cutting down the drum library

so im in the process of making a "go to" drums folder in my 1k, whenever i find a sound i really like in any of my other drum folders, it goes here. it doesnt matter if it repeats from another folder or what not.
the idea is that after i sort and compile my new drums into this folder, i can pretty much have everything i want at my fingertips.

i decided to organize all my drums last year, but i feel that i had so many that its limiting as to what i can audition without spending a huge amount of time menu diving though sounds, for example snaress >>electronic snares>>> drum machine snares>>> acoustic snares, ect ect. it just gets tiring having to open and close all those folders to find a snare that will work.

throughout the years though, i have a few really nice kits that i have bought,traded, and otherwise just come up on, (check out 6 bit deep, they are amazing and free!), that i keep in a special folder called "purchased drum libraries" and these are all of my "really nice sounds"
so my current project has been trying to wade through all the excess mess, and delete whatever i dont need. everything thats not in the purchased drum librarys folder is being heavily scrutinized. its pretty liberating deleting 5 gigs of samples you dont use.
on the other end of the spectrum is my maschine and battery 3 libraries, these are things i def want to keep, but its gonna take some time picking the best sounds to sample into the mpc.
so in the end of all this deleting/reorganizing/ re-recording at 16 bit, there is a few other kits i want to buy to complete my collection.
ive found that i really like how x or y sample sounds, and i want more of those kind of samples, and in all these kits i dont have them, so they become pieces i want to add in the future.
it is going to take some time, but in the end im gonna have a really great library of sounds that is custom tailored to what i use. the thought of having a bunch of usable sounds is awesome, and i cant wait to cut off some more excess fat.

anyone else hoard drums and then decided to cut back on them?

this post isnt really for anything in particular, just something i thought i'd share. i know it has been discussed before, but i havent seen a thread like this for quite awhile, so i thought i'd make another. i think we could have a really good discussion about it if you guys shared your organization techniques too.
if anything, maybe it will give some of you ideas on how to organize your stuff.
anyone do something similar to what i have in mind? or do you organize yours completely different? share it here!

You could never have enough drums.

I like sampling drums. I enjoy taking a 3 second pattern, chopping it up and then create a bunch of different patterns of drums. Add effects and EQ it up and down and BAM! I delete it all and start a new clean slate with a new 3 second drum break.

Thats how I roll when I rock.

I really like Revel Breezer on the Windows platform. It helps me audition stuff nicely. Once I find something I like, i move it to an organzied "working" folder. I like to have 10-12 working kits at any given time.

http://www.revel-software.it/downloads

thanks for the input.

that just blows my mind that you delete everything after your done with it ILL. what about remixes or acapellas? i guess to hell with all that stuff huh?
i could never do that though, i keep my beat folders, then my multitrack files, then my final mix session, and all my software instruments, original chops, ect ect.

@mesohordey, is that just how you audition and sort stuff? im on mac, but i have it so all of my stuff is in a folder heiarchy either in my external harddrives, or my mpc.

with my mpc, i have it all contained in one folder i can drag and drop to my external HD's to back it all up in one swoop.

man, I dont collect drums anymore... I wind up never using them.

I have a folder for cut breaks including ones i've downloaded the flac or wav for cause I don't have the vinyl or what have you... anyhow they are just loose recordings containing the whole break... I cut out the drums fresh on every beat they get used on and apply fx according to what the songs asks for.... keeps it fresh.

then I have the huge folder with every oldschool drum machine model... you know the huge one that floats around.. well I have two different variations of that. they are good for the rompler drum machines.... 808s and drum synth type ones I never really use because I use synths to make and tune them according to the song... hard to do that with a sample the same way.

however.. then I have odd vinyl rips I downloaded that I either dont have in my collection or cant be bothered to find.... ones I want to use for making music.... mostly those are classical record rips. I have a bunch of those.... there is a folder for that and each album has it's own folder.

the zoom field recordings is a bit more complicated. years ago I had my H4 folder with categories for the type of recordings.. ie: glass smashing, trains and transit, voice and vocal, instruments, kitchen and bath, etc...

however over the past 2 years I started using the zoom Q3 to record a lot... I never use the video part.. but I like a couple of features it has for audio. Anyhow, now my zoom recordings folder has a few subfolders according to zoom model. H4 has mostly old stuff because that was the first zoom, and I dont often use the h4 anymore... only once in a blue moon.

so in the Q3 folder, I make each folder by the building or location and the year or season.. so for example "Q3 canada malt spring 2013"... and of course I have a few categories by sound type as well for times I only record one random clip that needs a folder. I find it easier to organise by outing or location because I find that is how I remember a sound... I remember the details of recording it.... so I know where it would be found instead of checking the category of sounds which could take longer.

mr_debauch wrote: I find it easier to organise by outing or location because I find that is how I remember a sound... I remember the details of recording it.... so I know where it would be found instead of checking the category of sounds which could take longer.

this is a real gem here, i also find it easier to remember by something other than what type of sound too.

sometimes i just name the folder the album name of what im sampling, because i find that i usually remmber this record, tv show ect, has a dope sample in it, rather than catagorize it by sound type.

damien907 wrote:thanks for the input.

that just blows my mind that you delete everything after your done with it ILL. what about remixes or acapellas? i guess to hell with all that stuff huh?
i could never do that though, i keep my beat folders, then my multitrack files, then my final mix session, and all my software instruments, original chops, ect ect.

Remixes, I'll just make some new shit . But I do keep the tracks and final mixes in the Tascam's 40GB HD. Only thing, is cleaned up is the sampler.

I always deleted shit, I love to sample. It all started when I could not afford a flashcard for the MS-1, I had this beat that I wanted to store away so I can begin a new beat. I had that beat for months and months on it that I was just getting sick of it. I wanted to sample new shit already. After looking at myself in the mirror and saw the black bags under my eyes and my face pale as I fiended to make beats, I said "Eff it!" and deleted everything with uncontrollable laughter.

And ever since then, I will never go through that again. Never!!

My backup HD with all my samples on died today.

I can probably piece it back together from old drives and discs but I can't really be bothered with it for now.

I have folders with breaks, - most of them chopped and in programs- one shots, free drum libraries and loops. I keep collecting, never deleting.

Last year I made a special folder with a selection of the best sounds, hits and breaks. I usually work with that. When I want something different to layer I'll dive into my B selection.

good tips in here, ill always got a story lol.

beat junkie man!

coz, you gotta have a back up of your back ups! that really sucks! at least you could probably piece it back together though!

i have my laptop hd, where i store all my current album stuff, and a firewire "record to" OG 7200 rpm drive. this holds the majority of my stuff, including my albums/beats, then i also have two 64 gig thumb drives for the super important backups that are on my OG drive.
so if i have been keeping up with my backups, i usually have 3 or 4 places that all my important stuff is.

i also have another hd or two, but they are reaching their lifespans so i mostly put the extra not so important stuff from my laptop and OG drive on those. movies and media edt ect. goes on there.

i have a drum archive folder in which i throw all the random drums i collect

than a current drums folder that use as my default collection of sounds that i mix and match for different beats that for a period of time, then every so often review my current drums and pick replacement drums for the sounds that ive worn out or am no longer feeling.

^^^ thats a good idea too. thanks for that jpeg.

damien907 wrote:coz, you gotta have a back up of your back ups! that really sucks! at least you could probably piece it back together though!

Yep... schoolboy error on my part.

I've permanently lost about 3 years worth of samples, with the rest of my sounds dotted around between various drives, discs and USB sticks. I'll probably just transfer over the essentials and ditch old Reason refills and other stuff I'll never use.

I need to find a decent cloud storage solution for my main projects folder. Ideally one that's free/cheap and can house 20GB+.