Depeche Mode sample sources

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In audio production, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) from a sound recording within another recording. As pioneers of the electronic music genre in the early 1980's, Depeche Mode were among the first acts to make use of new sampling technology within a traditional pop music format.

Among the thousands of original samples recorded and utilized by Depeche Mode to enhance the atmosphere of their musical output are many that originated elsewhere, including brief passages of musical recordings by other artists, snippets of audio from television shows, radio broadcasts, films, environmental sounds, and more. Analysis of these sample sources and how they are manipulated is a common topic of discussion among fans of the group.

Glossary Terms used in this article

Information

Key
Official	The sample is confirmed to have been used in the specified song by a past/present member of Depeche Mode, an individual involved in its production, or band archivist Daniel "BRAT" Barassi.
Confirmed	The sample is independently confirmed to have been used in the specified song.
Likely	The sample is likely to have been used in the specified song but has not yet been confirmed.
Unconfirmed	The sample is not yet confirmed to have been used in the specified song.
Disproven	The sample is confirmed to not have been used in the specified song.
Unknown	It is unclear if the sample was used in the specified song.

Within reason, this page aims to document all verifiable sound sources for many of the musical parts used by Depeche Mode in the production of their studio albums, official remixes, and live performances, as well as the samples used in the production of former Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder's Recoil studio albums, official remixes, live performances, and other works.

Due to the passage of time, fading memories, and the inherent nature of the samples described in this article (which were often transposed, reversed, tweaked, processed, layered, and otherwise manipulated nearly beyond recognition), there is unavoidable potential for journalistic error or misattribution. To combat this, the content of this article is comprised of verified quotes from band members and recording personnel, verifiable sources with citations wherever possible, audio examples, and independent research voluntarily contributed by Depeche Mode and Recoil fans across the world. It is written with the humble goal of providing an interesting document on this topic in a tabular format that is organized, well-researched, and reasonably accurate.

This article differentiates samples by their origin: Self-made samples, which describes any material originally recorded by Depeche Mode or Recoil, and Sourced samples, which describe samples which were not originally recorded by either group. In addition to confirmed samples, this article also covers samples that are commonly misreported as being used but have been directly refuted by a member or associate of Depeche Mode or Recoil.

As ever, if you see any errors, please feel free to contact us.

Depeche Mode

Speak And Spell

Speak And Spell does not contain samples from any identifiable sources.

A Broken Frame

A Broken Frame does not contain samples from any identifiable sources.

Construction Time Again

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Notes
'Everything Counts' (various live versions)	1983	Woodwind-like sample	Two samples with a woodwind-esque timbre (presumably derived from a synthesizer and subsequently sampled), comprise the famous riff played by Alan Wilder during the outro as heard in performances of 'Everything Counts' during the 1987-1988 Music For The Masses and 1990 World Violation tours. Notably, one of the two samples is played monophonically with a smooth portamento layered with multiple other sampled and synthesized parts to form the main melody in the middle eight section of the studio recording of 'Shake The Disease'.
		One-shot guitar chug	Part of the "chugging" guitar rhythm heard most obviously during the opening bars and throughout 'Mercy In You' is sampled, transposed up several notes, and filtered to produce a rhythmic element best heard during the choruses and break section of Everything Counts as it was performed on the 1993 Devotional Tour.
		Resonant synth pad	A resonant synth pad is used to play a series of chords during the outro of 'Everything Counts' as it was performed on the 1993 Devotional and 1994 Exotic tours. This resonant pad can also be heard during the choruses of the same song as it was performed on the 1990 World Violation tour and throughout the 'Walking In My Shoes (Grungy Gonads Mix)'.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Everything Counts' (Tim Simenon/Mark Saunders Remix)	1989	Breathing sound	Kraftwerk - 'Tour de France'	1983	Unconfirmed
		Intro sweep	Kraftwerk - 'Die Roboter'	1978	Unconfirmed
'The Landscape Is Changing'	1983	Spoken word in German	Einstürzende Neubauten - 'Merle (Die Elektrik)'	1983	Unconfirmed

Some Great Reward

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Notes
'Blasphemous Rumours'	1984	Metallic snare	The heavy snare used throughout the song is produced by recording the sound of a hammer smashing against a concrete floor. Alan says in the November 1984 issue of International Musician And Recording World: "We sampled some concrete being hit for what turned out to be the snare sound. All that entailed was us hitting a big lump of concrete with a sampling hammer. The engineer / producer we use, Gareth Jones, has got this brilliant little recorder called a Stellavox which we use with two stereo mikes and it's as good as any standard 30ips reel-to-reel but this is very small and therefore very portable. So we just took the Stellavox out into the middle of this big, ambient space and miked up the ground and hit it with a big metal hammer. The sound was… like concrete being hit. I can't really put it any other way." Wilder later recalled in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "It was a hammer on a concrete floor if I recall correctly."

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Master And Servant' (Slavery Whip Mix/12" Version)	1984	Drum elements	Frankie Goes To Hollywood - 'Relax'	1983	Disproven	The Face magazine reported in February 1985: [...] One of the most popular drum sounds on the Fairlight computer, for instance - the machine used by Trevor Horn to create many of Frankie's sounds - is that of Led Zeppelin... Alan Wilder: "No, I don't mind admitting it. We nicked a beat off one of Frankie's records and stuck it on our 12-inch. But I mean the actual sound, not the idea. It's not a drum sound that sells a record anyway, it's the whole song and the musical ideas. [...]" Electronics & Music Maker magazine then reported in 1986: In response to a complaint that Depeche Mode stole a Frankie Goes To Hollywood drum sound, Frankie's engineers replied that the Frankie drum sound was actually a Linn - itself a recording! Wilder directly refutes this claim in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site in response to a fan question regarding the authenticity of the story as reported in an unofficial 1986 biography Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward by Dave Thompson: "Surprisingly, no truth whatsoever."
'People Are People' (Are People People? Mix)	1984	Doo-wop vocal sample	The Citadels - 'When I Woke Up This Morning'	1964	Confirmed	Credit to Brat/Daniel Barassi for this discovery.

Catching Up with Depeche Mode

1985 photograph of Martin Gore with the EMU Emulator II sampler keyboard during the recording of 'Shake The Disease'. Photo by eBay seller magicmomentsug4u, retrieved via Facebook group “Depeche Mode Classic Photos And Videos”.

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Notes
'Shake The Disease'	1985	Vibraphone-like percussive bell	'Shake The Disease' employs a filtered vibraphone-like percussive bell element during its post-chorus sections layered with a variety of other parts, including a separate bell sample and synthesized parts. This distinctive sound would also see use in several other Depeche Mode songs recorded at the time such as 'It Doesn't Matter Two' and 'But Not Tonight'.
		Metallic percussive element	A textured, highly-resonant percussive element with a high frequency is used during the post-chorus sections layered with several other parts and processed with reverb. The sample is re-triggered to play in time with the bell melody, and is played in two ways: one where the sample is re-triggered in time with the bell melody and then allowed to play out (or allowed to play from beginning to end) on the seventh keypress, and one where the sample cuts away on the seventh keypress without playing in full. Notably, this sample is also used in a variety of other songs recorded by Depeche Mode between 1984 and 1985, including 'It Doesn't Matter'.
		Hi-hats (open and closed)	'Shake The Disease' employs a basic 4/4 hi-hat rhythm comprised of one closed and one open hi-hat. These hi-hat parts would also be used in several other songs produced during that time, including 'But Not Tonight' and 'Here Is The House'.

Black Celebration

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Notes
'Fly On The Windscreen'	1986	"Over and done with" Daniel Miller vocal sample	Wilder confirms the origin of this vocal sample in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "'Over and done with' courtesy of Daniel Miller if memory serves correct."
		"Horse" Daniel Miller vocal sample	Wilder confirms the origin of this vocal sample in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "Dan Miller saying 'Horse' repeatedly very fast (as used in 'Fly On The Windscreen')".
'It Doesn't Matter Two'	1986	Vibraphone-like percussive bell	It Doesn't Matter Two employs a vibraphone-like percussive bell element to mysterious and dramatic effect respectively during the later verses and on the final note. This distinctive sound would also see use in several Depeche Mode songs of the time such as 'Shake The Disease' and 'But Not Tonight'.
'A Question Of Time'	1986	Guitar-like pluck	A brief plucked sound reminiscent of a guitar or processed piano sample is used in chorus with a bass part to form the bassline of 'A Question Of Time'. Notably, this sample is also used to play a four note sequence as a fill sporadically throughout 'But Not Tonight'.
'Here Is The House'	1986	Mandolin-like sampled guitar	Martin Gore told Electronics and Music Magazine in 1986: "[...] Then there’s the mandolin-like part on 'Here is the House'. That was an acoustic guitar sampled twice — once on a down-stroke and once on an upstroke. We used them on alternate notes, so every other note was a downstroke and all the in-between notes were up-strokes. It sounded very funny — almost like a real player."
'But Not Tonight'	1986	Mandolin-like sampled guitar	'But Not Tonight' re-purposes the sampled upstroke and downstroke guitar elements originally sampled for use in 'Here Is The House'. Martin Gore told Electronics and Music Magazine in 1986: "[...] Then there’s the mandolin-like part on 'Here is the House'. That was an acoustic guitar sampled twice — once on a down-stroke and once on an upstroke. We used them on alternate notes, so every other note was a downstroke and all the in-between notes were up-strokes. It sounded very funny — almost like a real player."
		Vibraphone-like percussive bell	'But Not Tonight' employs a vibraphone-like percussive bell element during the latter half of each verse section, utilising a 1/4 delay to achieve a hypnotic "bouncing" sound. This distinctive sound would also see use in several other Depeche Mode songs of the time such as Shake The Disease and It Doesn't Matter Two.
		Resonant bell sample	A rich, resonant bell sample is layered with a choral-esque part (possibly a Synclavier) to create a highly-textured counter melody as heard in its chorus sections. This bell sample would later be used in the introduction of 'Strangelove', 'Nothing', and the Recoil instrumental 'Grain'.
		Guitar-like pluck	A brief plucked sound reminiscent of a guitar or processed piano sample plays a four note sequence as a fill sporadically throughout 'But Not Tonight'. This sample is also used in chorus with a bass part to form the bassline of 'A Question Of Time'.
		Hi-hats (open and closed)	'But Not Tonight' employs a basic 4/4 hi-hat rhythm comprised of one closed and one open hi-hat. These hi-hat parts are also used in several other songs produced at or around the same time, including 'Here Is The House' and 'Shake The Disease'.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'A Question Of Time'	1986	Moan vocal sample	The Chanters - 'She Wants To Mambo'	1954? (Re-release by Jazzman Records in 2014)	Officially confirmed	The second feminine moan in the song is sampled and played in a descending two note passage with EQ for added top-end during the chorus sections of 'A Question Of Time'. Martin Gore confirmed the use of the sample in the August 1986 issue of Electronics & Music Maker: "It's not that audible, though. It's a sample from a record called 'She Wants to Mambo', an old doo-wop disc. At the end of each verse, the woman who sings sort of moans. We sampled this moan and played it up a few notes, which made it sound like a girl moaning. We used it on the chorus section of 'A Question of Time'."
'Fly On The Windscreen'	1986	"Their living hell" vocal sample	Peter Jennings, ABC News (Television News Report, unidentified date)	?	Likely	Jennings was an active news anchor from 2/1/1965 to 4/1/2005. It is likely the exact date of the report sampled by Depeche Mode occurred sometime before or between approx. November 1985 and December 1985 at the latest.
'Fly On The Windscreen' (Death Mix)	1986	"I don't care how you feel!" vocal sample	Richard Pryor - Unidentified film	?	Unconfirmed
		"Help the dying" vocal sample	Steve Kroft, CBS News (Television News Report, unidentified date)	?	Likely	Kroft was an active television news anchor with CBS news starting in 1980. It is likely the exact date of the report sampled by Depeche Mode occurred sometime before or between approx. November 1985 and December 1985 at the latest.
'Sometimes'	1986	"Sometimes" vocal sample	Louis Armstrong - 'Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child'	1958	Likely	Credit to Home user 'personal cheese' for this discovery.

Music For The Masses

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Notes
'Never Let Me Down Again'	1987	Processed guitar riff	In a July 4, 2019 interview with Super Deluxe Edition, Dave Bascombe recalled the production of the guitar riff: "[...] I remember Martin had his guitar, and it’s used quite a bit… the beginning of ‘Never Let Me Down’ for example…. what a wonderful, happy accident that was. It was supposed to start with the snare drum and then go straight in, but because of the nature of technology at the time, the guitar rift[sic] was played, then we sampled it into the Synclavier [early digital synthesizer/digital sampling system] and it just kicked off as soon as it got code at the beginning of the track and we all went ‘wow, that’s great’, so that was an accident."
		Lead melody - one "guitar-like" pluck, one solo vocal-like pad with short loop	The lead melody of 'Never Let Me Down Again' as it has been performed live since its debut is comprised of a guitar-like pluck sample combined with a solo vocal-like pad with a short loop (itself derived from a non-looped sample that is used in conjunction with yet another vocal-like sound to intensify the final four bars of each verse section in 'I Want You Now'). Other notable appearances of the the guitar-like sample include a two-note fill during the verses of 'Strangelove'. In addition to its use in 'Never Let Me Down Again' and 'I Want You Now', the aforementioned solo vocal-like pad is also used to play a melody during the chorus sections of 'Nothing'.
'Strangelove'	1987	Resonant bell sample	Strangelove employs a rich bell sample layered with other samples to form the counter melody sound heard during its intro, chorus sections and outro. Other notable uses of this bell sample include the choruses of 'But Not Tonight' as well as the Recoil instrumental 'Grain'.
'I Want You Now'	1987	Female 'ah' vocal samples / Sample of multiple laughing girls	Two girls described by Wilder as "hanging around" the studio during the recording of Music For The Masses were utilized during the production of 'I Want You Now'. The women were recorded performing distinct 'ah' vocal "utterances" that act in place of snares alongside comparable vocals provided by Gore throughout the song. Wilder recalled in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "...I think it was a couple of girls who were hanging around the studio - thought we'd make use of them ;-)" In a July 4, 2019 interview with Super Deluxe Edition, Dave Bascombe recalls the vocals were recorded at Guillaume Tell studio by models in the area during Paris Fashion Week: "...It was Fashion Week when we were in Paris which terrible, you know [laughs] so models turned up at the studio and we got them to do the samples, just to get it a bit more hi-fi!"
		'Breathing' accordion loop	The "breathing" effect heard throughout 'I Want You Now' is produced by an accordion being inflated and deflated without depressing a key.
'Nothing'	1987	Hi-hat derived from the sound of a pneumatic coach door shutting	In a July 4, 2019 interview with Super Deluxe Edition, Dave Bascombe recalls the unique production of a hi-hat as used in 'Nothing' and other album songs: "We dug out a few of their old samples and I brought a lot of mine as well, which were more in the vein of just regular snare drums and kicks, although I did use, there’s one interesting sound which is used as a high hat on, I think ‘Nothing’, or maybe a few things, which is a pneumatic coach door shutting. Anyway, we did swap a few things around like that. I had an Emulator II [sampler/keyboard], we’d swap discs and so on."
		Solo vocal-like pad with short loop	A solo vocal-like pad with a short loop (derived from a non-looped sample that is used in conjunction with yet another vocal-like sound to intensify the final four bars of each verse section in 'I Want You Now') is used to play a melody during the chorus sections of 'Nothing'. Other notable appearances of this sample include the lead melody as heard in live performances of 'Never Let Me Down Again' and as a vocal stab layered with yet another vocal-like sound during the final four bars of each verse section in 'I Want You Now'.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Never Let Me Down Again'	1987	Classic John Bonham drum one-shots	Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin' And Stealin'	1982	Officially confirmed	The heavy drums of Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks' sampled on the Beastie Boys song 'Rhymin And Stealin' were subsequently sampled by Depeche Mode. One-shot samples of the bass drum and snare drum are sampled and sequenced to form the primary drum pattern of 'Never Let Me Down Again'. Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Never Let Me Down Again' employs some drum elements originally from Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks' which were sampled second-hand from a rap record. The sampled parts would later be re-purposed for 'Halo' and 'Get Right With Me'. "From memory, the drums were sampled from Led Zeppelin's 'When the Levee Breaks' (but secondhand from a rap record). It is one of the most commonly used drum samples – for obvious reasons as it has that very special "Bonham" sound. The same snare drum sound appears on [Depeche Mode's] 'Get Right With Me'. I've also heard that snare on a Massive Attack record and many others. I think Violator was the first album that we used whole performance drum loops to create rhythm tracks, as opposed to programmed single drum sounds, and 'Halo' was one of the first tracks we recorded for Violator in fact. Flood and I were listening to quite a lot of hip hop and rap records at the time – those artists were the forerunners when sampling larger sections of rhythms and grooves. And the unusual feels that were created on those albums really influenced Violator and Songs Of Faith And Devotion." In a July 4, 2019 interview with Super Deluxe Edition, Dave Bascombe recalls how the sampled percussion came to be used in 'Never Let Me Down Again': "['Never Let Me Down Again' is the one] that hit me when I first heard that demo, I thought that’s just fantastic. My sole contribution, well not my sole contribution – this is before we got to Paris, we were round at Alan’s house – and I said ‘right, I want to use ‘When The Levee Breaks’ [Led Zeppelin] drums on this.’ I know that it’s been used 10 billion times now, but they were still quite new then and I’d always loved those drum sounds and as I say they weren’t a cliched thing then, so I suggested using them for the main kick and snare. But I actually loved that track, still do."
		Classic John Bonham drum one-shots	Led Zeppelin - 'When The Levee Breaks'	1971	Officially confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Never Let Me Down Again' employs some drum elements originally from Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks', which were sampled second-hand from a rap record. (Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin And Stealin').
		N/A	Gary Wright - 'Love Is Alive'	1976	Unconfirmed
		Guitar riff and drum elements	3rd Bass - 'Wordz Of Wisdom, Pt. 2'	1989	Officially confirmed	American hip-hop group 3rd Bass employed an uncredited sample of the opening guitar riff from Depeche Mode's 'Never Let Me Down Again' for their 1989 track 'Wordz Of Wisdom, Pt. 2'. Depeche Mode were fond of their use of the sample, and would in turn sample it back from 'Wordz Of Wisdom, Pt. 2' and employ it during the live interlude of 'Never Let Me Down Again' as performed on the 1990 World Violation Tour. Wilder would later use this sample and other elements from 'Wordz Of Wisdom, Pt. 2' in the live production of 'In Your Room' as part of Recoil's 2010-2011 Selected Events tour.
'I Want You Now'	1987	Female orgasm vocal samples (x2)	Unidentified pornographic film'	?	Confirmed	The pornographic film sampled by Depeche Mode for use in the production of 'I Want You Now' is likely to have enjoyed an official release on VHS or Betamax cassette and would have been in widespread circulation by July 1987.
'Nothing'	1987	Classic John Bonham drum one-shots	Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin' And Stealin'	1982	Confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Never Let Me Down Again' employs some drum elements originally from Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks' which were sampled second-hand from a rap record. (Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin And Stealin'). The "Bonham" snare drum sample is processed and re-purposed for the snare sequence of 'Nothing'. The primary fill sequence features the snare playing a descending "melody" of 3-3-2, where each number corresponds to the number of snare hits and the key of the snare descends by one note from its root key every three hits.
		Classic John Bonham drum one-shots	Led Zeppelin - 'When The Levee Breaks'	1971	Confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Never Let Me Down Again' employs some drum elements originally from Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks' which were sampled second-hand from a rap record. (Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin And Stealin'). The "Bonham" snare drum sample is processed and re-purposed for the snare sequence of 'Nothing'. The primary fill sequence features the snare playing a descending "melody" of 3-3-2, where each number corresponds to the number of snare hits and the key of the snare descends by one note from its root key every three hits.
'Strangelove' (The Fresh Ground Mix)	1987	N/A	Cameo - 'Word Up'	1986	Unconfirmed
'Route 66' (Beatmasters Mix)	1987	"They come from everywhere to take the challenge", "If they can name it they can claim it", "It's big money, high hopes, near misses, and love and kisses", "So, join host Tom Kennedy, tonight at 7:30, and 'Name That Tune!'" vocal samples from a television promotion for the television game show Name That Tune	Unspecified television advertisement for Name That Tune (game show)	?	Confirmed

Violator

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Notes
'World In My Eyes'	1990	Primary snare	The origin of the primary snare sound used throughout the production of 'World In My Eyes' (and, relatedly, its similar-but-different counterpart audible during the electronic interlude during the album version outro of 'Personal Jesus') is unclear. Wilder posits in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "Can't remember exactly. I think we made it from scratch or it could be a combination of analogue and a sample."
		Minimoog/ARP 2600 bass	The origin of the bass is a combination of a series of unique synthesized parts, including a frequentially 'dark' synth bass with a heavy low frequency Moog-like quality, a velocity-sensitive synthesized bass part with a high resonance and slight filter cutoff settings, and a potentially ring-modulated velocity-sensitive synthesized bass part with a subtle filtered white noise setting (likely produced by the ARP 2600, though this is not confirmed). Wilder summarizes its production in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "Again, can't remember exactly -most likely a combination of Moog and Flood's Arp."
'Personal Jesus'	1989	'Stomp' drum elements	Wilder recalls in separate Q&A and Editorial features on the official Recoil project site: "The main stomps... [were] a recording of 2 or 3 people jumping up and down on flight cases."
		Slide guitar fill	Producer Flood recalled the production of the unique slide guitar element in his 2011 Mute Short Circuit presentation: "If I had the slide guitar part here, I could show it, but I always heard that as screaming voices, and there was one evening when they're all looking at me going 'What are you talking about? It's a slide guitar.' And Dave going 'What, just screaming to something" I go "Yeah, just scream to anything!" He goes "What, like this? Rahhh!" I went "Great!" So they sampled it and put it with the guitar that slides up, and that's why it sounds — it sounds like a slide guitar, but it's not quite a slide guitar, and that's something that they'd obviously learned from Daniel, and I had learned from Daniel, this thing of meticulously crafting something and building it."
'Halo'	1990	Minimoog/ARP 2600 bass	The origin of the bass is a combination of likely two or more unique synthesized parts, including a frequentially 'dark' synth bass with a heavy low frequency Moog-like quality performed with a sensitive velocity setting for dynamic sonic changes per note, with an additional velocity-sensitive bass part produced with an identifiable square oscillator modulated in the synthesizer pipeline (likely produced by the ARP 2600, though this is not confirmed). Wilder summarizes its production in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "I think [it was] created using a combination of the Minimoog and Flood's Arp."
		Various drum loops
'Waiting For The Night'	1990	ARP 2600 bass sequence with multiple delays	Wilder describes the production of this bass part in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "Flood and I had been listening to Tangerine Dream and decided to try and create a similar atmosphere for this track. The main sequence was put together using his ARP and the sequencer that accompanies the synth. Due to its many velocity and filtering possibilities, this unit has a unique quality which is difficult to replicate using a modern-day sequencer triggered by MIDI. Once it has been set-up, in order for the sequence to be transposed to follow the chord structure of the song, I needed to play in each chord change from an external keyboard. A similar principal was applied to achieve the bubbling bass part which, together with the main sequence, forms the backbone of the track. The charm of the ARP sequencer stems from the slight tuning and timing variations that occur each time the part is played. This gives a sense of fluidity and continual change which seems to suit the song."
'Enjoy The Silence'	1990	Vocal 'ahs'	The outro choir melody is comprised of a series of looped vocal 'ah' samples. Notably, these vocal elements are re-used to dramatic effect as a solo vocal element in 'Memphisto', and are also layered with other processed vocals for use as a choir during the second verse of 'In Your Room' as it was performed on the 1993 Devotional Tour. These vocal 'ah' samples were retired from live use with 'Enjoy The Silence' by Depeche Mode and replaced with a different sample-based choir element as of the 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe with one exception, where they were included on playback for a live television promotion.
'Policy Of Truth'	1990	Main guitar rhythm	The primary guitar rhythm used prominently during the first two verses is produced by a single note played from a guitar, which is processed and looped to provide a built-in vibrato effect. The sample is then allocated across the keyboard for playback. Though not confirmed, a second sample is likely used to produce the faux guitar 'lick' present in the rhythm part in every other bar. Wilder recalled in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "It's a single note sampled from a guitar and then looped and played from a keyboard. The loop is what gives it the vibrato effect."
		Hi-hat loops	'Policy Of Truth' employs sampled hi-hat rhythms sequenced as dynamic alternating loops, introducing an evolving rhythm to the song. Wilder explains the benefits of using loops over one-shot samples in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "...No two snare beats sound the same when played by a drummer - I like that. That's why I prefer to use lots of drum loops with all the feel (and flaws) of the original performance. Most of the drum sounds on 'Violator' were sampled (apart from obvious electro sounds) but the rhythms were still programmed. Some hi-hat patterns ('Policy' for example) were played and sampled as loops and in the case of 'Halo' and 'Clean' it's all loops. Again, I prefer the looped parts because of the performance element."
'Clean'	1990	Female 'ah' vocal sample	Clean employs a re-purposed female 'ah' vocal part originally recorded for use in Depeche Mode's 'I Want You Now'. The part is performed in chorus with the snare starting from the second verse. Wilder recalled the recording of this vocal part in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "...I think it was a couple of girls who were hanging around the studio - thought we'd make use of them ;-)"
		Various drum loops
'Memphisto'	1990	Vocal 'ahs'	Seemingly unlooped versions of the samples comprising the vocal 'ah' melody heard in the outro of 'Enjoy The Silence' are re-used to dramatic effect as a solo vocal element in 'Memphisto'. Notably, this vocal element is also layered in with other processed vocals for use as a choir during the second verse of In Your Room as it was performed on the 1993 Devotional Tour.
		Resonant bass stabs	Reverberated resonant bass stabs heard throughout 'Clean' are layered in as a bass element in 'Memphisto'.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'World In My Eyes'	1990	Bell tree sample	Fleetwood Mac - 'Black Magic Woman'	1982	Confirmed	This sample is used for two distinct sounds in the production of 'World In My Eyes': One version of the sample features oscillating pitch with added reverb that is reversed and played in chorus with a separate sample, producing an exciting "whirl" effect that occurs during the verses and throughout the song. A second version of the sample appears on the first bar following the end of the first chorus, with added reverb to create a distancing effect. This sample is used to dramatic effect during the outro to the 1993 Devotional Tour version of 'World In My Eyes'.
'Sweetest Perfection'	1990	Bell tree sample	Fleetwood Mac - 'Black Magic Woman'	1982	Confirmed	This sample is looped and manipulated to produce a ghostly pad with oscillating pitch and creative panning effects during the verses.
'Personal Jesus'	1989	Vocal huffing rhythm	Kate Bush - 'The Dreaming'	1982	Likely
		'Preacher' vocal sample "I'm not crazy anymore!"	A Cry In The Wilderness (film)	1974	Likely
'Halo'	1990	Classic John Bonham drum loop	Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin' And Stealin'	1982	Officially confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Never Let Me Down Again' employs some drum elements originally from Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks' which were sampled second-hand from a rap record. The sampled parts would later be re-purposed for 'Halo': "From memory, the drums were sampled from Led Zeppelin's 'When the Levee Breaks' (but secondhand from a rap record). It is one of the most commonly used drum samples – for obvious reasons as it has that very special "Bonham" sound. The same snare drum sound appears on DM's Get Right With Me. I've also heard that snare on a Massive Attack record and many others. I think Violator was the first album that we used whole performance drum loops to create rhythm tracks, as opposed to programmed single drum sounds, and Halo was one of the first tracks we recorded for Violator in fact. Flood and I were listening to quite a lot of hip hop and rap records at the time – those artists were the forerunners when sampling larger sections of rhythms and grooves. And the unusual feels that were created on those albums really influenced Violator and Songs Of Faith And Devotion."
		Classic John Bonham drum break	Led Zeppelin - 'When The Levee Breaks'	1971	Officially confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Never Let Me Down Again' employs some drum elements originally from Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks' which were sampled second-hand from a rap record (Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin And Stealin'). These samples were later re-purposed for use in 'Halo' and 'Get Right With Me'.
		Orchestral string samples, including one-shots and looped elements	Edward Elgar - Unidentified composition	?	Confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a July 27, 2011 interview with electricityclub.co.uk that 'Halo' employs orchestral string elements sampled from an unidentified recording(s) of music composed by celebrated English composer Edward Elgar. The sampled recording would have been released prior to May 1989. The nature of the samples vary, including two one-shot string staccato parts and sampled chords stretched and mixed with additional strings: "For the end choruses, there are some string samples which I think were derived from Elgar. One of my techniques is to find sections of classical strings and transpose / stretch these, then add my own samples, in order to formulate new and unusual arrangements. This was a case in point. The DM track ‘Clean’ utilised classical strings in a similar way." Notably, one of two sampled string loops as heard in the ending of 'Clean' are re-purposed for use as orchestral stabs employed for the verse and chorus sections of 'Halo'.
'Policy Of Truth'	1990	Main riff	Unknown Asian instrument sample library/classical Asian music release	N/A	Officially confirmed	In a 2016 podcast, Martin Gore was asked by interviewer Rob Bell about the origin of this sound: Rob Bell: There's a song on there called 'Policy of Truth': what in the world are those sounds? Do you know what I mean? Like, if someone came from a different planet, and I was just playing any music, I'd be like, "This is a guitar, this is drums, this is harpsichord, this is a flute..." But on that song, if I played them that song, I'd be like, "... That's like a... I don't..." Martin Gore: You mean the main riff kind of sound? Rob Bell: The riff, there's like three or four parts that are like sort of stacked in very tightly in the mix. I assume there's some really subjective aesthetic thing going on where you're just like, "It should sound like striking the edge of a glass bottle mixed with a..." Do you know what I mean? In the studio, are you just, "I'll know it when I hear it"? Martin Gore: I think it's more organic than that. I think part of the sounds that you're talking about are samples that we... even during Violator we were doing quite a bit of sampling, so it probably came from some weird Asian instrument sample CD or a classical Asian music CD, with a [pitch] bend in it. The sample library or classical release in question that was sampled for the main riff components would have been in circulation by 1989. The riff is comprised of two looped samples, one with a natural built-in pitch bend and a short loop, and one without pitch bend with an equally short loop.
		Delayed, sampled, and looped guitar and/or synthesized part	Tony Halliday - 'Time Turns Around'	March 1989	Likely	The looped part appears sporadically throughout Toni Halliday's 'Time Turns Around', and is re-purposed for use during the bridge sections of 'Policy Of Truth'. The song enjoyed a remix by Wilder in the form of the Euro-Tech Mix, therefore it is likely he would have had access to the stem in question. Credit to Home user 'Alex' for this discovery.
'Clean'	1990	Bass guitar	Pink Floyd - 'One Of These Days'	1971	Disproven	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Clean' does not employ a sample from Pink Floyd: "I recognise the similarity but It's not a Floyd sample. It was programmed using a combination of analogue synth and sampled bass gtr."[sic]
		Orchestral string elements	Unidentified classical music recording, possibly Edward Elgar	?	Confirmed	Notably, one of two sampled string loops as heard in the ending of 'Clean' are re-purposed for use as orchestral stabs employed for the verse and chorus sections of 'Halo'.
'Memphisto'	1990	Orchestral string elements	Unidentified origin; possibly classical music recording, possibly Edward Elgar	?	Confirmed	An orchestral string staccato (one of two) originally heard during the choruses of 'Halo' is re-purposed as a looped bass element with a slow attack throughout 'Memphisto'. It is unclear if this musical part is original or sampled from a third-party source.
		Orchestral string elements	Unidentified classical music recording, possibly Edward Elgar	?	Confirmed	Similar to their use in 'Halo', both sampled string loops best heard in the outro of 'Clean' are also used throughout 'Memphisto', notably during the second chorus section onward.
'Happiest Girl' (Pulsating Orbital Mix)	1990	Engine idling/orchestral hit sample	The Tornadoes- 'Telstar'	1962	Confirmed	Credit to Brat/Daniel Barassi for this discovery.
'Sea Of Sin' (Sensoria Mix)	1990	N/A	Madonna - 'Vogue'	1990	Unconfirmed
'Policy Of Truth' (Trancentral Mix)	1990	"I'm not a politician, I'm a businessman" Robert Hoskins vocal sample	The Long Good Friday (film)	1980	Likely
		N/A	My Side of the Story - The "Checkers" Speech, Richard M. Nixon speech broadcast, 1952	1952	Uncomfirmed
'World In My Eyes' (Oil Tank Mix)	1990	N/A	Kraftwerk - Musique Non-Stop	1986	Unconfirmed

Songs of Faith and Devotion

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Notes
'I Feel You'	1993	Introductory distorted noise loop	Alan Wilder confirms this particular part is a processed sound that originated from a non-described synthesizer in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "You'd better be prepared to part with some cash - the noise actually comes from a synth." Part of the initial transient of the distorted noise loop present in the album version of 'I Feel You' is removed so that the part begins on a brief moment of elevated pitch. This subtle edit produces an exciting result that would see use in all live performances of 'I Feel You' from the 1993 Devotional Tour onward.
'Walking In My Shoes'	1993	Processed piano/harpsichord main riff	The main riff is a combination of piano and harpsichord processed with liberal amounts of compression and guitar amplifier tremolo. Wilder confirms the composition of this sound in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "From that point onwards, Flood and I began to construct the various drum loops, the string arrangements, the main riff (which combined a piano and harpsichord through a distorted guitar amp) and all the other bits and pieces."
'Condemnation'	1993	Improvised flight case bass drum	Wilder describes the recording of various elementary elements of 'Condemnation' in an editorial on the official Recoil project site: "With experimentation still prevalent, the elementary sounds for the 3rd single, 'Condemnation' were recorded in the basement of the Madrid villa with one person banging a flight case, another clapping and a third scraping the wall with a tambourine. The vocals - which were to have a 'barbershop choir meets gospel Elvis Presley' flavour - proved that Depeche Mode had not abandoned their desire to find different and exciting ways of producing music. Built up track by track, individual takes were sung by (mainly) Martin and (sometimes) Alan and then manipulated using vari-speed to produce very low and very high pitches. Once added to Dave's lead vocal, the resulting close harmonies provided the barbershop body of the track."
		Tambourine	The tambourine fill present at the end of each bar repeating throughout the piece is produced by scraping the tambourine against a wall.
'Judas'	1993	"If you want my love" choir	This vocal performance is comprised of a large number of individual vocal recordings of individuals employed during the recording of 'Judas', the final album track to be recorded at Chateau du Pape Studio, with each individual's vocal performance multitracked six times each for a total of ninety indiidual voices, with additional delay, reverb, and EQ to introduce an intimate southern church-like quality to the vocals. Wilder describes the recording of this particular part in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "15 people (tape op's, studio secretaries, the cook etc...) multitracked 6 times making a total of 90 voices + delays and reverbs. Then we eq'ed the sound to make it seem like it was sung in a deep southern church hall in the 1960's, rather than Wembley stadium."
		Brass	'Judas' and 'Higher Love' each employ similar sample-based brass parts during their respective bridge sections.
'In Your Room'	1993	Textured variphone pad	This textured pad is derived from the variphone and is used to atmospheric effect during the first verse and the outro of 'In Your Room'. A 'fuller' variation of this pad with added distortion is used during the build-up to the outro of 'Mercy In You'.
		Processed and double-tracked guitar "splang" chord samples	Wilder describes the recording of this particular part in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: "Affectionately known (to me anyway) as 'Splang' rather than 'twoo, twaa and twee', the sound is derived from a guitar. Each chord was sampled individually and then double-tracked with a second but different guitar sound. There is also a string/choir pad (another backwards sound) playing the same chords in the background."
		Orchestral tremolo string pads	A series of sustained orchestral tremolo string parts are employed throughout the track. The strings play in alternating chords to enhance the atmosphere of the choruses and build tension during the third verse's instrumental crescendo.
		Processed choir pads (reversed)
		Looped "noise" pad	A textured loop used sporadically during the introduction of 'In Your Room' is a brief sample of ambient noise with audible wind chimes in the background introducing a "grainy" texture to the sound. The sample is reversed and subsequently looped, then transposed down several notes from its root key for the final result.
		Vocal 'ahs'	Samples comprising the vocal 'ah' melody heard in the outro of 'Enjoy The Silence' are layered in with other processed vocals for use as a choir during the second verse of 'In Your Room' as it was performed on the 1993 Devotional Tour.
'Higher Love'	1993	Brass	'Judas' and 'Higher Love' employ similar sample-based brass parts during their respective bridge sections.
'My Joy'	1993	Distorted bass hit	A distorted bass hit with built-in descending pitch originally recorded as part of the bassline of 'I Feel You' is re-purposed as an accent in 'My Joy'. The sample occurs on the beat at bar forty-seven (1:48) at the start of the break, and plays one note above its root key.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Walking In My Shoes'	1993	Drum loop	Funkadelic - 'Nappy Dugout'	1973	Unconfirmed
'Mercy In You'	1993	Drum loop	The Headhunters - 'God Make Me Funky'	1975	Unconfirmed
'In Your Room'	1993	Drum loop	Rusty Bryant - 'Fire Eater'	1971	Confirmed
		Drum loop	Simtec & Wylie - 'Bootleggin'	1971	Unconfirmed
		Drum loop	Melvin Bliss - 'Synthetic Substitution'	1973	Unconfirmed
'Get Right With Me'	1993	Classic John Bonham drum one-shots	Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin' And Stealin'	1982	Officially confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Never Let Me Down Again' employs some drum elements originally from Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks' which were sampled second-hand from a rap record (Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin And Stealin'). These samples were later re-purposed for use in 'Halo' and 'Get Right With Me'. Massive Attack would use the sampled drum elements from 'Get Right With Me' on the song 'Man Next Door' from their 1998 album Mezzanine, bringing the number of times this famous drum sound had been directly sampled by an artist only to then be sampled from their record by another artist to a total of three.
		Classic John Bonham drum one-shots	Led Zeppelin - 'When The Levee Breaks'	1971	Officially confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that 'Never Let Me Down Again' employs some drum elements originally from Led Zeppelin's 'When The Levee Breaks' which were sampled second-hand from a rap record (Beastie Boys - 'Rhymin And Stealin'). These samples were later re-purposed for use in 'Halo' and 'Get Right With Me'.
		N/A	N.W.A. - Unspecified song	N/A	Unconfirmed
'Higher Love'	1993	Drum loop	U2 - 'So Cruel'	1991	Officially confirmed	Wilder indirectly confirmed in a response to a question regarding the sonic similarity between the drums of Depeche Mode's 'Higher Love' and U2's 'So Cruel' in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that a drum loop from U2's 'So Cruel' was utilised by affirming producer Flood assisted in the production of both records. Depeche Mode would later cover this song, see 'So Cruel'): "Didn't Flood work on both LP's?....." The loop is produced by sampling various parts from the introduction of the U2 original, where the piano and vocals are not present and the drum rhythm is most exposed. The sample is stretched to match 'Higher Love]]'s tempo of approximately 98 BPM and subsequently sliced into separate parts for the bass drum and snares, which are sequenced accordingly. The piano remains audible in the final result, adding tone to the loop. A separate slicing process and treatment of this loop is performed for drum fills, where the loop is reversed and repeated every two beats.
'My Joy'	1993	'Rolling' percussion fill	Beastie Boys - 'Funky Boss'	1992	Confirmed	The 'rolling' percussion fill audible in the intro of the Beastie Boys' 'Funky Boss' is sampled and stretched via resampling to match 'My Joy's approximately 102 BPM tempo, with light distortion/saturation added to introduce a 'dirty' quality to the part. As it was in the Beastie Boys original, this sample remains in use as a drum fill.
		Heavy drum loop with built-in bass drum, snare, and programmed hi-hat sequence	Beastie Boys - 'Pass The Mic'	1992	Confirmed	The heavy drum loop present in the brief instrumental break of the Beastie Boys' song 'Pass The Mic" is sampled and stretched via resampling to match 'My Joy's slightly faster BPM. Once matched for tempo, the sample is sliced into two bars, placing the part that originally plays in the second bar (which features a "slurred" quality on the first snare hit) into the first bar, and the remaining content is placed into the second bar. The results are then looped with some light processing added, creating the main drum bed of 'My Joy'. For drum fills, the final beat of the first bar containing a snare hit is sliced and placed prior to the start of the loop. For bars containing reverse percussion fills, a brief snippet of the second bar including just the first bass drum hits and the snare drum is sampled, reversed, stretched, and played from the seventh step in the bar. The drums were originally performed by Mike D. (Michael Diamond) during the recording of Check Your Head at G-Son Studios, Atwater Village, CA. According to the late MCA (Adam Yauch) in 1999: "One memorable thing about recording 'Pass The Mic' was the drums. We had heard that [Led Zeppelin drummer] John Bonham had used a really long kick drum on something and thought it would be interesting to put his technique to the test. Taking full advantage of the size of the G-Son live room/basketball court, we wrapped a long piece of cardboard from a refrigerator box around the kick drum and then put a mic at the far end of it. Mike played the beat, and we looped it."
		Orchestral string samples: two looped samples, one one-shot	Edward Elgar - Unidentified composition	?	Confirmed	Orchestral string elements originally used throughout 'Halo' and during the outro of Clean are re-purposed for 'My Joy's outro. The looped orchestral sample most obviously heard during the fifth bar of the first verse of 'Halo' is reversed, looped, and played from its root key to two notes above its root key to form the melodic two bar orchestral phrase heard during the line "I'm not a mountain, no, you move me". Next, the first of the two looped orchestral samples heard during the outro of 'Clean' plays three notes down from its root key on the third bar. Finally, the "soaring" one-shot orchestral phrase heard on the final bar of all choruses in 'Halo' besides the first chorus is looped with a short loop point towards the end of the sample and played three notes above its root key with a slow attack and a medium to long release time, forming the orchestral phrase heard on the fourth bar. The resulting four bar sequence then repeats for the remainder of the song. Wilder confirmed in a July 27, 2011 interview with electricityclub.co.uk that 'Halo' (and 'My Joy' by proxy) employs orchestral string elements sampled from an unidentified recording(s) of music composed by celebrated English composer Edward Elgar. The sampled recording would have been released prior to May 1989. The nature of the samples vary, including two one-shot string staccato parts and sampled chords stretched and mixed with additional strings: "For the end choruses, there are some string samples which I think were derived from Elgar. One of my techniques is to find sections of classical strings and transpose / stretch these, then add my own samples, in order to formulate new and unusual arrangements. This was a case in point. The DM track ‘Clean’ utilised classical strings in a similar way."
'My Joy' (Slow Slide Mix)	1993	Drum loop	James Brown - 'Funky Drummer'	1970	Confirmed
		Drum loop	Dexter Wansel - 'Theme From The Planets'	1976	Confirmed
'In Your Room' (Jeep Rock Mix)	1993	Drum loop	Skull Snaps - 'It's A New Day'	1973	Confirmed
'Walking In My Shoes' (Extended Twelve Inch Mix)	1993	Drum loop with distinct bass drum, "roomy" snares, and ethnic percussion	The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - 'Language Of Violence'	1992	Confirmed
'Walking In My Shoes' (Grungy Gonads Mix)	1993	Drum loop	Mountain - 'Long Red'	1972	Confirmed
		Orchestral string passage	Ennio Morricone - 'In Chiesa', from the Ad Ogni Costo (film) soundtrack	1967	Officially confirmed	The string passage in the introduction to this orchestral piece was sampled by the late trip-hop pioneer Jonny Dollar and Portishead member Geoff Barrow. for use in the Walking In My Shoes (Grungy Gonads Mix). The sample is stretched to match the tempo of Walking In My Shoes, with sixteen manual scratches on the third bar producing an exciting scratch effect. The sample appears in multiple "Walking In My Shoes" remixes from the period, and has commonly been employed in many performances of this song since its live introduction on the 1993 Devotional Tour. Credit to Christopher Baird for this discovery.
'Walking In My Shoes' (Random Carpet Mix)	1993	Orchestral string samples	Doctor Zhivago (film)	1965	Unconfirmed

Ultra

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Useless' (The Kruder & Dorfmeister Session)	1997	Slide guitar stab	Depeche Mode - 'Policy Of Truth'	1990	Confirmed	The 'Useless' (Kruder & Dortmeister Session) includes a sample of a slide guitar stab from Depeche Mode's 'Policy Of Truth'.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Painkiller'	1997	N/A	Vanessa Paradis - 'The Future Song'	1992	Unconfirmed
'It's No Good' (Hardfloor Mix)	1997	Drum elements	Fat Larry's Band - 'Down In The Avenue'	1976	Confirmed	Credit to Christopher Baird for this discovery.
'Useless' (Cosmic Blues Mix)	1997	"I want to hear you play some bass" vocal sample	National Lampoon's That's Not Funny, That's Sick (Sketch comedy album)	1977	Likely

Exciter

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Dream On' (Remix)	2001	N/A	Kraftwerk - 'The Robots'	1978	Unconfirmed
'The Sweetest Condition'	2001	N/A	Kraftwerk - 'Musique Non-Stop'	1986	Unlikely

Playing The Angel

Playing The Angel does not contain samples from any identifiable sources.

Sounds Of The Universe

Sounds Of The Universe does not contain samples from any identifiable sources.

Delta Machine

Delta Machine does not contain samples from any identifiable sources.

Spirit

Spirit does not contain samples from any identifiable sources.

Recoil

Upon his departure from Depeche Mode in 1995, Alan Wilder would expand upon the creative sampling techniques he developed through the years as a member of Depeche Mode for his Recoil music project, utilising samples from contemporary music, films, film soundtracks, and samples from his own past work with Depeche Mode.

1 + 2

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'1' & '2'	1986	N/A	Depeche Mode – 'Any Second Now' (Altered)	1981	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'If You Want'	1984	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'The Sun & The Rainfall'	1982	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'Oberkorn (It's A Small Town)'	1982	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'The Great Outdoors'	1983	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'Shouldn't Have Done That'	1982	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'Tora! Tora! Tora!'	1981	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'Shake The Disease' (Edit the Shake)	1985	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'Pipeline'	1983	Confirmed
		N/A	Depeche Mode – 'Blasphemous Rumours'	1984	Confirmed

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'1' & '2'	1986	N/A	Kraftwerk – 'Radioaktivität'	1975	Unconfirmed
		N/A	Kraftwerk – 'Uran'	1975	Unconfirmed
		N/A	Kraftwerk – 'Radioland'	1975	Unconfirmed
		N/A	Duet Emmo – 'Or So It Seems'	1983	Unconfirmed
		N/A	Duet Emmo – 'Heart of Hearts'	1983	Unconfirmed
		N/A	The Hitmen – 'Shade in, fade out'	1981	Unconfirmed
		N/A	Hard Corps - 'Je Suis Passée'	1985	Unconfirmed

Hydrology

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Notes
'Grain'	1988	Resonant bell sample	'Grain' uses a re-purposed bell-like sample originally produced for use with Depeche Mode to atmospheric effect during its atonal outro. This bell sample is also used in the introduction and chorus sections of 'Strangelove' and the chorus sections of 'But Not Tonight'.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Stone'	1988	French vocal sample	French train announcer, unidentified source	?	Confirmed	Wilder confirmed in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site that Stone employs a vocal sample of a French train announcer, but is unsure of its origin.
'The Sermon'	1988	Polish vocal sample	Report about Pope John Paul II's sermon in Warsaw	9 June 1987	Confirmed	Alan Wilder: "I put the microphone on the shortwave radio, I tried to catch some climatic samples and that was the first thing that happened. I had no idea what they were saying! I liked the sound but it wasn't meant to be an integral part of the track, just atmosphere." The two fragments state the following: "[...] radcy nuncjatury w Lizbonie, którego Ojciec Święty mianował Pronuncjuszem Apostolskim w Tajla[-ndii...]" "[...] wzgórze wypełniło się młodzieżą maturalną… oprócz indywidualnych [inaudible] grup kraj przebyły też dwie pielgrzymki diecezjalne. Pierwsza z Archidiecezji Warszawskiej w liczbie około 8 tysięcy młodzieży [...]" English Google translation: "[...] counselor of the nunciature in Lisbon, whom the Holy Father appointed as Apostolic Pronunciator in Tajla..." "[...] the hill was filled with high school graduates ... in addition to individual [inaudible] groups, there were also two diocesan pilgrimages. The first of the Archdiocese of Warsaw in the number of about 8 thousand youth..."

Bloodline

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Faith Healer'	1992	Bell tree sample	Depeche Mode - 'World In My Eyes'	1990	Confirmed	This sample was originally sampled for use in Depeche Mode's 'World In My Eyes', and is re-used to atmospheric effect in 'Faith Healer'.
		Snare	Depeche Mode - 'World In My Eyes'	1990	Confirmed
		Drum fill elements	Depeche Mode - 'Personal Jesus'	1989	Unconfirmed
		Combination of Xpander 'zap' and Pro One synth bass sweep	Depeche Mode - 'Enjoy The Silence'	1990	Confirmed
		"Eyes" vocoded vocal sample	Depeche Mode - 'World In My Eyes' (Dub In My Eyes Mix)	1990	Confirmed
		Looped 'ahh' male vocal/choir sample (one of two)	Depeche Mode - 'Clean'	1990	Confirmed	Credit to Christopher Baird for this discovery.
'Electro Blues For Bukka White'	1992	Bass sequence	Depeche Mode - 'Waiting For The Night'	1990	Confirmed	Remixer Ehron VonAllen confirms in an analysis of his remix collaboration with Alan Wilder that the latter employed a sequence originally recorded for use with 'Waiting For The Night' as a stem in 'Electro Blues For Bukka White'.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Faith Healer'	1992	Bell tree sample	Fleetwood Mac - 'Black Magic Woman'	1982	Confirmed	This sample was originally sampled for use in Depeche Mode's 'World In My Eyes', and is re-used to atmospheric effect in 'Faith Healer'.
'Electro Blues For Bukka White'	1992	N/A	David Bowie - 'Aladdin Sane'	1973	Likely
		Bukka White vocal performance	Bukka White - 'Shake 'Em On Down'	1937	Confirmed
'Curse'	1992	Diamanda Galás vocal sample	Diamanda Galás - Unidentified source	?	Unconfirmed
		Snare	Digital Underground - 'The Humpty Dance'	1990	Likely
'The Defector'	1992	Anthony Hopkins "Closer...", "That is his nature", "No, no, no, no, no" vocal samples	Silence Of The Lambs (film)	1991	Likely
		N/A	LFO - 'El Ef Oh'	1991	Unconfirmed

Ebbhead (Nitzer Ebb album)

May 29th, 1991 Ebbhead interview with Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder

During the downtime between the conclusion of the 1990 World Violation Tour and the recording of Songs of Faith and Devotion, Alan Wilder would step into London's KONK Studios to record Recoil's Bloodline between January and March 1991. A month later, he would return to the studio to produce Depeche Mode support act Nitzer Ebb's Ebbhead record in collaboration with producer Flood and mix engineer Steve Lyon. As with his work in Depeche Mode and Recoil, Wilder would employ samples from a wide variety of sources in the production of this album.

Nitzer Ebb's Bon Harris on Wilder's musical prowess in 1991: "Alan has a very musical ear. He's classically trained, so he knows what he's doing when it comes to melody, but has no tolerance for pop - that's quite a good combination."

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
Unidentified song	1991	N/A	Prince - Kiss	1990	Unconfirmed	In 1991, a fan contest was held where the winner would have the chance to spend a day in the studio with the members of Nitzer Ebb and Wilder during the recording of Ebbhead. During their time in the studio, the contest winner was played back a variety of samples by the group to see if they were able to identify their origin. One sample played to the contest winner was from Prince's 1990 single 'Kiss', which the fan had difficulty identifying. This sample may or may not have made it onto the completed album.

Unsound Methods

A still of a Pro Tools session during an interview with Alan Wilder in the Unsound Methods EPK

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Incubus'	1997	Percussion elements	Depeche Mode - 'Clean'	1990	Confirmed	This percussive loop was originally recorded for use in Depeche Mode's 'Clean', and is re-used among other percussive elements for a rhythmic, tribal atmosphere in 'Incubus'.
'Last Breath'	1997	E-bow guitar sample	Depeche Mode - 'Walking In My Shoes'	1993	Unconfirmed

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Incubus'	1997	Shouting vocal sample	Peter Gabriel - 'Rhythm Of The Heat'	1982	Likely
'Last Breath'	1997	Drum loop	The Incredible Bongo Band - 'Last Bongo in Belgium'	1973	Likely
		N/A	Ernest Gold and Pat Boone - 'The Exodus Song (This Land Is Mine)'	1960	Unconfirmed
'Shunt'	1997	Gated synth element	Piquet - 'Caress'	1996	Confirmed
		Sub bass and bass drum element	Massive Attack - 'Better Things'	1994	Likely
'Drifting'	1997	Gated synth element	Peter Gabriel - 'Slow Marimbas'	1985	Confirmed
'Stalker'	1997	Ambient pads	Peter Gabriel - Birdy (film soundtrack) - Unidentified source song	1985	Unconfirmed
		N/A	The Last Seduction (film)	1994	Unconfirmed
'Luscious Apparatus'	1997	Introduction guitar chord	The Cure - 'Club America'	1996	Likely
'Control Freak'	1997	N/A	Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell - 'You're All I Need To Get By'	1968	Unconfirmed

Liquid

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Black Box (Full)'	2000	Orchestral string part	Symphony No. 3 (Górecki)	1992	Unconfirmed
		N/A	Plastikman - 'Consumed'	1998	Unconfirmed
'Want'	2000	Drum loop	PJ Harvey - 'Is This Desire?'	1998	Likely

SubHuman

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Allelujah'	2007	Processed and double-tracked guitar "splang" chord samples	Depeche Mode - 'In Your Room'	1993	Confirmed	Wilder describes the recording of this particular part in a Q&A on the official Recoil project site: Affectionately known (to me anyway) as 'Splang' rather than 'twoo, twaa and twee', the sound is derived from a guitar. Each chord was sampled individually and then double-tracked with a second but different guitar sound.

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'Allelujah'	2007	N/A	Tangerine Dream - 'Rubycon'	1975	Unconfirmed
		Drum loop	Elbow - 'Fugitive Motel'	2003	Unconfirmed
'The Killing Ground'	2007	Harmonica and drum elements	Talk Talk - 'The Rainbow'	1988	Likely
'99 To Life'	2007	N/A	Digital Intervention - 'La Louve'	2003	Unconfirmed

Miscellaneous remixes

Self-made samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'In Chains (Alan Wilder Remix)'	2011	Ambient pads	Depeche Mode - 'The Darkest Star'	2005	Confirmed
		Orchestral string arrangement	Depeche Mode - 'I Am You'	2001	Confirmed
'Inheritance'	2012	Percussion elements	Depeche Mode - 'Nothing's Impossible'	2005	Unconfirmed
'Dum Dum Girl' feat. Shara Worden	2012	Percussion elements	Depeche Mode - 'Nothing's Impossible'	2005	Confirmed

Sourced samples

Song	Song release year	Sample Description	Source of sample	Source release year	Status	Notes
'I Am Undone (Alan Wilder Remix)'	2011	Percussion elements	Scott Walker - 'Manhattan'	1995	Unconfirmed
A.S.H.I.B. RECONSTRUCTION 2: 'Walking In My Shoes'/'Jezebel'	2012	Percussion elements	Tubeway Army - 'Are 'Friends' Electric?'	1979	Unconfirmed