Loopmasters is
a sound design label based in Brighton, UK. Loopmasters release and publish sample packs on the pro-audio market and cooperate with major software and hardware vendors including Ableton Live and Focusrite. Since 2008 Loopmasters also functions as an online store for music composers, producers and DJs.

History

Loopmasters was established in 2003. From its inception the company marched in sync with the sudden explosion of popularity of the computer-based DAWs like Steinberg

Steinberg

Steinberg GmbH is a German musical software and equipment company based in Hamburg. It mainly produces music recording, arranging and editing software as used in digital audio workstations and VSTi software synthesizers.- History :...

 Cubase, Apple Logic, Propellerheads Reason or Ableton Live

Ableton Live

Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...

 to name but a few. Loopmasters populated the market of pro-quality sound design

Sound design

Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production and video game software...

 and was among the first to release samples from renowned performers, producers and DJs such as Deadmau5

Deadmau5

Joel Thomas Zimmerman , better known by his stage name deadmau5 , is a Canadian progressive, electro, and house producer based in Toronto...

, Re-Zone, Coldcut

Coldcut

Coldcut are an English dance music duo, comprising Matt Black and Jonathan More. Their signature style is electronic dance music, featuring cut up samples of hip hop, breaks, jazz, spoken word and various other types of music, as well as video and multimedia.-1980s:In 1986, computer programmer Matt...

, Full Cycle

Full Cycle

A full cycle is a mathematical term that represents a traversal over a set of non-random numbers. A full cycle implies that every number in the set was chosen exactly once before repeating.Full cycles are useful in Pseudorandom number generators....

, Mad Professor

Mad Professor

Mad Professor is a dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music’s second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. He is a prolific producer, contributing to or...

, Meat Katie

Meat Katie

Mark Pember, also known as Meat Katie, is a London-based tech-funk producer and DJ. He has gained popularity in recent years in developing his style of tech-funk, combining techno, tribal, electro, breakbeat and house music...

, Dom Kane

Dom Kane

Dominic Clifton Kane , also known as Dom Kane, is a British progressive house and electro tech-house producer based in Cardiff, Wales. His discography includes tracks such as "Glitched Out", "Sweet & Low" and "Room Of Doom", which appear on The World's Greatest Electro Club Mix [Resist],...

, Marshall Jefferson

Marshall Jefferson

Marshall Jefferson is an American musician, working in house music, in particular, the subgenres of Chicago house and deep house.-Biography:...

 and many dance music icons.

Loopmasters Today

The Label

Loopmasters continue close cooperation with known and established producers. The scope of musical genres released under this label covers various electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 niches like Minimal House, Techno

Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

, Drum and Bass

Drum and bass

Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...

, Reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 as well as single-instrument sample libraries consisting of Loops and Sampler Presets. Loopmasters's close ties with the industry have yielded specialized Artist Series (with participation of established artists) and Label Series (with known music labels such as 2020 Vision, Tidy Trax or Full Cycle Recordings

Full Cycle Recordings

Full Cycle Recordings was a record label based in Bristol, England specialising in drum and bass. The label was a sister label of V Recordings and is owned and run by Daniel Kausman , Paul Southey , Keith Thompson and Ryan Williams...

).

The Portal

Loopmasters is also a portal, commercially dubbed "The Sample Boutique", which sells sample packs online. The portal also features other sound design labels and the full catalogue of titles is growing at a weekly rate. The portal allows quick sample pack browsing by Label name, music genre or format (i.e. supported software). The products are usually delivered as digital downloads and they are available in various delivery formats: Full Pack (which usually includes .WAV

WAV

Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...

 files + presets for popular samplers: Kontakt, Battery, EXS, Halion, NN-XT), AppleLoops, Ableton Live

Ableton Live

Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...

 packs and REX2

REX2

REX2 is a proprietary type of audio sample loop file format developed by Propellerhead, a Swedish music software company.It is one of the most popular and widely-supported loop file formats for sequencer and digital audio workstation software...

. All sample packs sold at Loopmasters are provided royalty free - whoever purchases the license to the sounds does not have to clear the samples for use in any music, TV or multimedia production.
With a few exceptions most audio material is offered at 44.1 kHz / 24-bit quality.

Loopmasters have also a video-based offspring - LoopTV, which provides original content for music producers and includes interviews with producers/DJs and music production tips & tricks. Although LoopTV exists under a separate URL (http://www.looptv.net) the links to its videos are integrated with the products featured on Loopmasters.

Third-party Labels On The Portal

The Sample Boutique currently carries sample packs from the following labels: 5 Pin Media, AMG Gold, Akai Professional, Cluster Sound, EarthMoments, Discovery Sound, Drumdrops, Dubdrops, eLab, Equipped Music, Galbanum, Global Underground

Global Underground

Global Underground is a music label founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolizes the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s and first manifesto for high-end DJs such as Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Danny Tenaglia, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, Darren...

, Goldbaby, Industrial Strength Records, Infrasonik, Mutekki Media, Organic Loops, Prime Loops

Prime Loops

-Background: is an audio production company based in London, UK and was founded by Ben Jayakody in 2008. The company’s focus is on the development of samples, loops and software sampler patches. Products are available in multiple formats allowing compatibility with popular DAW’s such as Logic Pro,...

, Producer Loops, Puremagnetik, Push Button Bang, RV_Samplepacks, Trackteam Audio, Wave Alchemy, Wavescape Studio and Zenhiser.

Standards

Loopmasters foster a user-oriented approach where the sample pack as a product should be as easy to use as possible. Clean library labelling, folder structure and filenaming with BPM and key info where applicable are the most basic usability factors.

Selected Awards

The following Loopmasters sample products were awarded top quality seals (10/10, 5/5, "Full Marks", etc.):

• Coldcut Sound Science - 5 Stars (Sound On Sound)
• KJ Sawka Drum&Bass Drums - 5 Stars (Sound On Sound)
• Deep Tech & Minimal - 10/10 (Waveformless)