Big Fish Audio | Sound on Sound | Funk City 2 Product Review
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Funk City 2 | Sound on Sound

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars! Back to Funk City 2 product details

There are no prizes for guessing that Funk City 2 is Big Fish Audio's follow up to their earlier Funk City. Volume 2 has a lot to live up to, as Paul Sellars gave it a five-star rating back in SOS February 200. BFA have obviously decided on the 'if ain't broke, don't fix it' route, because Funk City 2 follows a similar format, offering some 29 different construction kits containing over 600 individual loops. This time, of course, these are presented in 24-bit , 44.1kHz resolution, rather than the 16-bit resolution of the original release. Tempos are all in the 70-130 bpm range, and the folder for each kit includes both the original recording tempo and key. Instruments used include drums, percussion (mostly tambourine and conga), electric bass and guitar, trumpet, saxophone, piano, Rhodes, Clavinet and a few other minor elements such as processed vocals and scratches. Many of Paul's comments about the original Funk City apply equally well here. For example, there's a very strong '70s vibe to the performances, but the recording and production are bang up-to-date: everything sounds very crisp and punchy, and the drums in particular strike just the right balance, solid and powerful without being too 'rock' and overpowering. The performances themselves are excellent: there's not a hint of pastiche, just convincing, genuine playing… very funky indeed! In auditioning the various kits, I caught hints of the music from 1970s cop shows like Starsky and hutch or The Professionals (in a good way!), classic Earth, Wind and Fire, and even Grace Jones's 'Pull Up To The Bumper'. Each construction kit features a goodly dose of loops, with an average of 20 in each kit, and there's usually more than one bass and drum loop to choose from - which overcomes a common problem with the construction-kit format, making it easy to build arrangements that have sufficient variation to keep things interesting. Usefully, there's also a consistency of sound across the various kits: this is just one of those construction-kit libraries where the individual elements all just seem to fall together really well. While the drums and bass playing provide an excellent groove, the musical decoration from the guitars (with some nice wah-wah examples), the clavinet, and in particular, the horns, is great. If you're a budding producer looking for some genuine funk inspiration for your projects, you really could do a lot worse than starting with both the original Funk City and Funk City 2. I think this library represents very good value for money, and if you liked the original release, my guess is that you'll want to add this to your collection. Highly recommended!

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