Recording - June 2012 - 49

Electro would be a great value for the data DVD alone; the added materials give it even more bang for the buck. If you’re into the Electro genre and are looking for a collection that is both true to form and of historical interest, you’ll want to have a copy of this DVD on your shelf. You’ll come back to it again and again.

Hed Kandi: Disco House Samples

Like other Sample Magic releases, the Hed Kandi Disco House Samples collection comes with loops in WAV format, Apple Loops AIFF, RX2, Stylus RMX, and sampler-ready presets for EXS24, HALion, Kontakt and NN-XT. There are 514 loops in the package, plus 228 one-shots and samples (WAV

format only) and 124 bonus WAV loops. All samples are recorded at 24-bit/44.1 kHz. When you buy online from Sounds To Sample, you can select a full download of all of the above loop formats, or WAV only, REX/Stylus RMX only, or Apple Loops only. The bonus material and sampler presets come with all of these products; the one-shots are only included with the WAV. There is also a Reason ReFill with material tweaked specifically for Reason instruments like the Kong drum machine, Dr:OctoRex loop player, and NN-XT sampler. The sounds themselves are organized and labeled similarly to those in Electro, with folders for bass, drum, fx, guitar, music, synth & key, and top loops, plus a bonus folder. Every loop in the collection is set at 125 BPM. As for the sounds—well, Disco House says it all. Imagine the licks, instrument choices, and structures of Disco, brought forward in time into the House era, and there you are. Few if any synthesized basslines here... the bass loops are funky, driving Fender masterpieces that mate beautifully with the chunky, rhythmic guitar loops. The drums have all the infamous oomph-chuck you’d expect in Disco, and many patterns offer variations, fills, intros, etc., to build up complete song structures. Once the right rhythmic foundation is laid down, there’s a huge amount of Discotinged sugar and spice to complete your tracks. The collection includes everything from horn section lines and silkily romantic electric piano chords to unspeakably funky clavs, throbbing string synths, and slick modern touches like vocoder arpeggios. As someone who remembers the Disco era as something he tried to survive rather than enjoy, I am almost embarrassed by how much fun I had with this collection. The recordings are impeccable and the loops are clean and beautifully matched; I didn’t hear a clinker in the bunch. Instant bellbottoms-and-polyester sexiness at your fingertips! Both of these collections show a deep understanding of good recording technique and a reverence for diverse styles of dance music, and that’s a killer combination for any company that wants to stay on top in this rapidly changing genre. I look forward to seeing where Sample Magic goes next as it supplies and educates an upcoming generation of dance music producers. Prices: Electro, $62; Hed Kandi, $55 (prices approximate as they are converted from Pounds at purchase) More from: Sample Magic, www.samplemagic.com

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Recording - June 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - June 2012