Orchestral Percussion Sampling Project

recordinghopkins · 22nd February 2010

In the next few weeks, I will begin recording high quality orchestral percussion instruments to create a sample pack to augment my productions. There are a ton of great libraries out there, but I am a student and the good ones cost several hundred dollars. Once complete, I will give them away to anyone that wants them, probably governed by a Creative Commons license.

I would love to get some input from fellow gearslutz as I plan the sessions.
I will probably begin with the most common stuff - triangle, tambo, suspended and crash cymbals, etc, then moving on to melodic percussion like vibes and timpani. My plan is to record one instrument at a time, with as many possible techniques as useful. I am doing this in cooperation with the department of percussion studies at my college, and I have outstanding talent lined up to play.

Some of the instruments will be recorded in the school's studios, the big stuff like timpani and concert chimes and the like will be done in the music hall.

I will update this thread regularly as I begin the project, and I hope to get some great suggestions from you as I go.

EDIT: Many of you may be interested in getting copies of this stuff. Please hold off your emails and private messages until you see in this thread a call for interest. It may be months, but this will get done and be worth the wait. Thanks!

recordinghopkins · 22nd February 2010

my first question:
What file type would be the best to distribute the files? I will be recording 24 bit / 96k audio, should I just zip the wavs up and let others worry about file type for their application?

recordinghopkins · 28th March 2010

bump

MichaelPatrick · 28th March 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by recordinghopkins

my first question:
What file type would be the best to distribute the files? I will be recording 24 bit / 96k audio, should I just zip the wavs up and let others worry about file type for their application?

24/96 would be ideal, and if you can also create a downsampled version at 24/48. That would do it I think as most engineers can easily work with those rates.

Sounds like fun but challenging project. Good luck!

Mats H · 30th March 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by recordinghopkins

my first question:
What file type would be the best to distribute the files? I will be recording 24 bit / 96k audio, should I just zip the wavs up and let others worry about file type for their application?

Hi,

Having recorded loads of sampled instruments, I find that 24 bit 96 Khz .WAV files are the way to go. Better give people clean .WAV files and let them use whatever sampler they prefer. Also, recording at 96k allows you to detune the samples while still retaining a lot of the audio energy above 20 KHz. Most engineers/musicians who are working with samples have a grasp about sample rates and resampling. Even if they don't, most software will resample with at least acceptably good quality.

I recommend you to record a lof of samples in all velocities. Even though you get a couple of perfect samples in a few select velocities, I can't stand the machine gun effect of repeated samples when working with samples. And one imperfect sample might be perfect in another project.

Best of luck, I hope you'll have a lot of fun doing this! thumbsup

recordinghopkins · 30th March 2010

hey thanks for the replies! I assumed that 24/96 would be the best way to go when tracking, but I hadn't thought about detuning doing a better job at 96. for the sake of server space and bandwidth, I may dither down and distro at 48 though.

MichaelPatrick · 31st March 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by recordinghopkins

hey thanks for the replies! I assumed that 24/96 would be the best way to go when tracking, but I hadn't thought about detuning doing a better job at 96. for the sake of server space and bandwidth, I may dither down and distro at 48 though.

I would suggest not dithering unless you're going to release at 44.1, and even then having 24 bits is better for most people. The ideal package would include all these:

24/96 - hi res "pro" quality
24/48 - "pro" quality
24/44.1 - many people record at this quality
16/44.1 dithered - some people record at CD audio quality, but pros rarely do

I think it comes down to what you want to put out there and support. Do you want "pros" using it, hobbyists, or both?

recordinghopkins · 1st April 2010

I am not going to financially benefit from this, so to be frank, I don't care who uses it. From pro to garageband, all will be welcome. The trick is finding affordable hosting (free) for others to download from. I am hoping I can get my university to host them. If so, I would definitely want to release all files at 24/96. Perhaps a fellow GS has some space on their server somewhere.... we'll see. That's still a ways off.

22nd February 2010	#1
recordinghopkins Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2009 Location: Music City Posts: 1,536 Thread Starter	Orchestral Percussion Sampling Project In the next few weeks, I will begin recording high quality orchestral percussion instruments to create a sample pack to augment my productions. There are a ton of great libraries out there, but I am a student and the good ones cost several hundred dollars. Once complete, I will give them away to anyone that wants them, probably governed by a Creative Commons license. I would love to get some input from fellow gearslutz as I plan the sessions. I will probably begin with the most common stuff - triangle, tambo, suspended and crash cymbals, etc, then moving on to melodic percussion like vibes and timpani. My plan is to record one instrument at a time, with as many possible techniques as useful. I am doing this in cooperation with the department of percussion studies at my college, and I have outstanding talent lined up to play. Some of the instruments will be recorded in the school's studios, the big stuff like timpani and concert chimes and the like will be done in the music hall. I will update this thread regularly as I begin the project, and I hope to get some great suggestions from you as I go. EDIT: Many of you may be interested in getting copies of this stuff. Please hold off your emails and private messages until you see in this thread a call for interest. It may be months, but this will get done and be worth the wait. Thanks! __________________ http://LiveConcertRecording.com http://HopkinsMediaServices.com

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28th March 2010	#3
recordinghopkins Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2009 Location: Music City Posts: 1,536 Thread Starter	bump

30th March 2010	#6
recordinghopkins Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2009 Location: Music City Posts: 1,536 Thread Starter	hey thanks for the replies! I assumed that 24/96 would be the best way to go when tracking, but I hadn't thought about detuning doing a better job at 96. for the sake of server space and bandwidth, I may dither down and distro at 48 though.

1st April 2010	#8
recordinghopkins Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2009 Location: Music City Posts: 1,536 Thread Starter	I am not going to financially benefit from this, so to be frank, I don't care who uses it. From pro to garageband, all will be welcome. The trick is finding affordable hosting (free) for others to download from. I am hoping I can get my university to host them. If so, I would definitely want to release all files at 24/96. Perhaps a fellow GS has some space on their server somewhere.... we'll see. That's still a ways off.