When Nate Kiz opened the Dropbox link from The Drum Broker, he wasn’t prepared for what stared back: nearly two terabytes of drums and samples, a digital crate-digger’s dream and nightmare.
To make sense of it, he worked out a simple formula for DB Looper: each beat would be built from one melodic sample and one drum sample. The catch was that those elements could never come from the same pack. That way, even if he dipped into the same pack for another beat, the drums and melodies were always sourced separately, keeping every track unique.
The result was DB Looper, an album built entirely from Drum Broker sounds where Nate stepped away from his usual micro-chopped style to embrace looping. But it wasn’t just drag-and-drop. He chopped many of the drum sounds into new patterns, layering his own swing into the project so that each track carried his fingerprint.
The Early Days
For Nate Kiz, beatmaking started long before DB Looper ever hit Bandcamp. His dad was a drummer, so music gear was always around the house. But instead of sitting at a kit, he got curious about how rhythms could be programmed.
A bootleg copy of Fruity Loops 3 gave him his first taste of digital production. Around the same time, a PlayStation music game introduced him to sequencing in a different way. Those tools weren’t glamorous, but they made him realize he’d rather build the beats than rap over them.
In the pre-YouTube era, learning production was slow and hands-on. Every problem meant trial and error: figuring out why samples didn’t line up, how to clean up muddy sounds, or how to make drums knock harder. “Everything took longer back then,” he says, “but those mistakes gave my beats a grit I still chase today.”
Koala Sampler
Eventually, he embraced new tools like Koala Sampler on iPad, drawn in part by learning that Madlib made beats entirely on his tablet. At first, he doubted a $5 app could compete with heavyweight DAWs. Now, nearly 1,000 Koala beats later, it’s his main weapon.
“Koala lets me work anywhere: on the couch, in the car, even waiting in a parking lot,” he says. “It’s pure focus with zero bloat.”
Flipping the Packs
When the Drum Broker drop arrived, Nate Kiz went straight for trusted names:
• The Alchemist - Break Fluid and Soundbytes
• Beat Butcha - Filth Series
• Jake One - Snare Jordan
• Marco Polo - Signature drum kits
• Select gems from Soul Surplus and Kingsway Music
"I wanted each beat to feel unique, so even if I pulled from the same pack twice, I never took both the drums and melody from it on the same beat. The drums always came from a different source, or vice versa. That way, each track still had its own DNA,” he explains. “Once I picked my melodic loop and drums, I’d just start building. No second-guessing."
The Concept
The name DB Looper wasn’t just a clever play on “loops.” It carried a story. Nate explained that he always liked the mystery of DB Cooper, the infamous hijacker who vanished in the 1970s after parachuting from a plane with stolen cash. For his project, he flipped that myth into a producer’s tale: DB Looper is a character who breaks into The Drum Broker vault, steals two terabytes of samples, and disappears into hiding.
On the album, that story plays out in beats, skits, and visuals. Each track is like another page in the caper, with the character escaping the scene, finding refuge on an island, and building a new identity out of the sounds he stole. “I wanted it to feel like you’re following this character’s journey, not just listening to a beat tape,” Nate said.
This narrative twist gave the project its identity. The “DB” in DB Looper became both Drum Broker and a nod to DB Cooper, while the “Looper” highlighted Nate’s decision to embrace loops over his usual micro-chopped approach. It’s more than just a project name: it’s a concept album built on myth, creativity, and the fun of reimagining history through hip hop production.
For Nate, DB Looper wasn’t just about beats or loops. The story gave him a canvas to experiment with visuals, skits, and animation that carried the project further.
More Than Music, A Story in Loops
DB Looper isn’t just an audio project, it’s a multimedia concept. Nate Kiz expanded the world with storytelling, voice acting, and animation, giving the release a distinct visual identity. His growing animation skills fed into skits, promo videos, and stickers, and he’s experimenting with collaborations to keep pushing boundaries. “I don’t just want people to hear this project,” he says. “I want them to step into its world.”
Why Koala Sampler
Koala’s simplicity and portability made DB Looper possible in ways no other setup could. The app strips beatmaking down to essentials which include sampling, chopping, sequencing without the clutter of a full DAW. But that minimalism comes with quirks. Sequencing can be tedious, and without traditional quantization, mistakes sneak in. Instead of fighting them, he leaned in. The swing and off-kilter feel became part of the project’s character, making the loops feel alive.
To expand Koala’s sonic palette, he paired it with the AUM app, running loops through effects chains that added grit, texture, and depth. This workflow let him blur the line between lo-fi and polished. Nate also relied heavily on BABY Audio’s FX Plugins as well as FabFilter’s Limiter for the project, which helped him polish the mixes.
The biggest shift, though, was freedom. Koala let him make beats anywhere: sketching on the couch, finishing chops in the car, even sneaking in a loop while his child napped. “Sometimes I only have 15 minutes,” he says. “But with Koala, I can get an idea out before it disappears.”
Goals Beyond DB Looper
Looking forward, Nate Kiz aims to release four projects a year, whether solo beat tapes, full collaborations with rappers, or producer-to-producer joint efforts. He’s also working toward launching his first sample pack, built from field recordings, contact mic experiments, drum loops, and melodies crafted with boutique gadgets.
His ambition isn’t about chasing placements, it’s about creating complete, self-contained works that reflect his vision.
Hear the Project for yourself:
DB LOOPER on bandcamp
DB LOOPER on Spotify
DB LOOPER on Apple Music
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