Producer and DJ Lewis Beadle, aka El-B, has announced the release of a new sample pack, Ghost Vol. 1, featuring classic sounds drawn from his extensive discography and his own music released on the Ghost Recordings record label.
Ghost Vol. 1 is described as "the first of many sample packs to come", and said to contain "70 classic sounds from Ghost", including "8-bar beats, chord stabs, rimshots, bass" and more.
The sample pack is available to subscribers of El-B's Patreon. Depending on the subscription level, subscribers can also gain access to music production tutorials, producer talks, exclusive tracks, and early access to new material. Those opting for the premium tiers can access 1-2-1 music production mentoring sessions with El-B, track breakdowns and advice on mixing and mastering.
El-B is a producer and DJ hailing from South London. His solo work, in addition to the music released as part of the Groove Chronicles duo, has been hugely influential within UK electronic music. In the early '00s, El-B's moody, downcast 2-step UK garage played a formative role in inspiring other producers to fuse this sound with aspects of dub reggae to create a new genre: dubstep.
Burial named El-B as a key early influence in a 2006 interview with Blackdown. "I became obsessed with El-B and garage. Those drums. I’d been into jungle but then heard that stuff and loved it," Burial recalls. "I discovered El-B and garage at the same time. I heard his Brandy remix, then 'Buck n Bury' and 'Passage of Time' - and I hadn’t even heard 'Stone Cold' yet, though I’d heard of Groove Chronicles on something else I didn’t like. Then I heard 'Stone Cold' and I was just like 'fuck…'"
Burial goes on to reveal that it was his inability to emulate El-B's drums that initially led him to layer vinyl crackle into his tracks, which later became a central aspect of his sound. "I don’t know what he does," he tells Blackdown. "He’s got kit I don’t have so I started covering everything in crackle, to hide it, bury it, so I could do those drums I love. I didn’t have the equipment to make it sound like Photek-fucking-sculpted, proper heavy, El-B heavy. So I had no choice but to put the crackle on it and get away with it."
"Some of those tunes are sad because they sounded like the future back then and no-one noticed," he continues. "They still sound future to me. El-B’s stuff is still ahead of the game."
Earlier this month, El-B released Essential Ghost, a compilation album featuring 20 tracks from the past two decades of his label, Ghost Recordings.
Watch our 2007 Producer Masterclass with El-B below.
