Simon has developed several different packages of percussion and drums loops based around his extensive knowledge of percussion and drums.
Many “world music” beats are swung or interpreted differently to western rhythms. When combined with drum kit, they produce lively, organic beats and phrases with numerous possibilities due to their polyrhythmic structures.
Simon brings together his studio experience and years of studying and playing these rhythms to produce a unique blend of styles and variety of loops. He takes into account both the organic and fluctuating nature of percussion beats and makes them easy to use and effective in a modern studio context.
Watch Simon playing some of these rhythmic ideas.
What is Simon proposing?
His percussion loops packages contain the following categories:
- hand percussion ( funky cahon, bongos, congas, darbouka/ Egyptian tabla, djembe, and timba)
- percussion combinations (hand percussion + small percussion in both traditional and fusion combinations)
- small percussion (shakers, cowbells, claves, maracas, frame drums, hand claps…..)
1: Hand Percussion
In this section there are cahon, darbouka/ Egyptian tabla, bongos, congas, djembe and timba loops.
Listen to a demo track of the various hand drum loops available:
Hand Drum loops packages:
Funky Cahon
The cahon (or box drum) has its origins in flamenco and traditional Cuban music.
The cahon has become very popular in the past few years and is an ideal substitute for drum kit when a lighter, more subtle sound.
As well as a wide range of grooves and fills, this package also contains “hits”, allowing the user to build their own cahon rhythms. This is a very useful package for production and songwriting.
Contains 152 grooves (including grooves in 6/8 time), 55 fills and “hits” or sounds.
Format: wavs, 24 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate
Volume: 398 mb
Bpm range: 80 to 142 bpm
Price: £4.99
Darbouka/ Egyptian tabla
The darbouka (also called Egyptian tabla, derbeke or doumbek among others) is the classic Middle Eastern and North African hand drum. It is also used in parts of South Asia and Eastern Europe. This highly versatile hand drum has a powerful dynamic and tonal range with a full dum/ bass note and clear, sharp high tones.
A lot of the loops in this package are based around Middle Eastern and North African grooves but sound just as good in modern Western styles such as funk and fusion projects.
Contains 73 grooves and fills + free Darbouka solo track for belly/ oriental dance.
Format: wavs, 24 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate
Volume: 194 mb
Bpm range: 82 to 160 bpm
Price: £3.99
Bongos
These drums are one of the classic latin hand percussion sounds but are largely underestimated and often not used to their full potential! Their dynamic and high pitched sounds are ideal for cutting through a mix either as a solo instrument or part of percussion layers.
Contains 78 grooves and 32 fills.
Format: wavs, 24 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate
Volume: 308 mb
Bpm range: 80 to 135 bpm
Price: £3.99
Congas
Congas are another classic latin percussion sound and their versatility means they sound great in styles ranging from traditional Cuban music to funk and pop. These loops are designed to work in modern studio environments and projects, and are played in a way as to add groove without clutter.
Contains 82 grooves and 31 fills.
Format: wavs, 24 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate
Volume: 275 mb
Bpm range: 80 to 142 bpm
Price: £4.99
Djembe
Originally from West Africa, the djembe is now played all over Africa and is known throughout the world. Its cultural, social and musical influence is huge and it has a distinct and powerful sound.
Contains: 40 grooves and 24 fills
Format: wavs, 24 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate
Volume: 175 mb
Bpm range: 80 to 160 bpm
Price: £3.99
Timba
Similar to the djembe, the timba drum has a modern, dynamic sound and is used in many contemporary Brazilian styles. With its full dynamic range and ease with which it reacts to processing in the studio, this drum can be relied on to cut through mixes both as a solo instrument or part of percussion layers.
Contains: 50 grooves and fills
Format: wavs, 24 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate
Volume: 140 mb
Bpm range: 92 to 138 bpm
Price: £3.99
2: Percussion Combinations
This package contains a wide variety of combinations of hand percussion drums and small percussion. These include both typical combinations from certain cultures for example Morocco or Brazil as well as “jams” which are a mix of everything! Not only are these loops a great way to immediately add different feels and flavours to tracks but can also be a source of ideas for other combinations.
Listen to a demo track of the percussion combinations package:
Contains: 167 rhythms and fills.
Format: wavs, 24 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate
Volume: 450 MB
Bpm range: 80 to 160 bpm
Price: £4.99
3: Small Percussion
Often referred to as “percussion toys” this section includes shakers, cowbells, claves, maracas, frame drums, hand claps, eggs, karkabats, riq, riq shakes, tambourine, wood blocks, Brazilian tambourim and other instruments that are perfect for adding a subtle groove or flavour to your tracks.
Listen to the demo track of the small percussion loops package:
Contains: over 200 rhythms and hits.
Format: wavs, 24 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate
Volume: 548 MB
Bpm range: 80 to 160 bpm
Price: £5.99
“Total Groove” drums and percussion loops project +songwriting tool.
The ultimate percussion and drums loops project!
Simon has also created his “Total Groove” project. This project contains ten fusion style drum kit and world music percussion grooves and can used as both a resource for loops and also as a songwriting tool.
Each style contains the following at 4 different tempos:
- drum kit stems and a “mix” (the mixes are for a quick import into a project, useful for song writing).
- percussion parts stems and a “mix”.
- percussion fills.
- a “total groove” mix.
Because the percussion parts change slightly according to tempo, the fact that each groove is recorded at four different tempos allows accurate and flexible time stretching within projects.
The percussion and drums loops have been carefully selected so that they work perfectly together and the versatile set-up allows quick and easy arranging within a project.
The following demos are FREE to download but if you like them, please consider supporting Simon by purchasing the full packages.
If you are a singer / guitarist / musician / song-writer who like to use this track in your own production or to publish to TV/Radio or digital stores like Amazon, iTunes or Spotify please contact Simon.
Cairo Funk: available at 90, 105, 126 and 135 bpm.
Funky Rai: available at 80, 100, 115 and 126 bpm.
Gnaoua Hip Hop: available at 80, 90, 100 and 110 bpm.
Khaleegi Funk: available at 126, 138, 150 and 160 bpm.
Latin Funk: available at 90, 105, 126 and 135 bpm.
Merengue Disco: available at 110, 126, 135 and 142 bpm.
Moroccan Half-time: available at 126, 138, 150 and 160 bpm.
North African Funk: available at 90, 100, 115 and 126 bpm.
Rumba Funk: available at 90, 105, 126 and 135 bpm.
Samba Funk: available at 100, 115, 126 and 138 bpm.
The fact that each Total Groove style can be imported as a block also makes it a quick and versatile song writing tool: import the stems as a block and then mute and solo according to needs.
Simon and various producers and musicians have used the project himself on numerous occasions for both building tracks and as a song writing tool.
Listen to “Climate Carioca”, composed and recorded using the “Samba Funk” package.
Because of the size of the project and the large number of possibilities for using it, the files are not yet downloadable from this site. If you are interested, please contact Simon directly and he will be able to direct you to what you are looking for and provide the files for an eventual download.