Review: Goldbaby Dirt and Layers sample pack

Goldbaby’s latest sample pack Dirt and Layers features a collection of samples to enhance your drum and percussion sounds by adding some dirt, layers & more.

The dirt category comprises 140 sounds, including vinyl and tape noise, digital hash, guitar amp and pedal hum and more.

The dirt sounds can add subtle or not so subtle texture to your individual instruments or whole mixes. Add some vinyl noise to give the impression that your instrument was sampled off vinyl. Add some tape noise to make your recordings sound like they were done on tape before noise reduction was invented. Use the damaged cassette noise to fake your cassette sampling skills.

No less than 830 drum layering sounds are found in the layers category. These include kick drum subs, snare top sounds, sucking sounds, transients, and more.

The drum layering sounds are a fantastic tool kit for augmenting and beefing up drum sounds. Give your drums more depth and texture by experimenting with different layers. Boost the bottom end of kicks with tuned subs or add a transient layer to help it cut through a mix. Crispen snares with various top layers or add body and substance using the sauce and body layers.

For instant gratification you can drop one of the 50 loops (REX) in your track to get the authentic, characteristic sounds of vinyl, dirt patterns, etc.

While the pack is clearly designed to enhance your drum sounds and add character to (any) audio, many of the sounds are also great for using as is, or as the basis for further processing. If you like your odd percussion sounds like me, you will be in for a treat. Transient clicks and kick subs are probably best used layered with existing drum sounds, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them any other way. Hugo also included things like synth fx, random noises and vocoder sounds, so you really have a good variety of sounds.

Maschine and Geist users will be happy to hear that Dirt and Layers includes browser integration for these instruments, so everything is nicely ordered/tagged and good to go right off the bat.

Check this nice video demonstrating how you can use these tools to layer sounds in Maschine.

So what do I think?

I think this is one of Goldbaby’s best sample packs to date. Hugo has always delivered work of the highest quality, but to me Dirt and Layers is a bit special, something like a treasure trove.

Making sure you have good quality source material to work with is really important, but there usually is room for improvement. Dirt and Layers is like a toolbox filled to the brim with the best tools for the job.

Depending on the vibe you are trying to create you will want to add some of those character noises, fatten up your drum sounds, or add some excitement with sound fx type samples. This pack has it all.

And if you like a more experimental sound, you’re going to be using these samples for a lot more than layering or simply adding character. Get your creative juices flowing!

More information: Goldbaby / Dirt and Layers

Hey there, I'm Ronnie and I run Rekkerd.org. I'm a bedroom music producer and guitar player, and I love chicken vindaloo & all things glitch.