The Loopmasters Ray Keith Sample CD Challenge

Here’s the story: I’ve had a couple of weeks to test out the Loopmasters Ray Keith Drum & Bass Vol.1 Sample Pack and you know what? It’s KILLER!

This time around I didn’t just want to add the samples to my existing tunes to check them out, I wanted a new challenge.

If I could get a track or two up and running using JUST the samples from the Ray Keith Sample Pack I could work out the depth of the pack and its ability to smash up the DANCE FLOOR!

==>>GRAB RAY KEITH ORIGINAL DRUM & BASS  VOL.1 HERE<<==

The Evil Plan Is Hatched!

The quickest,easiest and nastiest way to check out how phat Loopmasters Ray Keith was, is to use Ableton Live 8. As you may be aware I’ve been using Live 8 more and more and more for this type of thing because its a perfect fit. I fired up Ableton Live,  set the BPM to 172 and BOOM away I went.

The Bass

First stop was the BASS. I normally start with drums but I’ve found that if I start with a  music element first I don’t get bogged down so much with the technical mumbo jumbo of building beats.

Well, how was the Bass then? All 100% quality. There is quite a wide selection of Bass Loops so if you’re after something gritty or smooth or dark or jungle sounding or what ever Ray got you fully covered. There is also a nice selection of Bass one shots for all you peeps out there that want to get down and write your own b-line, in the future I’ll be using one of those sounds but for now I just wanted to get up and running. I quickly selected a bass loop that had a nice steppy riff to it and moved on the beats.

The Beats

I won’t lie to you. The beats in Loopmasters Ray Keith are awesome! Once again you get wide selection of loops to choose from and every one of them has a vibe and sonic flavour. The only downside here was not enough Percussion loops to my liking but hey nothings perfect right?  Whilst i had the Bassline rolling I was able to audition a few drum loops. It was a hard choice but I managed to pick a drum loop that had a nice shuffle rhythm to it that worked with the bass line.

The single  drum shots are all gold. You get solid Kicks, Snares and Hats to play with. Whilst the numbers may be small the quality more then makes up for it.

What does this mean for you?  Your beats should never sound weak on the dance floor again!

The Rest…

Continuing on I moved onto the more musical side of things, like Pads, Atmos, Blips and then FX sounds. Here, the same thing again. A fine selection of loops to choose from in a variety of styles but I really could have  done with more FX sounds like swooshes and risers etc I know from experience people on the dance love these sounds. The FX sounds that are there, are 100% Classic Ray Keith sounds so if your after instant Jungle badness (who doesn’t?) you’re sorted.

And Finally…

Listen, I think  the Loopmasters Ray Keith Original Drum & Bass Vol.1 Sample Pack is a definite must have in your studio. You can use the loops to phatten up your own breaks, bass, fx or whatever or you can use the loops to help kick start your creative juices. Once you got a tune up and running you can pull the loop out and go from there. Click the link below to grab your copy of Loopmasters Ray Keith today.

==>>GRAB LOOPMASTERS RAY KEITH ORIGINAL DRUM & BASS  VOL.1 HERE<<==

Just when you thought it was safe Loopmasters, BHK and Industrial Strength are back again with Rough Connections Volume 3 for your sampling pleasure.

RC Volume 3 is jammed with well produced bpm keyed new school Drum n Bass breaks, kicking sounds and wicked FX Loops for your ever growing Drum n Bass sample library.

This sample pack has specially programmed non recycled drumloops as Wav and Rex 2 files for easy layering to create your own breaks or loops. As well as Acidized wav files for instant drop & rock performance.

RC 3 also contains endless playable Reeses Bass sounds in forward & backward sampler mode. Wild FX sounds and useful Sound Scapes to fill in the deep gaps in any style Drum n Bass production.

It does not stop there, this pack is not only for Drum n Bass productions. Producers of genres such as Hardcore, Break Kore, & Dub Step that are looking for usable drum Loops, EFX and tripped out Sound Scapes will get more then enough license free samples to use in any electronic music production.

Check Out The Awesome Video from the Studio of BHK!

Grab The Killer Samples HERE!

The possibilities with this new collection are endless, so don’t miss out on this fresh and truly new massive sound source for your royalty free sound collection.

Alex Borel has truly out done himself on this follow up pack to the ever growing Rough Connection D n B collection.

if you have bought any of the other Rough Connection sample packs, Rough Connections Volume 3 will not dissapoint you in anyway.

Grab The Killer Samples HERE!

Hope to see you on the dancefloor.

Dauntless

I’ve had Mixing Audio Concepts and Practices by Roey Izhaki for quite a while now. (truth is I wish I had it way earlier!). There ain’t that many books on production so I when one pops up you gotta give it a look, right?

For many drum n bass producers the mixdown IS the hardest part of making a tune. The constant battling of sounds in the mix or getting the tune loud for the club is enough to drive you MAD!

So lets not dilly dally, lets have a peek under its covers shall we?

==>>Grab Mixing Audio Concepts & Practices Here<<==

First off, Mixing Audio was  conceived to provide a complete research on mixing from  basic to advance techniques. This I found to be certainly true, as its written in very easy to understand English and is jammed with pictures and diagrams galore to help you understand whats going on.

The Book Contains:

- 584 pages.
- The book covers most of the major DAW’s from Cubase, Logic, Motu, Protools.
- 35 chapters covering ALL techniques and concepts to do with music production.
- Easy to understand English.
- Is used by the London SAE.

As I mentioned earlier the books is full of  Illustrations and audio samples.
Nearly 300 pictures and more than 2000 audio samples that come on the DVD to be infact!

Lastly Mixing Audio comes with 4 complete sample mixes which come with:
- notes on each audio track and what was done and why.

- A wide selection of genres to learn different techniques from  for e.g. pop to drum n bass.

- Before and after processing clips of all the 4 tunes for studying.

- Separate audio tracks from the tunes.

- For the most part, the text in the book includes the actual setting of processors and effects.

- Samples are CD-quality WAV

So If you’ve ever struggled with balancing levels or just don’t get how compression or reverb work or don’t quite understand the layout of a mixer then  I have no problem in endorsing Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices and Tools. Its well written and it pretty much covers everything you wanted to know about mixing audio/music production.

==>>Grab Mixing Audio Concepts & Practices Here<<==

See you on the dancefloor

Dauntless

Mistabishi – Drum & Bass Vol.4 Sample CD Review
So you’ve been trying to write Drum n Bass for a while now but your tunes just don’t seem to be getting anywhere, right?

You’re bass sounds weak and your drums just don’t have that punch and weight that most commercial drum n bass does right?

Where do I even begin with Drum n Bass Production?

Well, luckily for us the good chaps over at Loopmasters have stepped in and wrangled in Hospital heavyweight “Mistabishi” to supply us mere mortals with some of his finest samples hot from his very own hardrive!

Check out the Video Overview on the Mistabishi Drum & Bass Vol.4 Sample CD Below

Grab the Mistabishi from Loopmasters HERE!

Okay, normally I have little faith in Drum & Bass sample CD’s. I’ve been let down with the quality over the years but in all honesty the quality over the last 12 months has been getting better and this Mistabishi sample cd from Loopmasters is a prime example of what I’m talking about.

I mean, its an awesome idea right? Get some of the best producers in each genre to offer up some samples for us to use in our own production, brilliant! These samples are absolutely perfect for adding weight to your drums or nastiness in your bass or just kicking off a whole new tune idea!

Here’s a run down of what’s in the pack. Personally I think its a big light but to be fair its all quality through and through.

Howdy,
Well its been a crazy 3 weeks! With not less than 4 international artists stepping through my door into the studio! The Nofrills Crew of late has been really on fire of late putting on the best dnb parties in the country. The good news for us is that crowd numbers are on the up and by the looks of the current trend its only going to go up and up.

Did I manage to learn anything from the international jetset superstars? Hell yes! First of I want to thank Tim – Current Value, Flo – Phace, Stu – State of Mind and Dave – The Sect for popping in and saying hello and spending the time to hang out! Respect! Read the rest of this entry