Recording - January 2014 - 47

formatted specifically for seamless integration and instant tempo-sync within that
DAW.
Each of the over 400 drum loops throughout the 34 multitrack 'drum sessions' in this
soundset is broken down into 5 separate
tracks: Kick, Snare, Tom OH, Hats and
Room. Many of the sessions also include a
separate crash hit, as well as additional percussion like tambourine or cowbell.
There are also 34 different Studio
One .song files that have all of
the loops already colorcoded,
arranged
and
mixed. All song files include
empty tracks set up and
ready for recording guitars,
bass and vocals with a customized setup of plug-ins,
making it a true 'plug-andplay' product!
The sound of the
drums is clean and
dynamic, full of a bright
and punchy character. The
choice of putting the toms and
the overheads on the same stereo track
actually works quite well, thanks to the
excellent job done in capturing the kit's
sound, depth and imaging while still perfectly isolating the kick. The shell of the
snare resonates clearly on these tracks as
well, which allows for some tonal sculpting
by simply adjusting the snare track's level.
The room mic also figures prominently into
the overall sonic equation. Boosting it gets
the drums bursting with British attitude,
while cutting it will reveal a whole new
Nashville-friendly sound. I got a satisfying
modern snare 'thwack' by placing a noise
gate on the Room track, with a high threshold and a medium release.
When paired with the lively performances of world-class drummer Phillips
(The Who, Jeff Beck) the kit's malleable
sound manages to alternately capture the
bombast of Led Zeppelin, the aggression
of Nirvana and the soulfulness of the
Black Crowes. The hi-hat figures tend
toward the loose and splashy, helping to
impart more 'live' rock energy. The
emphasis is definitely on simpler beats
(no funky stuff here), with few variations
(Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, End) and
even fewer fills, making this great for getting songwriters up and running quickly,
but those looking to arrange these into
master takes may have a bit of editing or
augmenting to do. With no one-shot samples and no Impact instrument in the
Soundset, this sort of editing is quite difficult, and the grooves are all very recognizable note-for-note recreations of
famous rock tracks so they can't (or at
least shouldn't) be used on your own
songs without at least some editing.
Still, it's great fun to hear a guy who
played with The Who bangin'em like
Keith Moon; Studio One's ability to extract

these feels for groove quantizing on other
tracks is a very promising concept. The
song files provided are a potential master
class in how to set up a drum mix. I had a
great time experimenting with and playing along. The ready-made arrangements
are inspiring templates for creative springboarding. I look forward to more
Soundsets like this, hopefully with one-shot
samples and Impact-ready setups.

Multitrack Drums
This "exploded view" world of multitracked loop files is certainly a tinkerer's
delight, but as with any loop set, it's still got
to feel good and The Loop Loft's Multitrack
Drums titles don't disappoint. The idea of
these products is that you get one song in
a particular tempo and style, broken down
and ready to use as a bed for your own
songwriting, for a very low price.
I tried three of the available titles.
Session #8 - Ringo Goes Indie
not only captures its namesake's stately fills and undeniable pocket, but the legend's lighter touch is also in
evidence, making these
tracks equally useful to barroom rockers or coffeehouse crooners. The inclusion of several variations of
each song section with
descriptive names like
"Crashy Ride Groove",
"16th Ride Funky", and
"Open Hat Groove"
make these titles easily the
most versatile and easy to
navigate. Session #10 - Moves
Like Motown brings the iconic beats of
Detroit legends like the Four Tops,
Supremes and Temptations to your productions, with all their trademark catchiness fully intact. Stir in the additional congas, tambourines and other percussion
provided and you can be whipping up
your own Amy Winehouse-styled productions in no time!
Finally, where 'Ringo' and 'Motown'
both take you down more stylistically narrow paths, Session #4 - Felt And Wires
seems to open up the musical possibilities
of just about anything you care to throw

at it. I lost myself in the seductively melodic sensibility of the mallets figures right
away. The richly pronounced lower mids
of the toms and fractured highs of the hats
and snares make for an organic, textured
sound that lands somewhere between
Steve Gadd, Jim Keltner and Tom Waits.
All of the loops in this collection sounded so unique and felt so good that it was
a while before I even considered busting
out the multitrack files. The file naming convention problem mentioned above is here as well, but
being able to apply delay and
other effects to individual tracks
opens up a lot of creative rabbit
holes to explore.
Everything But Sticks, Vol. 1
The emphasis on non-traditional
sounds and alternate rhythmic
paths carries over to Everything
But Sticks, Vol. 1, to the extent that
it could almost be considered a
sister product to Felt and Wires. Brushes
bristle on opened snares, bare hands
coax tympani-like tones from toms and
crispy, crunchy little nuggets of percussion
add just the right amount of attitude and
texture.
Many of these grooves are inventively
syncopated, as useful in densely loopbased arrangements as they are inspiring
when used in film scoring or world music
applications. I actually found the more
'standard' groove patterns even
more fascinating, because
their one-of-a-kind sound
seems to make them shine in
a completely different light. I
found this collection to be
the most adaptable of all,
even without multitrack content. Listening through these
loops is like inviting that special kind of musician to the
session: You never know
what they're going to play,
but you know it's going to
sound and feel just right.
In addition to their topshelf playing and unfailing
feel, all of these Loop Loft
products were so expertly edited
that I was able to cut most of them along
an 8th or even 16th note grid with no discernible hiccups. That all of these libraries
can prove not only useful but inspiring
across a rainbow of styles and tempos,
only adds to their inherent value. At these
prices, you get a lot of personality and
groove for your dollar!
Sven-Erik Seaholm (seaholm@recording
mag.com) is an award-winning independent record producer, singer and songwriter. His latest release is Seaholm
Mackintosh's Monarchs. Check out his
website at www.kaspro.com.
RECORDING January 2014

http://www.kaspro.com

Recording - January 2014

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