I think most people who watch this channel are trying to avoid doing a proper job for a living: That wouldn't be the case if every company was like Spitfire
Have to give a shout to Sandy in customer support. He helped me decide on my first Spitfire Audio library a while back....I make electronic music and wanted something different and really liked the look of Ólafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions. But was really unsure as together this would fit what I wanted to do....after a few emails back and forth with Sandy I made my mind up and decided to go for it. I was not disappointed...I said to him from the start I wanted an unbiased opinion which at the end of the day was a tall ask with him being from the company but he was brilliant and he talked me through features of the library. So, great to see the person behind the emails. Massive thanks again. And this video is superb Christian. Give us a job ;)
Great Team Great dedication, Great product. Thank you Chris for sharing this with us. Stay grounded and keep up the awesome work you guys are sharing with the world. NEVER SETTLE!
After searching through various back up drives i've just found an example of Spitfire's amazing tech support from the early days.I'd messed up my Loegria update. Without hesitation Paul posted a personal, unlisted You Tube video that put me straight immediately.In the video you can hear Paul's family in the house in the background.In my estimation this degree of customer service and respect is what makes a company like Spitfire! Thankyou guys!!!
I loooove everything you stand for and I`m kind of an addict of your videos, so do you never stop this;-) Thanks for putting so much time, effort and joy into this beautiful thing called music.
The best one yet! Another shout out to Sandy! Sometimes I can be one of those shits that blows issues way out of proportion and even though I've done my time in customer service, I still act like a little baby sometimes. Very cool to see all those folks still enjoy your company CH (literally). Can't say I understand those funny hand gestures they make when your back is turned though? Something British I suppose?
Interesting video, great to see some of the behind the scenes people. Quick mention for Jack and Angus who gave me so much help, and support when I was having problems with a couple of my libraries earlier in the year, just after lockdown started . That customer support side is very important, and one of the reasons I use Spitfire libraries, and of course, they sound great too. Thanks to all of you for some wonderful products. Take care everyone, stay safe, and healthy all of you, best wishes Terry
Great to see some of the team... as a composer/producer holed up in my studio by myself most days, I'm slightly envious of the energy and fun of a gang of people to work with/near. And it looks like you've got an especially good gang.
Yep, I'll second that. I used to work for Steinberg (years back) and they were (and almost certainly still are) a truly lovely bunch of people, and I still miss the joy of laughing and thinking with great people.
Thank you, Christian, for listening to all of us who asked you to see the Spitfire family. It was nice to see Sandy, I had some support interaction with him as regards the UI of the Brass High and Low legato patches in the latest update of Albion ONE. Thanks again for this film!
Excellent Christian! I wanted it, you delivered! I enjoyed every bit of it. What a cool growing family team you have there. Keep up the good work. Thank you!
What a great bunch of people you have. I am quite astonished that a sample library company can sustain 40 people in jobs, which only goes to show what a success you have made of it. If only more companies were this cool and caring. Gizza job.
I love my job. I think the TV company I work for are amazing. But the thought of working for Spitfire would be just so exciting. How I would love to pick the staff members' brains over a pint.
What a delightful video on some of the people who make Spitfire Audio function, perhaps a better word than function is “buzz”. Further videos on the workings of Spitfire Audio would be appreciated.
Fab! Great to meet some of the team, feel their enthusiasm and also sense the ethic and culture at Spitfire. Also nice to see you progressing people from within. Nice.
Christian. Just struck me that my initial reaction to the title of this one was that you might be introducing us to your actual family. The kids have featured in the margins of some of your videos and your wife has featured (I think) as a vocalist in a number of your compositions. The soundtrack to Triangle perhaps? Would be lovely to meet them in a future video and especially hear from your wife on her thoughts regarding your frequent habit of naughty purchases!
If Carlsberg did Music Technology Companies, Spitfire Audio would be the best music technology company in the world :) or maybe you already are. What a fantastic company to work for. And something rare these days...the bosses looking after their employees.
Hey Christian, I'm a big fan of your work. Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask such a question, but I was wondering if you had any plans to make a sample library of a harmonium? You often mention that there seems to be one in every studio in the North, and I have been looking for a good harmonium VSTI for years - the very few on offer just sound like bad accordion patches. Spitfire's ethos of capturing the raw breathing life of the instruments you sample seems ideal to represent the creaky, wheezing, joyous nature of a good foot-pump harmonium - such as, perhaps, the beautiful example featured prominently in this latest video?. In any case my very best to you and yours, and keep up the excellent work!
They actually have harmonium Evos in Albion Tundra although not the deeply full sampled instrument. That would indeed be a welcome addition to the Spitfire family.
Same boat man. My favourite instrument that I'll never be able to play 😢 This one can be beautiful though if you EQ the hellll out of it: www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=1126
Peter Scartabello thanks for the share. not a fan of that one. Flat and missing the soft almost woodwind like quality I'm searching for, but with that bass and breath like quality as well.
I agree. Again we're in bad accordion patch territory. Harmoniums are resonant, noisy acoustic instruments. The one you shared is closer and I've used it before, but is still quite a shallow sample bank. A Spitfire library would nail the real sound of an old harmonium, I'm sure of it.
Thank you, Christian. It was also very nice to see you in LA during the event. I have an idea for one of your videos :) How possible it is to make a film about "time signature / tempo changes" in one single cue. What are your techniques and how do you manipulate your compositions, so the audience don't feel these changes and everything feels smooth without noticing the changes in (time signature/tempo). Thank you very much in advance.
_Christian video idea_ : Christian, you keep encouraging us to make our own samples/sounds which is good, but some of us would like some practical advice on how to begin. Such as: * If you're doing a "Labs" type sample product, do you sample every three semi-tones, or every note? * Do you record velocity layers. Can you EQ or make existing samples quieter to fake more velocity layers? * How do you line up samples in your DAW for the most efficient workflow of exporting and naming them? and any other tips that would benefit a person who would be starting in this area.... thanks. :) Chal.
Actually, he's already done just that! The video is on the Spitfire channel, and it's called *Grow Your Own Samples - How to Make a Sample Library* ua-cam.com/video/Yvco_DWMV_g/v-deo.html It's highly recommended. I got inspired to create a Kontakt instrument (sampled guitar), on the basis of this video. Nice one, CH.
Thanks, that was helpful. He seemed to sample every other note and 3 velocity layers. I have a PC - Kontakt - , not a MAC so the workflow will be different. But this video was a good start and answered a few questions I had.
Yeah, I found that - when creating my first Kontakt instrument - it was helpful to keep it very simple, and take as few samples as possible (just one velocity layer, and every second semitone, at the most). I still learned _heaps_ about the process, and progressed quickly. I wouldn't recommend spending hours capturing and preparing dozens(or even hundreds) of samples, only to realize you wish you'd done something differently.
I might try a small ethnic stringed instrument, not a complex instrument. I might go for two mics, but am wondering how to marry them properly or offer a mix of them properly in Kontakt. One mic might be close and dry, the other slightly further away. But maybe you're right to advise for the first one I just try and keep it simple as possible.
Hey Christian, and thanks for your reply to my email, much appreciated! Just about to watch this episode, and earlier I stumbled across this: So... 8Dio, here's Troels' Vlog Nr 4... Are they copying you, do you think..? ua-cam.com/video/H1Hg7vlbtlg/v-deo.html Or did Dave Smith start doing Vlogs over 5 years ago, and now everybody's copying him..?! Troels' vlog is engaging, but there's something slightly bizarre about hearing a European who's moved to California speak. "Like, super-cool, like" ad infinitum... However, to be fair to him, he does make a couple of good points - on the subject of jargon (I agree - 'DAW' isn't really an attractive name, why not something a little more imaginative, such as 'Music Creation System' perhaps..?), and his point about simplicity, and getting back to basics. It sort of comes back to what I said about how we all seem to have forgotten what 'articulation' actually is. It isn't a proficiency qualification in coding or scripting , it's a mechanism by which we can express and capture our musicianship, using the parameters within a MIDI environment. Some might consider this 'stating the bleeding obvious,' but it does me good sometimes to remind myself: the tech should serve our musical creativity, not the other way round! So - with that in mind, and thinking back to my last filmscore experience, I wondered if you fancied doing a vlog that demonstrated not just your workflow, but also your thought processes, from the moment you sit down with a new film? I've actually got loads of questions about this! I noticed you had the temp music in the session too - something that never occurred to me to do, but how is that beneficial? When you watch a new film for the first time, what are you doing? Getting an overall impression, and not worrying about the finer details, or does the big picture feed the need to list details? How are you making decisions about style? Do you try to use things like leitmotifs? To what extent do you demand a director gives you a clear remit at the outset? How do you deal with things like disagreements over style/content? What's the best way to establish a good creative rapport with your director, especially when you're working with someone for the first time? Lots more, but I'll let others chip in if they see this and feel inclined :-) Keep up the great work!
Tom Dangerous yeah we’re not particularly hardcore about it, from what I can see it means we get to regulate the whole company going to the pub together to once every sprint = two weeks.
Sandy has got to be one of the most patient and helpful people I've ever encountered in customer service - star!
I wonder how many tickets were mine out of that 9000+... :D. Sandy is brilliant, I agree!
I think most people who watch this channel are trying to avoid doing a proper job for a living: That wouldn't be the case if every company was like Spitfire
You got that right ...
Have to give a shout to Sandy in customer support. He helped me decide on my first Spitfire Audio library a while back....I make electronic music and wanted something different and really liked the look of Ólafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions. But was really unsure as together this would fit what I wanted to do....after a few emails back and forth with Sandy I made my mind up and decided to go for it. I was not disappointed...I said to him from the start I wanted an unbiased opinion which at the end of the day was a tall ask with him being from the company but he was brilliant and he talked me through features of the library. So, great to see the person behind the emails. Massive thanks again. And this video is superb Christian. Give us a job ;)
Great Team Great dedication, Great product. Thank you Chris for sharing this with us. Stay grounded and keep up the awesome work you guys are sharing with the world. NEVER SETTLE!
After searching through various back up drives i've just found an example of Spitfire's amazing tech support from the early days.I'd messed up my Loegria update. Without hesitation Paul posted a personal, unlisted You Tube video that put me straight immediately.In the video you can hear Paul's family in the house in the background.In my estimation this degree of customer service and respect is what makes a company like Spitfire! Thankyou guys!!!
I loooove everything you stand for and I`m kind of an addict of your videos, so do you never stop this;-) Thanks for putting so much time, effort and joy into this beautiful thing called music.
You and Paul did create amazing modern working environment and I’m sure you’re both very proud! Dream job 👌🏻
I been watching Christian’s videos non stop! Im addicted to these! You’re hilarious and so knowledgeable. Thx for all these! Editing is awesome!
The best one yet!
Another shout out to Sandy!
Sometimes I can be one of those shits that blows issues way out of proportion and even though I've done my time in customer service, I still act like a little baby sometimes.
Very cool to see all those folks still enjoy your company CH (literally).
Can't say I understand those funny hand gestures they make when your back is turned though?
Something British I suppose?
Interesting video, great to see some of the behind the scenes people. Quick mention for Jack and Angus who gave me so much help, and support when I was having problems with a couple of my libraries earlier in the year, just after lockdown started . That customer support side is very important, and one of the reasons I use Spitfire libraries, and of course, they sound great too. Thanks to all of you for some wonderful products. Take care everyone, stay safe, and healthy all of you, best wishes Terry
Great to see some of the team... as a composer/producer holed up in my studio by myself most days, I'm slightly envious of the energy and fun of a gang of people to work with/near. And it looks like you've got an especially good gang.
Yep, I'll second that. I used to work for Steinberg (years back) and they were (and almost certainly still are) a truly lovely bunch of people, and I still miss the joy of laughing and thinking with great people.
Thank you, Christian, for listening to all of us who asked you to see the Spitfire family. It was nice to see Sandy, I had some support interaction with him as regards the UI of the Brass High and Low legato patches in the latest update of Albion ONE. Thanks again for this film!
Wonderful environment + people, awesome! Working for Spitfire would be an absolute dream job.
Excellent Christian! I wanted it, you delivered! I enjoyed every bit of it. What a cool growing family team you have there. Keep up the good work. Thank you!
Sandy - Legend - ABSOLUTELY! The only person I know who can read error logs! Blew me away when he first demonstrated that ability in front of me!!
What a great bunch of people you have. I am quite astonished that a sample library company can sustain 40 people in jobs, which only goes to show what a success you have made of it. If only more companies were this cool and caring. Gizza job.
Hey Christian! Just wanted to say it was lovely being able to see you in LA. Loved the event. Cheers!
Just great. Thanks as ever for everyone's candour and humanity and making us feel so connected to your mission...and all that stuff.
What a great team. Thanks for everything you all do!
I love my job. I think the TV company I work for are amazing. But the thought of working for Spitfire would be just so exciting. How I would love to pick the staff members' brains over a pint.
I love the general atmosphere in this video. Spitfire Audio seems like a great place to work at!
What a lovely bunch of people, congrats all!
What a delightful video on some of the people who make Spitfire Audio function, perhaps a better word than function is “buzz”. Further videos on the workings of Spitfire Audio would be appreciated.
Fab! Great to meet some of the team, feel their enthusiasm and also sense the ethic and culture at Spitfire. Also nice to see you progressing people from within. Nice.
Christian. Just struck me that my initial reaction to the title of this one was that you might be introducing us to your actual family. The kids have featured in the margins of some of your videos and your wife has featured (I think) as a vocalist in a number of your compositions. The soundtrack to Triangle perhaps? Would be lovely to meet them in a future video and especially hear from your wife on her thoughts regarding your frequent habit of naughty purchases!
Spitfire would be such an awesome company to work for
Brilliant video - love the company, love the products.
Some of the best smash/match cuts in the business.
Awesome, you did it! Great to see and hear the spitfire fam. Keep up the great work guys
Another great video Christian, will you be bringing out any spitfire featuring brass band sounds?
I really like the sprint method!
This is lovely!
If Carlsberg did Music Technology Companies, Spitfire Audio would be the best music technology company in the world :) or maybe you already are. What a fantastic company to work for. And something rare these days...the bosses looking after their employees.
wow to think I do everything myself says I'm fuckin awesome . But imagine what you could do with a team .
That was epic! Well actually still is, I just paused to drop a comment here because of the epicness! Moving on, thanks again!
Ahhhh... I wish I'd made the cut for that marketing job!
Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic video! Only helped my determination to work there!
Awesome company!
Meet the Family, but daddy couldn't shut up talking about himself and mammy was absent!
Just like my family
Super cool ! Thanks for sharing a mini BTS !
Hey Christian, I'm a big fan of your work. Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask such a question, but I was wondering if you had any plans to make a sample library of a harmonium? You often mention that there seems to be one in every studio in the North, and I have been looking for a good harmonium VSTI for years - the very few on offer just sound like bad accordion patches. Spitfire's ethos of capturing the raw breathing life of the instruments you sample seems ideal to represent the creaky, wheezing, joyous nature of a good foot-pump harmonium - such as, perhaps, the beautiful example featured prominently in this latest video?.
In any case my very best to you and yours, and keep up the excellent work!
They actually have harmonium Evos in Albion Tundra although not the deeply full sampled instrument. That would indeed be a welcome addition to the Spitfire family.
Same boat man. My favourite instrument that I'll never be able to play 😢 This one can be beautiful though if you EQ the hellll out of it: www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=1126
Bolder sounds has a great one! www.boldersounds.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=3_18&products_id=118&zenid=u19r125m3e0sgiaajs6vfbsn43
Peter Scartabello thanks for the share. not a fan of that one. Flat and missing the soft almost woodwind like quality I'm searching for, but with that bass and breath like quality as well.
I agree. Again we're in bad accordion patch territory. Harmoniums are resonant, noisy acoustic instruments. The one you shared is closer and I've used it before, but is still quite a shallow sample bank. A Spitfire library would nail the real sound of an old harmonium, I'm sure of it.
Thank you, Christian. It was also very nice to see you in LA during the event. I have an idea for one of your videos :) How possible it is to make a film about "time signature / tempo changes" in one single cue. What are your techniques and how do you manipulate your compositions, so the audience don't feel these changes and everything feels smooth without noticing the changes in (time signature/tempo). Thank you very much in advance.
You should also get thousands of resumes the next days, I am sure you are already aware of that! (hmmm, that London's weather seems fantastic!..)
Best team in the business. When I make it (sarcastic tone), drinks on me!
Gr8 work! What camera, lens and mic is that when the video starts?
I love this video, Great intro!
I would LOVE to be a part of you guys!
VIDEO COLLAGE REQUEST! (15:41) Hard drive full of 4k video of utmost profanity! ...Oh, and score a backing track! :)
oh p-lease let me come in and teach you how to use Lav. mic's and boom mic's for Film - it's driving me nuts
11:14 is that the great Andy Blaney?
To be a part of that team...
_Christian video idea_ : Christian, you keep encouraging us to make our own samples/sounds which is good, but some of us would like some practical advice on how to begin. Such as:
* If you're doing a "Labs" type sample product, do you sample every three semi-tones, or every note?
* Do you record velocity layers. Can you EQ or make existing samples quieter to fake more velocity layers?
* How do you line up samples in your DAW for the most efficient workflow of exporting and naming them?
and any other tips that would benefit a person who would be starting in this area....
thanks. :) Chal.
Actually, he's already done just that!
The video is on the Spitfire channel, and it's called *Grow Your Own Samples - How to Make a Sample Library*
ua-cam.com/video/Yvco_DWMV_g/v-deo.html
It's highly recommended. I got inspired to create a Kontakt instrument (sampled guitar), on the basis of this video. Nice one, CH.
Thanks, that was helpful.
He seemed to sample every other note and 3 velocity layers.
I have a PC - Kontakt - , not a MAC so the workflow will be different.
But this video was a good start and answered a few questions I had.
Yeah, I found that - when creating my first Kontakt instrument - it was helpful to keep it very simple, and take as few samples as possible (just one velocity layer, and every second semitone, at the most). I still learned _heaps_ about the process, and progressed quickly. I wouldn't recommend spending hours capturing and preparing dozens(or even hundreds) of samples, only to realize you wish you'd done something differently.
I might try a small ethnic stringed instrument, not a complex instrument. I might go for two mics, but am wondering how to marry them properly or offer a mix of them properly in Kontakt. One mic might be close and dry, the other slightly further away.
But maybe you're right to advise for the first one I just try and keep it simple as possible.
Hey Christian, and thanks for your reply to my email, much appreciated! Just about to watch this episode, and earlier I stumbled across this: So... 8Dio, here's Troels' Vlog Nr 4... Are they copying you, do you think..? ua-cam.com/video/H1Hg7vlbtlg/v-deo.html Or did Dave Smith start doing Vlogs over 5 years ago, and now everybody's copying him..?! Troels' vlog is engaging, but there's something slightly bizarre about hearing a European who's moved to California speak. "Like, super-cool, like" ad infinitum... However, to be fair to him, he does make a couple of good points - on the subject of jargon (I agree - 'DAW' isn't really an attractive name, why not something a little more imaginative, such as 'Music Creation System' perhaps..?), and his point about simplicity, and getting back to basics. It sort of comes back to what I said about how we all seem to have forgotten what 'articulation' actually is. It isn't a proficiency qualification in coding or scripting , it's a mechanism by which we can express and capture our musicianship, using the parameters within a MIDI environment. Some might consider this 'stating the bleeding obvious,' but it does me good sometimes to remind myself: the tech should serve our musical creativity, not the other way round! So - with that in mind, and thinking back to my last filmscore experience, I wondered if you fancied doing a vlog that demonstrated not just your workflow, but also your thought processes, from the moment you sit down with a new film? I've actually got loads of questions about this! I noticed you had the temp music in the session too - something that never occurred to me to do, but how is that beneficial? When you watch a new film for the first time, what are you doing? Getting an overall impression, and not worrying about the finer details, or does the big picture feed the need to list details? How are you making decisions about style? Do you try to use things like leitmotifs? To what extent do you demand a director gives you a clear remit at the outset? How do you deal with things like disagreements over style/content? What's the best way to establish a good creative rapport with your director, especially when you're working with someone for the first time? Lots more, but I'll let others chip in if they see this and feel inclined :-) Keep up the great work!
Sandy (4:48) helped me out just yesterday 😀
BTW, why's Spitfire Audio named 'Spitfire'?
PS if you need a doctor or scientist at Spitfire do say. ;-)
Awesome !!
Great!!
Any Tonmeisters working at Spitfire?
Wil Jones yes, all of them.
Christian Henson Music fantastic, hopefully gonna be one myself in September if my A levels go to plan 👍
Sad to hear you have "Agile" - it's the bane of my working life, people talking about being "Agile" whilst not knowing what the word means.
Tom Dangerous yeah we’re not particularly hardcore about it, from what I can see it means we get to regulate the whole company going to the pub together to once every sprint = two weeks.
WOOOOO!!!!!
thanks Christian! you are the man!
👌
Love this
Need a herbal technician?