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Keys
to the City
INTRODUCTION
Early one morning, while driving home from an all night recording
session in Manhattan, I reflected on the tracks I had just recorded.
Although some electric keyboard parts were played, most of the session
was done on piano. Everything went well and everyone was happy with
the parts I laid down. When I came back to record the next day,
the producer asked me if I could play a Rhodes part just a few bars
long with the intention of repeating it throughout the song so that
it would have a sort of “drum loop” feel. I did, and it
worked great! After another long night of tracking, I was in my
car, once again in a reflective mood. However, this time, I was
thinking of the Rhodes part I had just created. I began to envision
a collection of looped keyboard parts that could be used in conjunction
with all of the drum, percussion, bass, and guitar loop libraries
that currently exist on the market and I started to get really excited
about the possibilities. Before I could say, “ This toll went
up again?” Keys To The City was born. Many, many hours went
in to composing, performing, and recording the Keys To The City
library. It was designed for all musicians, even keyboardists, who
use sampling as an expressive and creative tool. Each loop was recorded
to a click with an emphasis on feel. No parts were sequenced except
for parts created with an arppeggiator. All loops are 100% original
and license-free to the user. It is my sincere hope that this library
will inspire you to discover new and creative frontiers in music
production. I’m looking forward to hearing this library used
in ways that I’ve never thought of. Let Keys To The City be
another route for pure individual expression, and the path to wonderful
new music. And, if you do go Gold or Platinum, by all means, send
me a disc!
—Michael Bearden
OVERVIEW
Are you ready for a collection of the most dynamic, versatile, and
expressive keyboard loops on the planet? That’s right, keyboard
loops, a completely fresh concept for sample libraries. Produced
by top session and touring keyboardist Michael Bearden, ( Madonna,
Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson), this collection will add flexibility,
energy, soul and raw human feel to your tracks, bringing them to
the highest level of musicality. Keys To The City was born from
a need to have a harmonic counterpart for the vast array of drum
and groove products that currently exists. Each keyboard loop is
carefully blended using the vintage keyboard sounds of yesterday,
along with the hippest and best crafted sounds of today. Keys To
The City is an essential source for the modern composer, producer
and remixer of any style! The key to this library (no pun intended)
is that each keyboard groove is presented in mixed form and then
with isolated elements allowing for the most flexibility in layering
the loops for your music. It’s jam packed with over 500 loops
in varying styles, keys and tempos, recorded using state of the
art equipment, everything you’d expect to find in the pulse
of the city.
ORGANIZATION
Keys To The City is great for fast and professional production of
modern Dance, Pop, R & B, or Techno tracks. It’s also the
perfect solution for any modern musician whose primary instrument
may not be keyboards, or for you sample hounds who raid the vintage
record shops looking for new loops. If you’re a composer who
just needs an idea starter, this library offers endless inspiration.
Keys To The City has something for everyone and with its flexible,
professional presentation, the only limit to success is your imagination!
Keys To The City is organized in a fun, easy to follow system. The
keyboard loops are arranged into five different categories:
* The first category is called The Bass-ment.
This consists of 24 single bass loops in varying tempos and keys.
Many of these loops were composed to match other loops in the
library, or can be used alone.
* The second category is called The Studio. This consists of 25
single keyboard loops in varying tempos and keys.
* The third category is called Duplex. This consists of 26 double
layered keyboard loops in varying tempos and keys.
* The fourth category is called Triplex. This consists of 27 triple
layered keyboard loops in varying tempos and keys.
* The final category is called The Penthouse. This contains 32
multi layered (four or more) keyboard loops in varying tempos
and keys.
As you can see, the raw numbers add up to
give you over 130 loops. However, if you breakdown each category
by element layers, there are well over 500 keyboard loops to choose
from.
USING KEYS TO THE CITY
We’ve presented this library in three ways, as a standard Audio
CD library, in Acid™ format and as a Sampler CD-ROM. When using
these loops in your sampler, you’ll be presented with a Menu
program containing the full mixes starting on Middle C (C4), followed
by the loop elements. Of course this applies only to the loops that
have more than one layer. By triggering the individual elements
at the appropriate times, you can recreate the original loop. Moving
up the keyboard from C4, the element loops that start on the downbeat
of the first measure are typically the next ones mapped, followed
by element loops that start later in the groove. You may have to
experiment a little to trigger all of the loops in the appropriate
places to recreate the original mix or you might choose to play
around with the timing of the loops to create your own variations.
To determine native tempos and keys for each groove, cross-reference
the Akai Directory that appears later in this booklet with the name
of the groove. Additionally, the volume names on the Akai CD-ROM
will contain three or four letter abbreviations representing each
key. For example, DMJ means D major, while G#MN means G# minor.
The Akai Sampler CD-ROM version is designed to be compatible with
Akai, Giga, Emu and Software Samplers.
The Acid CD-ROMs are included with the sampler CD-ROMs and contain
full-resolution WAV files. You can use these CD-ROMs on a Mac or
PC to audition loops for use with your sampler, or you may use the
enclosed Acid files on a PC equipped with Acid software from Sonic
Foundry (www.sonicfoundry.com). Acid allows you to adjust the tempo
and pitch of the loops to match your music. If you’re already
familiar with this software, it will be very obvious to you how
to use Keys To The City. If not, rest assured it’s very simple
to learn. Consult the “readme” files on the enclosed CD-ROM
and the Acid owner’s manual for more details.
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