[Ads-l] Antedating of "Sampling" (Hip Hop Music)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The pertinent OED entry for the noun "sampling" has citations
beginning in 1975. It seems that sampling was performed for individual
notes and short sounds initially. The 1975 and 1984 OED citations
might be for these short samples.

This message will focus on sampling using longer samples which fits
the modern usage.

Music magazine "Creem" interviewed members of the group Depeche Mode
for an article published in July 1986. They discussed the upcoming
album Black Celebration and mentioned sampling. The "Depeche Mode live
encyclopedia" (accessed today, April 23, 2025) described the samples
on the Black Celebration album which included "choir vocal singing",
"a piano melody", and "a motorbike engine idling".

Date: July 1, 1986
Periodical: Creem
Periodical, Location: Los Angeles, California
Volume 17, Issue 11
Article: Depeche Mode's Kinky Moods
Author: David Keeps
Database: ProQuest
Quote Page 42

[Begin excerpt]
"We're not computer snots," lead singer Dave Gahan insists. "We know
probably as much as the next person, but we are learning," he
continues, with an explanation that soon soars above my head. Let it
just be said that computers help Depeche Mode come up with their
strange and wonderful sounds through a process called "sampling,"
which, now that they're in the studio, has been completed.
[End excerpt]

Website: dmlive.wiki DM Live - the Depeche Mode live encyclopedia for the masses
Article Title: List of Depeche Mode sample sources by album/Black Celebration
Access date: April 23, 2025
https://dmlive.wiki/wiki/List_of_Depeche_Mode_sample_sources_by_album/Black_Celebration

[Begin excerpt]
Among the many original samples recorded and utilized by Depeche Mode
to enhance the atmosphere of their musical output are many that
originated elsewhere, including brief passages of musical recordings
by other artists, snippets of audio from television shows, radio
broadcasts, films, environmental sounds, and more. Analysis of these
sample sources and how they are manipulated is a popular topic of
discussion amongst fans of the group.
. . .
A choir vocal singing the word "sometimes" is sampled from the one
minute nineteen second mark of Louis Armstrong's "Sometimes I Feel
Like A Motherless Child" and processed with reverb for use in the
intro of "Sometimes
. . .
A piano melody heard throughout "World Full Of Nothing" is performed
using Emulator II factory library disk #04 "Grand Piano".
. . .
"Stripped" employs a sample of a motorbike engine idling played one
octave down from its original pitch.
[End excerpt]

Below is a 1985 citation which mentions the sampling of a glissando
instead of a simple note.

Date: April 26, 1985
Periodical: Back Stage
Volume 26, Issue 17
Periodical Location: New York
Article: Digital Bits Byte Back
Author: Jim Singer
Quote Page 28B
Database: ProQuest

[Begin excerpt]
There’s a fairly recent development in synthesizers. It’s called
sampling. Here's how it works. You give the sampler a sound. Maybe a
note from a violin or a glissando from a harp. The computer "reads"
the sound, converts it into digital bits and allows you to play any
instrument on a keyboard.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Apr 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Maybe in describing how he excerpted the Marseillaise into the 1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky used the Russian equivalent of “sampling”...
>
> > On Apr 23, 2025, at 2:18 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> >
> > sampling, n. (OED, "incorporation of an excerpt from one musical recording to another," 1988)
> >
> > 1987 The Age Entertainment Guide (Melbourne) 20 Nov. 4/2 (Newspapers.com)
> >
> > At the moment sampling — punching bits of other songs and sticking them in your own — is huge.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org