Recording - January 2015 - 60
RECORDING'S
SHOWCASE OF SOUNDS
By Sven-Erik Seaholm
Soundtrack Loops Latin Percussion, Alt.Rock Remastered,
Date Night RnB, R&B Acoustic, and Super Freak Studio Beats
I soon found several titles that captured my interest: Latin Percussion, Alt.Rock Remastered,
Date Night RnB, R&B Acoustic, and Super Freak Studio Beats. I chose to obtain them in
44.1 kHz Acidized .WAV file format, although each title is available in several varieties
(see the data box). It was easy to load my shopping cart, download the loops, and bring
them into PreSonus Studio One.
In this new DAW-oriented recording
age, loop-based music production has
become a viable go-to option for
many. While it once seemed almost
exclusively confined to the realms of
hip-hop and dance music, you can
now hear its influence wending its
way through arrangements of almost
every music genre. As the DAW has
matured from simple editing tool to
creative juggernaut, we now have
instant access to click-synched grooves
and instrumental performances from
some of the world's finest musicians.
Soundtrack Loops provides an
impressive assortment of pro-quality
content, aimed at giving customers, in
their words, "a quick and easier way
to find what they're looking for."
Perusing the website was indeed intuitive and there are a ton of titles organized by genre, producer, or format,
as well as a well-rendered search function. Each product is clearly described
with extensive accompanying audio
demos. There is also lot of free content, so getting and acquiring a taste
for Soundtrack Loops' wares is even
easier. The best news is that all of
these loop collections are very reasonably priced, making purchasing several of them not just attractive but feasible, even for small studios.
Latin Percussion
Latin Percussion features 137 loops grouped among seven lively Latin rhythms: Son
Montuno, Bossa, Samba, Bolero, Afro Cuban in 6/8, Cha Cha Cha, and Timba. Each
of the rhythms is broken down into its individual elements (Bongos, Congas, Triangle,
etc.), including a drum set. All of these components have also been premixed for you into
"Mixed Drums" versions-great for auditioning, or getting ideas down fast. There are
also 90 "one-shot" samples of bongos, congas, small percussion (bells, shakers, guiro,
pandiero, etc.), drums, and timbales for tweaking new variations and fills. These have
also been organized into 'Kits' that can be loaded into Native Instruments Battery.
Opening this title's folder revealed cover art, a copy of the audio demo, and a link to
the Soundtrack Loops website, along with three more folders: Loops, NI Battery Kits, and
One-shots. The loops feature a naming convention wherein the rhythm and its recorded
tempo are easily identified, e.g. SL_Son_montuno_160_Timbale_Part_B_1.wav.
Loading the loops and hearing them play back was, in a word, revelatory. The recordings
are bright and expertly miked, with just enough room ambience to lend flavor without losing
presence. Soloing the bongo and conga tracks, you can hear the percussionist's palms brushing across the skins, lending an even more human characteristic to the performances.
Throughout all of the loops, the feel is just outstanding. The musicians and producers really did a great job in finding a unique rhythmic pocket that almost magically locks itself to the
'grid', allowing this collection to play extraordinarily well with others in your arsenal. The isolated hand percussion loops are also very handy for layering into other song styles.
Inspired, I chose to put together a song demo from the Bolero folder. Most of these loops
were 4 measures long, giving the variations within the grooves time to develop. Things
moved along quickly using the mixed loops to chart my course, but I eventually decided to
feature the timbales more. The timbale loops were very bright on their own and I thought I
could detect some harmonic artifacts, presumably from over-EQing or transient shaping in
the highs. I was able to notch it out a bit, but that shouldn't have been needed.
My only other complaint was that aside from a couple of timbale rolls, there were no fills
available. I don't understand how the authentic groove and feel of these loops can be such
an important part of this title's identity, yet they leave it to DAW users to program the fills. I'd
definitely prefer to see (and hear) that same aesthetic applied consistently throughout.
There is a companion collection called Latin Instruments featuring instrumental performances that were intended to be played along with the loops in Latin Percussion, lending even more value to this set.
Alt.Rock Remastered
Alt.Rock Remastered features 302 Loops and 36 One-Shots, all extremely well-recorded and edited. I give the rhythm section high marks for their sound. Bass lines are round
and robust, with nicely articulated highs and mids allowing them to cut through even the
most crowded arrangements. Bass drums and toms are particularly deep, well-tuned and
focused. The splashy, aggressive high-hats and crashes that drive many of these beats
command the high end, complementing the throaty
and ambient snares. The guitar tones were a bit less
Delivery: Digital download
successful: they're well captured with wide stereo
Formats: Choice of Apple Loops AIFF, Acidized WAV, and Ableton
imaging, but too often for my taste they lean too far
Live Pack .ALP formats; Latin Percussion also available in
into metal territory... sometimes comically so.
ReCycle .RX2 and Reason Refill .RFL
There are several folders with descriptive names,
Licensing: All loops royalty-free for original music compositions;
like "Alt Rock Heavy Emo 135 D", and in each of
use in audio loop collections for resale is forbidden.
them, there are several loops each for the bass,
Documentation: none
rhythm and lead guitars, as well as at least one
Prices: Latin Percussion, $34.95; Alt.Rock Remastered, $25; Date
"beat" file (which is sometimes called "Drums" in a
Night RnB and R&B Acoustic, $19 each; Super Freak Studio
few folders). Most of the loops in this folder are
between 4 and 8 measures long, for a more "human"
Drum Beats, $24.95
feel. Two of them are a generous 16 measures long:
More from: Soundtrack Loops, www.soundtrackloops.com
"SL_Heavy_Emo_Rock2_135_D_Bass_3"
and
60
RECORDING January 2015
http://www.soundtrackloops.com
Recording - January 2015
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2015
Contents
Recording - January 2015 - Cover1
Recording - January 2015 - Cover2
Recording - January 2015 - 1
Recording - January 2015 - 2
Recording - January 2015 - 3
Recording - January 2015 - 4
Recording - January 2015 - 5
Recording - January 2015 - Contents
Recording - January 2015 - 7
Recording - January 2015 - 8
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Recording - January 2015 - Cover3
Recording - January 2015 - Cover4
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