Dirt, scum, fuzz, filth, scuzz, call it what you will, in the end it's all distortion. With this in mind here is a sample pack of distorted loops and one shots to bring an instant dose of adulterated noise to proceedings.
The distortion has all been generated with analogue devices, mostly stompboxes along with the trusty Thermionic Culter Rooster valve preamp/EQ. Sources were reamped through chains of pedals either via the Little Labs Redeye and Sandpit DI/Reamp (based around a Jensen JE-DB-D transformer) in parallel into the Rooster or ISA828, or via the mono Mixing Link which also ended in the WEM Custom Copicat tape echo from 1965, itself finally amped by the ISA828.
In the fully analogue chains with which we processed these sounds, no two loops were allowed to use the same settings and pedals were regularly swapped out in case the dirt became too similar. The only coherent settings were used for the chord one shots which feature three classic keyboards (Mellotron, Wurlitzer and B-3, courtesy of the excellent Arturia V Collection) having seven major and minor chord voicings beaten up by transistors, transformers, valves/tubes, diodes and magnetic tape.
The Nasty Guitar folder was the result of an idle plugging of a Gretsch hollow body guitar into the Eventide Mixing Link chain, with the attendant feedback that occurred via the studio monitors. Drum hits were also collected along the way as acoustic and electronic drum loops were created.
What you need to know
These samples are divided into 15 folders: 11 tempo-labelled folders of loops and four more folders of more specific sounds.
All the samples are supplied as WAV files so can be imported directly into your DAW or sampler of choice. Because they're royalty-free, you're welcome to use the samples in your music in any way you like - all we ask is that you don't re-distribute them.
The samples are supplied in a zip file, so you'll need to extract them before you can see them. Enjoy!
Example sounds
Analogue dirt samples: click to download
These samples originally appeared in Future Music Magazine. Check out the latest issue for many more.
Head over to the SampleRadar hub to download over 75,000 more free samples.
