Recording - July 2010 - 46

RECORDING'S

Big Fish Audio Cinematic Percussion, Elemental Studio Percussion, and Epic Drums
By Mike Metlay
Our newest arrivals from the folks at Big Fish Audio are three sets of percussion sounds for studio and soundtrack use—all “percussion”, but the musical similarities end there. Installation is as simple as drag and drop—just choose your format. After the messy early years of sound library organization, these DVDs are a dream: each is organized by format (ACIDized WAV, Apple Loops, REX2, and RMX) with clean subfolder organizations that are uniform from format to format so you don’t get lost. Everything’s 24-bit/44.1 kHz, and the sound quality is uniformly fantastic. In all of these libraries, the WAV and Apple Loops folders are identical in content and size, and the REX2 folder will be smaller because not all of the material works in REX2 format (and the REX2 file format has lossless compression). For example, a library may have 8.3 GB of total data, of which 3.5 GB is in the WAV folder—you then know that the Apple Loops folder will be the same, and the REX2 folder will be somewhat smaller and have fewer samples in it. It’s all outlined in the DVDs’ Read Me files. Cinematic Percussion This library comes on a dual-layer DVD with about 2.6 GB of unique WAV files. Cinematic Percussion is organized into 30 construction kits, each in its own subfolder, with the folder name showing tempo in BPM and odd meter (if any—seven of the 30 kits are not in 4/4). A couple of the kits have samples in multiple tempi and meters for added flexibility. Evocative titles like “Blood Sport” and “Great Wall” hint vaguely at the content within each kit folder. Each kit has anywhere from four to over a dozen different instruments, each playing two or more lines (aside from the occasional single hit). Classical orchestral percussion mingles with all manner of world instruments—berimbau, riq, djun djun, dumbek, tabla, caxixi, shekere, rainstick—and larger instruments like timpani and taiko. A variety of evocative metals are also incorporated, from huge oil drums and bowed cymbals to waterphones and “kissing fish” shakers. There’s even guitar and flute in a couple of places, played as percussive accents rather than melodic instruments. These kits are interesting in that they all allow a lot of breathing space for other instruments, with almost every loop opening up with pauses here and there so you’re not overwhelmed. Another interesting factor: Few, if any, of these kits are tightly metronomic in their feel; they all have at least a tiny bit of swing to them, making them very catchy and arresting. Some of this must come from the fact that every part was played by the same person, percussionist MB Gordy, with an ear to which parts would live together in the end.
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RECORDING JULY 2010

SHOWCASE OF SOUNDS

While there’s a lot of border-crossing, with world instruments rubbing elbows with stodgy European orchestral percussion, the overall feel of each kit is evocative of a clearly recognizable genre, making them easy to match to subject matter. Big, bold hits and flourishes share space with small, subtle lines that provide steady forward motion; you can easily imagine these rhythms coexisting peacefully with dialogue, sound effects, and melodic instruments in the context of a film. While the musical mood of these kits tends toward the somber and dramatic, I could see pulling small elements from them and surrounding them with the right instrumentation to make for a lighter mood. There’s a lot of good stuff in here, and if you do any sort of work in film or TV where you need a good percussion section in a hurry, Cinematic Percussion offers a very satisfying toolbox. Elemental Studio Percussion This library comes on two DVDs; our WAV folder had 3.25 GB. There are eight subfolders named by tempo (two of which are in 3/4 and one in 5/4 time), plus folders for one-shot samples and non-rhythmic sounds. The latter two folders aren’t available in REX2 format. Tempi range from 80 to 140 BPM with one doubletime folder at 240 BPM. This library offers 18 instruments, played with restraint and good taste by studio percussionist Ernesto Diaz: agogo bells, bell tree, bongos, cabasa, congas, cowbell, djembe, egg shaker, guiro, maracas, rainstick, shakers, shekere, tambourines, timbales, triangles, vibraslap, and wood blocks. Not all instruments are represented at each tempo, but all have multiple one-shot samples and two of them (bell tree and rainstick) have sets of non-rhythmical texture effects. When an instrument is played at a particular tempo, you get a variety of isolated loops in varying degrees of complexity. Most give you from 9 to 20 variations, but a few (the mid-tempo conga and timbale lines) can offer 40 or even 60 different choices so you don’t repeat yourself in even long songs. These instruments are played simply and close-miked for a minimal room effect, so they can be mixed with just about anything and not stick out like a sore thumb. The miking is clean and intimate; in one of the triangle patterns you can hear Sr. Diaz breathing softly in time with his playing. These tracks are designed to be, as their name suggests, elements of larger compositions, tastefully played and relatively genre-neutral percussive spices that can accentuate any rhythm section. If you don’t have access to a percussionist with a fine sense of time and taste and a big trunk full of cool rhythm toys, consider Elemental Studio Percussion as a great alternative to round out your compositions.

Recording - July 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2010