How Far Do You Go w/ Making Your Own Templates / Presets

[Jean Luc Cougar]

With a demanding full time job, demanding home life, and the occasional desire to sleep for an hour or two I am finding myself with less time than ever to work on music (despite more desire than ever). Naturally, one of the things I am trying to work on is efficiency to get the maximum enjoyment and efficiency out of my music time.

I am curious what people do to make their sessions efficient, most specifically around tedious and time consuming tasks (for me that's mostly in the automation, arrangement, and mixdown process).

Do you make overall templates for you sessions with reverbs, delays, etc setup?
Are there certain kits / instrument presets that you always start with?
Do you make effect presets for certain sounds ie: "Bass Chain" w/ specific EQ / Chorus / etc settings?
Do you go further with templates, if so, how?

Somehow my (potentially) stupid fear is the further down the template path you go the less you learn, experiment, or are creative, etc
However, I also wonder if maybe that's dumb, and this helps make, and finish tracks faster and overall leads to higher output (just to be clear, the goal is quality not quantity, I just have more ideas than time) and more long term growth.

I would love to hear what other people are doing, experiences, fears, successes, etc if you have anything to share.

[Prophän]

I almost always start a new track by doing the same exact thing : a kick, a reverb rumble from that same kick with all the necessary processing (repitch/dist/comp/eq/sidechain), a bassline, hats, etc. I feel like I could benefit somehow from having this as a template, but I also feel like it would be too restrictive as I want to allow myself maximum freedom/creativity, and I'm so used to doing those things that it takes less than 15 minutes to have them all laid down so guess I'm okay with that, on the other hand I also have a lot of free time, so yeah..

[Críoch]

This is where I'm at right now..

Time is my least plentiful resource.

I've made templates in the past.. thinking a reverb & delay send is useful. A drum kit etc.. It's something I did without thought, without fully thinking through what I needed.

Upon reflection.. I need:

1. A library of my own sounds, in order to save some time making kicks etc..

2. A template of ins&outs for my soundcard & patchbay.

My patchbay is set up to perfection right now. Maxed out convenience. Only possible with truly understanding what you need. My last / initial configuration was useless tbh.

3. A template/ autoload for my mpc. Some kick / hat patterns.. ready to go for jams. A kind of fancy metronome for recording into live.

Only time / trial & error / honesty, will inform whether or not you need a template.. or WHAT type of template you need.

Maybe a couple of devices on a channel.. like eq or analysis plugs on the master is sufficient.. could be organising your sample library better.. or deciding what synths or (good) limitations you are going to use.

[Belka]

I´ve never saved presets for Softsynths, always creating new ones when i start a new Song.
I did a big starter Template for my DAW this year, creating groups/busses like Bass/Porc/Hihat/Synths/Fx/Vox , e.g. in Bass just creating Channels like Kick, Sub, Layer etc, normal stuff... filled the shit with Satson and -15 dB because thats what i always did on every Channel, saved time and is not restrictive

[0dd]

Color coded, named channels (kick,bass,synth,Porc 1,2,3,4...), only instruments in the template are operator and kick 2. All channels have satson,pro-q2,utility. Recently made some fx chains for the returns, and then mjuc, span and a bypassed utility in mono on the master. Most of my ableton time lately has been resampling which I think is way more useful to have ready instead of drum racks, patterns, fx parameters etc. Params is especially useless I think cause even when dealing with say a bass, it's gonna be a different sound every time so the params will also probably need to be different. Unless you want to go Mike Parker. Then save everything and just rename it every other day.

[Mslwte]

I use a fresh canvas each time with just an audio channel. I do have some templates saved for a few bits of hardware if I want to quickly fire up something and have a play.

I have used more complex templates in the past but had a few occasions with crashes etc so didn't think it was worth it but I just like starting from scratch these days.

My projects usually just start from noodling about and then build it up from there.

[Críoch]

I'm fighting it tonight..

Setting up a Template on the MPC for 'Popular Modern Kick, Hat & Clap Combinations'.

Empty Programs (MPC equivalent of a DrumRack or Instrument).. with midi data only - bread & butter stuff.

Untz Untz Untz Untz.. BoomTsch Boom-Tsch etc..

No samples.

Will set up a couple of Programs (Midi Instruments, this time) - hardwired to certain synths.. for jamming.

Have gotten very lazy with the computer being here again. Too easy to get tangled up.

Just do it!

[Planar]

A big template set just takes too long to load up, I can't be arsed waiting that long. I rather start every project from blank and add a couple of racks I use in every track, a monitoring rack with spectrum analyser and redline monitor (because I use headphones) and a master channel rack just before that with bus comp and satin etc. It literally takes a few seconds to throw in any of my racks if I want them, but sometimes I don't so they're not in the way either. Sends are a creative decision so that vary's from project to project. I'm not a guy who gets overwhelmed with options though, some people find that blank space intimidating, so it's not for everyone I suppose.

One thing I think a lot of ableton users miss is that you can save a channel template, so every new channel you create can have some set plugins. I just have pro-q on mine.

The real time savers are having a small library of bread and butter sounds you can drop in to bootstrap a project, a nice set of kicks is a good place to start. The effort spent creating them will be paid back 10 times over.

[pafavag]

I used to have a template of midi tracks for all the staple sounds like kick, hihat 1, hihat 2, bass etc, names, colours and all the instruments, plugins and effects i would usually use for those. The main difference using that template was that I had my projects cluttered and hard to move around from the very beginning. Eventually I ended up deleting all but one midi tracks at the beginning of every project as I was too lazy to actually reset the template.

I also tried to save all the interesting sounds from my unfinished tracks in dedicated projects for an easy access. Nothing good came out of that either. Now I just start from scratch and design everything for a specific project.

As you said the most time consuming parts are mixing down, arrangement and automation and I can’t really see templates being any help here.

[Críoch]

The one useful thing I noticed tonight.. having a few different midi patterns loaded up, is that you 'audition' the patterns. Clap & kick patterns that you would normally never put together.. sound not too bad.

Interesting.

[Trom]

I'm trying to find the best balance between saving time through some templates for projects and various plugins ect while still not stopping any creative process or the chance of discovering something new. Especially for projects I find having a good template useful though, usually consisting of some pre-set tracks with color coding and bus send ect. If I start on a blank slate I tend to make the project quite messy quickly, and if it develops to something I wanna work more on I end up having to clean up and organize everything. It won't take that long but is still a waste of time.

[Lost to the Void]

For me it has to be natural.
If efficiency and schedules start driving behaviour like templates, all centering on finished product, then I think it drives away the art and creativity. Its turning art into a mechanical process (and I think it leads to producers making a very limited sound, which they than get trapped in , and have to create a new pseudonym when they use a different kick drum because they become known for their limited sound)

Blank slate every time for me, occasionally reach for a Brian Eno oblique strategy card.

[buffered]

Blank slate every time for me

same

[dubdub]

A real life studio is a template. Some people obviously take it way too far, with the track essentially already laid out but I like working from a comfortable environment. A good template will allow you to make any sort of music. Is it completely open-ended? No, but we never are to begin with.

[nomadjames]

I have a template for my hardware. I make presets for my instruments and effects, putting them in an Instrument rack so I can control stuff right away with Push. When I make a cool performance based instrument or effect, I can just go back and load it from the past session in Ableton like a preset.

[Jean Luc Cougar]

Really interesting answers so far, it's been cool to read about both ends - specifically that some people even have patterns in there, color coding, etc while others go blank (I like the idea of starting w/ Oblique Strategy cards too).

Here's what I am currently doing if anyone is curious:

I have a 24 I/O soundcard, and midi patchbay with all my hardware + effects set up as external instruments and effects set up in Ableton
No DAW template (but admittedly, I load the same reverb, delays, etc on almost every new project, I also manually color code tracks as I add them)
I have 3 different folders of drum sounds that I reach for (if I am not using a HW drum machine)
I use a lot of HW, or if I am traveling I use VSTs that are close to my HW example: Tal Bassline in place of SH-101, or Tal U-No in place of MKS-50 in case I want to re-record w/ HW

That's basically it.

Reading what everyone else has said, it sounds like I am somewhere in the middle or closer to the blank slate side of things. However, to be fair - using hardware both adds (good) limitations but also slows things down bc of recording, warping, etc.

What's taking me the most time?
- Recording external instruments (specifically that after 8 years I can't seem to get Live to record accurately and am always having to adjust recordings)
- Recording external effects (ditto)
***However, I am not willing to sacrifice using hardware as I enjoy this part of the process, and the results. External effects somehow sit better in the mix for me.
- Arranging (this takes me hours, but I also feel like a good arrangement is key to a good track)
- Mixing (I am just not great at this, and slow)

So maybe the answer to myself is rethinking my arrangement and mixdown process. Or maybe it's accepting that this might just be how long things take (for me)

[timc3]

I have several templates for Bitwig, one has everything setup the way I usually end up with multiple groups like Drums, Percussion, Bass, Lead, FX, and then for certain things extra channels - side chain, Kick, FX sends. Magic AB on the master bus.. Another is a more basic variant with a subset of this and no FX sends configured.

I also have presets that I have created for reference for effects and VSTis.

But I don't always use them, it depends what I feel like doing. But I always end up with a similar structure of channels.

What I find is that when I am not feeling inspired I do some sound design, creating synth presets & admin like organising sample, keeping plugins up to date.

[acesd619]

Sometimes I'll be cursing at myself for not having a template when I get started but I get different results every time so it is worth it. The satisfaction doesn't kick in until a couple hours of screwing around, which I realize some people don't have the time for, but once I hit the g-spot the project turns into a manic whirlwind of dopamine release. When I'm doing all the shit that I should have a template for, I reflect upon life which eventually leads to a theme for the project. It is almost like meditating before the real production begins.

[rktic]

My template contains the stuff I don't want to setup every time. VU Meter, Span, MegaOscilloscope and Machine to step sequence a Drum Rack/909.

Once upon a time I made a number of effect chain presets. I never used them again.

When I'm in a specific mood I might load an older track in the same vein, delete everything I don't need anymore. Guess that's kind of working with a template, too

[msl]

Yes I save effect chains that I like and reuse them. I also have a basic template that I start from that has some of my my favourite effects preloaded but bypassed, and all my midi and audio pre-routed to tracks, and some favourite M4L instruments, IR's preloaded, etc. Master buss has a chain I like and use on everything. Just makes things faster.