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Skippy's
Noizbox
introduction
Way back in 1999 when I created Skippy’s
Big Bad Beats, I started the introduction with the quote “I
LOVE GROOVE!” –and ya know what?
I STILL LOVE GROOVE
In comparison to Skippy’s Big Bad Beats, I wanted Noizbox to
be more aggressive, more “Euro-ish” influenced and I wanted
to find ways to make the whole library more flexible. To achieve
this goal, Noizbox includes all of the elements as separate loops!
If the three mixes are not the right mix for you, then you have
all of the elements to mix and match to make your own mix. Next,
I did the Groove Control™ process not only to the mixes but
to all of the elements as well! I also created Groove Menus and
organized a ton of the individual drum samples into categorical
menus for easy access. There are actually five different libraries
in this single drum loop library! You have the full length loop
mixes, the full length loop element tracks, the Groove Control versions
of all 392 loops, the totally hip and useful Groove Menus and then
hundreds of cool drum sounds in category menus!
Creating Noizbox has been a very fun and challenging project for
me. The whole process of making these loops from heavily mangled
drum and synthesizer noizes and then layering real percussion and/or
real drum loops took some time to figure how to make it really work.
I had great hopes for how this library would turn out, but as it
progressed, I got even more and more excited.
I’m really proud of how Noizbox turned out. There are so many
ways to create grooves with what you hold in your hands, the possibilities
are truly endless! Thank you again for purchasing Noizbox –
Enjoy, jam your butt off, and once again:
May the GROOVE always be with you.
-John "Skippy" Lehmkuhl
Noizbox
The Concept Detailed
Skippy’s Noizbox was designed to be a very special product
when compared to other drum loop libraries. Let’s take a moment
to explain the thought process behind this collection of grooves,
and their layout so that you can get the most out of this library.
At the root level, Noizbox is conceived as a collection of 32 high-fidelity
stereo Dance, Hip Hop, R&B, Techno, and Trance grooves. All
of the Mix grooves are either 4 or 8 measures long. Each groove
has three separate Mix variations:
The “A” Mix is the complete or Full Mix. Many of these
grooves have a fundamental pitch/key. The “B” Mix is the
Small Mix. All the groove elements are there but no pitch elements
are included. The “C” Mix is the Breakdown Mix. Sometimes
these have a pitch, sometimes they don’t.
After these three mixes, all of the elements for each groove follow
as separate audio tracks! Instead of only one loop that never changes
in a four minute song, you now have three mixes to use, giving the
song more rhythmic variety. Or, if that is not flexible enough,
you can use the separate loops to make any type of mix you want.
Note: The Mixes were put thru a final “mastering stage”
where we used specific tools to further enhance and finalize the
drum loops. This process was not applied to the separate element
versions that are found right after the mixes. When you play the
A Mix and compare it to playing all of the element tracks that make
up the A Mix, the A Mix will seem “tighter” while the
element tracks will be a bit more open. There might be times where
the A Mix is preferred over the separate track version or visa versa.
Check this out for yourself to notice the differences.
Every one of the 392 drum loops was transformed into a Groove Control
version. (Read the Groove Control section later in this booklet
for more information.) You really, really have to try the Groove
control versions of the elements! They are SOOOOO COOOOOOL! Since
each element is a separate track, you can now transpose the kick
drum up one octave while transposing the snare down one octave and
quantize the feel of just one of the 12 element tracks if you want
to! Make sure you try out how the element tracks work with Groove
Control– it truly is ground breaking.
Next, we created five different Groove Menus for you to play with.
These menu patches each have 60 different drum loops placed chromatically
across the keyboard–all of them set to play at the same tempo.
Each menu is also available in different tempos ranging from 50
BPM to 145 BPM! These are actually a lot of fun to play with since
completely new grooves can be created by simply playing a few of
the different loop elements at the same time.
And finally, you’ll find hundreds of drum samples organized
by drum type for you to use in your musical productions at the end
of the library.
The Drummers
Phil Bloch
Phil is a veteran session drummer who travels around the world recording
for top producers and artists. He’s also well-known as one
of the premier R&B drummers in LA. His live and recorded performance
credits are vast and include Terry Evans, Ry Cooder, Solomon Burke,
Little Richard, Marva Wright, Willie Green, Jr., Tom Scott, Randy
Weeks, Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps, Dawayne Bailey, Hans
Theesink, Reggie McBride, Billy Watts, Scott Plunkett, Reggie Hamilton,
Keith Nelson, Midnight Skye, and many more. He’s also recorded
a lot of sessions at Sony, Warner Bros. and MCA Records, and has
done movie and television work in Los Angeles and New York for NBC,
CBS, ABC, FOX and various cable networks.
Brian Zsupnik
Brian passed away in April 2001 after a long battle with cancer,
but not before sharing his talent with us on Skippy’s Noizbox.
He was the consummat drummer, able to function at the highest level
in any conceivable musical situation, always making it feel just
right. Singer/composer Michael McDonald said in a recent Modern
Drummer interview, “Brian's one of those guys, like Jeff Porcaro,
who’s great to have on a session. He really knows how to listen
and he comes up with some great grooves and ideas.” Brian played
and programmed drums for a long list of artists including Madonna,
Chick Corea and Dave Weckl, Amy Grant, Boz Scaggs, Mary Wilson,
Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Peter Cetera, Toto, Omar Hakim, Gregg
Bissonette and many more. He was a musician’s musician and
a good spirit who won’t soon be forgotten. Thank you, Brian.
Gear 'n'Stuff
Hardware tools included:
Korg Triton, Korg Z1, Roland S-760, Access Virus, Novation Nova,
Alesis DM Pro, Clavia Nord Lead, Waldorf Pulse, Yamaha RM-50, Lexicon
MPX-1, Roland SRV-330, Roland SE-70, SansAmp Tech 21, Tube-Tech
LCA 2B Compressor/Limiter, Behringer Composer Compressor/Limiter,
Empirical Labs Distressor, Apple Power Macintosh G4 500 mHz Dual-Processor.
Software included:
Emagic’s Logic Audio, Propellerhead’s Rebirth, Recycle
and Reason, Native Instrument’s Absynth and Dynamo, MetaSynth,
TransferStation, Bias Peak, Infinity, BarbaBatch, Hyperprism, Tons
of cool VST Plug-ins and instruments and our own proprietary software.
About Skippy
John Lehmkuhl, known to many in the music industry as “Skippy”
(a nickname given to him during his Korg days), is a multi-talented
musician that now lives in Los Angeles, California. Since moving
to Los Angeles in 1988, Skippy has worked as one of the main voicing
people for Korg Inc. His voicing credits include work on the Korg
M1, T- Series, O1W series, Wavestation series (including all of
the dance/synth PCM card sets for both the keyboard and the WSSR),
the very popular but impossible to find Korg Wavedrum and S-1, the
Trinity series, the Triton series, KARMA, as well as the Electribe
dance boxes. Some of the best sounds for the Clavia Nord were also
made by Skippy and are available on the internet at Clavia’s
web site. While doing all the above, somehow Skippy also finds time
to work on commercials and album projects doing composition, arranging,
sound design and drum programming. On top of this work, Skippy is
also creating a solo project called “SmartWave” and is
half of a new electronica/opera/jungle/trance group called KOI that
you’ll be hearing a lot more of in the near future.
Skippy’s Noizbox is the 2nd drum loop library John has created,
and you can rest assured, it’s not the last you’ll hear
from him!
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