Creative Soundpacks

Maenad: Introducing the verrophone

To celebrate the release of Orchestral Tools’ latest Creative Soundpack, we sat down with Philipp Marguerre—the musician behind the samples, and one of a handful of professional verrophone players—to talk about this unique instrument’s primitive origins, and how the verrophone is stepping out of its traditional setting to influence contemporary composers and producers.

Spectrum

Phoenix Orchestra: Meet Wan Pin Chu

Wan Pin Chu is an accomplished erhu player and talented film composer based in Hong Kong. He has written film scores that have made waves from his homeland all the way to Hollywood. We caught up with Wan to learn more about his progression into film composition, the challenges he has faced writing for both eastern and western audiences, and the difficulties of sampling Chinese instruments.

Creative Soundpacks

The Dagu road trip

Back in December 2018, we embarked on a road trip with composer and multi-instrumentalist Richard Harvey, to visit some very special drums. We decided not only to film the experience but later to record these drums, sparking the beginning of our Creative Soundpack: Dagu—Chinese theater drums.

Spectrum

Phoenix Orchestra: Interview with Richard Harvey

Catch this short interview with Richard Harvey as he discusses his career, Chinese instruments, and the Phoenix Orchestra. Richard is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who has collaborated with artists ranging from Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello to Hans Zimmer and John Williams. TV and film highlights include The Little Prince, Luther, and The Da Vinci Code.

Spectrum

Harry Gregson-Williams on writing the score for Mulan with Phoenix Orchestra

Commissioned to score Disney’s live-action Mulan movie, acclaimed composer Harry Gregson-Williams worked with Richard Harvey and Orchestral Tools to build the sample library that would become Phoenix Orchestra. In this video, Harry describes the challenges he faced, and how he overcame them. Essential viewing!

LA Creatives

Danny Cocke discusses composing score + trailer music

Danny Cocke discusses composing score and trailer music, his favorite go-to plugins, and how getting diagnosed with cancer, not only changed the trajectory of his life but his career in music, too.

LA Creatives

Roundtable at Christopher Young’s studio

Christopher Young, Daniel Kresco, Cris Velasco, and Michael Tavera discuss their careers, composing for film and video games, and the role of sample libraries in their compositions today.

Creative Soundpacks

Ashia Bison Rouge: Pathway to experimentation

Ashia Bison Rouge is a composer, cellist, and singer who veers away from the beaten path musically. Combining her classical background with modern tech such as looping pedals and DAWs, she is constantly pushing the envelope to create electronic, pulsating, multi-layered orchestral pieces that draw the listener in with their unstifled creativity. With this in mind, we asked Ashia to create a track using our new Creative Soundpacks: Arbos, Babel, and Amber. A challenge she was more than willing to take on.

Magazine

Modus: Interview with Jeff Russo