AMG
Jun 1, 2001 12:00 PM, Dave Hill Jr.
Just as an IV drip helps a hospital patient to avoid dehydration, Intravenous (two CDs — audio and WAV, $99.95) will smooth out and rejuvenate your tracks. The collection, offering a wide variety of multidimensional loops, inspiring tonalities, and tempos, is packed with 60 construction kits; 51 grooves with 7/8, 6/8, and 5/4 time signatures; 39 single hits; and six fills. Most of Intravenous is made up of live drums that are well played and full of drummerly detail. However, this is not a simple or generic drum-loop CD set, and less experimental producers may find its beat futurism a bit too edgy or quirky for their tastes. Still, if you're looking for ringing snares, dingy rides, and dusty hats, the sound spectrum has a logical sense of variety. The range of loop variations on Intravenous is so vast that it makes an excellent tool for songwriters, dance producers, and remix artists alike. Most users will probably take advantage of the dance, rock, and funk beats ready-made for instant application, but even the odd time signatures offer inspiration.
Loops are the standard four bars and a beat, giving just enough of every groove to sample and slice. Most of the loops repeat a one-bar beat four times, but some also contain fills and variations. Most grooves are played dry (no effects) at first and become progressively more processed with each pass. Effects tend toward tripped-out pings and pangs of extreme parametric EQ settings rather than dense multitap delays or obnoxious ring modulators. Also, drum kit loops are conveniently present, with and without ethnic percussion accompaniment. There are also some hi-hat and snare patterns without the kick drum. These patterns have a natural breakdown feel and are perfect for your own kicks, rides, crashes, or whatever else you want to add. Occasionally the patterns get a bit repetitious: I heard a lot of boom-boom bop-ka-bop (rest) boom-bop, but what do you expect for $99 — customized drum programming?
Intravenous's producers have taken extra care in expanding the sample titles, adding unusually thoughtful individualized descriptions, instead of merely vague track titles. For instance, titles such as “Embalmed,” “Grandma's Chair,” and “Bone 'Em” might conjure images of a Greatest Hits of Norman Bates album, but the information provided just after the track titles thoroughly describes each loop. Small descriptions like “79 bpm, 4/4, full flat kit” or “83 bpm, 7/8 groove, snares off with percussion, udu, and alien disk” can make all the difference in how much time you spend searching for the right groove in the studio.
So don't touch that needle! The AudioVirus team of Miles Bould (billed as the “rhythm meister extraordinaire”) and Mike Westergaard (“sound infuzor”) has come up with an infectious collection. Bould also produced the critically acclaimed sample CD The Progrssion and its predecessor, Rhythm of Life, in the early '90s. Intravenous, AudioVirus's first joint effort, offers variety, creativity, and the most important trait of all — functionality. Clearly, the Intravenous collection is about organic groove hydration, not stale beat medication.
Overall Rating (out of 5): 4.5
AMG, dist. by East West; tel. (800) 969-9449 or (212)
541-7064;
e-mail sales@eastwestsounds.com;
Web www.soundsonline.com
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