# Spitfire/Charlie Clouser Hammers Brutalist Drums review (Nick Batzdorf, Synth and Software)



## Nick Batzdorf (Feb 24, 2022)

Summary:

Are you kidding?! I'm not posting the summary, please read the review! 









Spitfire Audio Hammers Brutalist Drums: The Review


Charlie Clouser’s signature go-to percussion library is both gnarly and sensitive. Nick Batzdorf’s review is neither. From the name and “cover” images, you’d expect Spitfire Audio’s Hammers (“Brutalist drums for maximum impact”) to sound not just big, but harsh, cold, stark, dark, concrete...




synthandsoftware.com


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## Trevor Meier (Feb 24, 2022)

Great review - thanks for sharing your thoughts! Definitely on my to-get list when I can find the cash.


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## Markrs (Feb 24, 2022)

Great review and a library that I look to own in the future


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## JashandeepReehal (Mar 16, 2022)

Great review. I do love the sounds of this libraries so much from what I've heard with the demos and walkthroughs. Been a huge Charlie Clouser fan for long. Hope to get my hands on this one day soon.


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## kevinh (Mar 16, 2022)

You Nailed it.


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## JyTy (Mar 16, 2022)

This is probably one of my fastest purchases ever. I clicked buy after the first minute of the walktrough and I do not regret it one single bit. My favourite Perc library followed by LA Modern Percussion. I've just sent my latest track to mastering that has Hammers all over and it sounds top notch!


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## charlieclouser (Mar 16, 2022)

Thanks for all the kind words you guys! Glad you're liking the results you're getting from Hammers, it was a biiiig project for sure!


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## mussnig (Mar 16, 2022)

charlieclouser said:


> Thanks for all the kind words you guys! Glad you're liking the results you're getting from Hammers, it was a biiiig project for sure!


The individual hits are really well recorded and super consistent. But what you did with the Warps is simply amazing! So much to explore there and full of surprises!


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## charlieclouser (Mar 16, 2022)

mussnig said:


> The individual hits are really well recorded and super consistent. But what you did with the Warps is simply amazing! So much to explore there and full of surprises!


Consistency between velocity zones and round-robins is always a big thing for me, so we recorded a minimum of 16 of each when we only needed 9. But the biggest part of the consistency was using the excellent, conservatory-trained percussionists Hal Rosenfeld and Lucas Fehring to do the actual hitting of the drums. When you tell these guys to hit at mezzo-forte, it's right on the money every time. And when you go back four hours later to pick up some missing hits because the first recording had an issue, and you tell 'em, "Just give us mezzo-piano center hits" the new hits match the previous ones perfectly. That's a huge advantage to using an actual pro percussionist!

The Warps, however, I take full credit for. That was a loooonnngg procedure, but at least it forced me to get familiar with a lot of plugins (and hardware) that I hadn't been using all that much lately. And some of the most useful plugins were a surprise to me because they were NOT the latest and greatest - Audio Damage Big Seq, AIR FilterGate, Glitch2 - those all kept coming back to the top of the pile in terms of usefulness and just plain satisfying results.


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## JyTy (Mar 24, 2022)

Here is the track:



There are some LA Percs in the first round but from 1:00 onwards is mostly *Hammers*! To me it sounds amazing and is one of the first libs I reach for these days.


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## mroche (Dec 23, 2022)

JyTy said:


> This is probably one of my fastest purchases ever. I clicked buy after the first minute of the walktrough and I do not regret it one single bit. My favourite Perc library followed by LA Modern Percussion. I've just sent my latest track to mastering that has Hammers all over and it sounds top notch!


I'm looking to expand my percussion library as I only have BBC SO and Nucleus at the moment covering this area. Considering the current sales, would you recommend picking up both Hammers and LAMP if they complement each other well? So many options out there from orchestral to epic, these definitely seem to lean towards the latter which I don't have.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 24, 2022)

I personally focus on the sound of the instruments in a percussion library rather than on how epic it sounds.

The epic sound is mainly a function of big compression (usually parallel) and big reverb. Yeah there's a little more to it than that - you have to start out with strong sounds; and lower, sustained (hence the compression) instruments are going to sound heavier - but it's the detail in the performances and recordings that makes a percussion library sing.


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## mroche (Dec 24, 2022)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> I personally focus on the sound of the instruments in a percussion library rather than on how epic it sounds.


Of course, I meant more on the lines of providing "impact" style instruments rather than traditional orchestral percussion instruments. Both SFH and LAMP sound nice to me, but I understand they have fairly different workflows and features and was wondering about your thoughts on each and when you might reach for one over the other.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 25, 2022)

mroche said:


> Of course, I meant more on the lines of providing "impact" style instruments rather than traditional orchestral percussion instruments. Both SFH and LAMP sound nice to me, but I understand they have fairly different workflows and features and was wondering about your thoughts on each and when you might reach for one over the other.


Afraid I can't help you, I don't have LA Modern Percussion to compare it to.


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## mroche (Dec 25, 2022)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Afraid I can't help you, I don't have LA Modern Percussion to compare it to.


Ah, sorry, this is what happens when I don't look close enough. Mixed up who I was replying to 😅


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## cedricm (Dec 25, 2022)

TLDR: a great library in spite of the Spitfire player.


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## tmhuud (Dec 25, 2022)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> Summary:
> 
> Are you kidding?! I'm not posting the summary, please read the review!
> 
> ...


LOVE it!!!!! Use it all the time.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Dec 26, 2022)

cedricm said:


> TLDR: a great library in spite of the Spitfire player.


TL?

I'm hurt.


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## tmhuud (Dec 26, 2022)

I love your title to the article Nick. Good to see you back in the saddle writing.


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