Orchestral HOLLYWOOD FANTASY ORCHESTRA BUNDLE

3 HARDANGER FIDDLES

Perhaps Norway’s most prized musical contribution, the hardanger fiddle is similar to a violin but with a more vibrant, brilliant quality owing to its body construction and doubled strings — it often sounds like two violinists playing at once! Some of its most stunning uses in modern music are in Howard Shore’s Rohan theme from Lord of the Rings and Bear McCreary’s traditional string arrangements in God of War. Try it out on brilliant, lyrical melodies and sub it in for violins when you need to add in a Viking flair.

3 VIOLA DA GAMBAS

If you’ve ever listened to sonorous, non-vibrato Baroque bowed string music, you’ve probably had a taste of the viola da gamba’s vibrant quality. Similar in shape and sound to a cello, this lush full-spectrum instrument is an ancestor of the modern string ensemble. It remained in relative obscurity until the film Tous les Matins du Monde brought it back, featuring a traveling viol virtuoso, and has made appearances in scores like Austin Wintory’s soundtrack for The Pathless. Try it out in place of a cello, especially if you want to add in a Baroque chamber feel!

HIGH STRINGS

8VIOLINS

6VIOLAS

Low strings wouldn’t be complete without their high-end partners, so we’ve also included violin and viola in the mix. They blend perfectly with the other stringed instruments in the collection and provide a strong backing so the other pieces can shine through; no layering or complex production techniques required.

2 HURDY GURDIES

Perhaps the most unique instrument in the collection, the hurdy gurdy is played via a crank that drags a wooden wheel along multiple felt-coated strings for a thick, layered drone with melodic accompaniment. It’s been utilized in a number of games, movies, and shows like The Witcher, Fringe, The Conjuring, and tons more, but one of its most distinctive uses was in Black Sails — its jagged, “broken” quality is a perfect way to offset the mellow quality of the other pieces in this collection and incorporate a folksy character into any piece.

3 WAGNER TUBAS

You can hear the Wagner tuba in the scores to Star Wars IV: A New Hope, the Lord of the Rings films, Jurassic Park, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, World of Warcraft and several other expansive scores that have helped define the modern fantasy sound across movies and video games. Imagine a cross between a French horn and a trombone and you’ll get pretty close, but this ensemble has something a little extra that effortlessly evokes fantastic and unexplored worlds.

3 ALPENHORNS

In addition to its role in German and Swiss folk music, this elongated horn was traditionally used primarily as a tool for communication and as an integral part of ceremonies and festivals. Its sound is uniquely mellow and hollow, owing to its wooden construction and straight rather than wound piping — it makes for a great mellow horn melody, especially in conjunction with the flugelhorns in this collection. Think of this as a group of extra-long hunting horns ready to lead the charge.

2IRISH WHISTLES (HIGH)

If you’ve been enchanted by Howard Shore’s melody for the Shire, you know the brilliant sound of the Irish whistle well. It’s a staple in Celtic folk music, and it’s extremely flexible as a topline addition to the melodies you create with other instruments in this collection. It shares similarities with a piccolo, but with much more expressive pitch bending and a dramatic contour between registers. Few instruments offer this rare combination of depth and dynamics in higher frequency ranges, and it will be a welcome addition to any fantasy ensemble.

2 RENAISSANCE FLUTES

This flute has a similar smooth, breathy tone to the concert flute, but its wooden construction provides a rounder and more mellow sound similar to that of an ancient recorder. Its smooth, breathy quality is simultaneously intimate and regal and offers a more pure, gentle substitute for the flute for you to weave into the orchestra or balance out the brilliance of the Irish whistles. Don’t let this mislead you, though — these Renaissance flutes can stand up to scoring tasks of any scale, adding a fullness and mystical quality you’ll be hard-pressed to achieve any other way.

4 OCARINAS

Nintendo’s iconic game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time brought this haunting, hollow-tone but long forgotten instrument back into the public eye. Think of this as a more agile folk complement to the Renaissance flute used more often in court music; it’s soft, flexible, and allows for beautiful trills and ornaments that add depth to anything you play. This ocarina ensemble is the perfect choice for soft, expressive passages when whistles and pipes cut through a little too sharply.

3 BODHRANS

If you’ve ever listened to Celtic folk music, chances are you’re familiar with the rich quality of the bodhran. This handheld drum is typically played with a two-sided mallet or by hand, offering a gentle but firm pulse to keep the music moving (and the ale flowing). Listen to how this delightful folk drum livens up the score to Braveheart and Titanic!

3 LARGE TAIKOS

This drum likely needs no introduction due to its omnipresence in video game and film scores, but we recorded a tight-knit ensemble to provide the glorious bassy rumble these massive drums are famed for. Their ominous low end simply can’t be beaten. Okami, The Last Samurai, and countless other soundtracks have used taikos for their incredible tone and power.

CENG CENG

These Balinese cymbals have a splashy, resonant character perfect for background ambience; they’re much softer than their Western counterparts and work wonders for broadening your palette of metals without the normal harshness of cymbals.

CYMBAL AND GONG ENSEMBLE

A collection of assorted struck, rolled, and tapped metals for whenever you need a dose of inspiration. Inside this diverse collection you’ll find all manner of shapes and sizes (literally) you can use to brighten up your Fantasy Orchestra.

GOATNAILS AND CENG CENGS

A mixture of alternate performances of other instruments above, focused on ease and playability to quickly introduce a variety of timbres into your score. This is a great starting point when you need a little inspiration to move your ideas along.

METAL SHAKER

This shaker provides a soft, dispersed sound ideal for gently driving the rhythm; its airiness creates the perfect high-end complement to a drum ensemble without the splashiness of cymbals to round out the arrangement with a nice accent layer.

NAGARA AND ASHIKO

A combination of multiple folk drums evoking images of festivals, street performances, rituals, and any manner of other fantasy cultural settings. You’ll find a collection of hits, rolls, rim taps, and more to build your own robust drum ensemble. The nagara is often used in the popular dance form Ghoomar, commonly attributed to the 2018 movie Padmaavat.

ORCHESTRAL METALLURGY

A collection of large metals being grazed, struck, and beaten for a suite of heavy industrial sounds; if you need the sound of a forge or assembly line from a distant realm, this is exactly how to do it.

TOMS

The deeper, rounder cousin to the snare ensemble, this creates a hefty lower-mid power layer for additional oomph in your drum core (or simply a nice thwack when needed).

SUSTAINS

Forget complex CC automation; simply hold a single note and let Merethe’s haunting vocals do the rest! Switch between Lyrical (for dramatic, dynamic vowels) and Vibrato (for higher-energy sustained vowels) to instantly add a mysterious, regal topline to your scores (think Howard Shore’s Evenstar from The Two Towers). Every note is rich with emotion and magic, ready to add to your fantasy orchestra.

ELVISH WORDS

If you’ve ever wanted your own personal Elvish singer, you’re in luck — Merethe recorded 60 different words from Tolkien’s original language across a range of notes, which you can perform in isolation or chain together to create your own unique phrases and sentences. Even if this is only a subtle detail in an otherwise complex score, listeners will feel it — and this attention to detail will help set your music apart.