All my wandering around downtown Detroit finally came to fruition with Beatserv’s Detroit Sound Pack.

The first in a series of urban soundscapes gone idm, Detroit turns the clamor of a city into an essential percussion library. Our city series includes both raw unprocessed samples as well as bits and glitches created entirely from these original samples. Detroit includes 105 samples within two kits — clean and procedural — in Battery 3 and Live Pack formats. 24 bit WAV files are also included.

You can listen to audio samples and get the pack at the Beatserv site.

December is a busy month for Beatserv. We just released our first sound library, called Bombs and Bits:

Bombs and Bits is a meticulously designed sample library of epic low end blasts and warped, yet elemental, percussion. The first of many forthcoming Beatserv sound packs, Bombs and Bits includes 50 original samples and comes in Battery 3 and Live Pack formats. 24 bit WAV files are also included.

We priced it at just $9.95. So with the 20% off sale  it’s only $7.96, which is ridiculously low for such a unique collection of sounds.

But we also added something completely free to the site, a collection of original hip hop loops. We also put together and included a rather unique MIDI-controllable turntable scratching kit. It’s free, so why not check it out?

I spent an afternoon in downtown Detroit this weekend, banging and kicking everything that wasn’t moving, and chasing down the things that were, recording all as source material for Beatserv. It’s surprising what things resonate upon impact and what things respond with a dead thud. Metal garbage cans were the best resonators, and I’d say plastic garbage cans were consistently the worst. The coolest thing was what can only be described as a metal bikerack/hanging ashtray that sounded like a whole set of cymbals. Also surprising was that background noise was more of a problem inside buildings than outside on the street. And the monorail makes almost no noise, so it wasn’t very interesting. I have yet to go through all the recordings, but initially it sounds like some good material.

I’ve been on last.fm and Pandora in the last few days, and keyed in DJ Shadow. I ended up listening to a nonstop variety of instrumental hip-hop and true trip-hop productions for 4 days straight. Does this hint at something in the future for Beatserv? Quite possibly. Maybe something to promote in the wake of DJ Hero’s release later this month.

I encountered lots of old gems that I haven’t heard in a long time, and learned about many artists I hadn’t known about. It all reminds me that the likes of Shadow, UNKLE, Mixmaster Mike, Q-Bert, RJD2, Cut Chemist, and their associated MCs, really blow away the hip-hop we hear on the radio and teletube.

I’m very proud of the beats we came up with and how the coordination of four beatmakers all came together for this. Andrew Sega, Corey McCafferty, Wade Alin and I put out a really nice product. Just listening to the preview tracks is enjoyable. Here’s the spiel:

With over 340 loops, more than 180 original samples, plus 4 NI Battery kits, you get an arsenal of beats, and our best value.

Series 2 was built from the ground up, starting with the best drum microphones and Lavry converters. From there, we compressed, recompressed, synthesized, and tricked-out the samples until they became our own. In Series 2, you’ll find everything from solid, fundamental drum hits to the most warped styles.

Check it all out at www.beatserv.com.