Sonic Collective Vibraphone Explorations [WAV, Ableton Live]

Serving as a comprehensive documentation of the vibraphone's voice, while demonstrating its flexibility through modernist arrangements, Vibraphone Explorations is a deep dive into a timeless instrument, complete with multi-sample presets. This sample collection was performed by Boston-based percussionist Julian Loida and was produced and engineered by Charles Van Kirk at his studio in Maine. Julian has a master's degree in classical percussion from the New England Conservatory of Music and Charles is an award winning audio engineer and frequent collaborator with Splice. The musical content of the pack was influenced by a diverse cadre of traditions: Zimbabwean mbira music, Cuban montunos, Brazilian samba and American minimalists, among others. The vibraphone was recorded several different ways: clean with a variety of mallet densities, bowed across the full range of the instrument, and prepared with coins taped to each key that produced a distinctive metallic resonance. The signal path included Coles 4038 ribbon microphones and Neumann KM184s into Discrete Class A Preamps.