Dua Lipa, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Doja Cat, SZA, Justin Timberlake, The Weeknd, Burna Boy and Kylie Minogue are just some of the artists who've tapped into Vaughn Oliver's peerless 'Power Tools'
Declan, thank you for this insightful interview! I'm looking for background info on Oliver as I enjoy his samples ("Power Tools Decades - 00's" is #1 in Top Packs), and this HIT THE SPOT. I'm a frequent Splice user (I also go shopping in-between tracks), and even amidst so many other packs with "the same kinds of sounds", his really stand out because he does extra touches to the mastering and stereo field (which was touched on in here, you can always collapse to mono if you don't need it) that make them not just "punch" but have a depth and presence.
Something Oliver REALLY NAILS are what I call "APEX ARCHETYPES", meaning you can have so many LinnDrum-style snares out there, but out of all of them, Oliver's will cover that target focus with clarity and consistency, meaning across his whole catalogue, the (drum) hits sound continuous from one to the next.
I almost feel guilty when I'm browsing sounds by similarity (great AI tool), and I find something that isn't _quite_ there yet, and then it'll lead me to one of Oliver's. I didn't think to look for it by name, but there it is — hearing is believing!
That being said, after YEARS, Splice still needs to add true Boolean search and better search tools in general, it's awkward how some cutting-edge discovery tools are right next to missing basics.
Once Oliver has ploughed through his garbage approach of plagiarizing and packaging the best of 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s .... and the "here now" 20s are now jampacked with other plagiarizers who use his samples.. what next? will he hit a dead end like a snake eating its own tale? sounds like a death spiral to me. wtf is wrong with people these days..no wonder most of the music out there is utter garbage with no soul what so ever. Marvin Gaye was killed by his own father, and that seems like a better fate than this nonsense.
also to the author - on one end, you seem to mourn the death of music, and from the other side of your mouth, seem to be giving to platform to garbage like this.. I went to Splice and it is clear as to why music today is oversaturated. their whole approach seems to be to dumb down the process and endlessly loot the 60s/70s/80s/90s crates to enable shit that is Spotify these days. very concerning.
Declan, thank you for this insightful interview! I'm looking for background info on Oliver as I enjoy his samples ("Power Tools Decades - 00's" is #1 in Top Packs), and this HIT THE SPOT. I'm a frequent Splice user (I also go shopping in-between tracks), and even amidst so many other packs with "the same kinds of sounds", his really stand out because he does extra touches to the mastering and stereo field (which was touched on in here, you can always collapse to mono if you don't need it) that make them not just "punch" but have a depth and presence.
Something Oliver REALLY NAILS are what I call "APEX ARCHETYPES", meaning you can have so many LinnDrum-style snares out there, but out of all of them, Oliver's will cover that target focus with clarity and consistency, meaning across his whole catalogue, the (drum) hits sound continuous from one to the next.
I almost feel guilty when I'm browsing sounds by similarity (great AI tool), and I find something that isn't _quite_ there yet, and then it'll lead me to one of Oliver's. I didn't think to look for it by name, but there it is — hearing is believing!
That being said, after YEARS, Splice still needs to add true Boolean search and better search tools in general, it's awkward how some cutting-edge discovery tools are right next to missing basics.
Once Oliver has ploughed through his garbage approach of plagiarizing and packaging the best of 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s .... and the "here now" 20s are now jampacked with other plagiarizers who use his samples.. what next? will he hit a dead end like a snake eating its own tale? sounds like a death spiral to me. wtf is wrong with people these days..no wonder most of the music out there is utter garbage with no soul what so ever. Marvin Gaye was killed by his own father, and that seems like a better fate than this nonsense.
Ha damn! What a comment
what do you want me to do? sing praises to the current trend of death spiral loop d'loooping?
Nope! All valid points if slightly OTT ha
also to the author - on one end, you seem to mourn the death of music, and from the other side of your mouth, seem to be giving to platform to garbage like this.. I went to Splice and it is clear as to why music today is oversaturated. their whole approach seems to be to dumb down the process and endlessly loot the 60s/70s/80s/90s crates to enable shit that is Spotify these days. very concerning.