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Posts Tagged ‘drums’

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There is no question about it, Drums always sound better when recorded live by an actual player for that specific track. This however, is not always an option for most people as this would put a flashing red light on your bank account in most cases. This is why most people turn to Samples.

There are hundreds of drum refills out there, and don’t get me wrong, most of them are nothing short of impressive! Propellerhead however, take it to a whole new level, Giving you the next best thing to an actual drummer packed into one box!

Being a student of music technology I have had to deal with my fair share of frustration, trial and error, and in most cases, disappointment. All factors I have yet to experience with this pack. There has been nothing left to chance, the drums themselves work well in any genre and require very little EQ or alterations to adapt to your sound. With the impressive 58 unique drum kits you get in this pack it’s going to be virtually impossible to hit a production block. Read the rest of this entry »

Ambient Breaks from Bluezone Corporation is the ultimate collection to jump into professional production of Ambient soundtracks for film, video games, TV series and action. Ambient Breaks is a perfect mix of calm, refined pads reworked with rich, deep synth lines. This new sound bank pushes the limits of ambient sound and can be easily adapted to other styles such as Dubstep, Drum n Bass, Hip Hop, Nu Metal, Pop, Grime and Industrial.

This sound library offers a balance between strong, hard sounds and refined sounds, to keep the finesse of Ambient and Chill Out. With more than 240 loops and samples, Ambient Breaks offers a multitude of possibilities.

This pack also includes an arsenal of drum loops, no-kick loops ( hi-EQ ), drums hits that provide a solid rhythmic basis. Add to this bass lines, synths, (fat synth loops, synthetic loops, infra bass loops and key loops ) as well as sound effects, synth sounds and layers. To make your job easier, all synth lines are in the same key, which means you have a huge kit with which to build your work from start to finish with rich and innovative sequences.

Like all Bluezone Corporation products, this pack is royalty-free and does not require any additional costs or permissions – it’s 100% ready to be used in your commecial productions.

Suitable for styles such as : Ambient, Soundtrack, Game & TV series, Breaks, Downtempo, Glitch, Pop, Dub, Dubstep, Grime, Drum and Bass, Industrial, Nu Metal, Hard Rocks, Chill Out, Lounge, Hip Hop, Trip Hop, Electronica, Jazz, Big Beat and Experimental

more info and demo available at Bluezone Corporation

This post was submitted by gabriel.

“The definitive new supplier of modern, cutting edge sound libraries.”

As I read this statement from Prime Loops I’m saying to myself, modern? Cutting edge? That would imply that these loops had to be unique, beyond compare, a break away sound. Man did they deliver…These fellows at Prime Loops really know how to generate sound.

From the single shot’s to the full loop, every sound is crystal clear with a precision that is second to none. I started out with the “Tribal Percussion Loops”. It really is a chore to find a decent sounding conga. I was skeptical. As I opened the refill I noticed that Prime Loops not only had Congas, they threw in Bongo’s, Cajon, Djembe, Low conga’s a vast array of percussions and single hits. If that wasn’t enough, they also gave you the option of Wav File or Rex File.

I always like the ability to use a sample in multiple platforms. So, using this in Propellerheads Reason’s NN-XT and REX2 format is crucial, giving me much more control. So how do the drums sound? Off the Hook! The sounds are modern. I have been producing for Fifteen years.

I have heard millions of sounds. What I really appreciated with Prime Loops, the sounds are fresh. These loops bring forward and reveal a very clean sound. Not repetitive, grey or worn. Crisp with a definite understanding of how music works. In this loop library, there are a multitude of Genre to choose from. Be it Hip Hop, Electro, House, Breakbeat, Electronica. You will not be disappointed. A big thumb’s up for the lads at PrimeLoops.

Homepage: http://www.primeloops.com/

Let’s start with beats.

First of all you need to decide what sort of beat you want. Do you want a standard club style “Boom” beat or do you want something a little more sophisticated? If you’re not sure what I mean, all music is arranged into a series of different beats. In these blocks of beats 2, 4 ,8 and 16 are the most commonly used.

To make a 4 beat track the process is extremely simple. You will just need to find a good kick drum hit or sample and copy and paste it into your new track for the entire duration of the song. You can also use alternating kicks; this is quite a common process. A lot of people also have some kind of processing on some of the samples.

Now, a ‘break beat’ style track uses a variable beat which means it isn’t just the kick drum all the way through the track as we have previously discussed.

For example, let’s pretend that you currently have a 4 beat track and you want to break beat at a certain point. What you would need to do is put a kick drum on each 3rd beat for the duration of 3 measures and then after that put it on every other beat for just 2 measures. You can then use other synths and noises on any of the other beats on the 6 measures. After this you can copy and paste what you have so far into the entire track. You have now made a break beat track.

One of the pieces of software that makes this process particularly easy is Acid Music Studios, using this piece of software you can edit the track exactly how you want by making use of the programs cut, copy and paste tools. You can use these to copy and paste the 6 measures you have onto the rest of the track.

If you plan on creating a track that only has a steady kick beat all the way through, then you will need other elements to help fill the track up. The most simple way to do this is to add another percussion track on top of what you already have, then simply adjust the volume so that they match.

I hope this explains a little bit more how to start to create your very own dance track. There are just a few things you need to remember in order to become good at this, one of the main things is that you shouldn’t be scared to experiment. Remember to never throw away anything that you have done, there is always a possibility that you might think of something good to do with it at a later date. Secondly, remember to use your instinct, if it doesn’t sound good, it doesn’t matter if it is technically correct, music is all about how it sounds.

Acoustic Samples has released DrumTasteFree, a free drum loop sample library.

Features

•The DrumTAsteFree is a Rick Marotta Signature Hipgig drum set with paiste cymbals
•80Mo of samples recorded at 16 bits, 44.1khz.
•Custom mapping, you can assign every element to any key from the interface.
•Mappings presets: GM, V-DRUMS, IMAP, NSKIT (NDK) or default one.
•cc# controlled Hihat that features automatic closing sound.
•2 Cycle round robins.
•Sensitivity button to adjust the response.
•Detailed instruments: 6 velocity layers per round robin
•KONTAKT 2 or superior, EXS24 and SFZ. Feel free to do you own mapping and sent it to us so we can add it to the downloads!

Note: An Acoustic Samples account is required for the download.