Wednesday 27 September 2017

Spitfire Audio announces availability of ultimate drum sample library in percussive partnership with Hans Zimmer

Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION — partnering with the biggest name in film scoring to produce the ultimate drum sample library for cinematic percussion.


HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION is a perfect fit for Spitfire Audio’s established ethos of producing the finest virtual instruments from the finest musical samples in the world. Why? Well, with Hans Zimmer — one of the most successful, influential, and prolific film composers of his generation — generously giving not just his notable name to this authorised take on his trailblazing approach to cinematic percussion production but also overseeing every detail of its recreation using the same studio, musicians, instruments, signal chain, and talented engineering experience, innovation, and refinement — right down to personally mixing the resultant superlative-sounding sample-based virtual instrument’s C (close), R (room), and S (surround) HZ MIX perspectives, rest assured that this is the real deal!

Digging deeper, HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION combines the output from two extraordinary recording blocks. Material from the first features four of Hans Zimmer’s go-to percussionists — Paul Clarvis, Stephen Henderson, Gary Kettel, and Frank Ricotti — performing on a variety of instruments in various styles in what is essentially a distillation of over a decade’s worth of musical experimentation and innovation, including the composer’s classic selection of drum ensembles and solo instruments: TAIKO ENSEMBLE, BOMBO ENSEMBLE, SURDO ENSEMBLE, LOW BOOM, LOW BOOM GALLERY, BASS DRUM GALLERY, GONG DRUM, DHOL ENSEMBLE, TOMBEK ENSEMBLE, BOOBAM, TAMTAM, METAL (Piattis, Anvils, Crusher), and TIMPANI. The remainder of HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION makes much use of longterm Hans Zimmer collaborator and acclaimed percussionist Paul Clarvis (Spectre, The Dark Knight, Harry Potter, Star Wars) with played instruments including PAPER DJUN, DARBUKA, SNARE, and BUCKETS.

Spitfire Audio Director Paul Thomson’s ‘traditional’ HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION video walkthrough
Bite, clarity, detail, and nuance are all brought to bear upon this epic-sounding sample library. However, Hans Zimmer is especially enamoured with the softer things in percussive life so HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION puts whisper-quiet lower layers in the hands of its users by way of potential for delicate drum programming to help keep their cues ticking along — alongside the thunder that Hans Zimmer’s notable name conjures up musically for many, of course.
Spitfire Audio ‘composer in residence’ Oliver Patrice Weder’s
HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION ‘In Action’ video
Clearly, HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION is impeccably recorded at London’s legendary AIR Studios via an impressive signal chain: 96 rarefied microphones into Neve ‘Montserrat’ preamps into the world’s largest Neve 88R large-format console — which was exhaustively regained at every dynamic layer for optimum signal quality — via a dual chain to HDX and Prism convertors running at 192 kHz. In close collaboration with Hans Zimmer and his GRAMMY® Award-winning team of engineers, musicians, and technicians, Spitfire Audio recorded the drums and articulations each with up to nine round robins and six dynamic layers per hit with well over 30 TB of raw material from those superlative-sounding sessions alone!
Spitfire Audio’s helpful ‘How It Works’ video showing the Kickstarter interface
used in HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION
Anyone looking to get started in epic drum composition needs look no further than HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION. After all, Hans Zimmer has defined not only a compositional style, but also a production approach and sonic innovation that has influenced a generation of composers. Convincingly composing cinematic percussion parts like a Hollywood hotshot has become perfectly possible, thanks to this ultimate drum sample library from Spitfire Audio!
Spitfire Audio’s persuasive promo video for HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION
HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION can be purchased and digitally downloaded (as 48.5 GB of uncompressed .WAV files, featuring 12,225 samples) for a time-limited introductory promo price of £259.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$299.00 USD/€299.00 EUR (inc. VAT) until October 26, 2017 — rising thereafter to an MSRP of £349.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$399.00 USD/€399.00 EUR (inc. VAT) — from here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/hans-zimmer-percussion/

Note that HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION needs Native Instruments’ free KONTAKT PLAYER (5.6.8) — included in the purchase — to run as a fully NKS™ (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD) supporting plug-in instrument for Mac (OS X 10.10, 10.11 or macOS 10.12 — latest update) or Windows (7, 8, or 10 — latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit), while Spitfire Audio’s free Download Manager application allows anyone to buy now and download anytime.

For more in-depth information, including several superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated HANS ZIMMER PERCUSSION webpage here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/hans-zimmer-percussion/

About Spitfire Audio (www.spitfireaudio.com)
Spitfire Audio produces the finest virtual instruments from the finest musical samples in the world. It is a beacon of quality — not just for its own productions, but also for the endorsements it offers to third-party sample developers and fellow sound-smiths it goes into partnerships with. At the heart of the company’s evolution is the greatest recorded selection of orchestral samples on the planet thus far, alongside a recent expansion in scope to cover all areas of the music spectrum. Spitfire Audio was set up by a British group of composers, sound-smiths, producers, engineers, and technologists wanting to revolutionise sampling and bring it back to the centre of the music industry. Like any new music technology — from radio to synthesisers, sampling was (initially) perceived as a threat to music-making and music-makers. Spitfire Audio is at the vanguard of changing that perception; its main goal is to promote British music-making the world over while distributing royalties via an ever-growing distribution chain to its contributors — musicians, engineers, technicians, producers, and artists alike — based on sales. Spitfire Audio puts millions of pounds back into the British music industry while supporting charities and initiatives, both in the UK and beyond. By doing this, Spitfire Audio gets to work at the best places with the best people to make the best sounds on the planet today.

© 2017 Spitfire Audio Holdings Limited

No comments: