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So first of all everytime I have a question I am very hesitant on asking...let alone posting it on the dubstep forum, where if you are an amateur sound designer, or mention one slight thing about skrillex you will be virtually torn apart and raped without a doubt. but anyway..

Here's my stupid question of the day...

I have clipped a certain sound bit out of a song, I was wondering If I added effects or pitched it down or even re-sampled it completely would it still be plagiarism or have copyright issues? it's about a 2 or 3 second sound that I want to resample/effect and add into my work.

Thanks, for the help if anyone can answer that awful question haha...and if you're going to hate..well I would make fun of me too

Nah don't worry about it, it'll be fine.

Not an awful question man. Completely plausible. technically i'd say it would be plagiarism? but maybe not if you manipulate it to become a whole different sound? meh not sure i think you'd be right though mate.

automaticmeatrifle wrote:I have clipped a certain sound bit out of a song, I was wondering If I added effects or pitched it down or even re-sampled it completely would it still be plagiarism or have copyright issues? it's about a 2 or 3 second sound that I want to resample/effect and add into my work.

If you released your song and it went on to be a worldwide club smash hit, then you'd probably get the email equivalent of a knock at the door from the parent company of the artist you'd sampled...but seeing as that's probably not likely to happen, I wouldn't worry.

It's still illegal, but chances of getting caught would be slim if you changed it beyond recognition.

For a more accurate prediction, we'd need the source sound and then what you did to it.

Excuse me, but if I'm not misstaken you are allowed to use about 10 seconds of somebody elses work, without copyright issues (sounds ridic I know). I know in the marketing industry this is used to it's fullest, short clips where they take others music and reffering to this rule.

Weskr wrote:Excuse me, but if I'm not misstaken you are allowed to use about 10 seconds of somebody elses work, without copyright issues (sounds ridic I know). I know in the marketing industry this is used to it's fullest, short clips where they take others music and reffering to this rule.

The law you're trying to cite is called "fair use," and applies to editorial review and criticism. It isn't "just legal," but rather it's at judicial discretion. This does not allow re-embedding of the work in other commercial work; that's called "sampling," and is subject to far more severe limitations (see the last ten years of Dr. Dre in court.)

wub wrote:

Weskr wrote:Excuse me, but if I'm not misstaken you are allowed to use about 10 seconds of somebody elses work, without copyright issues (sounds ridic I know). I know in the marketing industry this is used to it's fullest, short clips where they take others music and reffering to this rule.

The law you're trying to cite is called "fair use," and applies to editorial review and criticism. It isn't "just legal," but rather it's at judicial discretion. This does not allow re-embedding of the work in other commercial work; that's called "sampling," and is subject to far more severe limitations (see the last ten years of Dr. Dre in court.)

Thanks for clearing that up, knew I was missing something, seeing the whole Amen break thing I thought there would be more to it. And you sir are a freaking beast at answering during these times. I think you've answered or quoted almost all of my posts

Weskr wrote: Thanks for clearing that up, knew I was missing something, seeing the whole Amen break thing I thought there would be more to it. And you sir are a freaking beast at answering during these times. I think you've answered or quoted almost all of my posts

People are being sued for the amen break now. It started about 4 or 5 years back after the heavy sampling was brought to the attention of the person who currently owns the rights, and now they ask for a flat fee or a percentage of the profit made from sales. There's been a couple of recent cases where sample companies have gotten in trouble and had to remove all traces of the amen from their discs and re-release them.

Anyway, sampling itself is part of electronic music, I wouldn't get too caught up in worrying about it. If you're sampling directly from your own genre then most people would say that's not right. It's "illegal" regardless, unless you obtain permission. Unless it's something quite obvious, it's usually not something to worry about. Ed Rush+Optical have mentioned one technique they loved was sampling and looping old house tunes and building a new tune around it, sometimes removing it, other times leaving it in there.

Just depends on what you're most comfortable doing IMO.

If you plan on releasing it online for free or on vinyl in small release or whatever, I wouldn't worry too much. If it's something you are really going to push, get it cleared. I'm sure the laws on sampling are a bit different in different countries but as far as I know, in the US, it doesn't matter how long the sample is, or even if you make it unrecognizable, it's infringement.

There's a famous story about the band The Verve. They did that song Bittersweet Symphony, great song, but never got the sample cleared. It sold millions. It was used in tons of movies. The band never saw a cent.

wub wrote:

automaticmeatrifle wrote:I have clipped a certain sound bit out of a song, I was wondering If I added effects or pitched it down or even re-sampled it completely would it still be plagiarism or have copyright issues? it's about a 2 or 3 second sound that I want to resample/effect and add into my work.

If you released your song and it went on to be a worldwide club smash hit, then you'd probably get the email equivalent of a knock at the door from the parent company of the artist you'd sampled...but seeing as that's probably not likely to happen, I wouldn't worry.

you never know!

BevOh wrote:technically i'd say it would be plagiarism?

naw, called "sampling"

a 3 second clip from a song? that seems alot. i feel dirty whenever i sample a song so i just limit my sampling to percussive one shots. i recommend you dont do it, as it still is kinda stealing. it also doesnt help you grow as an artist if your taking significantly large sounds from others. but thats just my opinion.

it's only plagiarism if the artist or label recognizes it as their own

as long as you "make it your own," you'll be fine. adding effects, layering, pitch shifting, time-stretching, etc.... these are fairly common techniques in the edm world.

on that note, i'm not advocating plagiarism or stealing another producers work (you should learn how to do it yourself). just saying, it has to be recognizable in order to be sued for plagiarism.

If they catch you, and you're making money off it, they won't hesitate to take that money.

Probably the Most interesting thread i've read on dsf

but seriously, if you manipulate the sample completely, maybe chop it up a bit, what are the odds of someone hunting you down?

It all depends on if someone listening to it would easily recognize it.

That being said, this is Electronic music, where stealing samples from other music is pretty much par for the course. No shame in it, as long as you use it creatively for your own artistic vision.

yeh fair play if youd rather not, but sampling is deeply rooted in this whole scene... be it micro or macro-samples. And everywhere in between...

you'll know when you're crossing a line. Unless you have zero moral compass, or are plain dumb