Drums & Drummers: Two Drum Loop Libraries

This time around, we’re going to step outside our normal realm of song construction kits and review a pair of drum loop libraries to be used in combination with other melodic instrument parts that may have came with your music creation software or other construction kit packs. But even though the subject matter may be the same, the approaches these two collections take are very different.

Big Fish Audio: Club Hip Hop

This bargain-priced collection (list price: $49.95) from producer Mike Kumagai delivers an edgy take on hip-hop: The drums are lo-fi and slammin’ with an in-your-face filtered and gated kick; the synth basses are alternately reedy or squelchy; the keys, clavs, and strings are often shrill and urgent. The songwriting triggers thoughts of mutant funk with a pseudo-ethnic overlay. In other words, you’re not going to fall asleep listening to these tracks.

Big Fish Audio: Textured Beats

Some libraries try to give you a wide variety of flavors. Others have a strong consistent flavor of their own that permeates every kit or loop, frankly telling you “take me or leave me.” For what it’s worth, Textured Beats is one library I’ll take.

So, what is that strong, consistent flavor? You may have heard the saying that writing about music is like dancing about architecture – which translates to you should go to Big Fish’s web site and listen to the demo file to make sure your tastes are the same as mine. To my ears, the beats here are a sleek synthesis of a rock feel with an electronica sound, utilizing a nice combination of programmed synthetic and acoustic sounds.

Microphone Madness

After recently adding some sound treatment to my new studio, I was curious to go back through my microphones to see which one sounded best on my voice in this new environment. I found that what sounded “best” depended on what I was playing the resulting audio through. I thought I’d share my results and observations with you, as well as solicit votes to see (hear?) what sounded best in your particular listening environment.

Big Fish Audio: Hadeeth 2 Arabic Rhythms

Unlike the original Hadeeth collection that combined a drum kit with Arabic percussion, this collection (also produced by Ara Antranik) is a pure hand percussion affair. You get 66 construction kits, each containing a full mix plus three to eight individual instrument loops including the duff, mazhar, rak, tabla, sakat, tar, and duhollah (all percussive instruments) played by Haythm Blat. About two dozen different regional and traditional styles are represented, sometimes played at different tempi (ranging from 80 to 180 bpm) or with variations on the same theme.

Zero-G/Xfonic SoundSense Series

With the SoundSense series, long-time sample library creator Zero-G gives us a different take on “budget” collections. Each DVD contains a collection of loops and individual samples – including in most cases a small but tasty assortment of song construction kits – in a particular electronica genre. These collections list for $59.95 each, and are distributed in the US by Sounds Online. Here I’ll review four of the SoundSense collections: Trance Inducer, Technomatik, Ambiosis, and Chilled Grooves.

Sony Sound Series: Platinum Theory Hip-Hop

This is one of the most inventive hip-hop sample libraries I’ve heard. Producer Henry Willis (aka lukecage) has crafted a set of 62 construction kits that show off the more experimental side of hip-hop, ranging from R&B to illbient. He’s taken a minimal approach to the art, providing 3-5 loops per kit that cover bass, beats, and additional melodic parts including a lot of piano.

Big Fish Audio: Primal Drums

Ah, yes: Books and their covers. Given the title and the evocative woodcut-style cover art by Nancy Nimoy, here I was expecting an African-influenced percussion collection. Instead, this library contains 50 construction kits well suited for a film composer or adventurous ethnic-hybrid producer, providing alternately lush cinemaesque landscapes and urgent chase sequences. Although heavily percussion-driven and indeed tribal in flavor, there are also several melodic parts both percussive and instrumental, plus massive “pads” (sustained chords and other musical textures) to fill out the compositions.

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