Sunday, July 31, 2011

What Makes a Quality Music Sample Pack?

When looking for quality music sample packs online there are a few key pieces of information that will help you succeed in your effort. The first is to know what type of music you are looking for. Be familiar with the types of instruments that are typically associated with that particular style. With this information you can filter through many sample packs that do not fit your needs. The next most common thing to take into consideration is how limited the instrumentation appears to be. Typically you find loops of drum beats or short samples of a particular composition.

If this is what you are looking for then your search should not be a painful one, but if you are looking for single notes or a more limited range of sounds from particular instruments then the process can be a bit more tedious. The kinds of sounds we are talking about here are individual snare drum hits or single notes from a saxophone. Samples such as these allow for a broader range of creative options and more freedom for the individual producer.

Once you have narrowed down your parameters for the type of sample that you are looking for then you can start investigating the quality of the actual content in the package. Here, we are talking variety. A common problem to run into is a huge amount of samples that are only slightly different. Another common problem is the palette of the instruments. Often packages contain kits of a particular instrument. This kit will contain an instrument played in a particular style such as jazz or rock. In a quality music sample pack you should find a greater variety of instruments, rather than a small amount of instruments played in a wide range of styles.

Quality packages often provide information regarding where the sound was obtained or the musician that produced them in order to be used. This information can guarantee for the user a 'natural' feel to the sounds available. This point brings us to the final element crucial to finding good music packages online, and that is the quality of the individual sounds or how natural a particular instrument sounds. If an individual is looking for something more techno or house oriented then a concern would be how synthetic or computer generated the texture is for a particular sound.

However, if as a producer one is interested primarily in jazz, then the human element prevalent in the sound is a major concern. Also related to the quality of individual sounds are question such as, "How crisp is the snare drum and how full are the kick pedals?" Keeping these things in mind when searching for quality music sample packs online should lead to the success of any aspiring musician or producer.

For more information on the topics mentioned in the article such as using sample packs, please visit Dance Midi Samples where they have tutorials.


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