Bowls - Tutorial - Overview

This comprehensive bells collection comprises four libraries: Bowls, Carillon, Chime and Sleigh Bells 2. All recorded in our bespoke AMS studio, these varied instruments shine when played together, with a cohesive tone to create one of the most musical and magic collections that we’ve ever recorded. Our talented demo writers took inspiration from these four libraries to compose some of their very best cues, really bringing out the versatility and vitality of these bells instruments. Enjoy! BOWLS Known as the meditative musical sound of tranquility, the bowls we recorded for this instrument have a magical quality and emit pure frequencies. These quartz crystal glass bowls give off such a lush and dreamy tone that we had a hard time tearing ourselves away from the recording. We sampled 4 bowls of varying sizes from 20cm to 25cm diameter, struck with a glass mallet with a rubber finish. We also rubbed the mallet around the edge of the bowls to make them “sing” a light and airy musical note. The samples here have such a gorgeous and complex tone that the AMS microphone system we used for recording gives a completely different character for each of the different mic positions. Give them a try and see what you think of these spiritual sounds. We recorded this collection with our new Aligned Microphone System, a bespoke and standardised microphone array we shorten to “AMS”. The specially designed recording space is unique to Sonokinetic libraries. It has very low wall, ground and ceiling reflections and we’ve taken advantage of that by constructing a new design of microphone rig and setting up an array of 10 mics to capture instruments in precise detail. These include cardioid, condenser and ribbon microphones. There’s also a binaural head in the centre of the array, which is perfect for those mixing surround and simulated 3D sound scores or producing audio for immersive video games. The recordings from these mics have been integrated into a new tool within the library to enable the user to mix and match their favourite microphones, adjusting the level, panning and stereo width of each set. This gives precise control over the signal. Each mic position can be assigned an impulse response, captured from the Zlin Concert Hall. This recreates the popular Close, Decca, Wide, Balcony and Mixed positions that Sonokinetic have been using for almost a decade. So you get the best of both worlds, a standardised, yet easy to mix array of quality mic signals, plus reverb options to place these recordings into a physical space to match the rest of Sonokinetic’s instrument libraries. Sonokinetic has established a name as one of the best value & quality sample producers and with this product we’d like to underline that statement. We stick with our unbeatable pricing module and high quality sampling.