Hollywood Strings Diamond

HOLLYWOOD STRINGS production team includes 2019 GRAMMY WINNER "Best Engineered Album, Classical", ACADEMY AWARD, C.A.S. (Cinema Audio Society), BAFTA, and EMMY award-winning sound engineer SHAWN MURPHY, who has recorded and mixed the scores for more than 400 feature films including the Star Wars franchise (The Rise of Skywalker, The Last Jedi, The Force Awakens, Revenge of the Sith, Attack of the Clones, The Phantom Menace), The Hunger Games franchise, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Jurassic Park and The Lost World, Titanic, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Mission: Impossible, the Indian Jones franchise (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Last Crusade), the Fantastic Beasts franchise, etc; and multiple award-winning EASTWEST/QUANTUM LEAP virtual (software) instrument producers DOUG ROGERS and NICK PHOENIX; and composer and orchestrator THOMAS BERGERSEN.

HOLLYWOOD STRINGS offers unprecedented control over sound and performance, and is a must have compositional tool for serious composers.

HOLLYWOOD STRINGS DIAMOND EDITION

EASTWEST/QUANTUM LEAP HOLLYWOOD STRINGS is a virtual (software) instrument — a collection of 44.1kHz 24-bit string instruments with unprecedented control over sound and performance now downloadable. This makes for a huge download which those with slower internet speeds may find problematic.

Recording for HOLLYWOOD STRINGS took place at the famous EASTWEST STUDIO 1, the same studio where many Hollywood soundtracks and television themes were recorded with a live orchestra. Heading this project were co-producers DOUG ROGERS, NICK PHOENIX and THOMAS BERGERSEN and sound engineer SHAWN MURPHY.

"Murphy was an obvious choice for this project; who better to obtain that quintessential Hollywood sound other than someone with his credits," says Rogers. "HOLLYWOOD STRINGS looks to expand on the success we achieved with EASTWEST/QUANTUM LEAP SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA by providing a perfect large scoring stage sound and a more intimate scoring stage sound with divisi capability."

"The sound of these virtual strings are as good as it gets," says Phoenix. "We have one of the top sound engineers in the business, a famous and beautiful sounding recording studio, the most incredible selection of microphones available, the best analog and digital recording equipment, and top Hollywood string players - how could we go wrong?"

"I've used many virtual orchestras over the last decade, including some I developed with other composers, and some I developed myself. With each new development, I got one step closer to my ideal compositional tool." says Bergersen. "HOLLYWOOD STRINGS includes features that I consider necessary if you want to create realistic orchestral strings on your DAW."

HOLLYWOOD STRINGS has many groundbreaking features not found in any other collection. Finger position is, for the first time, controllable by the user, so you can play as far up the strings as you want, and get a fuller more romantic Hollywood sound. Vibrato intensity and extensive dynamics are controllable by the user. Extensive multi-dynamic true legato has been sampled for all sections in three different categories: slurred, portamento, and bow change. This results in unsurpassed legato performance that has never been available. HOLLYWOOD STRINGS has five user-controllable mic positions, including main pickup (Decca tree), mid pickup, close pickup, surround pickup, and an alternate vintage circa 1945 RCA ribbon room pickup.

Features:

• Multiple finger positions for all sections including open strings.
• 3 unique styles of legato interval sampling, including never-before-sampled bow change legato, slurred legato, and portamento sliding legato, sampled at 3, 3 and 2 dynamics respectively, all with speed control. That's 8 passes of legato intervals, all sampled in long format so each note has time to breathe. Basses only have slurred legato.
• Up- and down-bowed sustains, all at 4 finger positions, at least one full octave on each string:
• 5 dynamics at non-vibrato.
• 5 dynamics at vibrato.
• 3 dynamics at molto vibrato.
• Extensive runs.
• Playable runs.
• Spiccato runs for violins.
• Other articulations:
• Bartók pizzicato.
• Col legno.
• Detaché up and down bows with finger positions and 4 dynamics.
• Flautando for violins.
• Harmonics for violins.
• Marcato short, 3 dynamics, round-robin x4.
• Marcato long, 3 dynamics, round-robin x4.
• Measured tremolo, 4 dynamics.
• On-the-string staccato, 4 dynamics, round-robin x8.
• Pizzicato, 4 dynamics, round-robin x4.
• Repetitions, 3 dynamics.
• Ricochet, 3 dynamics, round-robin x2.
• Spiccato, 4 dynamics, round-robin x9.
• Staccatissmo, 4 dynamics, round-robin x16.
• Staccato, 4 dynamics, round-robin x9.
• Slurred staccato for violins, 4 dynamics, round-robin x9.
• Sul ponticello tremolo for violas.
• Tremolo, 4 dynamics.
• Trills (major and minor), 3 dynamics.
• Sordino effect available for all patches.
• Release trails for everything.
• Custom Python scripting.
• Recording.
• Recorded in the famous EASTWEST STUDIOS 1.
• Neve 8078 mixing console.
• Meitner ADC converters.
• 5 user-mixable microphone positions (use as sound options):
• Main - Decca tree (Neumann M50s) and Brauner VM1 KHE (Klaus Heyne Edition) outriggers.
• Mid - Neumann KMi, Neumann KM 254, Sony C37A, Neumann U-47.
• Close - AKG C12, Neumann U47, Neumann U67, Nordic Audio Labs NU-47.
• Surround - Neumann KM 83.
• Alternate Room - Vintage RCA44 Ribbon.
• Convolution reverbs include new impulses from Quantum Leap Spaces. These include soundstages and halls from Southern California.
• Instrumentation.
• All sections except the Basses were sampled with wide extended ranges including almost 4 octaves for violins.
• 5 mic positions plus divisi spot mics.
• 16 1st Violins (9/7 divisi mode).
• 14 2nd Violins (8/6 divisi mode).
• 10 Violas (6/4 divisi mode).
• 10 Cellos (6/4 divisi mode).
• 7 Basses (4/3 divisi mode).

{See video at top of page}