ryangruss.com

No, this isn’t a setup to a weird joke.

Damn, the 80’s looked fun.

Breaking news, hot off the press from the good people over at thelooploft.com:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Loop Loft, Boston, MA – February 12, 2010 – Have you been searching for a loop pack focused entirely on brushes? Well, you’re not alone. At The Loop Loft, we’ve received many requests for drum loops that incorporate the warmth and ambiance that only brushes and a coated drumhead can provide. After several months and eight separate recording sessions, we’re proud to bring you the first loop pack consisting of 100% brush performances. With grooves ranging from jazz ballads to funky linear grooves to double time “train” shuffles to folk rock back beats, The Art of Brushes Volumes Vol 1 is the most dynamic and genre-spanning loop pack available anywhere!

Number of Loops: 103
Tempo Range: 68-212 BPM

- Instant Downloads
- 100% Royalty Free
- High Quality 24 Bit 48 KHZ Audio
- WAV, REX2 and AIFF Formats

Sets included:
68_JazzBallad
75_PopBallad
79_Chill
103_Funky
140_Granola
144_BackBeat
179_FiveFour
212_Train

Click below to preview:

For more info on The Art of Brushes Vol 1, just click here.

Such a pun-laden headline could only mean one thing: Another funk loop. And rather than picking up the sticks and burying the VU meters into the red, I decided to to go the subtle route and use brushes to lay down the back beat.

Jim Keltner - Master of brushes, forks and pens.

Loop #119

I’ll admit, I’m not breaking any new ground with today’s groove. Drummers like Steve Jordan, Jim Keltner, and even the guy from G. Love and Special Sauce have been incorporating brushes into funk and pop grooves for years. I am, however, providing you with two measures of pristinely-produced, wide open snare, right hand on the floor tom, brush-based goodness.

Enjoy.

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103 BPM

I can’t tell you how sick I am of hearing tired, canned dance beats. I don’t even like dance music. But if I have to hear it while out in public, away from the safe confines of my iPod, I might as well try to improve the quality of the drum sounds. The world has been overrun by shitty producers with their 808 samples and re-mixed Ableton Live schlock. And don’t even get me started about the kitten DJs who spin said schlock.

Stop the madness.

Loop #108

How does one try to come up with fresh sounding dance loops? Start with something that sounds nothing like a cliché electronica beat. In this case, it’s using brushes to lay down the groove. Chopped up with a touch of gating, peppered with some growly floor toms and sautéd in some extra trashy hi hats, I give you my first dance loop intended to make this genre a little more palatable (especially when served alongside a $14 gin and tonic made by someone like this).

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118 BPM

Loop #107

Here’s my loop response from the following request:

“I’d like something that can go behind a slow acoustic guitar without taking over.”

Brushes - Russ Kunkel Style

I immediately thought of Russ Kunkel’s brush-ballad playing from those early 1970’s James Taylor records. I tuned the snare down nice and low, kept the groove nice and simple and rounded things out with a bit of reverb.

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70 BPM

While perusing the homepage of this site earlier today, making sure everything was in order, something jumped out at me: A major gap in my tempo categories! How did this happen? How have I not recorded anything between 260-300 BPM?? That’s prime wanking territory. I’ve spent years perfecting paradiddles and triple flama-ratama-dingdongs in the this range, yet I somehow neglected to record anything for this blog. I immediately went up to my studio, set the click track to 285 BPM and got to work.

Loop #101

The second-fastest loop yet to be released, today’s groove kicks of my new tempo category with some straight up bebop playing in the vein of Max Roach and Vernel Fournier. A four bar phrase with brushes on the snare drum, this uptempo jazz groove is one of many that I’ll be releasing in the next loop pack.

Max Roach

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285 BPM

Yeah, I know I haven’t posted any “free” loops in the past few days. Things are a bit crazy at the moment… and there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes. You shall see soon. To keep you entertained in the meantime, here’s a video of Clayton Cameron (Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett) demonstrating some very basic brush technique.

Best know for his amazing brush work, Ed Thigpen shows us how to take it a step further by only playing with his hands…. and then using mallets to bring the solo to a crescendo.

The always swinging, Billy Hart, gives us an up close look into the art of brush (and broomstick) playing.

Well, I promised nothing but jazz this week and I’m staying true to my word. As much as I wanted to record some glam-rock, power ballad beats (trust me, they’re coming), I resisted the temptation and stayed focused on the “classic” stuff.

Loop #63

Max Roach

Like yesterday’s groove, today’s loop is another eight bar phrase, but at a brisker tempo and played with brushes. Stylistically, it’s a mix of all of my favorite brush players including; “Philly Joe” Jones, Max Roach and Vernel Fournier.

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Download the Logic session here. (68MB)

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245 BPM