Minireview: Audio Bomb/Best Service Blazin' RNB & Hip-Hop Collection Vol. 2
Jan 8, 2008 6:51 PM Jason_Scott Alexander (Writer)
Many of today's so-called
Top 40 hip-hop/R&B libraries sound fairly generic to me, which gives
Blazin' plenty of opportunity to break from the pack. Inspired by some of the
greatest producers in the biz, this library contains more than 6 GB of
construction kits—30 brand new, and 30 from the first volume in the series. You
get your typical reversed synths, pizzicato strings, plinko-pianos, wide-layered
claps, dual-kick/boom patterns, Timbaland-esque detuned euro synths, peculiar
percussion and effects, but nothing that stands out as inventive or totally
inspiring. You get lots of bouncy and energetic Swizz Beatz and Rodney
"Darkchild" Jerkins-type stuff, as well as weirder Neptunes-style
spacey sound effects, Middle-Eastern melodies, tuned exotic percussion, metal
drums and more. There are also several kits featuring loops with big piano,
orchestral and brass hits, acoustic and electric guitars phrases and more, but
they all appear to be using patches pulled from popular workstations rather
than having that organic live-tracked vibe.
Stylistically, the
mixture's good—from radio friendly upbeat and ballad material to more hypnotic
and darker cuts with menacing synth chords, gothic organs and the like. There
are a few club bangers, but they're kept fairly downtempo, with no Beyonce/DC
"Lose My Breath" or Rihanna "S.O.S." type arrangement to be
found. This library tries to copy already overworked "trademark"
production styles but brings little new to the table. However, if copying
established styles is your jumping-off point for developing your own, check it
out at www.soundsonline.com.
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