Big Beat 2: Nu Skool Breaks | Sound On Sound

As the 'Nu School Breaks' subtitle suggests, this collection concentrates on drum-heavy, breakbeat-oriented dance styles, and provides plenty of raw material recorded at 24-bit, 44.1kHz resolution: 115 drum loops (115-143bpm), 25 complete construction kits (110-128bpm), and 31 extra synth loops (120-130bpm).

The construction kits all plough essentially the same stylistic furrow. Fat, pounding hip-hop-flavoured drum beats dominate the mixes, while various analogue synths provide burbling basses, rasping leads, and miscellaneous pings and flourishes. Occasional vocal sound bites and turntable scratches are thrown in for good measure, and the whole mixture bounces along very cheerfully.

The beats, of course, are absolutely essential to a library of this kind, and producer Matt Bushbacher demonstrates a thorough understanding of the genre's demands. His drum sounds tend to be dirty, lo-fi, compressed, and EQ'd, and generally pushed as far upfront as possible - which is exactly as it should be! The programming has a bit of swing and funk about it, the patterns aren't fussy or overly complicated, and the overall effect is very convincing. The extra drum loops maintain the same high standards as those in the construction kits, and will doubtless prove useful.

The synth sounds, which are the backbone of many of the construction kits, are also very attractive. The bass and lead lines are nicely melodic, with plenty of filter sweeping and burbling going on. So much so, in fact, that I did occasionally begin to get a little tired of it! A few guitar and organ sounds turn up in some of the arrangements, and it might have been nice if there had been a few more. As it is, some of the kits can seem a bit over-reliant on the same rather similar synth sounds. They're nice enough for the most part, though, so it isn't too much of a problem.

This one minor quibble aside, I have to say that Big Beat 2 is a solid and well-produced library, which fulfils its remit quite respectably. It provides fat, funky, danceable rhythms, with lots of pleasing hooks to grab the ear. It avoids sounding too 'clean' or 'polite', and exhibits plenty of life and character. The collection remains faithful to its chosen genre, and doesn't spring too many surprises, which is a strength rather than a weakness in a collection of this type, and it succeeds in providing loads of usable material of just the right kind. If big beats are what you're looking for, you can feel confident of finding them here. Paul Sellars