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Education
How to Use Vocal Samples in Your Music
1. Use vocal samples to turn a track into a song
Adding a ready-made vocal hook to your track can instantly make a beat much more dynamic and appealing to a wider audience. Adding a vocal sample to your house or EDM instrumental is a great way to mark out the structure of your track. Used as a chorus, a vocal sample gives the listener something to latch onto when you take them on a sonic journey with your productions.
As humans, we’re primed to take special interest in the human voice—especially when the performance is full of emotion. Together with the lyrics, this adds a new dimension to hook your listeners and immerse them in your sound world. If you use a top-quality vocal sample—we’ll show you where to find the best ones at the bottom of this post—you’re sure to be off to a great start.
To use vocal samples this way, all you need to do is find one that either is or resembles a chorus or hook: a vocal part that’s ideally about 8 bars long, and with a strong melody. Then it’s up to you to find a way to make it fit in with your production. For a natural sound, make sure to match the BPM and key of your track. Alternatively, you can also find a vocal that’s close to the BPM and key and pitch or time-stretch the sample in your digital audio workstation. It’s worth noting that it’s usually easier to change the key of MIDI instruments than it is to transpose an audio file.
When time-stretching audio, a few BPM on either side of the original tempo can be unnoticeable, but any more than that and it will start to sound odd. With transposition, vocal samples can only be shifted up or down a few semitones at most before they lose their quality and character.
But if you don’t mind–or enjoy–a highly processed or unusual sound, then try using a vocal sample that doesn’t line up perfectly with your instrumental. Try some formant shifting too with plugins like Auto-Tune or Little Altar Boy for some interesting sounds. Remember: you can always take a vocal sample and pitch it down an octave, and even blend that with the original sample. The only limit is your imagination.
Have a look at the latest examples from Tracklib’s Hottest Flips to hear what we mean. Especially the example from German producers Tom Doolie and Cap Kendricks, who went as far as pitching the vocal sample down three semitones and time-stretched it from 143 BPM to 88 BPM—which worked out perfectly:
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2. Use vocal chops
When you start chopping up vocal samples, even more possibilities unfold. Broadly speaking, there are two main ways to use vocal chops.
The first is to manually copy and paste the audio file, and splice that up. You can hear an example of this in Jess Glynne’s song “Ain’t Got Far To Go.” The second verse starts with the line “hold tight, rollercoaster, here we go,” but the very start of the word “Hold” is chopped up and repeated three times before we hear the line in full. This chopping technique is used in all kinds of popular music, including pop, hip-hop, dubstep, and RnB.
Another example of this technique can be found in “Immature” by British group FLO. This time it’s integral to the actual songwriting and not just a peppering of production magic. In the post-chorus (starting at 0:48), the word ‘immature’ is chopped up into a catchy hook, and this gives the song its name.
The second way to make vocal chops is with a sampler instrument. Most DAWs come with one pre-installed, but there are also third-party ones such as Kontakt 7 Player. If you load a short vocal snippet into a sampler instrument, you can make brand new melodies and such, as the sampler will transpose the sample across the whole range of the keyboard. As every person’s voice is unique, so will any ‘instrument’ that you make in this way. “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry is an example of a song where the instrumental accompaniment is made with the extensive use of this technique.
Another example of this technique is “The Motto” by Ava Max and Tiësto, where the bass line alternates between a vocal sample loaded into a sampler instrument and more traditional synth bass. In order to emulate this sound, you’d have to find a vocal sample or singer with exactly that kind of voice.
3. Use vocal samples as a transition between sections
Vocal samples can be a great alternative—or addition—to white noise risers or reversed cymbals, which is an essential part of the music production process. These are a good way to create a smooth transition between the sections of your track; to prepare the listener for a change in mood that might otherwise be jarring. Your track is not finished until your transitions are interesting and cohesive.
Using vocal samples as a transition between sections is simple. There are two general rules for transitions: ones that lead into a section should build in energy as they progress, and ones that start at the beginning of a section should decrease in energy. Simple ways to control the amount of energy in a vocal sample are the use of volume automation, pitch bending, and the amount of reverb used. It’s also very common to use vocal samples that have been reversed, so they start very quiet, and become louder and clearer until the end.
These are just the basics, though. There are many more ways you can be creative in this area. You might also want to consider adding a ‘transition’ right at the start of your track.
This is particularly helpful if you don’t have a traditional intro of 4 or 8 bars—just a second or two of a reversed vocal can ease the listener into your sound world without a nasty shock. To name just one of the countless examples of this technique in action, listen to “There She Go” by Justin Bieber. We’ve picked this one as the intro is unusually long–nearly 6 seconds–so it’s easy to hear what we’re talking about.
Some tracks use a barely perceptible ‘transition’ of just a fraction of a second. Sound design for transitions is also highly prone to change, so using vocal samples is an easy way to keep your music fresh. Listen to the Top 40 or Hot 100 and pay attention to the transitions to see what’s in fashion at the moment.
4. Use vocal samples to make a beat
Using vocal samples as a percussive element in your tracks is a shortcut to getting a unique sound as a producer. It’s also possible to make a beat entirely from vocal samples, without using any actual drum samples. Some producers have even made a name for themselves by using this technique, such as Timbaland and Pharrell Williams. If anything demonstrates the power of vocal samples, it should be this. There are different levels to this technique. From simple enhancements to outrageous acapellas that emulate an entire drum kit with just the human voice.
“OBSESSED” by Eli Moore takes this idea up another notch, adding tongue pops into the mix. The use of vocal samples in some sections of this song has become an integral part of the beat. But there’s still a lot further you can take it. Even more active is “sweetener” by Ariana Grande. Co-written and produced by Pharrell Williams, you can hear his signature vocal samples that form a substantial part of the beat for this catchy RnB/ pop number. The word ‘Sheesh’ is particularly effective because the sibilance—S sounds—at the start and end of the word are very high-pitched and function almost like a hi-hat. This technique is often used in hip hop and RnB music.
At the extreme end, we have songs that are entirely created from vocal samples, such as “Toxic” by The Bellas (Britney Spears cover) from the movie Pitch Perfect 3. The use of vocal samples to emulate a full drum kit, guitar, synths, and violins even verges on ridiculous. Using unusual vocal techniques to parody this well-known song is done deliberately here, and is one of the most memorable and funny moments in the film.
As you’ll be able to hear, there are many ways to use vocal samples in a percussive manner that can add energy to your tracks. All you need to do is decide how far you want to take it.
5. Use vocal samples to add a sense of depth
You can also use vocal samples to add a sense of depth to instrumentals or songs that would otherwise be quite flat. With this technique, all the magic lies in the processing. Try messing with the pitch or formant, and adding some saturation before you feed the sample into a big reverb. Choose a decay time that’s quite large—several seconds, perhaps—so that it contrasts with the rest of the instruments in your track. Then all you need to do is lower the volume until it evokes a sense of space without overpowering all the other elements.
If we’re talking about using vocal samples to evoke a sense of depth, we have to mention “The Motto” by Ava Max and Tiësto again. Apart from the percussion, most of this multi-platinum record from the American pop star and Dutch producer/ DJ is made from vocal samples. Not only is the iconic bass line the result of feeding a vocal sample into a sampling instrument, but there are vocal samples throughout the track—with plenty of reverb—that open up the sonic landscape with such a unique character. Listen to the instrumental version to hear more clearly what we mean.
6. Use vocal samples to make a statement
Now, this might not be for everyone, but you can use vocal samples to make a political statement or other forms of social commentary. Sampling spoken word is also a very important technique in the world of hip hop. Artists like Drake and Kanye West have used spoken word vocal samples to give a commentary on the world as they see it.
This kind of reference can also be compared to the use of symbols in visual art. That can either be obvious or it can be subtly done, with the true meaning only emerging years later as people latch on to the hidden meaning behind sample choices. It’s a great way to add an element of mystery and intrigue to your music. There are all sorts of non-musical vocals you can use in your tracks, such as political speeches, news reports, and religious addresses–just make sure to obtain the relevant clearance and legal permissions before you release them commercially. On Tracklib, you can also find a wide range of acapella stems or spoken word audio to use in your music. All music on Tracklib can be easily cleared and licensed—a few clicks is all that takes, so you don’t have to trace down original rightsholders!
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Where to find interesting and original vocal samples
You can find vocal samples, ad libs and vocal loops on a number of platforms including SoundCloud, YouTube, Splice, and of course Tracklib's own rich vaults of acapellas and multitracks. You can also go to Reverb, SoundClick, and Discogs to find vocal samples recorded by others. Sometimes the best vocal is your own — if you want to sing your own vocals over a sample pack that you’ve found online or recorded yourself, many technology platforms offer free trials so that you can try out the software before committing.
Conclusion
Whichever approach you take, there are many ways you can use vocal samples to take your music to the next level. From transforming an instrumental into a song to adding rhythmic elements with vocal chops. You can also add a sense of depth using vocals or even make a political statement with lyrics. With vocal sampling, there really are unlimited possibilities; from the source material to a variety of sampling techniques.
If you need more help finding the right sounds, we recommend checking out our guide on Where to Find the Best Free Vocal Samples.