[Eastwest Hollywood Brass Vst Free 173
Sharif Garmon
With just a touch of effort, you can create super-realistic brass parts that could fool even a golden ear. Seriously, these kinds of results speak wonders about the sampling quality and overall programming that went into making this product. Not to sound like a broken record, but East West did it again with Hollywood Brass. Bravo.
The second installment in the Hollywood series, Hollywood Brass is an epic achievement, once again combining the talents of Producers Doug Rogers, Nick Phoenix and Thomas Bergersen and Sound Engineer Shawn Murphy (Academy Award, C.A.S. (Cinema Audio Society), BAFTA, and EMMY award-winng sound engineer)
Recorded in EastWest Studio 1, widely regarded as the "best brass recording room in the entire world" with 5 true mic positions, Hollywood Brass is designed to work seamlessly with Hollywood Strings (and the upcoming Woodwinds and Percussion). Running on the new PLAY 5, Hollywood Brass will run flawlessly on your system along with Hollywood Strings. This is also exciting news for current Hollywood Strings users, as PLAY 5 and the new Hollywood Strings program update are free to all users.
Hollywood Brass ships on a hard drive and is approximately 150 gigabytes of pure Hollywood magic. A world class group of brass artists, worthy of a Shawn Murphy recording, was gathered for this brass sampling marathon which lasted for 21 straight 11 hour days followed by a year of post production.
Hollywood Brass Gold Edition is 16-bit, with one mic positon (main) and all articulations. Upgrades to the Hollywood Brass Diamond Edition will be effortless as all articulations are included in the Gold Edition, and can be done at any time. The Gold Edition is available for purchase via download, and as data only in the Complete Composers Collection Gold Sound Data Hard Drive.
Hollywood Brass Silver Edition is 16-bit, with one mic position (mid-tree, no divisi) Essential set of articulations and instruments with limited legato. Upgrade to Hollywood Brass Gold and Diamond Edition when you need more options. The Silver Edition is a download.
Diamond - 150GB free hard disc space, iLok Account (required for machine-based license), iLok Key (optional), Diamond Edition is supplied on a 1TB hard drive for ease of installation (see conditions below).
Gold - 20GB free hard disc space, iLok Account (required for machine-based license), iLok Key (optional), Gold Edition can be downloaded or supplied on an optional CCC Gold Sound Data hard drive for ease of installation (see conditions below).
The hard drive supplied with Hollywood Brass Diamond is covered by our "Limited Replacement Only 30 Day Return Policy". If the hard drive develops a defect, it may be returned to EastWest within 30 days of shipment. Contact sup...@eastwestsounds.com for a RMA (Return Merchandize Authorization). Hollywood Brass may only be returned for a replacement of the hard drive. No refunds are available. "Return" constitutes receipt of the product by EastWest, and not the mere issuance of an RMA. Beyond 30 days, the manufacturer's warranty will apply and returns and service must be arranged with the drive manufacturer. EastWest will replace the data should a drive replacement become necessary. If you purchase other Hollywood Diamond series products they all come on one hard drive.
Following on the success of (Hollywood Strings HS), EastWest released Hollywood Brass (HB) in late 2011. The process was much the same for the latter as for the former: Hire A-list studio musicians in Los Angeles; enlist Academy- and Emmy-winning engineer Shawn Murphy to oversee the sampling sessions; and do it in EastWest Studios (formerly known as Cello, Ocean Way, and Bill Putnam's United/Western Studios). How's that for pedigree?
Having previously reviewed HS for Electronic Musician, I had high expectations for the brass library. I was not disappointed, as the level of recording and programming detail runs deep; however, HB is much easier on your system than their string library. HB's 150GB Diamond Edition (reviewed here) is delivered on a 7200rpm hard drive and features 24-bit samples with five microphone positions, while the 20GB Gold Edition features one mic position and 16-bit samples. Available articulations between the two editions are identical; only the sample rate and mic configurations differ.
In the Library The Diamond Edition provides four simultaneous, phase-locked mic positions that can be mixed to taste: Close (directly in front of the instrument(s); Mid (back a bit and in front of each section); Main (a Decca tree configuration up high above the conductor position); and Surround (room mics, switchable to an alternate "vintage" set of RCA44 ribbon mics). The Gold Edition utilizes the Main mics only that, frankly, sound great and are sufficient for a lot of orchestral and film work.
Each section includes a thorough, though not exhaustive, set of articulations. Trumpets, trombones, French horn, tuba, and cimbasso are presented in solo form and in various combinations of two-, three- and six-member sections. Most of the common articulations are well represented, in addition to round-robins, true legato, and a number of effect and low brass unison and octave patches. Don't expect a lot of jazz and pop style articulations, as that's beyond HB's scope.
The well-written and detailed manual lays out the mapping of the various patches, which use a combination of mod wheel, keyswitching, velocity, and expression to shape the performance. You'll need to spend some time getting to know the various instruments and how they're controlled, which vary from patch to patch. After a couple hours you'll understand the basic library layout; however, it's not trivial to play perfect-sounding brass parts on the fly. Even now, I still have to edit various controllers, patch changes, and my playing to create realistic-sounding brass parts.
Although the EW Play engine can be demanding on resources because the complexity and depth of this library pushes technology to the edge, the current version runs much more smoothly than in the past. With patience and a sense of good orchestration, HB can produce stunning results not easily achieved until now.
EastWest's shift from straight-up sample libraries to its own ROMpler-style playback instrument (Play, now at v3) was a significant undertaking, and with teething problems resolved and 64-bit operation now in place, its grand scheme seems to have come to fruition.
The main difference is that Diamond weighs in at 150GB and comes on a external hard drive, while the Gold Edition, at 20GB is downloaded. The reason for the size difference is that the Gold edition has one mic position and is 16-bit, as opposed to Diamond's 24-bit.
We're looking at the Diamond edition, which arrives on a hard drive. Like Hollywood Strings, it's aimed at soundtrack and mainstream musicians, and was produced in EastWest's Sunset Boulevard Studio 1.
The five mic configurations are also the same: main (Decca Tree), mid (Auditorium Front Row), close, and two rear (Surround and Vintage Ribbon) setups. You can mix and match up to four of these simultaneously (the surround mics are mutually exclusive). Instruments were recorded in standard orchestral position, the full stereo spectrum of which is captured by all but the close mics (these have matching manual panning).
The instruments comprise trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba and cimbasso. All are available in solo patches, and then in a number of instrument-specific groupings. Maximum group sizes vary, from three trumpets to six horns, and you'll find the low brass is a combination group (two tenor trombones, one bass trombone, one tuba and one cimbasso).
Articulations include sustain, staccato, mute, legato and effects patches for pretty much all instruments. The available effects vary, but you can expect to find the typical rips, shakes, trills, crescendos and combinations thereof. You also get slide-heavy jazz effects for solo trombone.
The Play 3 interface is straightforward, with an AHDSR amplitude envelope, convolution reverb, stereo spread control, velocity sensitivity and the mic mixer. There are also performance scripts for implementing portamento, repetition and legato.
The key to making the most of the instrument lies in understanding the patches. Each patch generally contains one articulation, with sustained styles looped at the end. However, patch behaviour does vary - checking out the manual is essential.
Some map velocity to timbre, others map the mod wheel to timbre, andsome use both. There are also patches in which the mod wheel gradually shifts between articulations, taking you from a very short sound to a more sustained one, for example.
Beyond the basics, patch naming often indicates further functionality, such as round robin inclusion. What you won't find, though, is velocity influencing volume (MIDI expression, CC#11, handles that), or keyswitching patches.
Sonically, EastWest's Studio 1's mid-sized, noninvasive ambience is the same here as it is with Hollywood Strings, adding a lovely sense of space without getting in the way. For actual reverb, the onboard convolution effect offers plenty of useful and convincing spaces.
There's really nothing significant to complain about with Hollywood Brass, apart from the lack of keyswitching patches. The sampling is accurate and consistent, the patches are well organised and labelled, and it all sounds superb.
Last year, when EastWest unveiled their Hollywood Strings, I hoped that, assuming its success in the marketplace, they would continue the "Hollywood" brand in other instrument sections, with the idea of building an entire "Hollywood" orchestra. The sound of the Hollywood Strings is big and bold; there are a ton of useful articulations, dynamics and idiomatic special effects, and the EastWest PLAY engine/interface has improved markedly over time. So why not adapt this to the whole orchestra, right? Fortunately, that's what they seem to be doing, with the recent addition of the Hollywood Brass collection.
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