EastWest Hollywood Fantasy Percussion
Description
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.
DRUMS IN THE DEEP
When scoring for fantasy, there are countless settings where conventional percussion simply doesn’t cut it: fiery iron forges, royal celebrations, traditional folk festivals, and that’s just scratching the surface. That’s when you need percussion that doesn't just carry the drama of the scene, but feels perfectly at home in the world you’re composing for. We’ve selected each instrument in this collection to span every setting imaginable so that no matter the scoring task, you have the tools to not only underscore the drama on-screen, but to wrap up the audience in an entirely new, fantastical world they need to hear to believe.
3 BODHRANS
If you’ve ever listened to Celtic folk music, chances are you’re familiar with the rich quality of the bodhran. This handheld drum is typically played with a two-sided mallet or by hand, offering a gentle but firm pulse to keep the music moving (and the ale flowing). Listen to how this delightful folk drum livens up the score to Braveheart and Titanic!
3 GRAN CASSAS
We also added a bass drum into this collection to help extend the low end of the orchestra, which is notably absent in many traditional ensembles. Rather than the rounded, mellow mallet hits in conventional orchestral playing, the gran cassa is struck in a much wider range of impacts.
3 LARGE TAIKOS
This drum likely needs no introduction due to its omnipresence in video game and film scores, but a tight-knit ensemble was recorded to provide the glorious bassy rumble these massive drums are famed for. Their ominous low end simply can't be beaten. Okami, The Last Samurai, and countless other soundtracks have used Taikos for their incredible tone and power.
600 LB NAGADO ENSEMBLE
Unlike other Taikos, the massive Nagado-daiko was designed for rituals and spiritual uses, and as such is a great way to underscore austere ceremonies with a single, haunting low impact. This drum ensemble especially shines in slow, quiet passages with little competition in the orchestra.
CENG CENG
These Balinese cymbals have a splashy, resonant character perfect for background ambience; they're much softer than their Western counterparts and work wonders for broadening your palette of metals without the normal harshness of cymbals.
CROTALES
Small chromatic cymbals that blend the quality of a glockenspiel and wind chimes — these are a great way to sustain a gradual, regal melody and offer a delightful contrast with wind and stringed instruments. James Horner used crotales to great effect in the 90s film Sneakers.