Spitfire Audio – London Contemporary Orchestra Strings

Over the last decade, the London Contemporary Orchestra has collaborated with a distinguished array of composers, artists and brands and are known for their long-time collaboration with Radiohead, as well as game-changing performance and arrangement credits on blockbuster scores including Moonlight, There Will Be Blood and Under the Skin.

Step into the world of the London Contemporary Orchestra, 15 players performing over 100 cutting edge articulations, recorded on our dry stage at Spitfire HQ by in-demand engineer Joe Rubel and Spitfire’s Head of Product, Stanley Gabriel. In recent years, there has been a shift in string writing that is fast becoming a global movement, based on innovative techniques and performance styles notoriously impossible to program with the tools currently available. We recreated their popular workshop approach to curate a deeply versatile and most importantly, playable set of never-before-sampled articulations and playing styles that give you, at long last, the ability to demo and create cutting-edge, sophisticated string writing — the kind of work that is winning promising composers plaudits across the compositional landscape.

From sharp and angular to sincere beauty, these upfront strings are designed to make you think differently about string writing. In collaboration with the London Contemporary Orchestra, we have embraced technology to deliver a unique set of tools and instruments you would never hear outside a sampler.

Main Features

• 6 Violins, 4 Violas, 3 Celli and 2 Basses, with the Celli in octaves
• Recorded in a tight, dry recording space, for extra control and a modern sound
• Over 100 articulations captured across all sections
• A unique ‘Detuned Open String’ instrument for each section

For each articulation:

• 2 mic positions, Close and Room
• 2 individual stereo mixes, Full and Pumped
• 2 additional, printed analogue FX
• Integrated reverb, matched to the room, with control on the GUI

Behind the Samples

The members of the LCO became interested in collaborating with us when we started experimenting with our Evolutions libraries. Over a period of two years, we worked together to create a library unlike any other, capturing the unique techniques and performance styles of an extremely exciting group of musicians for use in our own compositions, and creating new instruments with them only be possible by harnessing the power of modern sampling technology.

Winner of the Ensemble category at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards in 2015, the London Contemporary Orchestra has established itself as one of the world’s most innovative and respected ensembles, focused on commissioning and developing new music and scores, and performing live all over the world. Formed in 2008 by co-Artistic Directors and conductors Robert Ames and Hugh Brunt, the LCO is at the top of their game, having collaborated with a wide array of musicians, creative figures and platforms, including Radiohead, Frank Ocean, Jed Kurzel, Steve Reich, William Basinski, Mica Levi, Actress, Arcade Fire, Goldfrapp, Beck, Foals, Nike, Secret Cinema, Boiler Room, NTS, Resident Advisor, Terry Riley, Hannah Perry and Vivienne Westwood. Highlights include sold-out performances at renowned venues such as the Roundhouse, Printworks, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre, There Will Be Blood: Live at the Barbican, the critically-acclaimed site-responsive series Imagined Occasions, and live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. The orchestra has a strong arrangement, recording and performance record for world class film and television music, having recorded soundtracks such as The Master, Alien: Covenant, Macbeth, Phantom Thread, Assassins’ Creed, You Were Never Really Here, McMafia, Suspiria, American Animals, Moonlight, There Will Be Blood and Under the Skin, and featured heavily on Radiohead’s 2016 A Moon Shaped Pool.

GUIs
The Overview Panel
This is the main interface for melodic instruments. Its default view displays all available playing techniques, has a simple microphone mixer and includes the main feature controllers.
General Controls Panel
This view allows further in-depth control of the instrument, showing all available signals and feature controllers, as well as the ability to purge techniques from memory to reduce system usage.
The Ostinatum
In this view you can add notes to a pattern sequencer, select which key it triggers on and then play for instant ostinato creation. It’s like an arpeggiator on a synthesiser.

What’s included