From visceral vocalizations to otherworldly cinematic textures

£29 / $29 / 29€

Explore the outer reaches of the human voice with this incredibly unique world of cutting-edge textures, rhythms, and evolving drones. Curated and produced by composer and sound artist Lea Bertucci, this powerful tool captures the radical vocalizations of herself and three renowned pioneers of the avant-garde — Audrey Chen, Cansu Tanrikulu & Phil Minton. From earth-shaking bass drones to window-shattering sound effects, whispers, rhythmic clicks, and glissandi to haunting multiphonic choirs; these alien-like instruments will hum, hiss, heckle and haunt to create immediate tension, atmosphere, horror, and beauty — a treasure trove of delights and terrors for any experimental producer, beatmaker or film composer. 

The plugin’s radically transformative processed signal and in-built controls take the organic sounds to new sonic realms to create complex otherworldly synth textures, rhythms, and sound effects beyond your wildest dreams — designed to inspire and breathe new life into your compositions.

“With this library, we set out to push the human voice to new extremes – and what we’ve ended up creating is a completely wild and unique toolkit that allows the user to rethink vocalisation in terms of texture and timbre.”

— Lea Bertucci

VISCERAL VOCALISATIONS

Expand your sound palette with 49 original presets, bursting with invention — ideal for creating cinematic trailer music and non-diegetic sound FX, particularly for horror or sci-fi, or adding texture, atmosphere and a distinctly human element to any genre of music. Xtended Vox captures the unique voices and sonic vocabularies of Lea Bertucci and three acclaimed vocal artists, stretching across varying generations and geographies and melding free improvisation with formalized composition. The original vocal recordings have been taken to new sonic dimensions using multiple outboard and digital processing techniques, accessible via the dynamics fader—cycle through layers of varying processing, each unique to each individual preset. The library encompasses the most radical and eccentric of vocal techniques, from visceral throat singing to alien nasal sounds; from the most fragile of whispers and birdsong-like whistles to lip trills, yodels, shrieks, and ululations — pushing the boundaries of what can be done with a contemporary voice. 

FEATURES

• Presented in Spitfire Audio’s award-winning dedicated plugin
• Features experimental vocal techniques created by four avant-garde vocalists, warped using multiple outboard, tape, and digital processing techniques
• Designed for contemporary cinematic scoring and anyone looking to create interesting textures and atmospheres 
• The radically transformative processed signal allows you to cycle through different layers of processing and fade every texture into a new dimension

• PRESETS (49)
  • Audrey Chen (14)
  • Cansu Tanrikulu (13)
  • Lea Bertucci (6)
  • Phil Minton (16)

• CONTROLS (8)
  • EXPRESSION –  Adjust the level of the technique
  • DYNAMICS – Move between layers of varying processing or dynamic layers, specific to each preset
  • REVERB – Choose between seven bespoke reverbs, from Kiln to Church Balcony
  • START POINT — Move the dial to start at a random point within the performance – higher values increase the range of randomness. Useful for delving deeper into long samples or adding variation to repeated notes
  • ATTACK
  • DECAY
  • SUSTAIN
  • RELEASE 

• ~2.5GB
• NKS compatible

SPITFIRE AUDIO X SA RECORDINGS

Following Bertucci’s acclaimed sample library and record release in 2020, Acoustic Shadows, Bertucci returns with her new EP — Xtended Vox, out now via SA Recordings — the London-based label dedicated to supporting and releasing music created by contemporary composers and sound artists. The EP features the same vocal artists as the sample library — Audrey Chen, Phil Minton and Cansu Tanrikulu — as well as Ben Vida, collaborating with Bertucci on the first single, Tulsa. Bertucci describes the compilation as “deeply human music” — celebrating the voice as the first and only innate instrument and bringing it into a contemporary context, with diverse and contrasting approaches from each of the collaborators.

The EP is out now on the SA Recordings website — both digitally and as a limited edition 12-inch gatefold vinyl.

Lea Bertucci

AVAILABILITY & PRICING

Link – https://www.spitfireaudio.com/lea-bertucci-xtended-vox

RRP Price: £29 / $29 / €29

About Lea Bertucci (http://lea-bertucci.com/)

Lea Bertucci is a New York-based experimental musician, composer, and performer whose work explores relationships between acoustic phenomena and biological resonance. Bertucci’s approach to music is marked by dense masses of sustained dissonance and a fascination with the sonic substance of common experience. Her work spans over a decade, with 8 full-length solo albums and a number of collaborative projects.  In 2018 and 2019, she released solo albums Metal Aether and Resonant Field on NNA Tapes and has since gone on to found her own label, Cibachrome Editions, with 2021’s A Visible Length of Light as the inaugural release followed by 2022’s Murmurations, a duo with composer, improviser, and artist Ben Vida. 

In addition to her longstanding practice with woodwind instruments, her work incorporates spatialized speaker arrays, radical methods of free improvisation, and creative misuses of audio technology. In recent years, her projects have expanded toward site-specific and spatially aware projects that initiate new access points to architecture.

Xtended Vox follows her highly acclaimed 2020 release, Acoustic Shadows — a sample library, and an LP (released on SA Recordings) which received praise as Boomkat’s top 5 albums of the year, and The Guardian’s contemporary album of the month. 

About Audrey Chen (http://www.audreychen.com/)

The second-generation Chinese / Taiwanese- American musician specializes in the cello, voice, and occasional analog electronics. Chen’s work delves deeply into her own version of narrative and non-linear storytelling. A large component of her music is improvised and completely unprocessed, with an extremely personal and visceral approach to music creation.

About Cansu Tanrıkulu (http://www.aysecansutanrikulu.com/)

A multimedia artist, composer, and vocal improviser based in Berlin, Tanrikulu is one of the busiest young voices in the European Creative Music Scene, leading multiple bands, including PILED UP by Tanrıkulu, Melez, MeoW, Tanrıkulu/Cohen/Delius and Last Chance to Misbehave. Her elastic singing, wide stylistic vocabulary, and far-reaching approach to melody and text-based improvisation have made her an in-demand vocalist in multiple genres, actively performing at several renowned European jazz festivals. As a composer and a conceptual thinker, Tanrıkulu’s initial instinct is to frame topics that are hard to imagine as musical entities and work with exceptional creative personalities. 

About Phil Minton (https://www.philminton.co.uk/)

A UK-based pioneer of the avant-garde. From the early 60s, Minton played trumpet and sang in The Mike Westbrook band, going on to work as an improvising singer in groups, choirs, orchestras, and other contexts, all over the world. His Feral Choir, where he voice-conducts workshops and concerts for anyone who wants to sing, has performed in over twenty countries, and composers have since written pieces that employ his extended vocal techniques and improvisations. He now sings as part of a quartet with Veryan Weston, Roger Turner, and John Butcher.

About SA Recordings (https://sarecordings.com/)

SA Recordings is a London-based record label and music platform dedicated to songs and sounds by contemporary composers. Their mission is to nurture and support a sonically diverse, international roster of innovative music makers.

SA Recordings is committed to releasing digital and physical works, commissioning creative projects, producing limited-edition merchandise, and developing bespoke, artist-led sample libraries in collaboration with Spitfire Audio.

About Spitfire Audio (https://www.spitfireaudio.com/)

Spitfire Audio is a British music technology company that specializes in sounds — sample libraries, virtual instruments, and other useful software devices. It collaborates with the best composers, artists, and engineers in the world to build musical tools that sound great and are exciting to use.

Spitfire Audio was founded by two award-winning composers: Christian Henson and Paul Thomson. Born out of their shared dissatisfaction with string sample libraries, they pooled their resources and decided to record their own string samples at the legendary Air Studios in London. Initially, they invited a limited number of friends and associates to own copies of their samples, but whispers of this private sample club soon started to echo across the Atlantic Ocean throughout the composer community. Within a year, some of the most renowned composers in film and television signed up, so Paul and Christian decided to take their samples public. 

To date, Spitfire Audio has recorded and released over 100 sample libraries, collaborating with some of the biggest names in media composition, including Hans Zimmer, Eric Whitacre, Ólafur Arnalds & the London Contemporary Orchestra. Spitfire Audio’s sounds are heard in everything, from major Hollywood film scores to recordings by Radiohead and U2. Paul and Christian’s initial side project is now a thriving international music technology enterprise, with a uniquely experienced and diverse workforce, all focused on a shared mission: to inspire a generation of composers. The composer team remains at the center of the business, drawing on their own experience as obsessive music makers to explore the needs and wants of their fellow composers.