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Recording Dojo: How Samplers and Loopers Create Beautiful Chaos

Sample your own performances, embrace mutations over replications, and let go of outcomes—here's how samplers and loopers can shock your music into strange new shapes.

By Bryan ClarkJan 03, 2026

Bryan Clark

A Texas native, Bryan began his professional career as the opening act for legendary jazz guitarist Larry Carlton. A graduate of University of Southern California (BM, DMA), and University of Texas (MM), he does session work in Los Angeles, Austin, and Nashville, collaborates with modern dance troupes and spoken word artists, and is in demand as a film composer, sound designer, producer, songwriter, and guitarist. Bryan is based at the world-famous Blackbird Studio in Nashville, and he’s a voting member of NARAS/Grammy, Leadership Music, Audio Engineering Society, and International Bluegrass Music Association. Connect with him at https://www.bryanclarkmusic.com.

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Most people think of samplers as drum machines with delusions of grandeur—four-bar loops, predictable patterns, and neatly sliced bits living forever in the prison of the grid. But for me, samplers and loopers are something completely different. They’re instruments of disruption. They’re creative accelerants. They’re circuit breakers designed to shock me out of my comfort zone and force my compositions, productions, and performances into strange, exhilarating new shapes.

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Recording Dojo: How Samplers and Loopers Create Beautiful Chaos

Sample your own performances, embrace mutations over replications, and let go of outcomes—here's how samplers and loopers can shock your music into strange new shapes.

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Sample your own performances, embrace mutations over replications, and let go of outcomes—here's how samplers and loopers can shock your music into strange new shapes.

Up Next

In the first installment of PG’s newest column, Colleen Fazio invites us into her shop to explore a 1959 Fender 5F1 Champ—complete with original components, a signed chassis, and 66 years of history.

In the next installment of this ongoing series, our columnist walks you through several customization and aging techniques for your guitar’s hardware.

How to use plugin presets as creative tools—not crutches.

Here are some tips on pairing a Tele with vintage Fender combos.

Next in this ongoing experiment, our columnist uses toothpicks, cardboard, and styrofoam to fine-tune his T-style electric.

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