LONDON, UK: Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of its ORIGINALS EPIC CHOIR release — representing the 17th sample library in its inspiring ORIGINALS series making rare and classic instruments accessible and affordable to all in authentic detail with no compromise on recording quality, this time assembling a 50-piece large-scale ensemble of London’s finest vocalists in the hallowed (Lyndhurst) Hall at London’s legendary AIR Studios, split into two sections and presented in the sound-specialising British music technology company’s in-house (AAX-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3- compatible, NKS-supporting) plug-in with three signals and 12 articulations designed to inspire and ease the scoring journey — as of July 21, 2022…
“ORIGINALS EPIC CHOIR features 50 singers, which is the biggest ensemble of voices that we’ve recorded yet.” So says Spitfire Audio in-house composer Homay Schmitz, surely perfectly positioned to make its introduction. “It’s been recorded at AIR Studios’ Lyndhurst Hall, so you get those beautiful acoustics; with it also being a former church, you get the singers in a traditional habitat as well,” she continues, before adding: “I think voices are an incredibly human — if not the most human — element you can add to music, so I’m really excited about this one.”
Of course, the fact that Spitfire Audio has made a 50-piece large-scale ensemble of London’s finest vocalists creatively captured in the hallowed (Lyndhurst) Hall at London’s legendary AIR Studios so easily accessible to anyone courtesy of ORIGINALS EPIC CHOIR is an especially exciting proposition. Presented in the sound-specialising British music technology company’s in-house plug-in, it features a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that is as easy on the eye as it is to use, ultimately familiar to owners of any other ORIGINALS series sample libraries and also many other Spitfire Audio releases outside of the ORIGINALS series. “If we have a look at the GUI, the choir is split into two sections, with the SOPRANOS & ALTOS making up the first and the TENORS & BASSES making up the second,” says Homay Schmitz. Still better, “Both of them are also mirroring the same set of presets.”Put it this way: with 12 presets — SOPRANOS & ALTOS: Long Ahh (long sustained note, sung on the ‘ahh’ vowel sound); SOPRANOS & ALTOS: Long Mmm (long sustained note, hummed on the ‘mmm’ consonant); SOPRANOS & ALTOS: Episodic Combo 1 (long, episodically-changing sustained note, blending between a combination of different vowel sounds, for a textual and shifting sound); SOPRANOS & ALTOS: Episodic Combo 2 (long, episodically-changing sustained note, blending between a combination of different vowel sounds, for a textual and shifting sound); SOPRANOS & ALTOS: Short Staccato Syllables (short, sharp sound, sung on one of up to seven different syllabic sounds); and SOPRANOS & ALTOS: Short Staccato Syllables (Keyswitch) (short, sharp sound, sung on one of up to seven different syllabic sounds, with keyswitch functionality for changing between specific syllables); plus TENORS & BASSES: Long Ahh (long sustained note, sung on the ‘ahh’ vowel sound); TENORS & BASSES: Long Mmm (long sustained note, hummed on the ‘mmm’ consonant); TENORS & BASSES: Episodic Combo 1 (long, episodically-changing sustained note, blending between a combination of different vowel sounds, for a textual and shifting sound); TENORS & BASSES: Episodic Combo 2 (long, episodically-changing sustained note, blending between a combination of different vowel sounds, for a textual and shifting sound); TENORS & BASSES: Short Staccato Syllables (short, sharp sound, sung on one of up to seven different syllabic sounds); and TENORS & BASSES: Short Staccato Syllables (Keyswitch) (short, sharp sound, sung on one of up to seven different syllabic sounds, with keyswitch functionality for changing between specific syllables) — it is easy to get excited, especially as all are available across three signals: Close (all spot mics summed together for a clear and transparent sound); Tree (a Decca Tree spaced microphone array, giving a spacious and enveloping sound); and Ethereal (adds texture, brightness, and width to the vocals for a glistening and shimmering sound, while still retaining an organic feel, thanks to a treated signal of saturation, reverb, and EQ).
Further flexibility for sound control comes courtesy of REVERB — a realistic hall-style impulse response, RELEASE — a release trigger that only applies to long patches, and TIGHTNESS — cuts further into the note to make it tighter, and only applies to short patches.
Paying particular attention to the SOPRANOS & ALTOS: Episodic Combo 2 patch with an atmospheric combination of maximised REVERB and Ethereal signal settings, Homay Schmitz goes on to say, “I love it that when you trigger notes at different times they just interweave nicely with one another.” It is all personal preference, patently, but the in-house composer clearly knows what she likes: “Potentially my favourite patch is SOPRANOS & ALTOS: Short Staccato Syllables… the syllables cycle around, but it has also been programmed so that if you play multiple notes at the same time, they each play the same syllable; it also gives me Carl Orff vibes, and I think it has a pretty good dynamic range — pretty good, as the title suggests, for some epic-type stuff.”
Spitfire Audio’s 17th sample library in its inspiring ORIGINALS series certainly lives up to its 50-piece large-scale ensemble-enabled EPIC CHOIR naming. Needless to say, it impresses in-house composer Homay Schmitz in doing so. She concludes: “I’m really happy about EPIC CHOIR being part of the ORIGINALS series. Having sung in a large choir myself as a kid, I always thought that there was something quite powerful, emotive, and sort of ancient about so many people singing together in the same room. And it’s also the only form of making music where you don’t need any equipment or tools.”
That said, it could well be that ORIGINALS EPIC CHOIR is exactly the kind of music-making tool that composers and producers stepping up from Spitfire Audio’s free LABS series seeking more depth and control over their sounds are looking for from a lightweight NKS-supporting plug-in weighing in at under 3GB. It is also designed to be incredibly inspirational and easy to use straight out of the box, with presets loading up with controls set in the way that they are intended to be used. Ultimately, it ticks all the boxes — just like its ORIGINALS series siblings.
ORIGINALS EPIC CHOIR is available as an AAX-, AU-, VST2-, and VST3-compatible plug-in supporting Native Instruments’ NKS (NATIVE KONTROL STANDARD®) for Mac (OS X 10.13 – macOS 12) and Windows (7, 8, 10, and II — latest Service Pack) that loads directly into any compatible DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) for an RRP (Recommended Retail Price) of only £29.00 GBP (inc. VAT)/$29.00 USD/€29.00 EUR (inc. VAT) — from here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/originals/#epic-choir
Spitfire Audio’s namesake Spitfire Audio application allows anyone to buy now and download anytime, and is available for free from here: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/info/library-manager/
For more in-depth information, please visit Spitfire Audio’s ORIGINALS Frequently Asked Questions webpage here: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/info/faq/spitfire-originals/
Watch Spitfire Audio’s premiere of ORIGINALS EPIC CHOIR — with welcomed walkthrough by Spitfire Audio in-house composer Homay Schmitz — here: https://youtu.be/EJz7t4jUwDE