Description
HOLLYWOOD FANTASY Orchestra
Introducing Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra, a brand-new orchestra that includes everything you need to create fantasy film, television, and game soundtracks. Produced by sound titans Doug Rogers and Nick Phoenix, Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra includes unique ensembles of traditional and world instruments that have been featured in the biggest movies and games in history. It was recorded in full stereo mic placement in the historic EastWest Studio One, the same recording studio as our legendary Hollywood Orchestra series, and includes all of the features of EastWest’s revolutionary Opus player. If you’re scoring the next big fantasy epic or medieval tale, you need Hollywood Fantasy Strings, Hollywood Fantasy Brass, Hollywood Fantasy Winds, Hollywood Fantasy Percussion, Hollywood Fantasy Voices, and Hollywood Fantasy Orchestrator.
HOLLYWOOD FANTASY STRINGS
Hollywood Fantasy Strings is the first iteration of Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra, putting 5 of the most iconic instruments from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras at your fingertips alongside brand-new stylized recordings from modern-day orchestral musicians. It includes true legato, diverse articulations, everything you need to produce the perfect fantasy cue to the highest professional standards. We infused it with the same power and flexibility as Hollywood Strings, with the same microphone placements, in the exact same studio, tailor-made to mix perfectly, so you can rest assured that your string libraries are all up to the task.
EPIC STRING ARRANGEMENTS OF OLDE
Traditional celli are replaced with a viola da gamba ensemble, violins are replaced with a hardanger fiddle ensemble. Lutes and dulcimers are recorded in trios, creating a beautiful sparkling stereo image that cuts through any mix. It also includes hurdy gurdies and massive sounding traditional string ensembles, recorded in octaves for those moments when you need bombast to round out your fantasy sound. Every instrument is mic’d the same way as the Hollywood Orchestra series and recorded in the same room – Studio One – the site of countless film, television, and game soundtrack recordings.
SETTING THE SCENE
Fire-breathing dragons. Epic battles between kingdoms. Ancient untold magic, casting 1,000 years of darkness upon the land… No matter how grand the scene you need to set, Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra is equipped with everything you need to make it happen right out of the box. If your arsenal is missing the ancient and traditional folk strings needed to give your orchestrations an authentic edge, your collection will finally match the limits of your imagination.
3 Hardanger Fiddles
Perhaps Norway’s most prized musical contribution, the hardanger fiddle is similar to a violin but with a more vibrant, brilliant quality owing to its body construction and doubled strings — it often sounds like two violinists playing at once! Some of its most stunning uses in modern music are in Howard Shore’s Rohan theme from Lord of the Rings and Bear McCreary’s traditional string arrangements in God of War. Try it out on brilliant, lyrical melodies and sub it in for violins when you need to add in a Viking flair.
3 Lutes
The lute is famous for its role in Renaissance folk music in the hands of troubadours and singers, functioning much like the 12-string guitar with a greater midrange emphasis and gentler character. It’s been used in countless soundtracks, including The Tudors, Whisper of the Heart, Only Lovers Left Alive, the popular roguelike game Hades and much more. This 10-stringed instrument is equally adept at both virtuoso passages and providing a smooth chordal background for the viola da gamba and hardanger fiddle.
3 Viola Da Gambas
If you’ve ever listened to sonorous, non-vibrato Baroque bowed string music, you’ve probably had a taste of the viola da gamba’s vibrant quality. Similar in shape and sound to a cello, this lush full-spectrum instrument is an ancestor of the modern string ensemble. It remained in relative obscurity until the film Tous les Matins du Monde brought it back, featuring a traveling viol virtuoso, and has made appearances in scores like Austin Wintory’s soundtrack for The Pathless. Try it out in place of a cello, especially if you want to add in a Baroque chamber feel!
Low Strings
6 Celli and 4 Basses
These modern day strings are present for one reason: Power. Before the string bass, there was very little low-end energy in ensembles — energy that modern soundtracks simply can’t live without. This is the perfect way to support your fantasy strings with a consistent style and timbre, extending the range of your entire ensemble instantly.
High Strings
8 Violins and 6 Violas
Low strings wouldn’t be complete without their high-end partners, so we’ve also included violin and viola in the mix. They blend perfectly with the other stringed instruments in the collection and provide a strong backing so the other pieces can shine through; no layering or complex production techniques required.
3 Mountain Dulcimers
The true origins of the mountain dulcimer lie in the Middle East, after which it evolved in Europe and was brought to the Appalachian Mountains by early Scottish and Irish settlers. It’s now a staple in tons of folk music and has been used by some of the biggest musicians in modern-day history such as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles. Its character is similar to the mandolin, and it boasts a rich combination of warm body and a bright, twinkling high end. This is perfect for fast virtuoso passages and doubles beautifully with the hardanger fiddle and lute.
2 Hurdy Gurdies
Perhaps the most unique instrument in the collection, the hurdy gurdy is played via a crank that drags a wooden wheel along multiple felt-coated strings for a thick, layered drone with melodic accompaniment. It’s been utilized in a number of games, movies, and shows like The Witcher, Fringe, The Conjuring, and tons more, but one of its most distinctive uses was in Black Sails — its jagged, “broken” quality is a perfect way to offset the mellow quality of the other pieces in this collection and incorporate a folksy character into any piece.
HOLLYWOOD FANTASY BRASS
Hollywood Fantasy Brass puts the grandeur of some of history’s most iconic brass instruments at your fingertips, complete with a broad articulation set and true legato for maximum realism and authenticity. Everything you’ve come to expect from our Hollywood series is here: multiple mic positions, custom effect chains, lush ambiences… but this time, with a collection of brass instruments used in some of the most famous fantasy scores in history. If you’ve tried to recreate the feel of your favorite scores countless times but something is still missing, the fix could be as simple as using the right instruments for the job. And as you’re about to hear, Hollywood Fantasy Brass will help get the job done every time.
HOLLYWOOD FANTASY WINDS
Hollywood Fantasy Winds presents an array of ethereal, majestic woodwind instruments that transcend the modern orchestra, complete with true legato and a wide variety of articulations to command the realism and power you need in a cinematic ensemble of winds. With this collection, you can paint detailed images of Celtic highlands, sprawling mountain ranges, enchanted forests, and any other fantasy settings you can possibly imagine. These winds complete the core orchestral trinity with lyrical strings and brilliant brass, giving you the texture you need to complete a true melodic fantasy ensemble.
HOLLYWOOD FANTASY PERCUSSION
Hollywood Fantasy Percussion provides a full suite of thunderous, mystical struck and shaken instruments to complement even the most epic soundtracks. While they’re well-suited to most orchestral scores, they shine in combination with the rest of the Hollywood Fantasy palette. There’s no shortage of bombastic drum libraries available, but there’s never been a percussion library specifically designed for scoring epic fantasy soundtracks — so we created it ourselves.
HOLLYWOOD FANTASY VOICES
There’s a world of difference between a trained singer and a vocalist who has perfected true cinematic fantasy singing — and with Hollywood Fantasy Voices in hand, you can finally bridge that gap in your scores. We meticulously built this collection from the ground up, with multiple microphone positions, portamento control, mood (Soft, Classic, and Epic) and more so you can command the mythic fantasy vocals you need for your newest epic soundtrack. This is the authority that Hollywood Fantasy Voices puts in your hands — the ability to, with only a few words, make the audience feel on instinct: “I’m far away from home.”
HOLLYWOOD FANTASY ORCHESTRATOR
Create music in the style of Hollywood’s greatest fantasy film, television, and game soundtracks in seconds by playing a few simple chords with one hand and shaping expression with the other. Developed in collaboration with Sonuscore, Hollywood Fantasy Orchestrator features hundreds of customizable presets built with the world instruments from the Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra series and allows you to create real-time arrangements based on your MIDI input with our Innovative Scoring Engine.
COMPOSE FANTASY SCORES IN SECONDS
With hundreds of customizable presets, you can instantly create music in the style of Hollywood’s greatest fantasy film, television, and game soundtracks. While these presets were made with the fantasy genre in mind, they can easily be used across the genre spectrum including action, suspense, and historical dramas. Presets are organized into 4 categories, described below.
IMPORTANT NOTE
Hollywood Fantasy Orchestrator uses instruments from all 5 parts of the Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra series, and is not a standalone product. It requires either perpetual product licenses for each of the libraries, a Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra bundle license, or a ComposerCloud+ subscription license. Hollywood Fantasy Orchestrator is a separate product from the Hollywood Orchestrator product. They share many features, but only work with their respective library collections.