Gabriel Hynes

Plunderphonics: What is Sampling?

My final major project is a mini-documentary about the history of making music out of other music. It charts the development of sampling from a mid-century avant-garde art movement to a foundational tool for music production. The video takes a look at how changing technologies and curious attitudes have led to innovations in sample-based music, as well as music as a whole.

I’ve been fascinated by sampling ever since I started getting into music, so this project has been the perfect opportunity to collate and present all of the various pieces of music and video that I’ve come into contact with over the years. For the video, I also interviewed multidisciplinary artist and musician Fred Deakin from the band Lemon Jelly, and Chris Read, who is a DJ/musician and Head of Content at WhoSampled.com. These interviews give an even greater insight into the world of sampling and explain the incredible significance of sampling in music.

Here is a link to a Spotify playlist containing a varied list of songs and their samples.

Here is a link to a list of sound and video sources that I sampled in this video.