Ricotti Mallets

Overview

An encyclopedia of mallet instruments recorded with the greatest scrutiny in an environment that gives you a choice of sonic possibilities. Each instrument is super deep sampled with numerous round robins, dynamic layers, beaters, bows and articulations. A microscopic study of these instruments is also provided by numerous mic channels to give you different perspectives, mixing options and sonic aesthetics.

Background

Frank Ricotti is a living legend. Beyond being one of the most in demand percussionists in the world for the top recording artists, he has played on innumerable film scores such as Inception, Skyfall, Twilight Saga, Madagascar, Interstellar, Narnia, Fantastic Mr Fox, Dark Knight, Bourne series, etc. There isn't an hour in the day where, somewhere in the world, his playing isn't being broadcast.

Features

MARIMBA:

The marimba is a direct descendant of the xylophone and looks very much like its ancestor. Although composers have written extensively for this instrument only since 1950, it has recently started to come into its own as part of the contemporary orchestra. The marimba’s rosewood bars, also arranged in the keyboard fashion, are of course graduated, but thinner, longer, and wider than the xylophone’s, and the resonators have always been part of its construction. The playing technique is identical to the xylophone’s, but the marimba’s mellower, deeper sound has generated a different kind of music. The size and range of the marimba is fairly standard (although the range of some marimbas goes down to A2 or even F2), and there are no transposition problems since it sounds an octave lower. The music can be notated on one or two staffs, in either the treble or bass clef.

The lower register of this instrument is unique and especially beautiful; in the higher registers, the marimba’s tone resembles the xylophone’s. The most successfully used mallets for the marimba are those made of yarn or soft rubber.

GLOCKENSPIEL:

Consisting of a series of tuned metal keys and named after the German for 'bell' the Glockenspiel finds its way onto a vast array of recordings. Whether it be childish lullabies, spanking records by Radiohead, horrific films featuring sleeping children, or manic clowns to dreamy fairytales. The Glockenspiel will stay with us for life, from our toy box to the deepest darkest fears sitting in darkness in a movie theatre.

With the recent folk renaissance, the glock has become one of the most popular tuned percussion instruments of recent times. These little beauties are not easy to record well, nor make truly convincing, which is why an extensive mic array gives you choices beyond plugins to get the sound you're looking for, whether mellow and bell like to bright and sparkling.

CROTALES:

Crotales are small bronze disks, almost thick mini cymbals, arranged in a piano keyboard style layout to produce chromatic pitches. They are one of the brightest tuned percussion instruments, and similar to a piccolo, will cut through even the biggest orchestral arrangement. With the producer range however, we like to introduce music makers of all persuasions to try instruments they may never have heard of. So alongside the bright and brash elements of this library, you can also find moments of magical beauty. A great instrument that can create the feeling of a bright celeste coupled with a triangle, but with none of the pre-conceived ideas or 'baggage' of either of those instruments.

XYLOPHONE:

A bright sounding wooden barred instrument and parent of the lower darker Marimba. Whether it be scaling a staircase in the Tom & Jerry cartoons, providing the top end for an awesome American systems percussion session, or providing a darker malevolence in a Jon Brion score, a mallet collection would be incomplete without this primordial tuned percussion instrument.