Sampling means capturing a piece of recorded sound, from a drum break to a single piano chord, and turning it into a playable building block. Digital samplers made this practical: the Fairlight CMI arrived in 1979 at a price of around $25,000, while more affordable machines such as E-mu’s SP-1200 (1987) and Akai’s MPC60 (1988) put the technique in the hands of hip hop producers.
In jazz lo-fi, sampling is the bridge to the past. Beatmakers lift a few bars of an old jazz, soul or bossa nova record, slow it down or chop it up, and set it over unhurried drums, so that the warmth of the original recording becomes part of the new track. Many producers also sample their own playing or licensed sample packs. Reusing someone else’s recording normally requires permission, a subject covered under sample clearance.