Steven Slate is to many a well known name in the music industries. I will also be using the shorter name SSD4 in this review.Ī small introduction of Steven Slate and SSD4 Today we will have a look at Steven Slate drums 4.0 Platinum. Today i found some extra time to sit down and do a review for you, and it’s a real treat!! (Platinum $499 MSRP, EX $149 various expansions $59 direct i haven’t been posting allot lately but i have been preparing to move to a bigger home. It can enhance a project like few other libraries on the market. Street price for the SSD Platinum library is about $300, making it very worth the asking price. You're not stuck with a drum set that feels like it was dropped into the mix from a store bought box. So, there is nothing stopping you from using very direct Z3 sounds with Z4 ambience. Best of all, you can mix and match Z systems. Finally, the Z4 sets offer isolated room sound of each sample. Z2 sets are stereo samples and have heavily compressed far-room mics that are mixed in with closer mics. The Z1 mono sets have a slight amount of overhead mic'ing. Each sample set is processed in one of four ambient spaces, providing a non-cookie cutter approach to drum samples. Perhaps its most unique feature, each kit is presented using the "Z System". The first set was recorded in a large warehouse with concrete walls, and the second was sampled at NRG Recording Studio A, which is a great sounding drum room. There are two sets of room mic sounds, which are meant to be blended with your sampled drums, or with your existing drum sounds, for added size and space. One interesting aspect of the SSD library is the option of room mics. And before you feel guilty of having powers such as these, consider that top industry mixers such as Mike Shipley, Chris Lord Alge, Jay Baumgardner, and many others have used SSD samples in their work. Additionally, for those of you who have been frustrated by machine-gun-like results with previous samples, new to SSD 3.5 is Yellow Matter's new Advanced AMG software that ensures your double-kick will never bring the cops to your front door. There are over forty kits in the platinum library, thirteen of which are models of classic artists and albums, while ten more are hybrid kits that use multiple layers of samples to create larger than life sounds. One great thing about the SSD samples is that they are versatile. However, at press time, SSD explained that they will be discontinuing support for Drumagog so they can focus on their own drum-replacement application, Trigger, which promises unique features and algorithms. We conducted our tests using Drumagog (Tape Op #69). Should you be recording your epic rock opera in your dorm room, SSD comes with keyboard mappings and a universal mapping for all Roland V-Drums. RTAS/VST/AU plug-in that can be easily integrated into your DAW. The samples are accessed through the SSD Virtual Instrument, powered by Kontakt Player 3, which is a standalone or The SSD drum (and cymbal) samples were prepared meticulously -tuned to perfection, cut to 2' tape, digitally transferred with high-end converters, and finally, processed by Steven Slate himself with vintage and modern analog gear. After two minutes of browsing, I had matched the kick and snare of "Big Name Radio Band" almost perfectly, blended them with the original drum sounds, and, given the quality of the original sounds, the band was blown away. " I usually laugh when I read mix notes like this, but knowing the quality of the Steven Slate samples, I decided to take it as a challenge. Simply put, the samples sound great and can take a mediocre project with no budget to a higher level, or conversely can be blended with already great sounds for a stellar outcome.įirst, a short anecdote -a recent project (with less than ideal sounds) came to me with the instructions, "We don't care what you do to the drums, just make us sound like. For all things rock, SSD samples have been the saving grace of many of my clients. The following is what we found.Īs a mix engineer, bad drum sounds can paint you into a corner -not to mention damage a band's sound. We put Steven Slate Drums samples through months of scrutiny. But if you want the results to sound convincing, you can't use just any sample library. In those situations, replacing the drums might be your best option. Other times, a client may want a contemporary commercial sound. After all, aren't we supposed to be recording things? But sometimes, we're called to mix projects that we did not track. The thought of replacing drums may seem outright offensive to many of us.
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