Advice on a good VST/Kontakt Library for a powerful "shouting" choir?

C

constantthought

New member
Most, if not all of the choir libraries I have listened to the demos are always done in a typical cathedral choir context, its all atmospheric soft sustains and it's too tame for me really. They lack the bite I am looking for as the subtle sombre tones of most just wont work with the music I want to use it for. I need a lot more power, still sustains but not hums like a typical choir. Hope this makes sense?
So, do any of you guys know of one or can anyone send me in the right direction to search for it?

Many thanks!

P.S- I wasn't sure if this was the right sub-forum to enquire so mods you can move it if I've posted in the wrong place

-edit to add
go to 0:38:18 for an idea of what I am looking for, thanks!

 
I can't suggest and VST / Kontact solutions but have you given thought to the idea of actually recording it yourself? Surely theres a choir near you somewhere or maybe you have a few friends who can sing and a good room you can rent?
 
I was afraid this might be a reply haha. Yea I have thought of it. While of course it could be an option I would rather have £700 for unlimited use of a sampled choir, rather than £900 for mics, recording equipment, hall space.etc for a few songs worth. I know the real choir would be infinitesimally higher quality and more dynamic/controllable but if there is an alternative to the wallet punch of a real choir I would prefer to take that
thanks man!
 
You make a fair point, and I can understand god know's I use more than my share of EZDrummer and its EZX's for tracks but sometimes when theres something I can't achieve I need to get a real drummer in who know's what he's doing.

It can be tough getting something like that on a budget but it may be cheaper in the long run, believe it or not like have you weighed up all the options? Assuming you don't live in the heart of inner city London you probably have a village or town hall or church near by, befriending a few members of the choir, offering to do a bit of live sound for them and they may do your piece in return. I can't really speak for the UK as a whole but I know in Ireland and N. Ireland a hell of a lot of deals are done as you scratch my back i'll scratch yours. so there you go its a choir for hire thats gonna cost you next to nothing, as for the initial outlay, whats to say you'll never need the mic's or gear again, if you're going for something similar to what was in the recording you're probably going to want to do guitars / kits / bass / synth and vocals anyway so the mic's will be put to good use.

Last but not least is the choral aspect something you'll ALWAYS be using? like as i said I use EZDrummer every day i'm in studio, even if I have a live drummer for guides and full productions if your going to buy a sample library just for 3/4/5 tracks thats x amount per track you know? and then you're stuck with a 4.58948295748GB library you'll never use again. Or at very least rarely.

My advice, you can avoid both problems causing the wallet punch by thinking a bit outside the box and thinking long term.
 
I can't think of any sampled choirs that will solve your problem as all the ones I've heard seem to be modelled along similar lines ~ the lines you describe. There probably are some more to your thinking though, somewhere.
What I do is to do it myself with a couple of friends. Imagine you want a rich full choir but with some rough edge, not all sweet and oomery, record say, 9 or 10 tracks. On each take, get each person standing in different places. On some takes, sing high. On some, sing low. On some go midrange. On some put on fake accents. On some sound really goofy. On some be close to the mic. On some, be far. On some, sit on the floor. For some be behind the mic. Basically, just make sure each take is utterly different than any of the others. On top of all that, record each take at a different recording speed. Reverb isn't bad but I find delay and other effects like phasing or flanging to be just right for this kind of thing.
You'd be very surprized just how mesmerizing that can sound. I've been varispeeding and doing massed backing vocals for 20 years and even if I want a cathedral choir type sound, I can achieve it. I'd never pay for a sampled choir knowing what I know. I'm not even sure I'd use a real choir if they offered me their services for free.
 
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