Teach 1 Tuesday

Exploring the Ultimate Production Toolbox: Sound Libraries for Modern Producers

• Toni King • Season 1 • Episode 40

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Every producer knows that sound libraries can make or break a production, but navigating the vast ecosystem of virtual instruments and plugins can be overwhelming. This episode dives deep into the essential sound libraries that will transform your music production workflow and expand your sonic possibilities beyond what you thought possible.

We start by exploring Native Instruments' Complete 15 bundle—a comprehensive collection featuring everything from piano and guitar sounds to synthesizers, drum samples, and horn sections. The versatility of this package makes it a go-to resource for producers across genres. Within this ecosystem, Kontakt stands out as a powerful sampling platform that opens doors to countless virtual instruments. For those creating cinematic music, we highlight specialized libraries like East West, Hollywood, and Spitfire that bring orchestral grandeur to your fingertips.

For engineers and producers focused on mixing and mastering, we cover industry-standard tools from iZotope, Waves, Mastering the Mix, and Plugin Alliance. These powerful plugins allow for creative manipulation of your productions in ways hardware could never achieve. We also discuss the inevitable learning curve that comes with these tools—a worthy investment that pays dividends in creative possibilities. As we emphasize throughout the episode, "there is literally no limit to what you can do" with these resources at your disposal.

Whether you're a hands-on producer or a songwriter who collaborates with production teams, understanding the landscape of available tools will elevate your music and open new creative avenues. Ready to transform your production capabilities? Explore these recommendations, expand your toolkit, and take your music production to professional heights. Share your favorite sound libraries with us and let us know how they've changed your creative process!


The Toolkit for musicianship mastery: http://bit.ly/3k5v9Vi 


YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@thetonikingexperience7645


Rare Keys Production- https://rarekeysproduction.com


Toni King link: http://www.linktr.ee/toni.king


The Sonic Kingship Art: https://www.rhuffmusic.com/post/it-s-a-big-music-industry-so-where-do-i-fit-in






The Toni King Experience

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome back everyone to another great episode of Teach One Tuesday podcast. We're very excited about this. We're continuing with the subject of music production, but we want to get into some sound libraries and all those amazing things. So this is for the producers, but before we do that, let's get into it family, all right, all right, back everyone.

Speaker 1:

I'm excited about this new it's not a new subject, but under the umbrella of music production and I wanted to get into music libraries today because I had mentioned that last, the last episode, probably the last couple of episodes, because I had mentioned that last, the last episode, probably the last couple of episodes, and so I wanted to, um, to expose you guys to some great, uh sound libraries, which I think is important. Uh, this is for everyone, I mean mainly for the uh, well, yeah, just for everyone, but mainly for the producers, this is for composers and and things of that nature. So this is, this is a very important uh episode for you guys, and I just want to expose you to some libraries, just in case you don't know, uh, that they exist and that they're out there, okay, and so, um, the very first one that I want to mention right off the bat is native instruments and um, and so this is a company that I have patronized before and their products, their bundle um of sounds called complete the latest one is complete 15 is what they have out right now and in this bundle, essentially it has so many different things. I'm talking about guitar rigs, I'm talking about piano sounds, I'm talking about guitar sounds, synthesizers, uh, guitar, acoustic and electric. I mean on and on and on. It has so many um amazing uh things in here. You also have, you know, drum samples, I mean, come on. And also as well, you have uh horns and uh sounds as well. Bsts you have bass, guitar Um, you have I don't know if I mentioned guitar guitar rigs yet, but they have guitar rigs. I mean just, it is just endless um and and how many sounds that you get in the bundle.

Speaker 1:

Now you can purchase um different things uh separately, like contact. Contact will be within complete uh will be within the complete bundle. There's something called contact and it has a lot of sounds and tools um, within that with the, within that virtual universe, and so I want to encourage you guys to go check that out. That's the one I use, but please do not just go take my word for it. Um, they also also they have cinematic, uh vsts as well within complete. So definitely go and check that out for cinematic as well. They have east west, hollywood, uh, let's see here. They also have something called spitfire that I've heard of as far as the cinematic world is concerned.

Speaker 1:

The orchestral world, um, spitfire is, is another great company. Um, um, they have so many great, great, um sound libraries out here and I wanted to just mention uh a few here that you can go and check out, and trust me when I tell you that you would not be disappointed in doing so. I mean so many for different different instruments. Um, also, you can manipulate things as far as eq is concerned, as far as tone and so many different things that you can manipulate, you know. So if you're looking to really you know, uh, uh, create and to do some some great things, I would encourage you to go check that out. Um, they have so many.

Speaker 1:

So I'm a piano, so I'm looking up right now, I'm looking up some piano vsts. There's so many with incomplete, again, native. You can't go wrong with native instruments, you just can't go wrong with that. And um, they have so many. Uh, they have so many more out here, and so I want to encourage you. Oh so, yeah, so they have something called keyscape, they have electric keys, diamond, I mean, uh, they have something called the maverick, I mean just on and on and so, um, this is for piano, right, but they have sounds and bsts for everything, and so I wanted to take the time to really just expose you to this.

Speaker 1:

Now, also, what I want to introduce you to for my engineers, or budding engineers, audio engineers, that is iZotope is one of the greatest companies to ever release plugins for mixing and mastering. So iZotope is a great company you also have, again, this is for mixing and mastering purposes. All right, so you know, producers. And for, uh, engineers, isotope. You have waves, another great company. These are companies that I, uh, that I have patronized many times. I can't you know, I can't stay away from Waves until my wife knows I'm always on there trying to get something. They have another company called Mastering the Mix Great plugins for, again, mixing and mastering. Waves have so much stuff they have, you know, they have so many goodies on there. Please go check that stuff out.

Speaker 1:

And Sweetwater is another great place. You can go and buy equipment, whether it's hardware or virtual or plug-ins. Bst is another great company I want you to know about. Fab Filter. Lander is another good one that I have purchased their mastering plug-in from them and it is also I have a subscription for sounds from them. I, um, it is also, um, I have a subscription for uh, for sounds. Uh, from now I forget what it's called, but, um, so many great companies out here. Oh, plugin alliance is another one.

Speaker 1:

Again, we're talking about mixing and mastering right now and, um, great companies, man, great, amazing companies that I want you guys to go check out and do some, do some homework and just make sure you are aware of what's out here, because, um, these uh, vsts going back to just production side, the production side of things, these VSTs, um, man, it allows me to be so creative on the on the production side and on the mixer and mastering side. Is allows me to be so creative on the on the production side and on the mixer and mastering side. Is allows me to be so creative, so much that you can do you have. There is a learning curve. Let me just tell you upfront there is a learning curve to this. So you know, as you purchase plugins, be ready to also learn. It's so much information, so just be careful with that. Sometimes I overwhelm myself with uh, with so much um, with so many plugins and just learning how to use them and all that kind of, all those kinds of things. So just just know that there's a learning curve.

Speaker 1:

But please go and check out these companies. Go and check out what they're offering. It's so much great stuff and I want you to know about it because, as you are creating, I mean literally there is no limit to what you can do. There is no limit and, and so the, the, the vsts, takes it to another level, all right, and how you can manipulate them, and it's so much. So please go check out vsts for everything bass, drums, keys, I mean synths, all kinds of things. Uh, cinematic vsts, you know, for the orchestra, I'm talking about uh, drum, even drums like um percussion, not just drum set. You know, for the orchestra, I'm talking about uh drum, even drums like um percussion, not just drum set, but but you know, just hand drums, it's just different things.

Speaker 1:

Um, there's so much out there and so literally there is no limit to what you can do. Educate yourself. I have. I have started the, I have started things all for you, but, uh, I want you to go and continue to look and to really dive into those things.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you are not a producer, you are maybe you're a songwriter, but you're not a producer, no worries. I think you still should be aware of this, even if you want to let your producer know what's out there, if they don't know, because sometimes we buy our stuff and we use the same stuff over and over again and we may not be aware of what's out there. We get into our little bubble. So, if you want to expose yourself and your producer and other people, please do all right. Um, I think it's important to know what's available so that you can continue to create and do all the amazing things that you do. All right, I want to thank you so much for checking us out, man, I think you're. I think that this was helpful for for people, hopefully that it is. Uh, I hope you're having a wonderful day. If you're not having a wonderful day, you can change that by your mindset. Thanks so much, tony king out.