Have you ever seen Halle Berry up close? I don’t mean in her scene with Billy Bob Thornton, I mean REALLY have seen her up close it person, shook hands with her, introduced yourself, took her out on a date. Yeah, neither have I. The reason I bring this up is because we can all pretty much come to agree that Halle is one of the more beautiful women out there in Hollywood and to take her out would be bliss. Well that is exactly how I feel about the drum kit in this review. Urban Heat is one of the newest releases from our friends over at theproducerschoice.com (Twitter @drum_samples) and this is a must add to any producers library. Urban Heat is packed with over 500 samples including kicks, snares, loops, claps, hats, cymbals, vox, effects… just a plethora of sounds to take your productions to the next level.

As I always do when I get a new kit, I hit up the kick drum section. As I was previewing each kick I realized I went into what I call Charlie Brown mode as I found myself saying “Good Grief” after each kick played. The kicks are divided into what I consider to be four sections;

Boom- Which are essentially 808s and for the most part tuned to “C”

Long Kick- Which are kicks with a bit more punchiness to them, but definitely have a tail at the end.

Short Kick- These are your punchy kicks that you layer with stomps or 808s. These kicks really cut through the mix and provide a solid foundation to any track.

Verb Kick- These are a combination of the previous 3 types of kicks with some added reverb. Most of these kicks are layered as well with some sort of 808, or stomp sounds.

With over 100 snare and claps to choose from, one would be hard pressed not to find something in here to not make your neck snap. I like that most of the snare and claps are dry, and some do have some reverb on them to add some character. Those with added verb make it a little harder to layer, but just a simple edit of the sample will fix that, and you’re in business. The snares in this kit are ready for all of your crazy pitched snare rolls. You’ll love the sound immediately!

As most of you know, I am a sucker for great hand percussion instruments. Well I am not disappointed with the selection in Urban Heat. With over 100 percussion and shaker sounds to go to and manipulate, you’ll be head over heels. When demoing, I found myself starting tracks with percussion loops to build around and add kicks, and snares too. The section is that good!

There are even more goodies in Urban Heat including sections full of vox samples, blips and zaps, loops, and effects. All of these sections of the kits are what you go to when your track is missing that 1 or 2 extra sprinkles to make the track really shine. Many of the effects (FX) are great used as a sweetener between bar 8 and 9 (basically when the next section of your song comes in).  One of my personal favorites goodies pack in Urban Heat is the fact that they have already taken the time to create 20 Maschine ready kits! As soon as you add Urban Heat to your library, you’ll have an Urban Heat section in your groups tab with the kits ready to go with added effects, and choke groups. Way to go with that one Producers Choice.

If you’re still reading this review, even after started to described the kicks, and haven’t  went over to TheProducersChoice.com to cop this kit YOU ARE WRONG! You need to correct yourself and grab this kit instantly!

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

James Jaxin (@jaxin414)

Forum Moderator MaschineMasters.com

Product Review Specialist MaschineMasters.com