Essential Library Albums?

[potzorbie]

What would you recommend to someone just getting into library music to listen to or collect?

[Psyclon]

The very, VERY basic is to know what each one taste is. If you would wait, you'd get all sorts of people linking you albums and you will see that most of it is like throwing darts blindly over your shoulder and see what sticks. And while a bit of looking left and right in that matter, your personal taste is the center and most important. And the second important thing is to accept not everyone enjoys the same stuff.

I'd think you gotta have to match (or mix-and-match these things):

The biggest two junctions on the way to your basic core library would be:

● The era
Each era has a very specific sound, might it be the mastering at that point or the instruments used.
Tracks from 2000 for example are loud and have no real dynamic left, but both can be synth-pop tracks from one composer. Or great saxophone sounds can be found in the mid-80s to mid-90s, but rarely before and after (EDIT: I mostly mean as a pop-ish lead instrument). The same with a good, clean slap-bass. Brass Fanfares are a thing of the 70s and mid-80s. Big Bands had a short revival in the early 2000s, but are found pre-80s. R'N'B sounds start in the 90s "Club" albums. And everything after 2000 appears to be sequenced, heavilly computer-aided mainstream stuff you could turn on the radio for or buy a cheap gas station bargain bin CD and nothing of value can be found there in my opinion...
Ahem.. anyways: The decade of music is basically the most important indicator of what you can expect.

● The genre
You could say that the genre is the most/more important thing, but I think it has be be behind the era. Because Jazz for example sounds different when made in 1972 or 1992. If you send me a synth-pop industrial album from CAVENDISH or MUSIC HOUSE and it reads 1987 I will sure download it. If I see 1972 I will mostly put it in low priority because I know the synth sounds, melodic progression et cetera from the 80s were not a thing in 72.

So if you like to listen to "Pop Rock" from "the 1970s", people can really scrap 80% of the potential "no"s and be pretty efficient with telling you what you'd like want.

After you took these two junctions and walk down the road, smaller factors come in play:

● Don't get worked up on picking full albums
I do collect in on a track-basis because of my very refined personal taste. I mean by that that each song must to click by 100% to me. And it's virtually impossible this happens with every single track out of an album. And I am sure that is the case with many others. But if you are not a completionist that simply just sucks up everything for the sake of "having it", keeping a dozen of tracks of "meh" can prevent you from discovering more by forcing you into a "All-Or-Nothing" situation.

It's hard to explain, but for example, I do not like Jazz. There, I said it. But I still download the Jazz albums surfacing (if they match the era as stated above) and try them. Because I am free of picking one single track out of it if there would be one. If I'd be quasi-forced to collect album-wise, I'd not to that.

Also to me it feels that once you own physical media, you want them all just for the sake of it. PATCHWORK 112, 113, 115 are great. But 114 sucks. Now what? Still collecting it for continuity or can you happily skip it because musical-wise it's not your cup of tea and thus non-essential to you?

● The label
Some labels are extremely diverse, such as SONOTON, DEWOLFE, KPM/APM, OMNIMUSIC... You can't really say they publish "This" or "That". But sometimes, labels have a reputation for certain sounds and are very narrow/specialized.  DIMENSION would come to my mind. If I remember correctly: 70s and 80s, lots of brass fanfares with Jazzy undertones and some early 80s digital synths. That's why you either dive into their albums - or stay away.


● The label AND the era
Now this is the jackpot - you found a label and within that label an album that brings joy to your ears and the next one too and the one after that as well. You just fell into the rabbit hole of your essential personal library! Be prepared for one of the most thrilling feelings on music collecting when the hunt was succesfull.

Just this very night I dove into the PARRY MUSIC CD series and despite I wanted to do other things that evening, I had to force myself to go to bed at 23:30 after 4 hours of collecting non-stop until my human needs - read: bladder - took finally over. What happened? PARRY MUSIC, whilst the LPs are below average and often very obnoxiously bad (see: "Label", "Era" and "Composers"), the CD from 1987 up to the mid 90s releases are a treasure chest. The same with CAVENDISH: From 1985 to 1992, almost all albums can be found in my treasure chest and are building the foundation of my library.

Some labels also have a great shift over time. I take PARRY MUSIC again as example. I sifted through 1.000+ files the last few days (actually 4,000 but there were the :60 and :30 cuts too) and the quality of the PARRY LPs are really bad. Off-rhythm, amateurish muzak with only like 5 instruments and two composers. Quality over quantity. I'd given up after 20 albums of the same CASIO keyboards kid's toy sound. In total, I picked 7 tracks out of it. SEVEN. However, the CD albums of the same label are such a gigantic step up! It is amazing that each PML-CD is amazing: Wide range of instruments, well-produced, great melody that are not short of chart blockbusters. So: Do try the labels over the whole timespan.

● The composer
I think the person who composed the track is actually pretty low on the importance list. You might think that looking for music from a certain person gets you hit after hit, but I figured out that I both loathe and love tracks made by the same composer. Also, you might look up Discogs and the sometimes irritatingly high numbers of pseudonymes people have. Right, Gerhard Narholz?! Names really mean nothing in Library Music, especially since they seem to be lend from label to label anyways. Just found a Herrman Langschwert track in PARRY MUSIC (Australian label) playing some awkward crap while Langschwert (Composer) is known for mid-90s (Era) Eurodance (Genre) for SELECTED SOUND (Label). Again, you can see that "Era",  "Genre" and "Label" play a big role again.

Remember me indirectly bashing Paul Rey (again just a pseudonyme btw ) on his PARRY LPs? The same person created one of my favourite tracks. But under a different label, in a different era, using different instruments while playing a different genre. Names mean nothing, as said.

Let's take some of my library tracks:

TROLLCHANT - Mac Prindy // INTERSOUND - Burning
FUTURE DESIGN - Gerhard Narholz // INTERSOUND - Design The Future / Silver Screw
MOVE ON - Tony Tape // COLOURSOUND LIBRARY - Sports 4 - Workout
IMAGE PROCESSOR - John Epping // SONOTON - Designwork
SIGNAL PATHWAYS - Sammy Burdson // SONOTON - Industry Dynamic
WORK IT OUT - Norman Chandler // SONOTON - Contemporary Lifestyles
BEGIN TO WIN - Otto Sieben // SONOTON - Classical Styling 2

You know what? ALL OF THIS IS ONE PERSON! Gerhard Narholz..


But all of that is what YOU need to figure out first. LMTs main focus for example is mostly Jazz/Easy Listening from the 70s. When I asked for an early 90s CD release, I remember no feedback except Greta IIRC that admitted there is no interested in collecting CDs [personally]. The counterweight is there in forms of Retromatic who stirs things up with his late-80s, early 90s and mid-00s CDs, but do you see something notable about this forums? Almost nobody cares about music post-2000. But what if the truth lies exactly in production music from the new Millenium and there you can find your essiential library music that is kind of under the radar because of that?

There is no universal "essential library music", it's up to you to get hooked and go from there.

[potzorbie]

Well thank you for that very lengthy reply. I guess I'm looking more for the most sought after albums and rarities that everyone is always looking for.

[tonyc1971]

Thanks Psyclon,  Very comprehensive, interesting read and nailed it too.

I fell into the library music trap many years ago.  At the time, I was looking to recreate tracks used in test card, teletext pages and interval music used in the 60's-80's along with TV themes.  Once you discover the odd album, or label or indeed composer you often fall down a rabbit hole and opening up all kinds of avenues regards the wide range in styles and genres within library music. 

When I was fortunate to win a successful auction some years ago this had around 400+ albums in it.  At the time I was interested in what I can use as per the above reasons.  From there with an almost complete Bruton music vinyl collection, I then went online to try and complete the whole run.  It went on from there and obtained many gaps missing from some of the other big labels including KPM, DeWolfe, Chappel, Josef Weinberger etc. 

To recommend an album is almost an impossible task.  There are many websites, wiki pages about the whole subject of library music.  Everyone's taste in music is different.  All genres are catered for.  Some prefer the older tracks from the 50's to late 70's.  Others prefer the music from the 80's and 90's.  Psyclon mentions about the 'Modern library vinyl and cd rips' section.  He's right !  That section is quieter and isn't for everyone.  I find myself missing lots of posts and links in there, but that isn't to say I'm not interested.  There is the odd occasion I'll take a punt and download an album.  From there I'll give it a listen.  If it's not for me, chances are I may delete it.  That said, I find myself downloading these albums, listening once and probably never listening to it again. 

To end, I'm always on the look out for new sounds I've not heard before.  Retronic recently posted up on his You Tube channel and compilation from library music used in the horror classic 'Dawn Of The Dead'.  For me, that's brilliant and those tracks are instantly recognisable for me.  Similarly, he did the same for music used in the Aussie drama Prisoner Cell Block H.  When you listen to the whole album some of those tracks are woeful and not worthy of a listen.  This just shows there is the odd great track mixed in with what most would say is a mediocre album.  Digging about, having a listen to different genres, composers etc is key here.  You will find a lot of poor albums out there, but every now and then there is the odd one that really resonates with you making it all worthwhile.

All I'll say is enjoy the ride, it can be frustrating at times, but more often than not it's very rewarding.  Also, there are lots of more knowledgeable members here on this forum that will have an opinion on an album, composer or label, so keep it LMT !

[KPMFan1000]

The very, VERY basic is to know what each one taste is. If you would wait, you'd get all sorts of people linking you albums and you will see that most of it is like throwing darts blindly over your shoulder and see what sticks. And while a bit of looking left and right in that matter, your personal taste is the center and most important. And the second important thing is to accept not everyone enjoys the same stuff.

I'd think you gotta have to match (or mix-and-match these things):

The biggest two junctions on the way to your basic core library would be:

● The era
Each era has a very specific sound, might it be the mastering at that point or the instruments used.
Tracks from 2000 for example are loud and have no real dynamic left, but both can be synth-pop tracks from one composer. Or great saxophone sounds can be found in the mid-80s to mid-90s, but rarely before and after (EDIT: I mostly mean as a pop-ish lead instrument). The same with a good, clean slap-bass. Brass Fanfares are a thing of the 70s and mid-80s. Big Bands had a short revival in the early 2000s, but are found pre-80s. R'N'B sounds start in the 90s "Club" albums. And everything after 2000 appears to be sequenced, heavilly computer-aided mainstream stuff you could turn on the radio for or buy a cheap gas station bargain bin CD and nothing of value can be found there in my opinion...
Ahem.. anyways: The decade of music is basically the most important indicator of what you can expect.

● The genre
You could say that the genre is the most/more important thing, but I think it has be be behind the era. Because Jazz for example sounds different when made in 1972 or 1992. If you send me a synth-pop industrial album from CAVENDISH or MUSIC HOUSE and it reads 1987 I will sure download it. If I see 1972 I will mostly put it in low priority because I know the synth sounds, melodic progression et cetera from the 80s were not a thing in 72.

So if you like to listen to "Pop Rock" from "the 1970s", people can really scrap 80% of the potential "no"s and be pretty efficient with telling you what you'd like want.

After you took these two junctions and walk down the road, smaller factors come in play:

● Don't get worked up on picking full albums
I do collect in on a track-basis because of my very refined personal taste. I mean by that that each song must to click by 100% to me. And it's virtually impossible this happens with every single track out of an album. And I am sure that is the case with many others. But if you are not a completionist that simply just sucks up everything for the sake of "having it", keeping a dozen of tracks of "meh" can prevent you from discovering more by forcing you into a "All-Or-Nothing" situation.

It's hard to explain, but for example, I do not like Jazz. There, I said it. But I still download the Jazz albums surfacing (if they match the era as stated above) and try them. Because I am free of picking one single track out of it if there would be one. If I'd be quasi-forced to collect album-wise, I'd not to that.

Also to me it feels that once you own physical media, you want them all just for the sake of it. PATCHWORK 112, 113, 115 are great. But 114 sucks. Now what? Still collecting it for continuity or can you happily skip it because musical-wise it's not your cup of tea and thus non-essential to you?

● The label
Some labels are extremely diverse, such as SONOTON, DEWOLFE, KPM/APM, OMNIMUSIC... You can't really say they publish "This" or "That". But sometimes, labels have a reputation for certain sounds and are very narrow/specialized.  DIMENSION would come to my mind. If I remember correctly: 70s and 80s, lots of brass fanfares with Jazzy undertones and some early 80s digital synths. That's why you either dive into their albums - or stay away.


● The label AND the era
Now this is the jackpot - you found a label and within that label an album that brings joy to your ears and the next one too and the one after that as well. You just fell into the rabbit hole of your essential personal library! Be prepared for one of the most thrilling feelings on music collecting when the hunt was succesfull.

Just this very night I dove into the PARRY MUSIC CD series and despite I wanted to do other things that evening, I had to force myself to go to bed at 23:30 after 4 hours of collecting non-stop until my human needs - read: bladder - took finally over. What happened? PARRY MUSIC, whilst the LPs are below average and often very obnoxiously bad (see: "Label", "Era" and "Composers"), the CD from 1987 up to the mid 90s releases are a treasure chest. The same with CAVENDISH: From 1985 to 1992, almost all albums can be found in my treasure chest and are building the foundation of my library.

Some labels also have a great shift over time. I take PARRY MUSIC again as example. I sifted through 1.000+ files the last few days (actually 4,000 but there were the :60 and :30 cuts too) and the quality of the PARRY LPs are really bad. Off-rhythm, amateurish muzak with only like 5 instruments and two composers. Quality over quantity. I'd given up after 20 albums of the same CASIO keyboards kid's toy sound. In total, I picked 7 tracks out of it. SEVEN. However, the CD albums of the same label are such a gigantic step up! It is amazing that each PML-CD is amazing: Wide range of instruments, well-produced, great melody that are not short of chart blockbusters. So: Do try the labels over the whole timespan.

● The composer
I think the person who composed the track is actually pretty low on the importance list. You might think that looking for music from a certain person gets you hit after hit, but I figured out that I both loathe and love tracks made by the same composer. Also, you might look up Discogs and the sometimes irritatingly high numbers of pseudonymes people have. Right, Gerhard Narholz?! Names really mean nothing in Library Music, especially since they seem to be lend from label to label anyways. Just found a Herrman Langschwert track in PARRY MUSIC (Australian label) playing some awkward crap while Langschwert (Composer) is known for mid-90s (Era) Eurodance (Genre) for SELECTED SOUND (Label). Again, you can see that "Era",  "Genre" and "Label" play a big role again.

Remember me indirectly bashing Paul Rey (again just a pseudonyme btw ) on his PARRY LPs? The same person created one of my favourite tracks. But under a different label, in a different era, using different instruments while playing a different genre. Names mean nothing, as said.

Let's take some of my library tracks:

TROLLCHANT - Mac Prindy // INTERSOUND - Burning
FUTURE DESIGN - Gerhard Narholz // INTERSOUND - Design The Future / Silver Screw
MOVE ON - Tony Tape // COLOURSOUND LIBRARY - Sports 4 - Workout
IMAGE PROCESSOR - John Epping // SONOTON - Designwork
SIGNAL PATHWAYS - Sammy Burdson // SONOTON - Industry Dynamic
WORK IT OUT - Norman Chandler // SONOTON - Contemporary Lifestyles
BEGIN TO WIN - Otto Sieben // SONOTON - Classical Styling 2

You know what? ALL OF THIS IS ONE PERSON! Gerhard Narholz..


But all of that is what YOU need to figure out first. LMTs main focus for example is mostly Jazz/Easy Listening from the 70s. When I asked for an early 90s CD release, I remember no feedback except Greta IIRC that admitted there is no interested in collecting CDs [personally]. The counterweight is there in forms of Retromatic who stirs things up with his late-80s, early 90s and mid-00s CDs, but do you see something notable about this forums? Almost nobody cares about music post-2000. But what if the truth lies exactly in production music from the new Millenium and there you can find your essiential library music that is kind of under the radar because of that?

There is no universal "essential library music", it's up to you to get hooked and go from there.

I like narholz, but i dont always like narholz, you see, narholz has over 9000 tracks on APM counting all his psuedonyms. And his early tracks from the 1970s are the best. I love Studio One. Studio One is a phenomenal sub label to Conroy and i see myself listening to the sub label a lot Same with Programme Productions. Although the Sonoton LPs aren't the same. Studio One and Programme Productions has that flare that sonoton just doesnt have. Intersound is a mixed bag. The late 70s ISSTs are great, I love that Ehrlinger flare (Ehrlinger music is just amazing) and Orix..... Orix is great. The Dieter Reith combo was Dieter at his Peak. And the happy company is also phenomenal. and Novoton seems to be a mixed bag so far. One of the LPs is Ehrlinger, and it has that ehrlinger flare. Other German labels like Selected Sound and Coloursound i am not that much a fan of though.