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Son of Grindhouse | Sample Library Review

Reviewer: Steve B Back to Son of Grindhouse product details



As its name suggests, this collection picks up where the previous release, Grindhouse leaves off, with an assortment of vintage B-Movie soundtrack fodder that feels like it’s been lifted straight off your TV. Produced by the clever minds and musicians of Funk/Soul Productions in conjunction with Big Fish Audio, Son of Grindhouse is uproarious, campy, festive and delightful. Son of Grindhouse fills an important musical void between 70’s era cop show themes and gritty vintage jazz licks.

The narrow focus of this collection may feel limiting to some. Dialogue clips could be more intelligible.

As its name suggests, this collection picks up where the previous release, Grindhouse leaves off, with an assortment of vintage B-Movie soundtrack fodder that feels like it’s been lifted straight off your TV.

Produced by the clever minds and musicians of Funk/Soul Productions in conjunction with Big Fish Audio, Son of Grindhouse is uproarious, campy, festive and delightful. This team has produced some excellent period collections like Detroit Soul, Retro R&B, Soul Jazz and most recently, Vintage Vocals. Son of Grindhouse fills an important musical void between 70’s era cop show themes and gritty vintage jazz licks.

Thoughts

The folks at Funk/Soul productions must be able to read my thoughts. Not only are they able to hone in on main-stream vintage sounds of yesterday, they are completely dialed into the subculture, too. With the release of Grindhouse, the creative team scored a hit with its assortment of 70’s era slasher, B-Movie vibe and blaxploitation themes and it’s only fitting that Son of Grindhouse is a chip off that old block. This particular set was developed as a standard loop set specifically for those who don’t use Kontakt in their workflow, [but don’t worry Kontakt users, there’s a KLI version, too!]

Son of Grindhouse includes 32 themes or construction kits, each of which evokes an immediate feeling of vintage TV/ Movie goodness. Shades of Ennio Morricone, Joseph Koo and 60’s psychedelia waft freely through these kits. The kits are described as fitting Spaghetti Western, Horror, Crime Film, Blaxploitation, Mondo Jungle, Surf, Sci-Fi Invasion, Monster Movie, Sci-Fi Horror, Latin Western, Kung Fu, Giallo, Sleaze and Cop Show. But let’s be clear – these are gritty, dirty, sonically authentic representations of the past, not pristine samples – and that’s exactly how they should be.

The product is packaged in two configurations: The first features loops in acidized Wav files, Apple Loops and REX files ensuring compatibility with just about any DAW, and the second features a KLI version for use within Kontakt (must be the full version, 5.7.1 or higher).

Each of the kits are cleverly broken down into individual parts, divided by instrument, or in some cases, mix of instruments to allow producers to mix, mash or sample to their bloody hearts’ content. Kits include a demo track, sometimes dialogue clips and elements with names such as guitar, lo-fi horns, mutron bass or soundtrack hits, loops or effects. Many of the tonal elements are strong enough to be stand-alone sounds while the drums can add vintage spice to modern compositions.

So, what exactly does one do with a soundtrack collection like this? Maybe your new client is a pest control company who wants to play on peoples fear of …Gigantic Ants! Maybe, you have to create a radio station promo or imager for a fortune cookie fortune writing contest – using (included) karate chop sound effects and other ethnic musical elements; Or, perhaps you are scoring a scene with an inflatable wacky waving tube man menacing customers on a used-car lot… Of course, these are just a couple of twisted thoughts I had while I previewed the loops. Your mileage may vary.

Because these loops come formatted for Apple, they show up in Logic’s loop browser as Apple Loops and can easily be used with Logic’s time stretch and pitch tools to transform them further. Acidized Wav and Rex Files are also included in the “loop” version of the product, so you can easily work in your DAW of choice.

In the KLI version, Kit Combos are arranged in what will feel familiar to those who work in Kontakt most of the time.

There are 17 single instrument patches which are simply loops from the set mapped together for playability and customization of FX parameters.

587 Sliced loops are part of the KLI version, enabling further manipulation and time stretching.

Son of Grindhouse is a very niche product with a sound and flavor all its own. You’ll want to investigate this title fully to determine if it’s for you. If you already own Grindhouse, this is a perfect companion product. If you start with Son of Grindhouse, you might find that it’s your gateway drug to the sonic fringe. The fact is, many of you reading this are never going to ride a vintage Stingray bike, own a real lava lamp, or find a collection of old grindhouse movie ticket stubs in your jacket pocket, but that doesn’t mean you can’t experience the seedy, gritty, B-movie soundtracks of the 70s. Take it from someone who was there, these loops are the real deal. Now, get off my lawn!

Facts

In the traditional loop version, you’ll find 619 individual loops available as 1.47 GB of Acidized Wav files, or Apple Loops. Reason users will see a download size of about 600mb. The Kontakt version clocks in with a download size of 1.54 GB and includes 637 patches, 32 kit combo patches, 17 single instrument patches, a demo patch and 587 sliced loops. You will need Kontakt version 5.7.1 or higher to use the KLI version. This product isn’t compatible with the free Kontakt player. If you’d like to hear more demos or watch the videos, please visit the Big Fish Audio website.

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