One-Shots, October 2008
Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
EQUIPPED MUSIC PREMIER BEATS & HIP HOP NSTRUMENTALS
LOVE THAT OLD VINYL SMELL
This Equipped Music collection masterfully re-creates the fully “resourced” sound that comes from digging through stacks of wax. This double-DVD has folders in WAV, Apple Loops and REX2 formats — each containing 1,400 loops (2.1 GB) — plus a bloated folder of 3,600 one-shot WAVs. In toolkit rather than construction-kit form, the loops are divided among Fullbeat & Nstrumentals, chord phrases, straight 8-beat and swing variants, snare-only and hi-hat patterns. All samples are 24-bit, key-labeled and tempo-grouped as 85, 90 and 95 bpm.
The flavors vary but mainly concentrate on sourcing '70s funk, R&B and soul roots. You get grand orchestral offerings (think “Diamonds Are Forever” done Kanye-style), Marvin Gaye/Motown-type arrangements and straight-up funk from the “P-” to the “G-”. As a UK production, many of the beats have been favorably skewed with a fresh Bristol trip-hop nod to Tricky, and all have a tasty bit of saturation, buzz, fuzz and dirty vinyl grime to them. The beats are hard with deep, throbbing kicks and gorgeous EQ'd electric bass tones. The single-hit samples folder is packed with some 900 chords and riffs replete with sultry tempo-delay, 589 short and long electric piano chords, 322 bass samples and a gold mine of drums (more than 600 kicks alone), hi-hats, mixed percussion, scratch and vinyl effects. Easily one of the most professional-sounding hip-hop construction kit libraries I've heard, Premier Beats is what I'd call “album ready.” Certainly priced for the pros, the production quality is consistently high, and its inspiration factor blows through the roof.
EQUIPPED MUSIC (DIST. BY BIG FISH AUDIO)
PREMIER BEATS & HIP HOP NSTRUMENTALS > $199.95
At a glance: '70s-inspired vinyl-style hip-hop beats and instrumental loops and an enormous collection of outstanding single hits. Apple Loops/REX/ReFill/WAV
Contact: www.bigfishaudio.com
BIG FISH AUDIO GARAGE BREAKS
SO DIRTY YOU'LL WANNA WASH YOUR HAIR
The recurring theme in alt-rock and big-beat libraries seems to be “the grungier the better.” Whereas some discs add a dirty mask using plug-ins and other afterthoughts, Garage Breaks is grimy from the jump. Between the “rehearsal quality” sound of the instruments and carefully chosen vintage backline for warmth, this greasy garage churns out a punchy mix of modern rock and hard-funk that's more on the noisy underground tip but still balanced enough in its fusing of electro-clash and modern synth-punk to make it commercially viable. Despite having less than 1 GB of WAVs (with REX, RMX and Apple Loop formats also), the 40 construction kits (120 to 160 bpm) provide upward of a dozen samples covering bass, rhythm and lead guitar, drums and fills, percussion, effects and a lead synth, horn line, etc.
The crunchy and death-defying funk grooves are left pretty raw but come in variations with stutters, glitches and thin band-filtered effects. Also, the supremely chunky bass tones get raunchy with heavy distortion, funky wah and step-modulation. Surprises include ear-catching reverse-drum filters (think analog tape getting jammed up and scrambled against the playback head), machine-gun-edited guitar fills, psycho-panned and heavily tremoloed arpeggiator guitars and Art of Noise-style pile-driver snare processing. The mixing here is really spot-on for the genre: raw and edgy with just a hint of power-punk luster.
BIG FISH AUDIO
GARAGE BREAKS > $69.95
At a glance: 40 construction kits built on hard-funk breaks and modern punk instrumentation. Apple Loops, REX, WAV, RMX.
Contact: www.bigfishaudio.com
SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE ¡CON RITMO!
NEW CINESCORE THEMES PACK LATIN HEAT
Sony's Cinescore software has been making serious inroads with soundtrack editors and users of drop-in music for its flexible auto-arrangement and variation generators. This new Latin collection presents 10 themes as 162 presets; these can be fine-tuned by adjusting settings like mood, intensity and tempo to create virtually unlimited variations on the fly. It kicks off with Comparsa, a horn-emblazoned poolside party number featuring upbeat sax riffs, a sauntering bass line and solid four-on-the-floor kick to move your feet from cabana to dancefloor. New Merengue is equally stoked, combining traditional Afro-Cuban percussion with a purely contemporary mash-up of flavors, including crazy trumpet lines, flashy merengue piano, solid club kick and bass rhythms, sizzling lead synth vibratos and more. The simply named Salsa marries intricate percussion work with cool and relaxing instrumentation, while Cumbia and Latin Twister each slow things down considerably but turn up the heat with sultry rhythms, sensual nylon guitars and electric pianos smoldering over deep-house and downtempo funk grooves. Other notables include the Santana-esque Maria and Oye, whose fat horn sections lend well to Latin hip-hop or cut-up use in pop/R&B and even trippier styles.
¡Con Ritmo! is full of the dynamic shifts and intensities you'd expect from Latin music, an ideal genre for a Cinescore theme pack. I found it easy to hone in and control the ebbs and flows among themes in a very simple and musical way that could also follow a cue tightly. For the original music producer or remixer, ¡Con Ritmo! offers some really great à la carte bits (particularly guitar, percussion and brass loops) that can add refreshing zest to an electronic arrangement.
SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE
¡CON RITMO! THE LATIN MUSIC EXPERIENCE > $89.95
At a glance: 10 Cinescore themes and 162 presets based around exciting fusions of traditional Latin dances. Requires Sony Cinescore software (a 30-day trial version of Cinescore is included).
Contact: www.sonycreativesoftware.com/conritmo
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
