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Hannah Peel: composing with All Saints Choir

By Soniccouture | 30.04.2020

Hannah Peel is an artist and composer who seems to defy easy categorisation. On Chalk Hill Blue, her collaboration with Will Burns, she combined spoken word poetry with music with bewitching effect. Under the alias Mario Casio, she sets the (analogue) controls for deep space exploration. She has arranged strings for Paul Weller, and creates atmospheric indie-folk as a member of band Magnetic North.

Then, after hours, she presents Night Tracks on BBC Radio3, pulling all the different strands together in one place.

We got in touch with Hannah last year when she tweeted about The Attic 2. Her sound has such an original combination of modern classical elements with synthesis that she seems to perfectly represent Soniccouture’s sensibilities. So we really wanted to hear what she could do with All Saints Choir. Hannah repaid our persistent nagging with two tracks, immediately exceeding expectations by 100%.

Hannah Peel: “This a beautiful library with high quality recordings, a great range of spaces to play with and a lot of flexibility within the sampler to play with. I also love to find ways of creating sounds that wouldn’t be possible if using a live choir and so enjoyed using techniques that could test that. ”

The Lost Manor at St Marie

Soniccouture · The Lost Manor At St Marie By Hannah Peel

“I used the ‘Sing’ controller to expand parts and to play with textures. Gentle at first with an Ooh vowel on Sopranos and Altos. Then erratic in the middle section using cluster on all voices. I added some extra plugin effects here too, like the Soundtoys Crystallizer, distortion and a long shimmer reverb on the loudest parts.
The ending was on a Mm with a close mic. When the music is composed within the breathing restraints of the human voice, and the dynamics of the Sing Controller are used, it feels very real. ”

A screenshot from Hannah’s Logic session, showing the Cluster modulation programming.

The Sing controller modulation lane

Beyond The Door

Hannah’s second track builds Reich-like layers and synth bass to show All Saints Choir’s versatility with modern styles.
“I really like the cluster function – contrasting the pure choir voices with the more out of the ordinary adding drama and tension was fun to play with. Especially using this with the filters and choral effects in the effects panel, alongside a midi triggered arpeggiator.
I played with these functions for the end of Beyond The Door – a track written with some layers of a Juno 60 and Model D MiniMoog. This library works really well when layered within textures and other instruments too.”

Soniccouture · Beyond The Door By Hannah Peel

Hear more of All Saints Choir here

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Coming Soon: All Saints Choir

By Soniccouture | 27.03.2020

All Saints Church in Tooting, London, has a distinguished recording history. In the 1970s,80s and 90s it was a famed classical recording venue, its long, clear acoustic attracting the likes of Sony Classical & Deutsche Grammophon.

In fact, it was once so busy as a recording venue that a dedicated ‘control room’ outbuilding was constructed, with pipes into the main hall for microphone cables.

In recent years it has fallen out of favour with the classical industry. But Dan, through a friendship with a Sony recording engineer, had always been aware of this forgotten gem, languishing in the depths of South London.

In the summer of 2018 we went to All Saints to make a test recording of the huge pipe organ there. The sheer size of the hall bowls you over as you enter – it doesn’t look so big from the outside. In fact, if this church were in any other city than London, it would be a cathedral. The acoustic is also immediately apparent. Sparkly, open and clear, yet with a long rich tail if excited.

We completed a recording of the pipe organ in a day, and made plans to return in the spring of 2019 with a full choir.

The New London Chamber Choir joined us at All Saints in May 2019, recording basses, tenors, altos and sopranos – 32 voices in all – in different sessions over 4 days.

The results were stunning, and will be available April 2020 as ALL SAINTS CHOIR, a full virtual instrument for Kontakt.

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“Can I give it 6 out of 5?” – Moonkits Review

By Soniccouture | 24.02.2020

Sound On Sound Magazine have given Moonkits a glowing write-up in this months issue.

John Walden spent some time with the instrument, and he particularly enjoyed the focus on soft-medium dynamics and the warm vintage sound imparted by Konk Studios. Here are are some selected quotes:

“..pristine and detailed acoustic drum sounds, full of sonic character.”

“a kit played with a brush might not be the first thing you think of to shake your speakers, but Moonkits can do that if you want it to”

“the sound-shaping and beat creation tools Soniccouture provide here are excellent and super creative”

“Moonkits is simply an absolute sonic joy. Can I give it 6 out of 5?”

You can read the full review here: Sound On Sound.com

Soniccouture Moonkits Web page

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Moonkits + Pan Drums Videos By Cory Pelizzari

By Soniccouture | 06.01.2020

Cory makes some great videos exploring different virtual instruments from a variety of developers. His relaxed style is really easy to watch, and he has some great insights into the libraries.

His latest SC videos are: a percussion showcase featuring Pan Drums, Vibraphone, Grand Marimba, and a Moonkits overview. It’s well worth subscribing to his Youtube channel if you haven’t yet.