One-Shots
Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE POCKET DIVA
WORD UP TO LIP SERVICE
Sony calls Pocket Diva a collection of “world-class vocal samples,” perhaps intentionally leaving out any genre-based references. The entire disc appears to feature only one vocalist, but her range is superlative with a great personality. The single-voice melodic loops folder introduces her quite nicely through a series of nine subfolders that range from operatic-pop, Top 40/R&B and Latin to much more ethereal, Delerium-esque Kristy Thirsk- or Sarah McLachlan-type material — signature octave jumps and all. Conveniently offered both dry and with mild doses of reverb, Pocket Diva has a clean and pure tone that's highly personable and quite intimate. She's thankfully not one of those overbearing or boomy singers when belting out phrases in the power registers and not at all nasal or cutesy on the lighter pop material. Lyrics are also wisely kept to minimum complexity, but they're more mature and inspiring than your basic “ooh baby”s.
A folder of 34 pop-opera phrases offers a distinctive Eastern/ethnic twist, while the scat folder contains dozens of sophisticated “Brazilian cabaret-pop” (think The Bird and The Bee) and contemporary indie folktinged phrases (think Feist). But the sound-design folder stole the show. With more than 160 melodic phrases, spherical vocal-scapes, stretched loops and spoken phrases, its heavily processed sound should easily find a niche in explorative trance and soundtracks. Among the expertly applied effects are crystallized delays, formant shifting, spectral gating, granular resynthesis, phase echoes, random time shuffling, pitch blending, etc. Coming from the gatekeepers of ACID technology, the sample-accurate metadata has been meticulously applied and made rekeying the vocals sound natural with no choppy artifacts.
SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE
POCKET DIVA > $39.95
At a glance: Pristine female vocals suitable for pop, hip-hop/R&B, dance, soundtrack work and more. 569 MB of Acidized WAV.
Contact: www.sonycreativesoftware.com
URS M SERIES EQ BUNDLE
FROM STUDIO A ON WEST GRAND BOULEVARD
Berry Gordy Jr. formed Motown Records in the late '50s with an independent spirit that could be heard on all its singles. Countless hits were recorded in a cramped, two-story house located in north-central Detroit, outfitted with mostly homemade gear designed by Motown engineers. By 1965, Motown had pioneered 8-track recording (years ahead of George Martin and The Beatles) and constructed the world's first 7-band passive equalizers, used exclusively on Motown recordings — until now.
The URS M Series MotorCity Equalizer recreates the legendary peaking band, proportional-Q design with variable I/O gain and phase inverse. Operation couldn't be simpler: Each frequency band (50 Hz, 130 Hz, 320 Hz, 800 Hz, 2 kHz, 5 kHz and 12.5 kHz) has only a boost/cut control capable of ±8 dB in 1 dB steps. I love the ultrasmooth response of the proportional curves circuitry, which sounded authentic and inviting on everything I threw at it. Adding a decibel or two of multiband gain to vocals gently lifts their presence over a wide-enough spectrum to cover the singer's range naturally and without sounding contoured. Conversely, deep trims on a bass guitar track will scoop out a tighter Q, notching plenty of room for competing kicks or toms. The bundle also has a recreation of the even rarer Motown film EQ; originally only 6-band in its hardware form (80 Hz, 200 Hz, 500 Hz, 1.25 kHz, 3.2 kHz and 8 kHz), URS M Series Vintage Cinema Equalizer adds a seventh center at 16 kHz. When both plugs are used in series, their frequency centers overlap conveniently for a total of 14 bands. Typical of passive EQs, M Series stays true to the source and won't color your sound, though its unique curves impart a casually elegant Motown vibe.
URS
M-SERIES EQ BUNDLE > $499.99, TDM; $249.99, Native
At a glance: Emulation of classic Motown 7-band EQ and special-edition 7-band “film” EQ. Win XP and Mac OS X; RTAS, Audio Units and VST included in both native and TDM. iLok required.
Contact: www.ursplugins.com
AUDIO BOMB/BEST SERVICE BLAZIN RNB & HIP HOP COLLECTION VOL. 2
COP THIS AND CALL IT FLATTERY
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, and 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 guitar 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 Beyoncé/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.
AUDIO BOMB/BEST SERVICE (DIST. BY EAST WEST/SOUNDS ONLINE)
BLAZIN RNB & HIP HOP COLLECTION VOL. 2 > $99.95
At a glance: More than 6 GB and 60 construction kits, including the previously released first volume in the series. Acidized WAV and REX.
Contact: www.soundsonline.com
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