Tools, Tools And More Tools!

I can't remember ever really explaining the tools behind the music I create but there are no real secrets behind what I do. But knowing how to play music is pretty much standard. You don't need to be a prodigy and the tools certainly help both at work and helping to inspire.

The DAW I use is Reaper. Incredible value with all the modern assets for the modern producer. I can't afford Pro Tools or the like but I have everything I need with Reaper. Pro Tools is a great tool but extortionately overpriced and Reaper has every thing I possibly need.

A great producer only sounds as good as his samples and that's why I have chosen my libraries VERY carefully. High quality samplers and plugins are usually not cheap:

EastWest Quantum Leap Silk (Caters to my love of Indian and Persian sounds)
EastWest Quantum Leap Gypsy (For that ethnic folk sound - think Violin, Accordians, Dulcimer)

These are my go-to samplers. I have a certain "sound" in my head and I always seem to find it in these.
For the big lush Hollywood sound, I employ:

EastWest Hollywood Strings Gold
Eastwest Hollywood Brass Gold
Eastwest Hollywood Orchestral Percussion Gold
Eastwest Hollywood Woodwinds Gold

The realism in these is at all times absolutely breathtaking and can be upgraded over time as a less costly option when purchasing the licences.

For the more interesting "blockbuster" sounds, I use U-he Zebra. A Synth with incredible capabilities and highly adaptable sounds. Hans Zimmer is a big fan and he uses it in virtually all his later scores such as The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar and Dunkirk.

Kontakt Instruments I employ are

SoundIron Apocalypse Ensemble (For a huge drum sound)
SoundIron Mercury (A boys Choir)
SoundIron Olympus (Full Adult Choir)
India (Again a lot of fun ethnic sounds)
Soniccouture Glass Works (Weird and wonderful Glass Instruments)
Waves Factory Mercury (Piano)
Kirnu Cream (A fun arpeggiator)

A pretty modest collection but one that is growing slowly but surely!

Gypsy's Kiss

So am prepping myself into jumping headlong into my upcoming sound and production course by making myself familiar with a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), namely REAPER. Pro Tools is the industry standard, but I'm not rich.

It's pretty much how all music is produced these days and it's about time I got with the programme.
I've learned how to employ virtual instrument plugins and am therefore able to create pieces of music by playing my midi keyboard and using the sampled instruments on EASTWEST Quantum Leap Gypsy & Silk. I've not done anything too extreme to begin with as I've started learning the basics such as panning, reverb and track reversal, but here is a new piece to keep me ticking over. It's made entirely using sampled instruments from EW Gypsy and edited and published through Reaper.

1. Percussion
2. Flamenco Guitar
3. Lead Violin
4. Dulcimer (listed as Cimbalom, but I'm too used to the other word)

I reversed the track halfway to give it a creepy, dreamy feel and segued back in to give it a measured ending.

Click here for a listen -> GYPSY'S KISS  

Thanks for listening.