Vocals samples in electronic music: necessary or unnecessary?

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Certain genres of electronic music seem to use less vocal samples than others; techno is the first to come to mind. There are also artists who rarely use them, such as Hardfloor or Pole (I'm not counting his latest album, which has full-on rap vocals). My question is: if the vocal sample isn't the actual hook of the song (such as in many big beat tracks), are they necessary? Does the use of such samples make a track sound more "human", and, vice versa, does a track without human voice sound more "synthetic"? Is there some logic behind all this, or is it just that producers use whatever sounds they like, not caring whether they come from a human source or not?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Using vocals will widen the appeal of any track - if only to remember the track name. And they do allow the producer to make a dance track more of a "song" than a DJ tool. But is it necessary? For most "instrumental" genres (techno, trance, progressive, acid, hardstyle, drum 'n bass etc) vocals tend to coincide with "crossover appeal", intentional or not. And "vocal" genres (big beat, UK rave/hardcore, house, eurodance but also microhouse) have somehow inherent (pop-)crossover appeal in itself.

The original non-vocal version of "Born Slippy" wouldn't have become a hit in a million years, that's for sure.

― Siegbran (eofor), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

the fewer vocals a genre uses the quicker my interest withers away.

― gabbo giftington (dubplatestyle), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

And somehow, using vocals/samples will ALWAYS increase the cheese/gimmick factor of a dance track.

― Siegbran (eofor), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

i think it completely depends
in most hard techno,vocals sound awful,but obviously house would be completely different without vocals...
i don't think there's any way of answering this question without excessive generalisation

― robin (robin), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh I'm willing to throw in another (probably v. obvious) generalisation: the harder and more minimal and DJ tool-y it gets, shorter & more sparsely used vocals will have to be.

― Siegbran (eofor), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

if the vocal sample isn't the actual hook of the song

Don't know if this is exactly what you're talking about, but eg Kid Koala and all those other intelligent hip-hoppy types. When I reviewed his new album, I got to thinking that he used spoken word samples like trumpet squawks or drum fills. To bring the attention back to a record, demonstrate his vituosity and break up an otherwise repetitive section. Also, the samples seem to give the album a context: they're all either about vinyl or jazz.

Another idea: with eg house, or anything else, the vocals make the thing easier to dance to. If you're half-singing along, even just in your head, the *groove*/backbeat or whatever becomes more subliminal and implicit, which means no concentrating on moving to the beat etc. Therefore, we all look sexier when dancing to a song with vocals.

― Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

It depends really, on one hand yes a good vocal is great or a good sample can really make a house track. Not just in pop house tracks either.

On the other hand lots of tracks in house have shit vocals tacked on to them for the single release and it ruins them beyond recognition. For example that awful awful awful Raven Maize song "Fascinate Me" which if you heard you'd think was the most dreadful crap ever, despite the fact the music itself was DJ Falcon's Cassius remix, which really is one of the best house tracks in recent memory.

Another recent one is that Sam Obernnik/Linus Loves Stand Back cover, the original Linus Loves song "The Terrace was way nicer. I can't stand Sam Obernik/Underwater/Subliminal/Tim Deluxe records and their crap these days anyway, where's the dirt.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 16 October 2003 09:18 (twenty-two years ago)

the fewer vocals a genre uses the quicker my interest withers away.

i was genuinely surprised by this. but i agree one hundred percent.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 16 October 2003 09:29 (twenty-two years ago)

The idea of hard techno with vocals is pretty funny, I'm imagining Speedy J featuring Robert Owens-Take Me Back To 01284739184798YXXXXX1112139243U19

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 16 October 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

"Vocals are a trick to make people listen a a piece of music longer than they would ordinarily" - D Byrne

― dave q, Thursday, 16 October 2003 10:32 (twenty-two years ago)

He must have stolen that off Eno

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 16 October 2003 10:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Using a specific example here, does anyone share my view that 'Blackwater' by Octave One was almost ruined by the vocals, indded only saved by the fact there was an instrumental on the flip?

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 16 October 2003 12:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Cosmos 'Take Me With You' is an interesting one - with the added Roachford vocals it kind of lost as much as it gained if not more.

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 16 October 2003 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

One band that I think occasionally uses awesome vocal samples is OMD.

One thing about vocal samples is I like it a lot better when they are not specific words, but rather a sound. Treating the vocal samples as an instrument works great with electronic music, but having lyrics in them gets annoying under some circumstances.

― A Nairn (moretap), Thursday, 16 October 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Using a specific example here, does anyone share my view that 'Blackwater' by Octave One was almost ruined by the vocals, indded only
saved by the fact there was an instrumental on the flip?

-- DJ Mencap (lackofinteres...) (webmail), October 16th, 2003. (DJ Mencap)

Yes, Mecap, I do. That track has a lot of (erm, forgive me) spiritual joy which seems to evaporate in the vocal version.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Thursday, 16 October 2003 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

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