Big Fish Audio | SoundsAndGear.com JK Swopes | Detroit Soul Product Review
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Detroit Soul | SoundsAndGear.com

Reviewer: JK Swopes | Rating: 4/5 Subs Back to Detroit Soul product details

Today I'm taking a blast from the past...well...it's not old, but you know. I'm checking out Detroit Soul, a library dedicated to recreating that 1960s - 70s musical vibe. You know...the stuff many of us like to sample anyway? Yeah...so let's check it out

What is Detroit Soul?

It's a library dedicated to the classic soul and rnb records that came out of Detroit during the 60s and 70s Filled with live drums, live strings, live horns, live bass, live keys, etc It's got that classic soul feel that a lot of people look for when sampling records, yet you get all the elements broken down for your slicing and dicing pleasure. It's like having access to the master recordings from some of the dope soul records from back in the day

Quick Specs
- content: 1.45gb 
- format: apple, rex, wav, rmx, acid
- price: $99

How does it sound?

It definitely has that classic vibe to it, big funky horns, smooth keys, a few strings to throw in and all the drums you can handle. Not only do you get the drum loops, but you also get them broken down into drum elements, as well as different mic positions. So if you just want the overhead, you got it, if you just want the room...you got it...if you want to mix them up a bit...go for it. As far as quality, pretty much what you expect from Big Fish, recorded well, no audio glitches or defects it really has that "sound" so to speak, that crate diggers love to sample.  I like that some of the loops are pretty long, it gives you quite a bit of different material to work with.

What's the bottom line?

This is one of those secret weapon libraries, when you want to get that classic sound but you don't want to mess with royalties and records. I like to mix and match riffs and loops to create my own "samples" that I then turn around and chop up. Maybe throw some distortion on the loop or throw a vinyl plugin on there with some tape saturation to really give it that funk.

Overall I give this library 4 out of 5 subs, it's usable, has a great sound, and gives you something different than the current radio targeted libraries that seem to be all over the place. No matter if you want to create the full feel of the classic soul music or you want to create your own soul sample stash, it works out well.

To see this product in action, check out JK's video review at SoundsAndGear.com

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