There are 3 main ways you can get new samples and loops into your library:
-Make your own samples and loops
-Purchase high-quality samples from a retailer
-Grab free samples online
Below you’ll discover the main advantages and drawbacks of each method.
Make Your Own Samples and Loops
Cons:
Access – You need the instruments, recording facilities, software and equipment to produce and capture your samples.
Investment – The above things cost money in most cases or favors if you know the right people.
Time – You need the time to program, record, and process all the samples and loops.
Pros:
Exclusivity – You have sounds nobody else has for use in your productions.
Quality – You can program or record samples to sound exactly as you want them.
Potential – Once you know how to create professional-sounding samples and loops you can always sell your own sample packs for extra income.
Rights – You own the copyright for the samples you create.
Purchase High-Quality Samples From an Online Retailer
Cons:
Non-exclusivity – Other producers can purchase and use the exact same samples and loops.
Investment – You have to pay and better quality samples are usually priced higher.
Potential – You cannot usually sell samples you purchase as they are. You get a license to use them only in your productions.
Pros:
Time – You can obtain many high-quality sample packs online within minutes. You also save time because someone else, in some cases someone really good, does the recording work.
Ease – You can grow your library fast without any work.
Quality – You can demo the sounds to make sure the quality is good and pay more to get really high-quality samples.
Rights – You know that you can use the samples in your commercial music productions.
Grab Free Samples Online
Cons:
Quality – You get what you pay for and most of the professional producers and sample providers charge for the samples they create and offer. There are good free samples to be found tough you’ll need to hunt for them.
Investment – A file is a file. Bad-quality sounds can take up just as much hard-disk space as good ones. Hard-disk space costs money. No problem if you have the cash, though something to consider when you doesn’t have the space.
Time – Hunting down and downloading free sounds can be a tedious procedure and results may not always be too impressive.
Non-exclusivity – Other producers can obtain and use the same files, for free.
Rights – You need to make sure that you are allowed to use the samples in commercial productions.
Pros:
Ease – You can get a lot of free sounds fast if you know how to search well and where to look.
Investment – You can’t do much better than free when it comes to price!
Potential – With public domain and some other free samples you may be able to sell the samples or derivatives.
Getting that perfect sound for your guitar tone is a fine line you have to walk carefully. Otherwise, you can overwhelm your audience and create a sound that doesn’t fit your work. Here are some tips to hone in a sound that you love without losing sight of what structurally makes it great.
Tips for the Perfect Guitar Tone
Clean vs Crunch
Both attributes have their place with your music. First, you’ll have to decide on how distortion, reverb, delay, and others are going to fit into your sound. Is the song a bit heavier and needs some optimization between the three, or can you stick with a cleaner sound supplemented by the trio? In either case, this going to take some heavy refining on your own.
Don’t Stick with One Tone for Every Song
Just because you love the tone you’ve found, doesn’t mean you should use it for every song. This robs you of the identity you created that’s so unique with your music. Some of the all time greats are crafty with their tone, where it sounds just a bit different every time, but you can tell it’s them in many cases. Eddie Van Halen is a great example of this. Regardless of how he applied his tone and found different sounds, you could always tell it was him not only by his style of playing, but the tones he applied.
Work with a Professional Music Producer on Experimenting with Your Gear
Your gear makes up all the tools you have to create the perfect sound you’re looking for. With the help of a professional, you can work together to harness a sound that perfectly suits your music, while also experimenting and trying new ideas.
Find Your Next Great Guitar Tone Today!
To get started, give me a call today. As a professional music producer and guitarist, I’ve worked with hundreds of musicians to find their perfect guitar tone. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
In order to be a successful performer and be able to make money from doing so, then there are many skills that need to be mastered before you can making performing into a successful career. So, we will be discussing what each of these required skills are and what they entail so that you can get a better idea of what being a successful performer can look like.
Communication skills
Communication skills are absolutely essential to being a performer because they come in handy when you need to communicate with band members and clients looking to hire you for an event. Knowing how to successfully communicate prices, goals, opinions, etc. in a respectful manner is needed on a day-to-day basis.
Flexibility
When being a performer is your full-time career, it will become important to know how to stay flexible. There will be plenty of times when something doesn’t end up going your way, something breaks, a band member does not prepare, agree with you, or even show up, sometimes client will have complaints or will be difficult to deal with… these are all situations where it will be time for you to roll with the punches and be flexible enough to find a solution or middle ground in order to resolve conflicts and keep on doing what you’re passionate about without letting little things get the best of you and your work.
Confidence
Lastly, confidence is key. As a performer, if you exude confidence, then more people will see that and assume you know exactly what you are doing (even if you don’t). People love confidence and it is much more pleasing to watch a confident person on stage than someone who is shy and questionable of their own abilities. So, keep this in mind the next time you’re performing for others.
If you have any further questions regarding what it takes to become a skilled performer, please contact me.
Hiring a music composer can really take your ideas to the next level. You won’t be able to tell the difference between the original and your film, program, or other media because of the expertly crafted soundtrack and tone adjustments.
If you are not someone who is big into the music world, then you may not be familiar with what a composer is or what exactly they do. Put simply, a composer is someone who writes music as a career. Composers typically take on the job of not only writing music, but they also typically arrange the music they write for a variety of media such as movies, television, video games, stage productions, and even advertisements. If a composer creates their music for media such as these, then they are tasked with making the product specific enough to meet the requirements of the client they are working with.
Now, you may be asking yourself, then what is the difference between a composer and a music producer? The difference is that a music producer involves much more of the technical side of creating music by creating various sounds or soundtracks for different forms of media. In contrast, being a composer of music involves creating song themes or scores to be used in various forms of media as listed previously.
George is a gifted composer and contributor to the Santa Barbara County community.
The skills of a composer
Lots of attention to even the smallest details
Expansive knowledge of the music industry
Know how to use pacing and variety in the music they write and create
Technical production
Sound engineering
Use musical structures
An abundance of creativity and a knack for thinking outside of the box
Musical ability (of course)
Ability to write from the heart
Know how to play instrument(s)
Visualization
Communication
Now that you are more aware of what a composer is, how they are different from music producers, and what skills are usually necessary to be a composer, the work of such an artistic individual can be appreciated more. If you have any questions regarding my music or performances, please contact me!
