Brass Elements

"What do you think of when someone...

by The Mix Magazine, UK

"What do you think of when someone suggests a sample CD of classic brass? The loose Dixie trio? The big band rhythm fiends? Maybe even the funky Starsky and Hutch thang? If you've spent any time listening to brass arrangements, you'll know that the variety is enormous. Brass Elements does not try to encompass the timbral range of this instrument, but gives a selection of riffs, scales, and tones with a single arrangement and timbre.

The range of phrases is quite large and, as long as you find the sound usable, this CD could be a friend indeed (but only when you're in need). That said, a certain amount of variation is possible, helped by the fact that saxophones are panned to the left and trumpets are panned to the right. Using this separation, and those sampler parameters you always wish you had a use for, the basic recording can be spruced up somewhat.

Brass themes come alive when each instrument has a character variation, however small, to put a little space between itself and the next one along. In their raw state, these samples seem a bit, well, amalgamated. There is something to be said for providing the clay and letting the potter do the modelling, though in this context, each riff lends itself to a particular style, difficult to achieve using mere electronics. These don't really come through on this CD as well as, for example, Guitar Separates - another sample CD in this generally excellent series"