The internet is full of great resources for producers, from endless tutorials to a plethora of free downloads. If you don’t know where to look, you could miss out on lots of great content – from free plugins to VSTs to sample packs and loops. While less can sometimes be more in terms of how many instruments and sounds you have in front of you, it’s great to have the option to quickly grab something new when you need some inspiration or some polished sounds. And in terms of education, no producer should ever stop learning.
Here’s our guide to some of the best resources out there and places to look.
Sound design company giveaways
Most sound design and software companies offer free content in exchange for your email address – and once you’re on there, they will tend to send you occasional newsletters which feature even more free content. You can also check out their websites to see any previous free giveaways that you may have missed.
Loopmasters and Prime Loops offer a 500MB free sample pack to new signups. Native Instruments offer free VST downloads as well as occasional free plugins via their newsletter. Dance Midi Samples have a whole selection of free samples and VSTs.
Free sample libraries
There are some other great resources for royalty-free sounds aside from the companies who make them themselves. Music Radar’s beastly archive contains almost 50,000 free hits, loops and samples, while the Converse Sample Library collects 4+ days worth of loops, hits and stems recording during their residencies at different studios around the world – including content from the likes of Matrixxman and Com Truise. The Philharmonia Orchestra’s website offers full scale sample libraries for dozens of orchestra instruments.
Synthopia are also great at collating free sample library content and free virtual instruments from across the web, as are Studiotoolz.
Tutorials
YouTube is littered with thousands of tutorials for producers, giving tips on everything to getting better bottom end to mixing down your tracks, to step-by-step guides on how famous tracks were constructed. It’s best to find trusted sources as they tend to have the most informative and well constructed videos – and most big music productions schools are a good place to start.
Point Blank have over 700 videos on their YouTube channel and also have an iTunes U account where you can easily download lots of tutorials to watch on the go. SonicAcademy have a 20+ hour free taster pack of their virtual courses, which also includes a free sample pack. Computer Music offer article-based tutorials, as do Music Radar.
Open source communities
Away from the more oft-beaten sources lie a myriad of open source instruments. While often less polished and less advanced than the VSTs that big production companies give away, they can bring a gritty charm to tracks, or offer unusual interfaces that open up new ways of thinking or creating. Sourceforge have a small selection, while Don’t Crack have a much more expansive one broken down into more specific categories. Native Instruments’ user community is packed with free user-created libraries of presets and instruments to use with their free-to-download players, offering endless possibilities.
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