18 - Audition and Inventory (Getting to Know your Sample Libraries!)
TIMECODE SHORTCUTS
0:00 - Why to Audition and Inventory your Samples
1:50 - Mindset: Every Sound has a Context in Which it can be Used
3:42 - How to Audition and Inventory what you Have
5:40 - "High, Low, Fast, Slow, Loud, Soft"
15:10 - "What Jobs can be done with this Patch?"
18:18 - Other Things to Look out for During Audition/Inventory
20:04 - Bounce Great Individual Perc Samples to Audio and Folder Them
21:00 - TIP: Use old samples, too! (and why you should)
24:10 - Ask yourself how this sound might work in CONTEXT of all the other instruments
25:28 - 9 Additional Tips for Combatting G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)
29:47 - Your Assignment
Having good tools is essential, but they are pretty much useless if you don't know how to use them. But maybe you don't even KNOW what tools you have! Most of the content in this course should aid you in using your own tools better, but I thought a lesson on tip for getting to know the sample libraries you already have could be helpful.
FIRST OF ALL: Schedule some time (a Saturday afternoon?) JUST for the purpose of taking INVENTORY of what you've got. This is kind of like cleaning the garage. Who even knows what's in there? FAMILIARIZING yourself with your tools is JUST AS IMPORTANT as spending time COMPOSING, TAKING COURSES, etc.
Install any uninstalled libraries you want to check out (if you have any)
Clear HDD space
Identify some libraries you want to go through – they could be newer (unopened Black Friday deals?) OR older libraries.
HOW I AUDITION AND INVENTORY A LIBRARY
I do a fair bit of demo work, and a lot of the time these are "library-only" demos. This is a creative challenge that FORCES me to go through the library, from top to bottom, and ask "what can I do with THIS odd bit of sound?"
I ask myself things like:
(a) what can this library/patch do that NOTHING else I have can do?
(b) what can this library do BETTER than the ones I already have?
MINDSET PRINCIPLE: EVERY SOUND HAS A CONTEXT IN WHICH IT CAN BE USED
Be creative! You may NOT use it if it's not what you need for the task, or because you have something BETTER. But if it's SOUND, you can use it to create music.
WHAT I DO
I usually open a library and go through the patches one-at-a-time to audition and inventory the library mentally. AUDITION would be familiarizing myself with the patch, to see what it's characteristics are, and INVENTORY would be asking "what functions/jobs would this patch be good for?"
For each one, I play around with it a little – testing it's limits.
HIGH-LOW-FAST-SLOW
I like to play something high, something low, something fast, something slow.
AND THIS IS WHERE KEYBOARD CHOPS COME IN HANDY. I like to FEEL the SPEED of the sample, and it's DYNAMICS. – if your CHOPs are weak, program a quick line, slow line, chords, etc. And play the patch through those performances.
What are the ATTACKS like? Are they unique and tasty? What are the sustains like – do they have a unique character? At what speed to the legatos really POP?
NOTE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOUND. Is it mellow, harsh, brilliant, etc?
THIS IS A GOOD TIME TO WATCH THE DEVELOPERS VIDEOS ON THE PRODUCT!
INVENTORY QUESTION: What jobs is this patch GOOD for?
I start by familiarizing myself with the patch's characteristics because I ULTIMATELY want to discover what it is useful for. What can it be USED FOR? This is where having familiarity with a lot of orchestral music is helpful. It gives you a catalogue of instrumental possibilities that are tucked away in your memories somewhere. So when you hear a certain articulation at a certain dynamic, recognition is triggered. "Oh, this sounds like that moment in Stravinsky's firebird where the brass go BOM BOM BOM. I could use if for something ominous like that."
I have a very FUNCTION-based approach to inventory? What jobs can this patch do?
Can it carry melody?
Can it do sustained fill?
Can it do MOVING fill?
Can it do bass?
Can it do percussive rhythm?
Can it do transition/accent/sprinkle FX?
TIP: LOOK OUT FOR BREAD AND BUTTER PATCHES
Your main workhorse libraries and patches.
TIP: FIND YOUR BAD BATCH – your NASTY SAMPLES, your ISLAND OF MISFIT TOYS SAMPLES THAT ARE MESSY AND WEIRD
Use these to add character and color to your music. Don't think ONLY of how these sound on their own, but what characteristic they might add to something else in a BLEND.
TIP: If you find individual one-hit percussion samples you REALLY like, consider BOUNCING these to audio and folder-ing them in a "fav percussion" folder. Trying to go through all the keys in a percussion menu patch to find that SPECIFIC cymbal crash is aggravating. And you might not even bother!
TIP: DON'T BE AFRAID TO USE OLD SAMPLES!
Don't worry about the NEWNESS of sample libraries too much. Newness only matters if the sound is unique, the scripting is unique, the library was planning around using a modern sampling technique, etc.
OTHERWISE, you get a good musician in front of a decent microphone in a decent space, and the element that is created is essentially TIMELESS. It can theoretically be used anywhere.
INVENTORY TIP: GO THROUGH OLD LIBRARIES OCASSIONALLY AS YOU GET BETTER
As you progress in your composition, orchestration, and production abilities you will find more uses for different kinds of sounds and samples. For this reason it makes a lot of sense to go through old library patches and see if there are any patches that stand out to you—maybe that you didn't think of using because, say, you didn't really know what bassoons were for.
CASE IN POINT: In my case, I have traditionally only like full, round sounding cymbals. Well, for listening to on their own. Which is what I'm doing when I audition. So I would disregard and write off higher, smaller, more harsh sounding cymbals. But I am finding that I need bright and clashy cymbals more often these days, as they really cut through, add punch and high end. So now when I go through those old perc libraries, the samples that stand out to me as useful are the ones I used to dismiss. What changed, my tastes? Not really. My craft broadened such that I could see the purpose and need for those more displeasing (to me) sounds.
ADDITIONAL TIPS FOR OVERCOMING G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)
1 - Don't fall for marketing and hype and FOMO. Or demos. Probably 80% of new libraries is HYPE. The newest string library is probably NOT revolutionary. I basically only buy string libraries after they reach a point of being industry respected as being something special.
2 - FOLLOW THROUGH on your PAST PURCHASES
3 - Don't buy a library unless you are going to commit at least a couple hours to becoming familiar with it. Otherwise it's likely a net negative purchase. You will spend money and it will sit on your HDD cluttering it up, and causing overwhelm and maybe even guilt that you never use it.
4 - Once or twice a year, dedicate a Saturday afternoon (or whenever) to going through old libraries and old patches. You may uncover gold that either you missed earlier, or didn't have the skills at the time to know how to use. Watch my video on HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR SAMPLES for this.
6 - Use reverb, mic position, and EQ to modify the sound of your existing libraries
7 - no impulse buys. Sleep on it. Set a reminder on your phone for the following week to check out the library again, and see if your thoughts are the same.
7 - listen to library and user demos for the OLD libraries you already have to help psych you up on your current stuff. Chances are, people have been able to create great music with the old stuff. ALSO, old samples for some things (like percussion) are just as good as new stuff, because SAMPLES are real.
8 - Mock up a classic orchestral work (or film track) with your current libraries. Even importing MIDI from IMSLP and spending an hour or so cleaning it up and applying the right instruments to it will be revealing. This will show that good composition and orchestration are a significant portion of what makes samples sound good. You mimicking John Williams or Tchaikovsky with your current libraries will probably sound better then you
9 - when you DO buy, consider prioritizing purchases for industry-respected libraries (even if they're a couple years old) rather than the latest, greatest thing. If you REALLY like the developer, or are confident that this is a unique enough product that you can make it work.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS LESSON:
#1 – Audition and Inventory Set some time aside to go through a specific library.
Go through the patches and audition them – HI-LO-FAST-SLOW
Think: What JOBS can these patches perform?
#2 CHALLENGE: Grab a few patches or articulations you have NEVER used before. Maybe ones whose usefulness you question, and make something short (20-30 seconds) with JUST these. See what you learn!