Spitfire business things

[Keith Cocker]

I like Spitfire libraries. They have qualities of authenticity that suit me. They have certainly a characteristic "British" quirkiness about them which works with my composition and playing styles. The Christian Henson "episode" was very sad. I support his right to say what he did (and in many ways agree with him). It did not, in my view, justify the response it provoked and his departure from Spitfire seemed an unnecessary result. Spitfire have lost something which complemented the variety of individuals that made it up and its also a shame that some others have moved on - but they have their careers to develop and in many cases that is to be expected. One thing that does occur to me is that CH will not have left empty handed. Quite rightly, I imagine he will have taken out his financial stake in the business and that will have left a cash hole which needs to be filled. I hope that isn't skewing their strategy too much at the moment. Time will tell. In the meantime I eagerly await my pre-paid copy of Eric Whitacre Contrasts.

 

[annatar]

One thing that does occur to me is that CH will not have left empty handed. Quite rightly, I imagine he will have taken out his financial stake in the business and that will have left a cash hole which needs to be filled.

i don't think there is anything to suggest he has relinquished any of his financial stake in spitfire, whatever his official standing is with the company now relative to what it was

if there is, i'd love to know, as i'd continue buying the abbey road stuff again

 

[Double Helix]

i don't think there is anything to suggest he has relinquished any of his financial stake in spitfire, whatever his official standing is with the company now relative to what it was

Someone had posted a corporate report that indicated that he and Paul still hold 30% (35%?) stake in Spitfire Audio

 

[Seahatt]

I don't know about you guys, but for me, to a large degree, Christian Henson WAS Spitfire Audio. I almost exclusively watched his videos on the Spitfire Audio YT and on his personal channel.

He was the guy who gave me the most GAS with their libraries by showing off what he liked best about them and yet at the same time kept things interesting and imparted wisdom for newbies like myself along the way. For some reason, I remember him saying in one of his videos on his channel that 'it'll take a while' till I get really good at this, but 'not to get a job that's unrelated to the music industry like he did by working at a bakery.' (paraphrased here) You see, my family/friends didn't really believe in me pursuing this as a career at first but, somehow, I've always felt encouraged to continue pursuing this path of being a music composer after watching his videos, even the ones of the library walkthroughs.

In fact, watching one of his videos made me decide to go with Albion One as my first library a few years ago.

It was because of his videos too that I learnt about the existence of Spitfire Audio in the first place and got introduced to Paul and about their motivations to create the first Albion and Spitfire Audio. One thing led to another and I started watching vids on the channel featuring Homay, OPW, Dan Keen, etc.

But yeah, I remember being on the fence for CDT and on one of the CDT vids, CH was doing a walkthrough on it and mentioned that the interesting human voice that was at the end of the trailer for it was actually Homay's and then he affirmed her. By the end of the video, I was convinced that CDT was gonna be a good addition to my libraries and I also believed in what SA was doing and wanted to support them. It was an insta buy for me.

On a side note, I remember shaking my head and laughing when I first watched on one of the videos on his personal channel where his dogs had the zoomies and he was trying to talk about something serious.

And I whole heartedly agree with the sense of belonging, being part of the Spitfire Audio family vibe. I really felt it when he was still around.

But yes, all this is my personal opinion. Big props and a shout outs to Paul, Homay, Dan and the rest of the Spitfire team for all they did/do and for their walkthroughs too. Whilst I personally preferred watching Christian's videos, I did/still do watch your vids/walkthroughs too.

All the best to the new leadership and I hope to continue to see many more good things and good years to come!

 

[Leslie Fuller]

Someone had posted a corporate report that indicated that he and Paul still hold 30% (35%?) stake in Spitfire Audio

From what I understand of U.K. Company Rules, any change regarding a major shareholder (classed as between 25% & 50%) must be notified as soon as it happens. As CH said in the recent video, he was on “Gardening Leave”, and maybe SA are intending to buy out his shares at some point, but that is a major undertaking for them.

 

[Keith Cocker]

Someone had posted a corporate report that indicated that he and Paul still hold 30% (35%?) stake in Spitfire Audio

According to the UK Register CH resigned as a Director of Spitfire on 28th Feb 2023.

 

[Leslie Fuller]

According to the UK Register CH resigned as a Director of Spitfire on 28th Feb 2023.

CH did, as you say, resign as a director, but seems to retain his shareholding as nothing has been filed to indicate any change.

 

[Leslie Fuller]

I think am right in saying Homay and Oliver are still working for Spitfire, but other than that their other in-house composers all seem to have gone. Dan Keen, of course, but also Louis Rugg and Lucie Treacher have moved on to other things. It's not the same company that it was, and feels like it's really struggling for focus. The latest Eric Whitaker release seems like trying to re-create old classics from their history but there is something missing now.

Brits on here might know what am getting at with this comment, but it feels to me like as a company they are the Manchester United of the sampling world, constantly looking to find something that's been lost. I used to think of them as the Factory Records of the sampling world. Another company which innovated prior to disintegrating.

Another staffer, Angus Roberts-Carey who, I think, CH brought on, also more publicity left due to “the issue” and now works for Fracture Sounds. From what I recall Dan Keen is now freelance, though he was involved on Fracture Sounds recent Tom Factory library.

 

[Aitcpiano]

CH did, as you say, resign as a director, but seems to retain his shareholding as nothing has been filed to indicate any change.

Yeah seems like he still owns all the shares he did previously. Has just stepped down as the director

 

[ARC]

Another staffer, Angus Roberts-Carey who, I think, CH brought on, also more publicity left due to “the issue” and now works for Fracture Sounds. From what I recall Dan Keen is now freelance, though he was involved on Fracture Sounds recent Tom Factory library.

Hi @Leslie Fuller,

I need to be really careful what I say here, and I know you mean no harm, but I just want to make sure there's no speculation.

I joined Spitfire in 2020 after applying to be a Customer Experience Advocate. Though my presence on the early days of Pianobook assisted my application, CH had no involvement and I got the job based on my experience in customer service and music tech.

It is true that CH eventually brought me onto the Pianobook team and after helping with admin, he advocated for me to help run Pianobook in a managerial capacity from 2022. I left Pianobook last December due to burnout and focusing more time caring for a family member.

Earlier this year I was invited to join Fracture Sounds as Product Manager, which was an exciting opportunity to work in a small team of a rapidly growing business and have a large say in product development, something I didn't really have at Spitfire outside of Pianobook Artists (naturally that happens in a large business). The role also enabled me to work remotely, meaning I could support my family in a larger capacity.

Subsequently, I volunteered to make my position at Spitfire redudant and immediately started my new position.

Though the last few months during my 3 years at SA weren't great, my decision to leave was mostly career orientated and overall I had a brilliant time there, loved working with the staff, and owe a lot to the SA staff, Will Evans, and Christian for guiding me into the position I'm in today.

That's obviously not the full story, but hopefully it provides some context as to my reason for leaving.

 

[ARC]

I'm surprised that in a discussion of business direction, recent Glassdoor reviews aren't mentioned, e.g.:




I have very high respect for the boots on the ground at Spitfire, but if this sort of c-suite buffoonery is accurate then the future trends bleak.

I can't speak to the reality of this review as makes allegations about aspects of the business that have occurred since i left. But what I can say is that a very talented senior developer has just been promoted to a management position since this post has been made.

 

[Casiquire]

I don't think Spitfire is going anywhere anytime soon. I do think we'll see a reduction in the smaller niche libraries and more of a focus on high-end (read: expensive) products, though. That may mean that the Labs, Pianobook and Originals lines won't be as vibrant or active as before, however.

I think they make far too much money from smaller and cheaper products, so I think you might be right in the first half but then they might chop that expensive product up and package the same content into smaller, cheaper, less fully featured packages. It's just too obvious and apparently effective to hit the whole market with one set of recordings. I think that's the game plan regardless of who's the CEO or anything related to The Tweet or The Glassdoor or anything. I have no comment about those topics at this time.

 

[antsteep]

Former Spitfire CEO Will Evans launched Song Athletics today. He previously made studio socks but has moved on to sample packs.

https://songathletics.com/

 

[General_Disarray]

This is one I do put squarely at the feet of SF marketing. The demos, walkthroughs, and articulation list were clear enough that this library conception was Dunkirk Strings. But SF marketing insisted on marketing it as though it was the sound of Zimmer everyone associated with his films from a decade earlier and the library was not that. SF did go back and add quite a lot of new articulations that mostly filled in the gap that their marketing created but not until a lot of angry pixels filled this and other forums. Im not sure the library ever really recovered from that. The other thing is it was the first SF plugin library and had predictable issues with that, and the original legato was at best marginal.

Exactly. Everyone saying HZ and Spitfire did this for Dunkirk as an excuse would be totally right if the product was called "Hans Zimmer Dunkirk Strings". Feel free to check for yourself on its product page: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/hans-zimmer-strings

I'm saying this as huge fan of Hans Zimmer, I have tons of his albums and look forward to many more, if they are published in a way that you can buy them and not subscribe to them. To me he's the greatest composer of all time, so I'm not bashing him or anything. I'm just saying that it's not an amazing library, especially at the regular $800, but I got it for $400, and I still think it's too much for that. I have several string libraries that have a more "Zimmer" sound than those.

 

[jbuhler]

Exactly. Everyone saying HZ and Spitfire did this for Dunkirk as an excuse would be totally right if the product was called "Hans Zimmer Dunkirk Strings". Feel free to check for yourself on its product page: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/hans-zimmer-strings

I'm saying this as huge fan of Hans Zimmer, I have tons of his albums and look forward to many more, if they are published in a way that you can buy them and not subscribe to them. To me he's the greatest composer of all time, so I'm not bashing him or anything. I'm just saying that it's not an amazing library, especially at the regular $800, but I got it for $400, and I still think it's too much for that. I have several string libraries that have a more "Zimmer" sound than those.

I think it’s an amazing library now and was in its original state. It’s one of SF’s most gorgeous libraries for nuanced textural longs. And the way it captures both enormity and quietude is really quite impressive. A very detailed and expanded version of Tundra.

And it was also clear from the demos and walkthroughs that it wasn’t what the library the ad copy was selling. It’s never been clear why the marketing got so at odds with what the library was.

They likely couldn’t use “Dunkirk” in the name or prominently in the marketing for licensing reasons. But it really shouldn’t have been hard to give a clear marketing image of what the library was about.

 

[NYC Composer]

Can I trade in my Christian/Spitfire post for a post to be named later?

 

[MTrigg1013]

I think it’s an amazing library now and was in its original state. It’s one of SF’s most gorgeous libraries for nuanced textural longs. And the way it captures both enormity and quietude is really quite impressive. A very detailed and expanded version of Tundra.

And it was also clear from the demos and walkthroughs that it wasn’t what the library the ad copy was selling. It’s never been clear why the marketing got so at odds with what the library was.

They likely couldn’t use “Dunkirk” in the name or prominently in the marketing for licensing reasons. But it really shouldn’t have been hard to give a clear marketing image of what the library was about.

Agreed with all points. I've had the library long enough now to have dropped any and all expectations I had of it when it was first announced, and just consider it a gorgeous sounding orchestral library that routinely finds its way into my (non-Zimmer sounding) productions. In fact I'd dare say that it's almost entirely replaced SSS in my template; I prefer the overall sound and playability of HZS by no small margin.

 

[jbuhler]

it's almost entirely replaced SSS in my template; I prefer the overall sound and playability of HZS by no small margin

Yes, I also use it as a replacement and/or supplement for SSS, at least I did until Appassionata Strings appeared.

The layout possibilities of HZS are are great, and when I want a big dark string sound I opt for violas wide as the lead, cellos left and right and bass. It’s a wonderful sound, very rich.

 

[LATABOM]

Did anybody here actually drop hundreds of dollars on HZS thinking it would sound a certain way without listening to the many many demos that were available on launch to here that it sounded a possibly different certain way?

Like, I know it's a meme/trope/shitpost staple around here to complain about Spitfire marketing boilerplate, but until the recent pre-order possibility, every Spitfire launch discount has been long enough that everyone has time to listen to lots of demos and even watch 3rd party walkthroughs before making a decision.

I don't see how anybody could have heard the demos and assumed it would be the "backdraft" or "gladiator" or "backdraft" sound. Sure the sales pitch text talks a lot about "the hans zimmer sound" or whatever (and yes "a hans zimmer sound" would have probably been appropirate) , but come on everyone. The demos were right there, the walkthroughs were right there. Nobody (should have) bought it without listening and/or without considering exactly what sound they were after in the first place.

 

[ism]

Did anybody here actually drop hundreds of dollars on HZS thinking it would sound a certain way without listening to the many many demos that were available on launch to here that it sounded a possibly different certain way?

This is exactly what happened. But lets not dredge up any more of that particular trauma.