Virtual Instruments Now Integral Part of Boston Film Scoring Program
Spectrasonics is pleased to announce that the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA is now using Spectrasonics virtual instruments to teach their Film Scoring courses. Spectrasonics’ Atmosphere, Trilogy and Stylus RMX are featured software that students at Berklee get to work with in the film scoring lab for their own school projects. This offers the students a very real-world experience with Spectrasonics software that is widely used in major films such as Crash, World Trade Center, Chronicles of Narnia, Ray, Inside Man, Batman Begins, King Kong, Lord of the Rings, and acclaimed television shows including Lost, 24, Arrested Development, American Idol, West Wing, CSI and many others.
“Our new relationship with Spectrasonics assures our film scoring students access to the state-of-the-art professional tools they are most likely to use when they enter the profession,” said David Mash, Vice President for Technology at Berklee. “We are pleased to offer this opportunity to our students and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Spectrasonics.”
Here’s what Berklee’s Associate Professors in the Film Scoring have to say.
Sheldon Mirowitz notes, “Spectrasonics virtual instruments are among the finest and mostly widely used tools for Film Scoring professionals. From old standards like Distorted Reality to new plug-ins like Stylus RMX, Eric Persing and his Spectrasonics team have been designing professional music production tools that consistently extend and define the ’state-of-the-art.’ Giving our students access to and (hopefully) expertise on such tools is a great boon for them, and an essential part of our mandate at Berklee, which is to provide a ’state-of-the-art’ musical education that is plugged in and real-world relevant.”
Jonathan Klein added, “Spectrasonics virtual instruments probably give the biggest bang for the buck of any tools we have in the Film Scoring Department. They sound great right out of the box and are incredibly fun and easy to use. Beyond that, however, students have found they can produce original sounding textures or rhythmic patterns for their scoring assignments through the use of the ingenious layering techniques that are so easy to apply.”
“Spectrasonics is honored to have the Berklee College of Music faculty and students working with our virtual instruments,” said Spectrasonics Founder and Creative Director, Eric Persing. “In the years to come, it will be exciting to hear the music of these new composers as they move from an educational environment into the music industry.”
Atmosphere , Trilogy and Stylus RMX are virtual instrument plug-ins for Macintosh and Windows, compatible with all major music composition software hosts such as Logic, Digital Performer, Cubase, Nuendo and Pro Tools, and standard plug-in formats including Audio Units, VST, and RTAS. Each virtual instrument has a powerful, yet easy to understand user interface.
Stylus RMX-Realtime Groove Module uses Spectrasonics’ S.A.G.E. technology, featuring Chaos Designer real-time loop manipulation for creating loops that improvise, 7.4-gigibyte core sound library, REX file and Groove Control file import, 8-part multi-timbral compatibility, multi-outputs, integrated effects racks, mixer, realtime host tempo sync, drag and drop MIDI files.
Trilogy - Total Bass Module integrates a 3-gigabyte library of thousands of bass sounds with a powerful, yet easy to understand user interface. It includes classic synth basses, and acoustic basses and electric basses all played with various styles of attack with a variety of microphone and direct recording techniques. Basses can be layered and edited with standard synth tools such as envelopes and modulation to create custom patches.
Atmosphere - Dream Synth Module has a 3-gigabyte library of thousands of unique ambient, pad, lead, bass and keyboard sounds, plus some non-musical ‘noise’ sounds. Many of the sounds offer a long, evolving sound palette that changes over time. As with Trilogy, Atmosphere presets can be layered and edited with standard synth tools such as envelopes and modulation to create custom patches.
Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing over 70 countries, and a music industry “who’s who” of alumni, Berklee is the world’s premier learning lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.
