Spitfire Audio blows its own trumpet(s) with jewel in BML crown

LONDON, UK: compositional tools creator Spitfire Audio is proud to announce availability of BML TRUMPET CORPS – VOL #1 — adding trumpets to the ultimate detailed brass collection as part of its BML (British Modular Library), a longterm project to create the greatest-sounding, deepest sampled, and ultimately future-proofed living orchestral virtual instruments collection on the planet, providing composers with an ability to bring fine detail, musical expression, beauty, and focus to their work — as of July 11…

Following in the trailblazing footsteps of BML BONES – VOL #1, with essential articulations for trombone, BML TRUMPET CORPS – VOL #1 represents the eleventh instalment in Spitfire Audio’s ongoing BML series of virtual instruments for Mac (OS X 10.6 or higher) and PC (Windows 7), and, as implied by name, turns the critically-acclaimed compositional tools creator’s attention to essential articulations for trumpet. As the latest jewel in the BML crown, this first volume features three of the finest players in London performing with magical musical zest and astounding character using the finest instruments — one recorded solo and two in unison (a2), seated exactly in situ so combining the resultant a2 patches with the solo ones makes for a slightly larger section while maintaining spacial integrity — using the exceptional acoustics at Lyndhurst Hall — highly regarded as one of the greatest scoring stages in the world — within London’s legendary Air Studios by award-winning producer/engineer extraordinaire Jake Jackson.

Since Spitfire Audio always aims to reproduce the conditions of top movie recording sessions and approach sampling as if recording a film score one note at a time, in keeping with its BML brethren, the remarkable recording chain that ultimately led to the equally ear-opening BML TRUMPET CORPS – VOL #1 started with multiple microphone positions (mixable by the user within the finished product itself), including a standard array of Close mics (using a selection of valve mics placed for optimum focus close to the instruments themselves); Tree (in reference to the Decca Tree arrangement of three mics placed above the conductor’s podium); Ambient (using a set of condenser mics placed high up in the gallery to provide stereo spread and also capture the room sound); and Outriggers (using a set of vintage mics place wide apart to the left and right of the Decca Tree arrangement to capture a similar balance of room and instruments — somewhere between the sound of the Decca Tree arrangement and ambient mics), plus an extended array of STereo mics (totally different mics in a totally different position to the Decca Tree arrangement to provide a more direct and immediate sound); Gallery mics (positioned way up in the gallery to capture a true representation of Air Studios’ amazing ambience); and CR (close ribbon mics placed next to the standard close mics to bring a warm and rounded tone to the musical proceedings).

All are ultimately captured at 96kHz, first passing through Neve ‘AIR Montserrat’ preamps into the world’s largest Neve 88R console onto a finely maintained Studer two-inch tape machine — making BML the only orchestral sample library on the market to be firstly recorded to tape — then onwards into Prism A/D convertors, combining to produce a superlative sound. This is finally presented at 24-bit/48kHz in Native Instruments’ industry-standard KONTAKT format for maximising its potential reach to the musical masses. Moreover, three exclusive Jake Jackson mixes of each and every sample — over 10,000 in total! — have been specially commissioned to save the user time and also save system resources. All are specifically designed to work well in different musical settings — from pop to chamber to epic cinematic — and by using these mixes across the complete BML range users can ably achieve total mix integrity — just like Jake Jackson does when working on a ‘real-world’ recording project!

On the face of it, then, BML TRUMPET CORPS – VOL #1 is another amazing virtual instrument sample library living up to Spitfire Audio’s well- thought-through ‘open-and-play’ performance criteria by blending an easy-to-use user interface that also acts as a gateway to an unprecedented feature set with a personally curated selection of articulations and techniques to cater for anything any user could conceivably conjure up musically when working with the wonderful world of trumpets! Taking into account that there are also up to eight round robins, numerous dynamic layers and controls, including vibrato and intelligent legato switching, working together in perfect harmony at your fingertips, BML TRUMPET CORPS – VOL #1 truly represents one of the most expressive virtual instrument sample libraries created by Spitfire Audio so far.

So what are you waiting for? Time to create your own trumpeting fanfare, perhaps? And if you do, rest assured that it will — with a little work — sound detailed, musically expressive, beautiful, and focused… thanks to BML TRUMPET CORPS – VOL #1!