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Skippy's
Big Bad Beats
Introduction
I LOVE GROOVE!
I have always wanted to create a drum loop library, and I am really
happy I've waited until now to do it. The twinkling of an idea that
would eventually become Groove Control was already on the
table when I started making these grooves. As musicians, we have
always had a love-hate relationship with drum loops. They are great
for adding some extra spice to a song - but finding a loop that
will fit your song can be a lot of work! It can take forever to
find the right loop or even worse, you often have to use the loop
at the beginning of the songwriting process so that you can write
your song "around it." Well, I'm glad to announce that
those days are over!
With Groove Control, the hot library you hold in your hands can
be shaped into any musical context easily and quickly, regardless
of tempo, feel or style. Later in this booklet, you'll find information
and tips about using Groove Control.
Tapping my imagination, rather than old recordings as the basis
for these grooves, I worked very hard to make them fresh, funky,
unique and fun! It took over a year to create what you now have
in your possession. So if you feel the urge to copy and "sell
or trade" these sounds, or if you are using an unauthorized
or bootlegged copy of Skippy's Big Bad Beats, do yourself a favor
and don't. Not only does this take away my incentive to make more,
but as a musician, I take offense when one person steals material
from another. It's in your best interest to protect what you paid
for, so please refuse to make copies or give this library away.
To put it simply, if you like this library and want more libraries
like this, give us the signal, and more Big Bad Beats are sure to
follow!
May the groove be with you - always!
John "Skippy" Lehmkuhl
Big Bad Beats - The
Concept Detailed
Skippy's Big Bad Beats was designed to be a unique product when
compared to other drum loop libraries. Let's take a moment to explain
the thought process behind this collection of grooves so that you
can understand how to get the most out of the library.
At the root level, BBB is conceived as a collection of high-fidelity
stereo dance, hip hop and pop grooves. Making any of these loops
"lo-fi" is as easy as running them through distortion,
EQ or effects boxes, if you like. These starter grooves are then
broken down and remixed into alternative versions that you can use
at different places in your song for rhythmic variety. Instead of
only one loop that never changes in a four minute song, with Big
Bad Beats, you can arrange the different mixes at different times;
use the full mixes for the intro and the small mixes for the verses;
use the no-snare version just before going back into the full mix
version for the chorus outs, and so on.
Instead of making 1,700 loops that have nothing in common with each
other, I wanted to create a library that had variations within the
same basic groove. This way, you determine what mix to use, when
and where, instead of being limited to only one loop for the entire
song.
After carefully selecting the 300+ loops, every last one of them
was put through a process developed by ILIO and Spectrasonics, utilizing
proprietary software, called Groove Control. (Read "Groove
Control Explained," below.) This process literally explodes
the library into millions of possible groove mixes, tempos and attitudes.
So you have the option of using the recorded grooves in the traditional
way, or with the Groove Control method, or both! As we say, only
your imagination limits you.
Equipment List
Over the years, I've picked
up lots of gear that I use for my various groove sessions. For Big
Bad Beats, I used a combination of specially-recorded live grooves
and my own drum sound collection, then mixed them up with some of
my favorite toys, including:
Korg Trinity
Korg Triton
Korg Z1
Roland S-760
Alesis DM Pro
Clavia Nord Lead
Waldorf Pulse
Yamaha RM-50
TC Electronics Fireworks
Lexicon MPX-1
Roland SRV-330
Roland SE-70
SansAmp Tech 21
Behringer Composer
I also used a bunch of cool Mac software like
Emagic Logic Audio, Cubase VST, Rebirth, Recycle, Bias Peak, Arboretum
Hyperprism and MetaSynth, tons of cool VST plugins and some super-secret
proprietary software.
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