4 Stars

Producer Coen Lagerweij is clearly a big fan of sampling Ybermeister Eric Persing's Distorted Reality, which has had an influence on the type of material presented on this new release from Zero-G.



Not that this is a bad thing, as there are few who could not have been inspired by Persing's twisted ambiences and drum loops. Seismic Frequencies is in the familiar package of a 99-track audio CD with a separate WAV file CD featuring the same material. Split into logical and 'easy to follow' categories, the disc kicks off with an ambient section. This features some laid back and ethereal pads which are listed (when relevant) with their appropriate key signatures. In general, the lengths of the pads and drones are kept short but usable, allowing more track time for variety -- which is delivered by the truckload.



Other categories in this first half include Ambient Shots, Atmospheres, Creatures and Drones. All fairly self-explanatory and delivering just the right amounts of spaced-out, occasionally threatening, sometimes beautiful, and often downright weird audio that shows as much skill in sound design as it does in creative recording, mixing and processing techniques.



The middle third of the disc is given over to a huge collection of bangs, clunks, whizzes and whooshes. These take the form of explosions, analogue synth FX, drum hits and 'Game FX' which contain exactly the kind of material that would be perfect for multimedia applications and sound designers for video games. Seismic Frequencies manages to push the sonic envelope just that bit further and succeeds in proving that pure creativity and consumer accessibility need not be mutually exclusive.



The end of the disc features some interesting and usable drums loops (far too few at 14) as well as some great Sweep FX and Sci-Fi noises, which will make even the dullest of programmers wish they were working on post-production for The Matrix 2.



This is a solidly constructed, useful, and at times inspiring journey into sound design but it does raise a few questions -- namely about usage. At least a third of this disc contains brief hits and 'Button' effects that would work perfectly for anyone putting together multimedia applications or the sounds that you find on DVD menu pages. However, at the back of the manual, Zero-G are quite specific about what you can and can't use their sound libraries for in a multimedia capacity. They state that use in "applications such as sounds FX, icon sounds, ambiences, game noises etc is not allowed". Thus leaving you to use all of these sounds in a purely 'musical context' -- surely something that at least a third of the sounds on this disc were never designed to do...