Acoustic Oddities with Quinn Oulton
The making of our latest OneShot Pack
Not to long ago our path crossed with, producer, and instrumentalist from London Quinn Oulton. Quinn creates unconventional soundscapes that blur the lines between pop, jazz and RnB. His unique brand of musicality has made him an established name in the music world. Our recent collaboration with Quinn has given rise to Acoustic Oddities, an extension to our drum sampler OneShot that reimagines drums.
In his solo music Quinn continuously explores new ways to manipulate acoustic sounds like his Saxophone and Vocals, aiming to disguise their tonal qualities while retaining subtle hints of the original instrument.
"With Acoustic Oddities, I wanted to push this process into the percussive world - something I hadn’t explored as much until now. The idea of using instruments the ‘wrong’ way to find an outcome that feels fresh yet not out of place, was really appealing" he shares.
So, what if everything but drums was drums?
The creation of Acoustic Oddities began with three of Quinns go-to instruments—saxophone, guitar, and bass guitar. Rather than capturing typical melodies, he experimented to uncover hidden rhythmic qualities within each instrument. These experiments culminated in the three ‘organic’ kits, offering drum and percussion elements derived directly from acoustic sources but designed for a drum pad layout.
One of the primary challenges was to balance the inherent tonal qualities that these instruments hold, as their main purpose is to play melodically/harmonically. “I wanted to retain just enough harmonic personality to give each sound a unique character,” he says. These can be adjusted in OneShot to suit the key of your song.
"I wanted to retain just enough harmonic personality to give each sound a unique character"
In the next phase, he sought to “push” the sounds from their organic origins into a more traditional drum-machine territory. Inspired by classic drum samples, including iconic 808 and 909 kits, he crafted three ‘processed’ kits that combine the warmth of acoustic sounds with the punch of modern drum production.
"These processed kits feel almost disguised from their source material, but if you listen closely, you can still trace back the essence" he adds.
For instance, a deep note from a saxophone becomes a powerful kick drum, balancing the familiar with the unexpected.
I then went one step further with the ‘heavy’ kits, to make something that fully disguises the source material, and give a completely different sound palette, which feels at home in heavier, harder hitting genres.
A fun addition was the guitar kalimba, which came from the plucking of the headstock strings on my favourite Hofner Senator guitar, resulting in a unique sounding take on a tonal percussive instrument.
With Acoustic Oddities, we want to give producers a toolkit that offers endless creative possibilities. Having a fun set of tools that immediately present you with great sounding, slightly unusual choices is so valuable to work on your sound selection as a producer. Acoustic Oddities sits perfectly in this space. A dark, reverby ‘bass guitar drum kit’ may not be your first thought when producing a song, but it might be exactly what you didn’t know you wanted.
Check out Quinns new EP "Lead You To Water" on streaming or buy the vinyl at Bandcamp
