Pack ’em in
To really set yourself up for productive track-building, use your sound design sessions to build your own ‘themed’ sample packs. For example, ‘Ultimate DnB Bass Cuts’, comprising 200 gnarly bass noises, or ‘Frenetic Transitions’, containing 100 wild fills and FX.
Take it a step further, and you can craft your own construction kits – sets of individual instrument parts that, when played back together, make a full musical loop or even a song. Construction kits often also include individual MIDI parts, separate drum hits, synth patches, and so on.
So to begin, work up a basic 4-, 8 or 16-bar musical idea. Alternatively, if you’ve got a folder full of half-finished songs and loops, you could simply load one of those as a starting point. Now give your groove a funky title and create a folder for it that includes any other info you think is necessary, eg, ‘Mr. Disco - Disco-Funk - 100bpm - A minor’. First, render the full musical idea with all parts playing, so you can audition it in future to get an instant preview of the kit, then render each track separately. Create multiple versions where it could be helpful; for example, a mixed drum track, and individual hits (kick, snare, etc). Include variations such as different drum beats, alternate basslines, etc. Finally, put oneshot samples, presets, MIDI files, and so on, into subfolders.
One dilemma: master processing on or off? We say disable dynamics processing like compressors or limiters, but leave the EQ on so your sounds are tonally in the intended ballpark. Watch out for individual tracks clipping, though – if that happens, turn the master fader down.
Over time, you’ll build up a collection of kits that you can dip into anytime: to use as the basis of a track, or just to pilfer some prefab loops or sounds for your latest opus.