Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT — created in close
collaboration with world-renowned German composer and soundsmith Volker Bertelmann (a.k.a. Hauschka), best known for
film scores such as the Oscar-nominated Lion (2016) and Adrift (2018), as a multifaceted musical toolkit to add dazzling depth,
tension, and texture to anyone’s scoring spadework by bottling a sought-after signature sound palette, performed by
Hauschka himself on a Steinway Model D grand piano with 40-plus preparations, presented in Spitfire Audio’s advanced Evo
Grid layout and masterful Mercury synth engine with mix-and-match multiple signal options as an industry-standard KONTAKT-
powered instrument benefiting from the sound-specialising British music technology company’s seasoned sampling expertise,
encompassing unique soundscapes from epic industrial rhythms and thundering bass lines to offbeat, atonal plucks and
beautiful, shimmering pads that truly capture the sound world and creative spirit of a true innovator .
Although Hauschka has a number of prepared piano compositions to his notable name — not least, appropriately, an album titled The Prepared Piano (released in
2005), his HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT namesake collaboration with Spitfire Audio is not actually a prepared piano sample
library in the way that someone hearing
those two words out of context could conceive it to be, but rather a
creative exchange and an opportunity for its users to effectively
collaborate with a one-of-a-kind
composer. Clearly uncompromising and unorthodox, who better to formally
introduce that sought-after signature sound palette than Hauschka himself — Hauschka
being the stage name under which Volker Bertelmann mainly performs and records. “When I started to prepare the piano, I didn’t know much about John Cage,”
confesses the innovator in question. “I
wanted to create electronic-sounding music with an analogue instrument,
instead of using electronics or a computer, and to
play the instrument I can play in a new way. The first sound I came up
with was a hi-hat created by a Christmas cake wrapper that was given to
me by a friend in a
studio. That demonstrates the principle of my work, and reflects the
idea of how important it is to stay as creative as possible.”
Hauschka continues: “Creative
exchange is essential; if you don’t have it as an artist, you get to a
very boring place. I always try to work with people who bring me into
new territories.” It is for this reason that he ended up working with Spitfire Audio.
After all, the sound-specialising British music technology company
collaborates with the
best composers, artists, and engineers in the world to build musical
tools that sound great and are exciting to use. Ultimately, its
collective ambition was to capture the
sound world and creative spirit of a true innovator, drawn from Hauschka’s 30 years’ worth of experience as a pianist and Oscar-nominated film composer.
Clearly a match made in musical heaven ensued, enhanced by Spitfire Audio’s seasoned sampling expertise and advanced Evo Grid and masterful Mercury synth
engine technologies, buoyed by the beautiful blend of vintage equipment
and instruments — including a 1972-vintage Cadac G-series
fully-discrete, Class A console
with mastering-grade inductor EQs on each channel, Studer A80 two-inch
16-track multitrack recorder, and a heritage Steinway Model D concert
grand piano —
respectively residing in the perfectly proportioned (50m2/540 sq ft) control room and (120m2/1,300
sq ft) live room replete with natural daylight and revered reverb at
Berlin-based Vox-Ton, the fully-analogue recording studio where the
London-headquartered creative contingent had previously decamped to
record the acclaimed
ÓLAFUR ARNALDS EVOLUTIONS.
It is also the go-to recording space for some of today’s most renowned
composers, including Icelander Jóhann Jóhannsson (R.I.P.) —
famed for his collaborative film work with French Canadian director
Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival), and American pianist and composer Dustin O’Halloran. Here
everything essential to creatively crafting HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT’s unique soundscapes — spanning epic industrial percussive rhythms and thunderous bass
lines to offbeat, atonal plucks and beautiful, shimmering pads — were carefully captured by team Spitfire Audio, ably captained by Production Manager Harry
Wilson, working with Francesco Donadello, in-house engineer at Vox-Ton and longterm Hauschka collaborator, who was instrumental in curating each sound. Saying
that, the results mostly sound far removed from the original instrument, despite being performed by Hauschka himself on that heritage Steinway Model D grand piano
with which he is so comfortable.
Watch Spitfire Audio co-founder Paul Thomson’s ‘traditional’ video walkthrough of HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT here:
Conceptualising HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT through to those Berlin-based recording sessions, Spitfire Audio worked in close collaboration with Hauschka,
perfecting and expanding upon the tried-and-tested preparations used in
his existing works to capture both standalone notes and rhythmic
performances.
“Randomness mixed with intent...” effectively encapsulates Hauschka’s writing and sampling approach — an adventure into the unknown, in other words. With that
in mind, Spitfire Audio allowed ample room in the recording process, propelling the piano to places it has never been before, borne out of Hauschka’s
signature,
multifaceted sound — itself borne out of his endless fascination for the
interaction between existing instruments and other materials and
textures. Truly inspired by
sounds in nature, Hauschka’s
sounds are chaotic, unpredictable, and non-repeating — ranging from
jarring and noise-like to melodious and spine-tingling, the
combination of which creates compelling results, clearly contrasting
with the minimalism of his predecessors — including the prolific and
influential John Cage.
Creativity abounds as each of HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT’s
prepared samples are available as an organic sound while multiple
signal options afford additional
control to dramatically alter the sound of each sample since users can
utilise effects from Francesco Donadello’s desirable modular rig, Hauschka’s pedalboard
system, Spitfire Audio’s
distortion techniques, and a vintage Binson Echorec tape delay that
truly defined Pink Floyd’s classic Seventies sound to take things
further.
Better still, Spitfire Audio’s interactive and highly-intuitive Evo Grid user
interface imparts complete control over how the preparations are used
and combined.
Positioning ‘pins’ via an onscreen 11 x 12 grid arrangement allows
access to recordings across 12 intervals. Instantly select which sound
sits on each of those 12 key
ranges or explore endless possible combinations and instant
gratification with built-in randomisation features. Furthermore, each
patch is also available as a warped
version in Spitfire Audio’s masterful Mercury synth engine, loading with pedal and modular effects for more extreme warping.
Watch Spitfire Audio’s absorbing HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT introductory video here:
While HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT itself is split into six sections (Plug Hits, Plug Rhythms, Pad Sounds, Pad Hits, Swells, Drum Kits), four are presented as Evo Grid
layouts. All are distinctive in their own right, yet designed to compliment each other when layered together. The Plug Rhythms are
created from objects jumping and
flying off the piano strings, such as tea lights and ping pong balls,
resulting in unexpected rhythms. Other objects used span saxophone reeds
to toy drums,
tambourines to gaffer tape, and light filters to wooden pegs, creating
an array of new instruments. Indeed, the Evo Grid layout and multiple signal options allow
(almost) endless possibilities for each sound, with different results for every user.
Ultimately, then, HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT is ideal for any composer inspired by the avant-garde or any sound designer looking to explore new sonic territories
with sounds that can be applied to a wide range of compositions from leftfield electronica to orchestral scores. Summarises Hauschka: “I would love people to use
this library whenever they are stuck and don’t want to use obvious sounds.” Sounds like a good game plan. Time to play... with 40-plus preparations, 50 curated
presets, and 16,000 samples!
The 16,000 samples-strong HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT can be purchased and digitally downloaded (24.5 GB) for a time-limited introductory
promo price of £199.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$229.00 USD/€229.00 EUR (inc. VAT) until July 11, 2019 — rising thereafter to an RRP of £249.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$299.00 USD/€299.00 EUR (inc. VAT) — from here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/
HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT needs Native Instruments’ KONTAKT PLAYER (5.6.8 or higher) — a free version of the KONTAKT
sample playback engine (included in the purchase) — to run as a fully NKS (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD®)
supporting
plug-in instrument for Mac (OS X 10.10 or later) 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 some superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated
HAUSCHKA COMPOSER TOOLKIT webpage here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/
About Spitfire Audio (www.spitfireaudio.com)
British music technology company that specialises in sounds — sample
libraries, virtual instruments, and other useful software devices. It collaborates
with the best composers, artists, and engineers in the world to build
musical tools that sound great and are exciting to use.© 2019 Spitfire Audio Holdings Limited
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