The Sound Board

Orchestral Tools has released a new brass library: Beaufort

"This collection is for all the composers and musicians looking to capture that classic Hollywood brass sound. It's a heroic celebration of brass-driven adventure themes, performed by England's very finest players.

The cast consists of ensembles and solo instruments. 3 trumpets, 4 horns, 3 trombones, trombone and tuba make up the former and a solo trumpet and French horn complete the latter.

Beaufort opens up unique avenues of expression where the start of every single note plays a very special role. Beaufort offers a great legato, but the focus here is on creating a compelling sound for brass fanfares. We recorded notes in a musical context, with the pace and mood of the passage providing the right level of bite vs. tone.

We also recorded a number of note repeats—this 'adventure' style often has fast notes in series—and you can select these articulations to create highly realistic patterns. We also experimented with some advanced dynamics modeling, giving you a high-level of dynamics control and expression for all instruments. You’ll find all the instruments across the collection share a consistent, detailed articulation set, including special maestoso and adventure options. We have 3 dynamic layers which we’ve bolstered with expert advanced dynamic modelling, for further expression and character. Incidentally, Beaufort was recorded at AIR Studios. So, of course, we have a full 10 mic positions for you to choose from, so you can blend in as much of Lyndhurst Hall as you see fit.

In short, Beaufort is an agile, expressive, and majestic brass collection, and it’s on sale at €349, but only until July 3. Regular price is €499 (+ VAT, where applicable)."



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While personally having no need for this right now it's interesting to see that Spitfire doesn't have a monopoly on Air Lyndhurst. In fact if I recall correctly it's the first non SF library coming from Air.
Certainly very useful for anyone in need of the classic HW style. Although I can't see at least in Europe a director nowadays who wants this. Maybe more interesting for game composers.

Monolith is recorded at Air, too.

Markus K wrote: ↑Jun 21, 2024 3:33 am Certainly very useful for anyone in need of the classic HW style. Although I can't see at least in Europe a director nowadays who wants this. Maybe more interesting for game composers.

This is deserving of its own thread. Very interesting observation.

Sounds pretty fantastic though.

Very much like the tone and I can see it being useful for certain styles. However, I do hear that typical "samples-being-stitched-together" in some of the phrases in that trailer. Seems prevalent in the Trumpet Ensembles. Prior experience with their Big Band Horns library left a sour taste for much the same reason.

Plus, how does this compare to their previous flagship Tom Holkenborg Brass? They obviously must have felt there was still a need for this niche.

The intro sale is drawing to a close, and I’m on the fence. Judging from user demos over at VI Control, it takes some trial and error to avoid the stitched together effect, but the results sound quite nice to my ears when it works.

My understanding is that Orchestral Tools wanted to emphasize the attacks and shorts with this library, and I can hear a contrast to their other efforts in this aspect of the sound. It’s far from an all purpose library, but it might make a good supplement for times when this specific sound is wanted.

Has anyone here taken the plunge? If so, what are your impressions?

Best,

Geoff

Does anyone own this library? Would love to hear your experience. Thanks.