Samples and sample libraries
When I first started making music, I used to mangle various loops and samples. I just added whatever sounded good for my purpose at a given moment, filter/delay/reverse etc. However, I wanted to get into making my own sounds, and that’s how I got into VST instruments. Back then, there wasn’t such a huge variety of samples to choose from. But right now there are just too many. According to Barry Schwartz, more is less, and I’ve arrived at that conclusion myself. I’ve accumulated over 10GB of free samples (either from freesound or sampleradar) and over the past few months, whenever I wanted to make something happen, I found myself browsing through tons of kick samples trying to find the perfect one. And to think that back in the old days all they had were 909s and 808s!
That being said, if you’re a creative person and not just some copycat, you will generally want to avoid samples. There are several reasons:
1. Samples are usually ‘dedicated’ to sound good only in a certain way. They come in packs organized by Loops, Bass, Single drum hits, Arps etc. Normally, you can’t use these out of context, unless you chop them up, mangle, pitch shift, downsample etc. But if you’re going through all this trouble in the first place, why not just do it with your own material?
2. They make you sound like anyone else using them. If said sample is popular, through enough repetition, it actually becomes funny.
My purpose is not to bash sample library devs or people who use such samples creatively. I’m just sharing my personal view over the issue. The bottom line is that you should use whatever works for you, but if you find yourself spending more than 15 minutes trying to pick a snare, maybe you should rethink your method.
With all things considered, I fully support sample library developers such as Vienna Symphonic Library, LA Scoring Strings, Sonivox and others. Not everyone has an orchestra in their backyard and drafts can’t be made out of silence (unless your name is John Cage). Other sample libraries could come in handy, such as pianos, guitars, flutes etc. I’ll admit that there’s no way to go around this if you absolutely need such sounds.
But if you play a certain instrument, why not record it? You shouldn’t be shy. Play what you can play. Background noise and all. I won’t care. I love the sound of an intimate piano in the corner of a room, mic’d in such a way that you don’t hear high frequencies. Or a very old guitar, with spider webs inside. Or even a simple and cheap diatonic harmonica. Try to use what you have around you. It doesn’t matter which microphone. Experiment with pitch shifting, microtuning, layering, stretching, chopping, reversing, rearranging. If striking a pan with a specific pen makes the perfect drum sound for you, sample it, use it.
I hope this helped some of you surpass your moment of desperation. Sometimes, you need some time off all the $19.99 sample library offers. You deserve it.
