop signs, if you need to follow rules and need instructions when being creative then your not a real artist.

  17. One thing that no one is mentioning is the fact that most producers just bite their favorite producers whole style. It’s okay to be influenced by somebody, but your not supposed to just try and sound exactly like them.

    How many producers just sound like a poor Premo imitation, or a poor Pete Rock imitation, or a poor 9th Wonder imitation, or a poor Dilla imitation… I could go on and on.

    A lot of underground heads like to complain about how all commercial music is wack and lacks creativity, but then most of them are just trying to COPY that 90’s golden era sound. That in itself is completely UN-creative, and is straight biting!

    Making a ‘good’ beat isn’t that hard. Creating your own unique sound, and to still make it sound sick, that is DAAAMMNN hard. Sometimes when people try to be different and experiment it just comes out wack. It takes a lot of time, talent and creativity to get it right.

    That is why a producer like Black Milk is so amazing. He’s created his whole OWN unique sound which is way different to everything else out, and yet it still sounds freaking crazy amazingly sick!

    • Point well taken. I find myself a victim of this exact same thing. I find myself trying to copy my idols almost sub-consciously. And it is very hard to come up with your own style AND make it your own. But,it can be done. There are rules,but they are made to be broken.

  20. Yo Maverick, that beat was fire. Your set up reminds me of my first bedroom set up. Now I have a separate room tricked out with way more gear, and the funny thing is my best beats came outta my little bedroom set up. As far as the rules go, be creative and have some integrity and you’d never be comfortable jacking somebody else’s work. Keep on banging them beats…..

    • I appreciate it…the funny thing is that I have had opportunities to upgrade plenty of times. But it is not what you have, it is how you use it…and I completely agree with your statement on creativity and integrity. Hold yourself to a certain standard…don’t worry about the rules as much as you should just hold yourself and your work to a certain level. I am definitely not going to go around policing people…but I look at the people that I admired who produced and I definitely tried to hold myself to the standard that they held themselves to.

      Alot of cats are making excuses for biting but on the real, to say that rules on biting only serve to restrict creativity is not an accurate assessment. Alot of these standards force people to be creative. If you wanted your drums to knock like the Beatminerz, then you had to figure out a way to try and get your drums to sound like that…

      I can tell you that when you approach beatmaking like that, you often times stumble upon innovations and create your own sound through discovery. So don’t settle on letting the producers who came before you do all of the work…figure out some of these things out on your own. As I keep saying, you can take things…we all take parts of ideas that came before us. But try to add to it if you can…that is how we keep the music fresh and offer some variety to the things that we put out there…

  21. If you jack someone elses drums…. dont let anyone know and dont make it so obvious. It happens.. but putting yourself on blast is corny. lol

  22. Yo, this has been a good discussion and definitely stuff that needs to be talked about. I am going to quit taking up space on this blog with all of my opinions, but thanks again to Crate Kings for posting the video and thanks to you all for check it out. Greatly appreciated…anybody want to get at me about some production-related stuff, just shoot me a message at maverickbeats@gmail.com. Thanks again…

  23. Maveric seems like a humble down to earth dude , even took the time to explain some shit , DMV STAND UP ! Im from Virginia , listened to a little go-go myself junkyard and this that and others . I like what wale is doing mixing that go go and hip hop .When they say DMV , I know they mean DC. Maryland and Northern Virginia Im on the Southside , 7 Cities two up and all that bullshit .Timbaland ‘ Neptunes ‘Missy ‘ Nottz , Bink , The Clipse , Chris brown and Trey Songs them niggas are on the other side of Richmond closer to the district in Tappahaock somewhere .Whats my point ? dont have one .I represent when I get an opportunity lol just saying if cats could pull together on this end and stop hatin we could be bigger than ATL right now ! but its never gonna work lol . You can find some vinyl good in DC. too on the low ! We have dj’s overpriced records and chicken wings ! ILMAO !

  25. I think making your own drums from wax or live kits is key……as far as “rules”, people are going to do whatever they want, but I have a lot of satisfaction knowing that my drums sounds are my own…not that nobody has ever sampled the drums I’ve used in the history of beatmaking, but whatever, they all come off of wax that I own

    to each his own though, I just worry about me and not the next guy

  26. To Maverick, I was at that last beatgrinder and you did your thing up there. I could never picture myself sampling any hip hop producers drums. I guess it boils down to what somebody else said about codes, there are certain things men of honor just don’t do. Like another dude said though” He’s a 80’s baby” and that pretty much sums it up. A lot of shit that dudes in their late 20’s early 30’s or whatever would never do are cool to the young dudes nowadays. I mean look at how they wear their jeans !! And no, it’s NOT just about how your beat sounds when you press play cause, when you talk about a hip hop beat, drums are like 85 -90% of the track in my book…now if your beat BANGS it’s mostly cause of the drums and bassline, if you just sampled some drums from______ that had all that special treatment: compression,eq,layering,etc. etc., then can you really take credit for that beat? It’s one thing to take drums of a soul or rock record, cause for one, you’re using them in a completly different musical context and two, let’s be honest, those dudes didn’t hold the same reverence to open drums and breaks us as hip hoppers do. That’s like re-doing somebody’s collage,like wtf? I mean yeah to the general public who don’t make beats, they could give a fu^k.

  28. Yo Mav,
    I respect what you say but for me the main rule when you sample is that you gotta improve on the original song that you are sampling and that beat that you played was a pretty weak ass chop of Leo Sunshipps “Back For More” which is a classic tune. That song is dripping with dopeness.

    • @Harry: I came back through here to check out the comment that Jacques Lonestar wanted me to see, so I guess I am dipping back into the discussion when I said that I was out…

      It is funny when cats get on these blogs and do stuff like you just did. First of all, you are trying to flaunt a little bit of knowledge with your guess on my sample but you didn’t hit it on the head. Producers, don’t do what Harry just did…alot of guys who are making beats are still trying to sell their stuff. So, until we do, our samples are usually not cleared. So, when you run on the blogs and start snitching on uncleared samples, that really is some hater stuff to do. As much as alot of people tried to hate on alot of the “rules” that were mentioned earlier in the comments, this is one that has some direct implications for producers such as myself. And I am sure that most of you can see how this would hamper alot of the creativity that we were talking about earlier.

      Two, your opinion is your opinion. You can either like or dislike what I do. When you make a beat, it is all subjective. I probably have plenty of beats that people don’t like…I probably have plenty that people do like. But what I don’t do is just sit up behind my computer giving unsolicited critiques of people’s stuff…calling it weak. You come snitching on samples and then trying to diss for no reason. The diss is what it is…if you feel you can do better, more power to you. But avoid trying to come on these blogs and putting people’s samples on blast. In this day and age, people put your name in an Internet search and try to do all kinds of research on unauthorized sample use. All of you guys claiming to be real hip-hoppers but doing stuff like this, I can’t respect you…

  29. And shouts to my dude, Nick tha 1da for coming through…he is a producer/digger for real. Check out Nick’s stuff if you haven’t already…another heavyweight in the DMV area…

  30. Oh my bad Mav, I was talking about the original version. I was giving you too much credit as you sampled the Al Johnson and Jean Carne cover version of “I’m back for more” which has been sampled before by tons of people before like the Trackmasters for Will Smith “Just Cruisin”.
    How about spending less time hatin on people for knowing your samples and spend some more time diggin harder in the crates for something that hasn’t been used before and something more obscure. That’s what I respect.
    Also I wasn’t “dissing” you, I was just commenting on how I felt you didn’t flip the sample as well as you could have.

  31. @Harry: You are a funny dude…you gave me “too much” credit. I love the comedy…you are hilarious. First of all, as I said on the video, I have gotten past that “oh, such and such used the sample before, so I am not going to let people hear it.” You should stop spending so much time watching my video and work on your own music. Get your skills up to par before you come commenting on mine…

    There are always different ways that you can flip a sample. Recently, I have heard Illmind flip a sample that I have used completely different from me…two completely different feels though. I have heard that people like mine better…I have heard that people like his better. And you didn’t say that you just didn’t feel how I flipped it…you said “that beat that you played was a pretty weak ass chop of Leo Sunshipps ‘Back For More'”. So don’t backtrack…those are your words.

    And since you don’t know it yet, producing and digging are not exactly tied. 9th Wonder did a beat with “Nautilus” for Murs (I will say that since it has been cleared…I don’t do the snitching thing). How many times has Nautilus been used??? However, in production, you try to flip things even if they have been used before. It is how you hone your craft. So, don’t feel that because you drop a comment on Crate Kings, you are now an expert on digging. I will flip “the Thong Song” if I think I can do something with it. I am glad that I could take your attention for 10 minutes and address some of the things that guys like you do that you should avoid. Thanks for providing an example…

  32. “you are hilarious” – dude you have no idea. I’m a fucking riot to hang out with.

    “You should stop spending so much time watching my video and work on your own music” – Tell me about it. Thats 11 minutes of my life gone down the drain.

    Maybe I will get back to making some music and get my “skills up to par” before commenting on yours but oh wait, SNAP that’s what you’ve just done to me. Reverse that comment and do that shit yourself.

    Maybe I will start making music so I can go touring again. My game is up and has been on par for years playing with the likes of Public Enemy, De La Soul, Jeru The Damaja, The Pharcyde, Talib Kweli, Nas, Ghostface, Jurassic 5 etc……………

    But this isn’t about me Mav, It’s about you. I just thought you should take a second to realise that you shouldn’t judge people without knowing shit about them.

    Good look fliping “The Thong Song”. Think you might have a tough time making that better than the original aswell. Ok enough time wasted now.

    P.S. 9th Wonder is garbage. A beyond overrated producer. A wack ass version of the greats.

  33. Hahahahahahahaha…”my game is up and has been on par for years playing with the likes of Public Enemy, De La Soul, Jeru The Damaja, The Pharcyde, Talib Kweli, Nas, Ghostface, Jurassic 5″. And you have an imaginary friend who constantly tells you that you have a great personality…and you believed him.

    Trust me, the 11 minutes of your life that you spent watching me didn’t contribute to your life going down the drain as much as your personality probably did. I came on here, talking to people because we might have some different perspectives about this whole producing thing but I can respect anyone who can come to me with their opinion and articulate it without having to diss. You apparently don’t have that skill. You are right…I don’t know you. Plus, I am not sitting behind my computer, jerking off to pictures of Redhead Kingpin in my room in my mother’s basement and making comments on dudes that I don’t know. That would be you, kimosabe…

    I didn’t judge a thing about you. In my initial response, I specifically commented on what you did. I spoke about people who come on the blogs and start trying to out people’s samples just because they want to show that they know something. I don’t feel like people should do that and I spoke to that. I also said that your opinion is your opinion and you could love/hate the beat if you wanted to…that is on you. But you got a little case of that Internet courage and you really got beside yourself…that’s when I responded to you in kind…

    And you are about to go touring again with the likes of Public Enemy, De La Soul, Jeru, the Pharcyde, Talib Kweli, etc…but now you don’t??? You sound like a clown. And then, you follow it up by hating on people like 9th Wonder just because. Good luck in life, my dude…you need a hug and some counseling…

    Shout out again to Crate Kings…I have to say that I definitely like the blog and the info that you guys have on here. And thanks to everyone who stopped through and commented…even dudes like hater Harry here, who talks about how he thinks beats are wack because he can flip them better. Sounds like a douche to me. I am out…

  36. i thought makin(your own) drums came along with the territory of makin(your own) beats…. damn drum jakkers…yall can make beats but cant make drums..let alone your drums….”nah i got dilla drums,yea…and pete rocks yea ..whut(with the i aint doin nothin wrong face)”… smh.suckass

  38. All this drum jacking talk, do this. I’m sure a lot of us on here may worship at a local church. A lot of them have a guy or gal who plays drums. Shoot, ask them to meet up at church, even if you have to pay them a little fee, & mic things up! Get the MPC, MV, Maschine, whatever, heck even a digital recorder, & have them play “hits” of each drum piece! Snare, cymbal, hi-hat, closed hat, all of it! THEN GO HOME, LOAD THE SAMPLES, & TWEAK THE HELL OUT OF THEM! There you go, YOUR OWN DRUMS that nobody can say you got off of somebody’s track! Then if you’re a drummer yourself, hey, you know what it is!

  40. to me it doesnt matter where drums come from
    i use Dre, Dilla drums all the time and than its from downloaded ‘producer’ kits (LOL… i dont care)
    dont think any dude would recognize them when its in a new beat

  42. i dont even sample my own drums anymore
    there’s so many hot free downloadable stuff out there that i dont feel like sampling drums myself is needed
    im just being honest

  43. Gonna jump in here, don’t know if anyone will bother reading this far down the list but fuck it!

    As far as I’m concerned, I would rather eat a meal made from fresh ingredients cooked by someone with imagination and doesn’t have to follow the recipe to the letter, but understands the subtleties. Same goes for making beats. Personally I never jack drums, all mine are off wax and that’s what I build from. I might re-use a high hat in a different context, or layer a snare, but I will take a lot of time tweaking it until it sounds how I like it. A lot of cats share kits (& I’ll admit I’ve got a few but I’ll only ever normally grab things like cymbals when I’m struggling) but it’s these dudes who’ll just grab an already processed kick and snare that who are contributing to hip hop’s generic sound.

    It was easy to say there are no rules when the internet hadn’t entered the equation, because there was always integrity. If you wanted that next fresh sound, you had to dig for it (figuratively or otherwise). Nowadays you can easily do what you like, back then it was much harder so it forced creativity out of you.

    • True. You did have to work harder at it. Not only did you have to dig for drums and sounds,but once you found them,you had to beef them up,put them in your own kits,etc.

  45. The “rule” is simple:

    You don’t sample something that’s already been through somebody’s sampler to get to where you’re hearing it.

    Ignore or follow, as you wish. But that was always the way.

    Drums are NOT “open season”. What a toy.

    The only exception I can think of is the Mantronix “bells” beat, which has entered into the cannon of “classics” – and seems to be fair game.

    Oh, and his beat at the end – what a mess. Made no melodic or rhythmic sense.

  47. With all due respect, I just can’t believe how almost everyone is talking about hip hop producers getting jacked for all the hard work put into their drums?. I love making beats myself, but if you ask any famous producer or producer period, they will tell you that hip hop is mostly about jackin!. So please don’t talk about all the hard work, etc, because the artist that’s being sampled most likely spent more time on that song then it took for Pete rock, dre, or any other producer to lace the drums. Yes I do believe that if you dig for records youll expand your musical knowledge, ear, but there is no rule to sampling records in my opinion. For example ski beats on dead presidents using tribes drums. Classic!.

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