/SM31samplemagic.com

Drum & Bass has been the single most requested collection we’ve not brought to market since Sample Magic’s inception more than six years ago. Why the wait? Quite simply, when we deliver, we want to deliver something special, with sounds that form a backbone to the best productions for years to come. Enter SM31, Drum & Bass…

Despite its tempo and characteristically intense sound, Drum & Bass can be intimate and introverted as well as big and brash. SM31 reflects the sheer range of sounds, rhythms, and emotions that make up the broad church of D&B.

The most important elements in this collection are naturally the beats and bass sounds, and we’ve created a huge amount of material in both categories. We’ve pushed the boat out to deliver stacks of original funk-style breakbeats, full drum beats (with a range of variants) as well as a comprehensive library of single hits.

We’ve narrowed down the tempo groups to just two – 170 and 174bpm – to make studio life even easier.In the bass folder you’ll find enough bin-blitzing ballast (all tested down to

20Hz) to rip apart any dance floor, from booming subsonic dubby grooves to cutting-edge mid-range stacked filth – perfect for jump-up, drumstep and neuro styles.

Less frantic moods are catered for too, with lush pads, delicate keys and euphoric leads injecting the liquid vibes. It should be noted that some of the musical elements in the collection (including basslines and music loops) are designed from the ground up to work together – in the case of double basslines that include a sub and mid layer, or musical loops that include a backing pad and ‘detail’ loop. These are named appropriately, and can either be used together or split apart for solo use.

As ever, the samples in this collection are programmed to kickstart songs straight out of the box, but D&B has always been about reinvention: if you want to get the most from this collection, get chopping, layering, and mangling – particularly those lovely breakbeats – to craft zounds of new sounds. Enjoy.

The Producers

welcome to... /3welcome tothe collection

programming tips /4 /5ideas forinspiration

4/ A clearer picture

How do you do detailed work on the kick and bass when there’s a lot going on in the higher frequencies of a mix?

One useful strategy is to strap a low-pass (high-cut) filter across the master bus. Lowering the cutoff frequency to 120-200Hz will help you focus on the bass frequencies alone.

(It’s a strategy that can be used in the opposite way too: if you’ve nailed the bass and want to concentrate on separating the synth and music parts then just low-cut the kick and bass). Remember to check all major mixing decisions with the filter bypassed as well.

5/ Toned drums

If you find that your drums don’t sit together well, try altering their tuning.

Drum sounds – even hats and rides – have their own discernible pitch, and tuning them to the same pitch will give you better sounding results.

6/ Less is more

Don’t swamp a track (or your workflow) with stacks of soft synths and piles of plug-ins. Pick one of each of the fundamental tools (subtractive synth, sampler, EQ, compressor, filter and so on) and take the time to digest their manuals and get to grips with all of their features and nuances. Once you know a small set of tools inside-out you won’t be caught short when a moment of inspiration strikes.

7/ Who snares, wins

D&B isn’t all about the kick drum and bass: the snare plays a fundamental role too, offering the rhythmic counterpoint to the driving kick. Choosing the right snare sound (complementary to the kick AND the bass) is fundamental – as is getting the right volume. A common mistake is to set the the snare too loud, which can have the effect of dragging the rhythm. Try stacking up snares to create one that doesn’t peak so much in one area, but fills out the frequency spectrum more effectively.

1/ (Bass) Drum & Bass

Despite the genre’s no-nonsense name, the truth is that getting the drum and bass to work together in D&B is as important as in other dance music genres – and uses the same kinds of tricks, albeit often in a more emphatic way.

One of the most common techniques is to allow the bassline to take the lower role in the frequency spectrum – delivering the sub bass – while the kick drum sits higher – peaking at between 80-110Hz.

This ‘fat bass, skinny kick’ scenario dictates the choice of sounds as sub-heavy bass and bass-light kick (you’ll notice that many D&B kicks are surprisingly scanty in the low-end, making more of the lower-mids to provide a solid counterpoint ‘whack’ to the bass ‘whooomph’.)

To further separate the kick and bass, use a notch EQ to remove the low mid-range where the kick is peaking in the bassline. Adding sidechain compression to the bass (routed to the kick – and

sometimes snare) accentuates the separation further still.

2/ Key decisions

In a genre that relies so heavily on the bassline, the key of the track is unusually important – dicatating where the sub bass frequencies peak. Choose a key that’s too low and the bassline won’t reproduce well on smaller systems, and go too high and it will interfere more with the kick. Making a track in a scale between F-A will make it easier to get a mix that works well over a variety of systems.

3/ Sub plus

Just using a sub tone as a bass on its own (usually a sine or similarly simple raw waveform) can sound too thin in a modern D&B track. Try layering it with one or more additional synth parts set an octave or more above to thicken it up and flesh out the mids and lower-mids. If these sounds have their own sub frequencies it’s often best to filter them out so they don’t interfere with the main sub.

folder setup /8accessingthe files

Drum & Bassfolder

Drum loops 170bpm 174bpm

Breaks loops 170bpm 174bpm

Shake & Tamb loops 170bpm 174bpm

Bass loops 170bpm 174bpm

Synth loops 170bpm 174bpm

Pads & Music loops 170bpm 174bpm

FX & FX loops 174bpm

Drum hits

KicksSnares & ClapsHats (open and closed)CymbalsPercussion

Synth stabs

Collection created byDom Purcell and Tim CantAudio formatting by Chevy OneDemos by Sharooz and The Producers

Sample Magic online 1GB+ of free sounds, special offers, newsletter, wallpapers, downloads and our online store at:samplemagic.com

Sample Magic network> twitter.com/samplemagic> facebook.com/samplemagic> youtube.com/user/samplemagic

Artwork by IWANT Design LimitedBooklet layout by David Felton

Sample Magic Presents

SMP01 Toolroom Records SamplesSMP02 Paolo Mojo: Future Tech-HouseSMP03 Florian Meindl: Berlin Deep HouseSMP04 DJ Chus & Stereo Productions: 10 Years of Iberican GroovesSMP05 Hed Kandi: Disco House SamplesSMP06 Thomas Schumacher: Berlin TechnoSMP07 Stereo Productions Present: David Herrero’s Organic House BeatsSMP08 Defected House Samples, by ATFCSMP09 Radio Slave

Other Sample Magic releases

SM01/ Funky House GroovesSM02/ BreakbustersSM03/ Transmission-XSM04/ Electro-HouseSM05/ Sunset SessionsSM06/ Minimal & Tech-HouseSM07/ Around the World in 80 RavesSM08/ Nu-RaveSM09/ Funky House Grooves 2SM10/ Tech-Funk BreaksSM11/ Minimal TechnoSM12/ Progressive HouseSM13/ Sunrise SessionsSM14/ Tribal Tech-HouseSM15/ Dubstep & GrimeSM16/ Deep Tech-HouseSM17/ Soundtrack & ChillSM18/ Ultimate FXSM19/ Organic HouseSM20/ ElectroSM21/ Tech-HouseSM22/ Nu DiscoSM23/ DubstepSM24/ Deep HouseSM25/ Indie-DanceSM26/ Mainroom AnthemsSM27/ TechnoSM28/ Vintage HouseSM29/ ChillwaveSM30/ Tech-House 2

credits /9Drum & Basswas created by

/SM31samplemagic.com