VOICES OF THE EMPIRE

New Gear/New Toys Review: EastWest VOICES OF THE EMPIRE

EastWest/Quantum Leap released VOICES OF THE EMPIRE a sample collection of multi-sampled solo voice performances by Uyanga Bold who was most recently seen on world tour with Hans Zimmer. She sang during Zimmer's The Dark Knight live performance. Ms. Bold is a trained opera singer who offers dozens of ethnic phrases in every key based on the traditional singers of Bulgaria, Serbia and Mongolia. There are also two Mongolian legato vocal tracks.

VOICES OF THE EMPIRE is an exotic exploration I enjoyed discovering using the latest version of EW's Play 6 engine. The uses in my music productions for these mostly long tones and vocal phrases are myriad. Every time I used them, there is an instantaneous vibe! The sound can feel like a haunted presence, an angelic glow or even the sense of déjà vu--as if dreaming of an ancient civilization long ago.

The performances are divided into: Sustain--including melismas, slurs, sustained and modulated vibratos and three legato choices. There are: VOTE Ah Mong Legato VS (my favorite), Oh Legato, and Oo Legato. These are all separate performances under each key and not just one sample that was time/pitched stretched.

Produced by Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, VOICES OF THE EMPIRE is approximately 14 GB of 24-bit/44.1kHz samples with three different microphone mixes via the new EW Play 6 engine. It makes an excellent set of sounds for adding to any mix and sells for $299 or is available to all members of the EW's ComposerCloud starting at $29.99 per month subscription.

soundsonline.com/voices-of-the-empire

Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com