Big Mono Analogue drums is a FREE library that samples a Vintage Ludwig Kit with Rogers Dynasonic snare, Zildjian cymbals and Sabian ride.
Rhythmic parts are a crucial part of any composition: without a good groove that gives the song the right push, you risk wasting precious hours of work and not achieving the desired result.
Big Mono is one of the few survivors of free drum library; with all the high quality competitors that are on the market and that (we do not make virginelle) can also be recovered pirated, will it still be better to use a free library like this one for rhythmic weaving? You'll find the answer to this million dollar question by following us in this test.
BIG MONO is a title developed by the team of analog drums, a production house active in the Samples Libraries market for about twenty years.
The library was recorded in mono in the York Street Studios in Auckland, via a mixing desk Emi Neve, the award-winning brand founded by the English sound engineer Rupert Neve.
Preliminarily, it is important to underline that the microphone recording technique was used for the realization of this work Decca Tree. For those unfamiliar with it, it is in short a technique mainly used for the recordings of complete orchestral ensembles and choirs, although, as in this case, it is also often used for the recovery of single instruments, especially when it is intended also take back part of the environment.
The Decca Tree is basically an evolution of the AB technique (two side omnidirectional microphones) with the addition of a central omnidirectional microphone. The two side microphones are panpotted, i.e. one positioned completely to the right and the other completely to the left, while the central one is distributed equally between the two channels in order to faithfully reconstruct the central sound image.
This configuration was developed in the Decca Records laboratories around the middle of the last century, with the aim of providing the recordings with a wide stereo image. The three microphones used are arranged in the shape of "T": The side microphones are arranged in line at a distance of 2 meters from each other, while the central microphone is in an advanced position 1,5 meters from the axis of the previous two. The possible configurations are many depending on the distance between the microphones which can be varied in relation to the desired effect and environmental performance.
To record Big Mono, the Analogue Drums team decided to enrich the Decca Tree configuration with the addition of some microphones spots for details.
Contents, formats and features
To download the library for free, simply enter your e-mail address on the website of the analogous drums. Once you have received the return email containing the activation link, click on it and follow the instructions to start your download.
Big Mono supports samplers Battery, Contact e EXS24, but the samples are also available in the classic format WAV, in this case without the possibility of programming and mapping on the keyboard of your Midi controller.
The title consists of a total of 254 samples, with a sampling depth of 24 bit and a frequency of 44,1 Khz. Once the download is complete, you will get one .zip di 138 MB, and, once extracted from the Rar archive, you will have a quantity of material equal to 213 MB.
Each sample has several layers related to velocity, distinct articulations, an instrument interface with volume, pan and tuning controls and a section dedicated to presets, dynamic sensitivity and compression. Let's look at all these characteristics in detail, focusing mainly on two fundamental aspects: how the samples sound (trivial to say, but it is an essential aspect) and how it is possible to treat them in the mix to make them stand out at their best.
Technical and aesthetic analysis
An overhead view of the Big Mono kit
For the sake of clarity, we will proceed in order and we will treat the distinct components of the set separately, as they are grouped in the different folders. Let's start with the cash samples and then continue with all the other components:
The cash register. The sampled component is one Ludwig of 1970 of size 22 " x 16 ". This kit component comes with only one joint, the classic center shot, but features well 12 layers of velocity. The sound in most of the samples is fairly good, clear and powerful; the wide dynamic range of the samples allows them to emerge worthily in various types of mixes without the need to further process them. However, it must be said that often the samples are equipped with a reverb tail that is a bit too long, therefore, if we want to play the bass drum simulating a double pedal and Fast Bpm, the sound would tend to get mixed up a little. After all, being a vintage kit, from the beginning it is not recommended for more aggressive styles and grooves.
The snare drum
The kit features a Rogers Dynasonic of the 1970, from the dimensions of 14 " x 5 ". The joints available are well 6: two for the left hand (center strike and rimshots, with respectively 16 and 8 velocity variations), two for the right hand (same types as the left hand) and one articulation of cross stick equipped 8 layers of velocity. The snare drum is one of the most convincing components of the kit, the sound is sharp and dry and peremptory, easy to stand out during the mixing phase, even in very different stylistic genres. The different combinations of the five articulations with the relative types of multiple dynamics allow to obtain a very heterogeneous snare sound, which lends itself very well to songs with a more jazzy flavor in the more subtle and intimate variants, up to territories much closer to the worlds of Pop and Rock with full and articulated sounds. The joints of Rimshot they are rendered very well: in the hit carried on the snare drum, the stick touching both the skin and the rim is very good, and the effect hit to give color or to give an accent to a certain groove does its duty. The cross-stick articulation defines well the stroke of the stick on the edge of the snare drum, and the 8 dynamic variations ensure a fair extension of the possibilities of use. Really a very versatile and well sampled component.
The toms
These are two Ludwig of 1970, respectively from 13 " the tall one and from 16 " the low one. They have two joints each, two for the right hand and two for the left hand, both with center stroke and 16 layers of dynamic variation. The sound of the toms is realistic and with good reverb, even if the range of tunings is a bit limited. After all, the kit dates back to the years 60/70, so the absence of a third tom was also to be expected. Maybe they lack some compression, so you'll need to process them to give them that slight extra boost that will make them stand out in the mix, especially if you're working on more genres. heavy where the distorted guitars they leave no room for more "intimate" performances. Because of these defects, they represent the real sore point of the kit.
The HiHats
One was used zildjian Advedis Mastersound da 13 ". There are 4 joints available: closed, semi-closed, open e pedal. The first three have 16 layers of velocity each, the pedal by 10. After the snare, this HiHat also has some nice surprises in store. The sound is very pervasive and with excellent support in all four articulations, in particular the closed, semi-closed and pedal HiHat sounds are of fine workmanship. The open articulation is a little less cared for, which is a bit limited in the dynamic range: despite the 16 velocity layers available, the samples of this articulation tend to sound a bit all the same. Apart from that, the HiHat is more than discreet and forms a very realistic pair with the Dynasonic.
The Ride
It's an Sabian HHX Evolution 20 ". It has two joints (Bow e Bell), with 16 dynamics variations each. The 32 total samples dedicated to the ride range from very quick attacks to sweeter shades of sound, up to decidedly sparkling colors that can make this ride, if desired, almost a third crash. In the mix it will not be difficult to find the niche of frequencies in which to place them.
The Crashes
Here we are struggling with one Zildjian K Crash 16 "and with one Zildjian K Dark 17 ”crash. Both cymbals are available in a single articulation (Edge), with 8 velocity layers for each cymbal. The KCrash it sounds bright, bright and with a medium decay time. The K Dark dark, hot and with fast decay. Both cymbals are characterized by a rather complex and substantially very musical sound. However, a few more layers of velocity certainly wouldn't have hurt; the sound is good but a bit limited in dynamics.
Here the analytical overview of the kit is completed. Let's go to the end of the review and let's sum it up a bit.
Conclusions
We start from an assumption. Big Mono is a Free library. Taking this factor into account, the final evaluation can only be positive. The kit as a whole sounds good and can be used in various stylistic areas. Also due to the type of battery used, the most strictly recommended uses fall on stylistic genres more akin to the territories of pop/rock and musical experimentation. The staff also lends itself well to more sonority swing e jazzed. Not recommended for heavier productions and definitely not recommended for use in electronic productions or intended for Movie scoring. The biggest flaw of the library is the amount of ambience included in the Decca Tree take: on many samples, especially the ones dedicated to the kick drum, the reverb tail is really too bulky. On the other hand, the additional spots define the sonic details of the various components of the kit quite well. The most disappointing aspect by far concerns the sector of the pair of toms, often and willingly largely devoid of bite and support. The main advantages: snare drum pair - HiHat really well matched, beautiful loud crashes and laughs with intriguing sounds.
Let us remember again that it is Free.
USEFUL NEWS
Producer: Big Mono
Model: Analogue drums
Website: www.analogedrums.com
Cost:FREE
Peter Fraccavento
