Review: Prime Loops Underground Beats

Library: Underground Beats
Format: Download in Ableton, Apple Loops, Reason Refill, REX2, Acidized WAV, and more…
Genre: Hip-Hop/R&B
Distributed by: Prime Loops
Price: £12.95
Demo: Audio demos on the product page.

Underground Beats is a new drum loop collection from Prime Loops aimed mainly at the hip-hop crowd or anyone else requiring an urban vibe to their productions. It consists of over 140 contemporary-sounding drum loops and, like all of Prime Loops offerings, it's available in a wide variety of popular sample formats so you don't have to waste time in the studio adapting them to whatever your sampler of choice is.

As you would expect, most of the loops are in the lower range of BPMs, but of course if you use the REX2 format files, you can adjust the tempo freely within a reasonable range to give yourself more flexibility. The production is fantastic and the choice of sounds is very current and "now". All the frequencies are nicely balanced from rumbling lows to sparkling highs, and everything is fully produced and ready to go with tasteful use of effects and fat compression. The sound of these loops is very clean and hi-fi, so it might not be the best choice if you need something gritty, but then again, most contemporary hip-hop these days features super-clean production, so the style of production is completely appropriate.

So who will get the most mileage out of these? I'd say anyone looking to make very polished-sounding hip-hop, R & B, or even pop. The site suggests it would be good for lounge, trip-hop, or dubstep, but I don't think the vibe of these beats is dark or gritty enough to be very convincing in those contexts. Overall, this is an excellent collection of extremely professional-sounding beats that should satisfy all but the most nit-picky aspiring hip-hoppers. [9/10]