Sample-based producer The Alchemist who has worked with Mobb Deep, Cormega and Dilated Peoples, appeared on the latest episode of In The Studio where he provided a glimpse into his process for sampling and making beats.

"In the early days when I first started I was always doing the sample first," he shared. "I would listen to a record and find the sample, get it looped up and then I would approach it like a drummer. Sometimes I would beatbox to it, but it started getting boring. The end product was good, but as a producer the process was boring. It became predictable."

He then shared that a visit to the legendary DJ Premier played a part in him altering his process. "Premier always has some structure of a drum and a tempo [along with his sample], even if he didn't have a kick drum in it."

He said that he adopted that technique and it made his method less predictable.

As far as his sampling techniques, he explained that the magic can happen in a very small portion of the record that he is sampling.

"It doesn't even have to be an enjoyable song," he said. "The moment just might happen in five seconds. It could be a two-bar moment or an intro or outro."

Alchemist and the host then discuss the much-sampled "I'm Afraid The Masquerade Is Over" by Dave Porter.

"There's like eight different samples in it that, and they are all totally different and all jumped out to different producers at different times over like ten years," he said. "Incredible to even make a piece of music like that and have different people interpreting it differently. That's the beauty of sampling."

Check out the episode above.