Recording - January 2014 - 46

RECORDING'S

SHOWCASE OF SOUNDS

Welcome To The Loop Loft
By Sven-Erik Seaholm
The Loop Loft is making a name for itself with royalty-free loop collections that
are stylistically focused and attractively priced. The company's focus comes
from an emphasis on the unique musical personalities of the performers themselves. So rather than an anonymous collection of saxophone loops, you are
instead presented with The Bob Reynolds Collection, or bass loops by way of
Janek Gwizdala Bass Sessions, etc..
While many of their titles can span several genres, these collections seem
intended to retain a consistent feel and character throughout. In their own
words, "We don't use samplers. We don't program beats. We just record the
best musicians in the world to bring you loops that feel and sound human. The
way they should be." I had a chance to try out this approach on my own projects with Loop Loft products in a variety of delivery formats.

by editing the loops using Melodyne, but the
thought of having to do that throughout all of a
session's multitrack files seems like a daunting
proposition.
An even bigger problem was a disparity in
the naming convention between the 48 kHz
loops and the 96 kHz multitracks. While the
loops bear descriptive names as outlined
above, the multitrack WAVs do not. As a
result, all the files within differing sections are
all labeled by the exact same name, e.g.
03_SnrTop.wav! This was immediately frustrating; trying to arrange all of the differing sections quickly became a tedious, unmusical
process that definitely slowed me down.
While the Hunter/Harland Bunker Sessions
Bundle has some quirks that come along with
all of that personality, it deserves high
marks for its vibey sound and feel.
Songwriters will find it useful but I
expect it will have a strong appeal
to DJs and jammers.

Hunter/Harland Bunker Sessions Bundle
There is certainly plenty of personality packed into the grooves of the
Hunter/Harland Bunker Sessions Bundle, courtesy of multiple Grammy-nominated
drummer Eric Harland (McCoy Tyner, John Mayer) and avant-garde 7-string guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter, performing rhythm, lead and bass guitar parts simultaneously.
The bundle includes all of the content from the Bunker Sessions Volumes 1, 2 and
3. I evaluated the 96 kHz WAV Multitracks version, which also included 48 kHz
stereo WAV versions of the loops. As working with multiple four-measure long multitrack 96K files can quickly add up, devouring one's computer resources, I found
the lower-res versions handy for quick and dirty previewing and arranging.
Each volume contains two complete sessions, each containing at least
twenty different song sections, organized by key, tempo and style. For
instance, within the folder titled 77bpm_Bb_16thFunk, there are several
more with names like 77_verse2, making navigating and auditioning the
Simon Phillips - Studio One
various sections a more intuitive experience. The other five sessions are
Session Tracks
60bpm_Amin_SlowPocket, 109bpm_G_LatinFunk, 88bpm_Gmin_Rawk,
Multiple personalities, in the form
208bpm_F_Three_Four and 72bpm_Dmin_Cinematic.
of some very recognizable grooves
The loops were wonderfully recorded at The Bunker Studio in NYC
from great rock classics, are what
(thebunkerstudio.com), a gorgeous wood room with an emphasis
drive most of Simon Phillips - Studio
on vintage and boutique microphones and preamps. This adds a
One Session Tracks in a much differbeautifully burnished quality to the tracks that lends itself nicely
ent direction. It also marks a new
to the warmth and vibe of the performances themselves.
direction for The Loop Loft, as this is
The grooves laid down by Hunter and Harland are bold and infeca Soundset for PreSonus Studio One,
tious, with a deep 'pocket' feel that should instantly have heads nodding to
their rhythm. The two musicians are very locked-in with
one another, and the playing is simply fantastic. I found
Delivery Format: Web download only
myself asking why they hadn't featured the bassist as
Hunter/Harland Bunker Sessions Bundle Stereo Loops (345 48 kHz
well, since his parts were so cool, only to sheepishly
Loops, WAV, AIFF, Rex2 or Stylus RMS), $103; All Stereo Formats,
remember that Charlie Hunter is actually playing those
$124; 96 kHz Multitracks (4 GB, WAV or AIFF - includes stereo
bass lines as part of his guitar performance!
loops), $145; Deluxe Edition (13 GB, All Multitrack & Stereo Formats
Deconstructing the sections and soloing the individPlus Pro Tools Sessions), $208
ual elements revealed stylistically flexible bass and
Simon Phillips - Studio One Session Tracks 1.12 GB SoundSet (400
drum loops in particular, allowing for some creative
44.1 kHz drum loops, 34 Drum Multitrack Sessions within fully
mixing and matching with other loop libraries.
mixed and pre-arranged Studio One format songs), $89
Hunter's guitar dances around the tonic like a boxer,
Multitrack Drums Session #8 - Ringo Goes Indie (698 MB, 77 bpm);
jabbing accents and unleashing a barrage of voicSession #10 - Moves Like Motown (785 MB, 115 bpm); Session #4 ings, harmonic extensions and outright funkiness to the
Felt And Wires (566 MB, 92 bpm). All titles feature 48 kHz multibody, all in the service of some very inventive grooves.
tracked WAV loops and cost $15 each.
The strict modal approach to this collection is a
Everything But Sticks, Vol. 1 Stereo Loops (434 MB, 256 48kHz
sticky issue. If a session is in the key of B-flat, all of
Loops, WAV, AIFF Rex2, Refill or Stylus RMS), $49; All Stereo
the loops in all of the sections are based on a B-flat
Formats, $54
chord. No E-flat or F chords, even. This requires (or
Licensing: All content is 100% royalty-free for use in compositions
allows) users to transpose the loops from within their
(not for library resale)
DAW, which can often yield less-than-desirable
More from: The Loop Loft, www.thelooploft.com
results in the form of audio artifacts and out-of-scale
passing tones. I arrived at a better-sounding solution
46

RECORDING January 2014

http://www.thebunkerstudio.com http://www.thelooploft.com

Recording - January 2014

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