Big Fish Audio | RECORDING MAGAZINE Mike Metlay | Cinematic Percussion Product Review
Skip to content

Cinematic Percussion | RECORDING MAGAZINE

Reviewer: Mike Metlay Back to Cinematic Percussion product details

This library comes on a dual-layer DVD with about 2.6 GB of unique WAV files. Cinematic Percussion is organized into 30 construciton kits, each in its own subfolder, with the folder name showing tempo in BPM and odd meter (if any-seven of the 30 kits are not in 4/4). a couple of the kits have samples in multiple tempi and meters for added flexibility. Evocative titles like "Blood Sport" and "Great Wall" hint vaguely at the content within each kit folder.

Each kit has anywhere from four to over a dozen different instruments, each playing two or more lines (aside from the occasional single hit). Classical orchestral percussion mingles with all manner of world instruments - Berimbau, riq, djun djun, dumbek, tabla, caxixi, shekere, rainstick - and larger instruments like timpani and taiko. A variety of evocative metals are also incorporated, from huge oil drums and bowed cymbals to waterphones and "kissing fish" shakers. There's even guitar and flute in a couple of places, played as percussive accents rather than melodic instruments.

These kits are interesting in that they all allow a lot of breathing space for other instruments, with almost every loop opening up with pauses here and there so you're not overwhelmed. Another interesting factor: Few, if any of these kits are tightly metronomic in their feel; they all have at least a tiny bit of swing to them, making them very catchy and arresting. Some of this must come from the fact that every part was played by the same person, percussionist MB Gordy, with an ear to which parts would live together in the end.

While there's a lot of border-crossing, with world instruments rubbing elbows with stodgy European orchestral percussion, the overall feel of each kit is evocative of a clearly recognizable genre, making them easy to match to subject matter. Big, bold hits and flourishes share space with small, subtle lines that provide steady forward motion; you can easily imagine these rhythms coexisting peacefully with dialogue, sound effects, and melodic instruments in the context of a film.

While the musical mood of these kits tends toward the somber and dramatic, I could see pulling small elements from them and surrounding them with the right instrumentation to make for a lighter mood. There's a lot of good stuff in here, and if you do any sort of work in film or TV where you need a good percussion section in a hurry, Cinematic Percussion offers a very satisfying toolbox.

Back to top