Investing in yourself is the most important thing you can do as a producer. Workshops, masterclasses, and tutorials are all incredible ways to take your sound to the next level. But many producers do not know that there is something else that can elevate your skills faster than any of these: Project Files.
Project Files offer a wealth of resources for producers to cash in on, as long as they know what to look for. They provide producers of any level incredible drum loops, songwriting lessons, and even new instruments. Genre-specific Project Files can be a one-stop-shop for developing your talents as a producer and engineer.
Here's a list of five fast-and-easy ways to get the most out of the next template you get your hands on. Remember to think outside of the box when unpacking all that these files have to offer.
1. Steal Top Effects and Instruments
One of the many great features of Ableton is its rack devices. Finely crafted templates will come with new instruments and effect racks completely mapped to macro controls that would take valuable time to create yourself.
Spend your first moments after the opening of a fresh template scanning for usable instrument and effect racks. Save them into your Ableton directory for later use. An amp-emulation rack assembled in a warehouse techno template could make your next tech house breakdown stand out!
Tips from the Experts - Pay special attention when project files include samplers with live or organic instruments like strings or pianos. Often, these sound much better than the synthesized versions that come stock in many DAW's.
2. Understand How To Remix
The art of remixing another track is a craft in and of itself. Being able to understand the crucial parts of a record that resonate with the listener is not something that comes naturally to many producers.
Genre-specific templates allow you to mangle the recorded audio of your favorite genres and to build off of established ideas. Project Files will enable you to reject parts that don't easily fit into your specific sound and build upon the primary ear candies that do.
3. Learn Mixing From The Pros
A great mixdown is the result of a thousand little decisions made throughout the project as a whole. A mix can often turn bad quickly, and untrained ears will fail to recognize the channel or individual choice that is at fault.
Producers can learn a lot by peering inside a professionally crafted record. Turn individual channels on or off to compare the outcomes. You can adjust compressors to see how it affects the dynamics of a drum sound in real-time or notice how the timbre of a pad change after a few tweaks of the EQ.
Most importantly, you train your ears to recognize when these changes need to be made in the first place. Training your ears requires time, but project files put you on the fast-track to listening at a professional level.
4. Separate Sound Design from Composition
Sound design is a technical art that is essential to the creative flow of producing. I am sure many of you can attest to how quickly making minor adjustments to virtual knobs can ruin the flow of chord writing. Set yourself up for success by turning a genre-specific Project Files into a blank canvas of sound design. As discussed earlier, the best templates will have macro knobs preassigned to allow you to get creative right away.
Many of the Bundles that we sell at Production Music Live also include fresh MIDI files to use. Try crossing genres by dropping a melody designed for trance into a minimal-tech genre template for even more unique possibilities!
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Tips from the Experts - Remember that Ableton allows you to collect entire channels and even groups to be used in another project file.
To do this, go to your User library to create a new folder. Label it 'Amelie Sound Design' if you're doing techno sound design and drag the channel containing the synth(s) into the newly created folder. You have now saved that channel, and all included automation, to be used at a later date.
5. Copy Winning Arrangements
Electronic dance music, more so than many other genres, is entirely predictable when it comes to its arrangement. Having a template direct your next steps clears up precious creative headspace when it is time to turn your loops into full tracks.
Being told when to introduce new elements allows you to pay more attention to the actual musical details themselves. Those are what truly matter to your listeners anyways!
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Bonus Tip - We discussed earlier how to save entire channels to use in later projects. Try opening up your new genre-specific project file, and map out the arrangements the professional has used in that record. Create a new MIDI channel, and plot out the arrangement using color-coordinated MIDI clips.
Save this channel into your User Library to use as a guide on a later production!
Project Files Help You Develop Your Sound
Sample packs and synthesizers may help you make TRACKS right away. Still, professional Project Files are your best investment for developing a unique SOUND as a producer.
Let's Get Started
Production Music Live offers a wide range of professionally crafted project files for almost every popular genre of the day. Whether you are looking for driving warehouse techno or summertime tropical house tracks, our experts have crafted chart-ready tracks for you.
So head over to our shop to start dissecting, opening up, and getting the most that you can from these phenomenal Project Files.