Review: P5Audio Construction Loops & SSL Kits
October 27
Two sets of two packs to review here, from US Sample crew P5 Audio. They've got a range of products to appeal to different types of producers, leaning in general towards Hip Hop, and these showcase the different ends of the spectrum - from full on construction kits to packs of just drum hits and FX.
I'll start with the Construction kits. I have here the Dirty South Block Party kit, and the Dr Rehab Hip Hop kit. These packs both feature a number of full loops, with bass, drums, synths, guitars and FX, usually over an 8 bar section, and each loop is broken down into its constituent parts (up to about 10), to edit, meddle, mixdown and arrange as you see fit. Clearly, then, this is not aimed at the professional producer. I'd guess it's more for the MC's who want a beat to rap over for their demo, the DJ who wants tracks to mix with on their laptop or when putting together a mixtape for an MC, or for someone who needs to write library music, and so on. On that level, I think they succeed quite well. Stylistically, they're pretty much on point - the Dirty South pack is full of hype, ravey lead lines, euphoric strings, 808 kicks and running hi-hats, and some of the loops could be straight off a Jeezy track, with tempos going up to a heady 128BPM. I was almost throwing my set in the air. Well, I would have been, if I was in a gang in the US, and er, generally thug.
The Dr Rehab pack is focused more on East Coast sounds, and again pulls it off quite well. Lots of moody cinematic strings, gritty guitar sounds and the rest, with a darker emphasis, and the occasional rougher stepper. I found myself less excited about this one; although it captures a scene quite well I thought the styles didn't really vary too much; they started to feel a bit samey after a while. The same could be said of the Dirty South pack - certainly some of the string sounds crop up in several of the loops, but with the variety of tempos it wasn't such an issue. The other thing that is an issue, however, is that I thought some of the loops were a touch 'soft-synth' - they didn't really sound up to the standard of production that you'd get on a hiphop album. However, it's clear that these aren't really aimed at people who're going to be producing a big-budget album, so maybe that's not such an issue. And lets face it, some hip hop tracks that see a release (and sell loads) sound horribly cheap so maybe I'm not the best one to judge.
The other packs are two sets of sounds focusing mainly on single hits. These are Lil J's Dirty South Crunked Up Kit and the TimboNeptunez Heat Makerz Kit SSL - both cunning named to evoke the names of certain famous producers, although not actually bearing any official endorsement. With names like that I was rather suspicious, but they're actually not bad - the TimboNeptunez one in particular has the selling point that all the samples have been ragged through an SSL desk to warm them up and is quite nicely done - there are loads of interesting samples, various keyboard and bass guitar licks that have clearly been lifted straight off a vinyl, and loads of decent drum hits. My main complaint would be that the likes of Timbaland and the Neptunes use loads of cool odd claps, bongos, and other loose percussive things in their beats, and I'd have liked to have seen more of that in here - there are a fair few, but I would still enjoy a few more. Still though, this is one of the more interesting drum packs I've seen in a while. The Lil J one is suitable crunk - loads of drum machine and 808 stuff, but plenty of deep basses, heavy kicks and a decent FX section - one thing this pack can't be accused of is skimping, as there are about 70 of each type of sample. And - I know this might sound odd - but some of the hi-hats are really good; there are plenty of non drum-machine ones which are really quite useable, and I normally have a complete mare looking for interesting hihats that aren't the standard load you normally see in sample packs.
Overall, these packs are pretty good as long as you know what to expect, but I think the TimboNeptunez one is my tip here. Oh, and as ever, don't forget to check their blog for random music industry and production tips. And (to continue the theme today) that brilliant Jeezy interview. The man is a legend.
--------
i.d.
Posted by bassmusic
