Housed on a single DVD, US sample-house Big Fish Audio's Hip Hop Mood Swings contains 40 hip-hop (in case you hadn't guessed) construction kits in 24‑bit WAV, Apple Loops, REX and RMX formats. Each kit follows the standard format of the full track (with tempo and key info given in each title), and all the component loops include a folder of single drum hits. Kit tempos range from 60bpm to 115bpm, with many of the arrangements reaching beyond just a bog-standard four‑bar loop. The inclusion of a chorus or build section is very welcome and adds even more flexibility and variety to the collection. Having said that, some of the kits are perhaps a little too busy, especially if a vocal is added — but it's easy enough to strip them down if required, and it does ensure that there are plenty of elements to play around with.
Style‑wise, this collection is focused mainly on those chunky, platinum‑selling sort of beats, with plenty of chewy synth‑lines and stabs. Everything is put together very well and the production values are high. Although you won't find anything particularly cutting‑edge here, all the kits sound very fat and authentic, if a bit samey at times. Luckily, there are also some kits that stray off the well-worn path and have a heavy, latin, jazzy influence that makes them really stand out: they're easily my favourite parts of the collection.
One instrument that crops up a lot throughout the construction kits is the guitar, both acoustic and electric. These riffs and loops are well played and recorded and, on the whole, fit in very well with the collection's overall style. Very occasionally some of the licks feel a touch surplus to requirements but it's easy enough to leave these loops out. On top of the guitar loops, there's also a folder of 30 bonus riffs and single shots contained within the kits.
On the beats front, I found some of the loops included in the kits were a touch uninspiring in the choice of sounds and patterns, although they all have the requisite bounce and swing for an urban collection. On the whole, though, it was the bass loops that provided the only real let-down, as they tended to be rather unexciting sub‑lines or rather predictable synth-bass riffs. However, the blame for this really sits with the current trends in hip-hop, rather than the DVD's producer, Big Chris Flores.
In a market pretty much swamped with similar titles, Hip Hop Mood Swings is a good‑quality collection of 40 kits that delivers that slick, well‑produced commercial American hip-hop/R&B style, and can hold its own against the competition. Sure, there's nothing particularly new — but if you're looking to add a slice of authentic urban flavour to your mixes, Hip Hop Mood Swings is well worth a try. Oli Bell