Building Your Arsenal

What up MM? I’m back with another blog. It’s been a while and it’s definitely overdue. Today I would like to discuss ways to help you build your arsenal. When I mention my arsenal I’m referring to my database that is packed full of heavy hitters, snappy snares, impacts and much more.

Essentially our arsenals define who we are as producers. We all have a particular style or sound and if you don’t its time to start finding yours. If we have a small and limited arsenal, then our beats are going to become restricted in their potential. On the other hand we could be spoiled for choice and spend hours trying to find that perfect sound. This isn’t so bad. Well as long as you find that perfect sound then no, but if your spending hours upon hours just looking for a few sounds, is it really worth it. Probably not! In my mind its false economy. That time could be spent doing much more productive things. We also have drum synths and FX we can use to manipulate to get the right sound.

All in all it is better to have more sounds available to you, as this increases your flexibility. The more sounds you have the more likely you are to find that right sound, but you have to know your kits and have to have an organized arsenal. An arsenal that is all over the place will NOT help your workflow. Spending time organizing your arsenal has benefits. It will save you a lot of time in the future. Be sure to check out our post on Organizing Your Library.

You can build your arsenal in many different ways. You can grab sounds off other producers. This is probably the cheapest and most effective way, as they “should” only give you kits they recommend. Filtering out all the SWAG kits. Another cheap and cheerful way is YouTube. The possibilities are endless, but the sound quality will most definitely be jeopardized. We can rip straight off Vinyl, like back in day. This is a classic technique and was made famous by Marley Marl. Especially when he started layering his sounds. This can be quite an expensive way, as you can go through records and records and still not find that right sound. In a way it all depends on how good / lucky you are at crate digging. (Check out our Sample Pack Saturday for gems)

The last method I wanted to discuss is producer kits. This has made our lives, as producers, a lot easier. This gives us an alternative option to digging. Not all producers like digging and I’m not one of them. To me crate digging is part of the process, but I am a huge fan of producer kits and there’s a lot of dope ones out there. This can become quite an expensive way to build your arsenal.

I have only explained a few ways to build your arsenal and I’m sure there are many other techniques out there. If I had to some up, which is the best way to build your arsenal, I would say all of the above. You don’t want to limit yourself or become too narrow minded. You want to be as flexible as possible, because if something’s not working, you can easily switch it up.

Well I hope this helped MM. Be sure to add comments below letting us know how you build your arsenal. Until next time you can catch me at @UKAntSmith