# Skyfall, what instrument is this?



## Resoded (Nov 3, 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brPutZyn1lw

That ticki-ticki instrument in the foreground, what is that? Some sort of cymbal? Or a synthesizer?

Loving the Skyfall soundtrack btw!


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## Hawkes (Nov 3, 2012)

The sound on my laptop is terrible, but it sounds metallic to me... sort of hi hat-ish. I have a bunch of similar customized instruments that I use like that (to add some energy to a piece). I start with a high percussion instrument (something with a good amount of velocity layers and RR) and adjust the DSR in ADSR way down until I'm left with just a click.


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## cc64 (Nov 3, 2012)

Hi Erik,

this is something that Thomas Newman uses a lot . It sounds like Udu's or something more metallic, hit with brushes. 

I have a library from Tonehammer called Propanium that has a patch called Propanium Brushes that could be made to sound pretty close to what i hear in the TN track.

HTH 

Claude


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## spectrum (Nov 3, 2012)

That sound is a percussionist playing a metal object with tight brushes. it's a metal object that doesn't ring a lot. You could do it by muting a thin ride cymbal and rolling off a lot of low-end. It's likely Michael Fisher playing his Udus w/Brushes.

BTW, Thomas Newman used tons of Omnisphere in the Skyfall score....over 250 multis I'm told! =o :D


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## JohnG (Nov 3, 2012)

Congratulations Mr. P!


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## windshore (Nov 3, 2012)

spectrum @ 11/3/2012 said:


> That sound is a percussionist playing a metal object with tight brushes. it's a metal object that doesn't ring a lot. You could do it by muting a thin ride cymbal and rolling off a lot of low-end. It's likely Michael Fisher playing his Udus w/Brushes.
> 
> BTW, Thomas Newman used tons of Omnisphere in the Skyfall score....over 250 multis I'm told! =o :D


 o-[][]-o


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## Resoded (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks for the replies, I'll look into the Propanium. So I guess it's time for 8dio or Soundiron to sample a brushed Udu then? 

Do you guys have any more examples of sample libraries with brushed metal objects?

And on a side note, Omnisphere more and more seems like an obvious purchase...


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## germancomponist (Nov 4, 2012)

The fast strings sound excellent to my ears too.


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## Tatu (Nov 4, 2012)

I thought I sensed a pitched instrument on that pattern beneath the percussive bits.. like a santoor or something that has been chopped a bit for more percussive output.

I'm sure you could tweak that in Omnisphere as well  

It has a lot of great tools to give life (= variation) for simple patterns. Here's a small example, that I did while studying the percussive side of Omni (yeah, it gets a bit repetitive, but I just wanted to get familiar with some of the tweaking tools).. all percussion from omni, created with arp on one note.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1834664/Omnisphere%20tinklies.mp3 (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1834664/Omnisph ... nklies.mp3)


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## Resoded (Nov 4, 2012)

Tatu @ 4th November 2012 said:


> I thought I sensed a pitched instrument on that pattern beneath the percussive bits.. like a santoor or something that has been chopped a bit for more percussive output.
> 
> I'm sure you could tweak that in Omnisphere as well
> 
> ...



Great example, very interesting! Guess I'll have to start saving...


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## adg21 (Nov 4, 2012)

@Tatu although good it's not quite the same...

I've thought this before, I'd pay good money for Thomas Newman's ticki-ticki ride thing as a sample pack


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## Tatu (Nov 4, 2012)

adg21 @ Sun Nov 04 said:


> @Tatu although good it's not quite the same...
> 
> I've thought this before, I'd pay good money for Thomas Newman's ticki-ticki ride thing as a sample pack



It's not supposed to be the same. Just an example of omniperc 

EDIT: Actually, there might be a bit of hammered dulcimer there.


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## Hawkes (Nov 4, 2012)

Resoded @ Sun Nov 04 said:


> Do you guys have any more examples of sample libraries with brushed metal objects?



Do you have the G-Town stuff? I think there was one in there called Brush Plate or something like that. I don't have it on my laptop, so can't check. With the big reverb, I'm sure it would ring out too much, but I think I used the (A)DSR thing to make a version that's sort of similar to the sound in that piece. I'll check it later. If it is similar, I could send you the .nki.


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## Diffusor (Nov 4, 2012)

Sounds like a gated cymbal of some sort to me.


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## Andreas Moisa (Nov 4, 2012)

I wonder why no developer offers a library with simple things like these ticky loops - you need them all the time...

I recorded some myself and I'd like to share (just a fraction) of them with you guys, download here:

http://www.film-scoring.de/download/Ticky_Loops.zip


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## Resoded (Nov 4, 2012)

Andreas Moisa @ 4th November 2012 said:


> I wonder why no developer offers a library with simple things like these ticky loops - you need them all the time...
> 
> I recorded some myself and I'd like to share (just a fraction) of them with you guys, download here:
> 
> http://www.film-scoring.de/download/Ticky_Loops.zip



Thanks, very generous. Yeah, there definitely seems to be a hole in the market.


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 4, 2012)

Good thread. The Skyfall original sounds like a (damped?) cymbal with brushes to me. Tatu's example of Omni's percussion arp is great. Andreas' idea of a Ticky library is terrific - and those examples are definitively on the right lines.

I'd love a slew of Tickies in RMX 2. Which reminds me - great to see Eric here too and hear Omni is all over Skyfall.

Seeing the movie tonight, finally. Whoop whoop!


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## Justus (Nov 5, 2012)

Sounds similar to those highpitched Evolve loops to me...


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## charlieclouser (Nov 7, 2012)

This is the type of sound that I go right into Ableton Live for - running it as a ReWire slave behind Logic:

1 - Load up any percussion loop that has remotely the correct sonic footprint - brushes on darbuka rims, acoustic hihat, even a ride cymbal loop. Don't worry about how much decay or hang-time is in the sound.

2 - Set Warp Mode to "Beats", set Preserve to "16th" or "Transients", set the little arrows to "frontwards stretch" (the two arrows facing the same way).

3 - Adjust the decay parameter (bottom left in the Warp column) to a number less than 100 to shorten the decay/release if you want to tighten up the hang time.

4 - Adjust the Transpose parameter to suit.

When I know I'm going to mess with the source material in the above manner, I've recorded things like this by just throwing a mic up and playing with brushes or sticks on whatever metal surface is around - the door frame, the front of the mini-fridge, the steel roof beams, a mic stand, or even an actual metal darbuka. I spend zero time on mic position or selection, and just whack a performance in there, crop it into 8-bar chunks, and drop them into Live for audio quantize and further messing about.

I guess you could also do this in Kontakt, but it's just so darn fast to do it in Live. Even a big bonky ride cymbal loop can be turned into ticky-ticks with this method, and by adjusting the Warp Mode's Decay parameter you can shorten up the ring-out to tighten it up as much as you want. Quantize slices and pitch it up a bit and you're done!

If you want more of an unprocessed sound, then I'd go with metal brushes closed until only about three inches of brush is exposed, and play on the rim and shell of a metal darbuka or similar.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 7, 2012)

Charlie, you rock. Great tips. =o


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## Darthmorphling (Nov 7, 2012)

charlieclouser @ Wed Nov 07 said:


> This is the type of sound that I go right into Ableton Live for - running it as a ReWire slave behind Logic:



I now have a reason to use the severely restricted copy of live that came with my M-Audio Keystation. Thanks!

Edited to remove the extremely long quote.


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## EastWest Lurker (Nov 7, 2012)

charlieclouser @ Wed Nov 07 said:


> This is the type of sound that I go right into Ableton Live for - running it as a ReWire slave behind Logic:.



Hey Charlie, why not just do it in Logic with Flex?

Better , Ned?


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 7, 2012)

Guys, there's no need to quote everything. It just makes this thread longer to read than it should be.


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## charlieclouser (Nov 9, 2012)

EastWest Lurker @ Wed Nov 07 said:


> Hey Charlie, why not just do it in Logic with Flex?



I dont mess with Logic's flex too much as my Ableton / ReWire workflow is just so good. I can set Logic to cycle (loop) a range of bars and just go over to Live and start auditioning loops from its browser, and they all will preview in tempo with the cue, and their start position can be quantized, so as you down-arrow your way through folders of loops each one will start at the next whole note, or quarter note, or whatever you select, and they don't have to be apple loops or have any tempo information encoded in them - plain old wav or aiff files are fine. Also, I don't think Flex has the same options for stretch mode, specifically the decay parameter that lets you tighten up the release of the slices, does it? For me, Ableton has the most comprehensive and flexible set of tools for munching on loops...


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## mark812 (Nov 10, 2012)

Albion's Brunel Loops are fantastic and have lots of similar sounding stuff..

Metal, wood, glass etc.


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