TheCrowHillCo’s Prehistoric Symphony: A Raucous Dive into String Alchemy

Raptors in the Recording Studio

The CrowHill Company, known for their bold musical innovations, have teamed up with Bleeding Fingers to create a string library that is quite like a time machine for your ears. In the video, we’re introduced to the origins of instruments like the raptor violin and the triceratone—names straight out of a palaeontologist’s dream. These aren’t your average violins and cellos; they’ve been constructed from bones, fossils, and a dash of wild ingenuity. Imagine more than just playing notes. It’s about capturing time’s echoes in raw soundscapes, reaching back 66 million years to imbue modern scoring with prehistoric sound. TheCrowHillCo blows the dust off the ages, and we’re here for every eerie note.

The Birth of the Bone Fiddle

Our journey into the creation of these instruments takes a curious detour from music store shelves to the arcane aisles of a Native American shop loaded with bones and fossils. Picture this: the mad genius of crafting a violin from dinosaur bones like some sort of musical Frankenstein. The first eerie sounds heralded the arrival of instruments such as the raptor violin, which became the backbone for ‘Prehistoric Planet’ scores. The creator describes bowing a cello string on a bone, producing sounds that took them right back to the Cretaceous—a time when musical instruments were an unimaginable concept. Their creation, the fat rex, became a favourite among composers for its unique contribution to the score’s dinosaur themes. It’s like rocking out with ghosts from the Jurassic past.

"We should use materials that paleontologists use to study dinosaurs today, use those materials as the core of our instrumentation."

© Screenshot/Quote: Thecrowhillco (YouTube)

The Prehistoric Ensemble Awakes

In a whirlwind of creativity, TheCrowHillCo assembled a string ensemble not out of violins and cellos as we know them, but from instruments of their own making. The hadrocello, fat rex, triceratone, and tyrannochord come together to form an ensemble that’s more reminiscent of a mad scientist’s lab than an orchestra pit. These instruments defy expectations with their primordial growls and alien timbres. The aim? To score ‘Prehistoric Planet’ with sounds that are as otherworldly as the dinosaurs themselves. There’s something exhilarating about composing with instruments that mirror the raw chaos of nature, echoing roars long extinct. The ensemble doesn’t just add an extra layer to composition; it transforms the very essence of scoring for film with its hauntingly unfamiliar soundscape.

Beyond Traditional Strings: The New Frontier

"They're not very resonant that I think is going to be really useful, used in isolation, used as an ingredient."

© Screenshot/Quote: Thecrowhillco (YouTube)

The video takes us deeper into the functionality of these prehistoric instruments. Unlike standard strings, these creations yield sounds that are delightfully unpredictable. Each note is a gamble, a tantalising invitation to explore uncharted sonic territories. These instruments reject the sanitised perfection of digital strings, offering instead a gritty, gravelly authenticity. Played on a Neve desk in Santa Monica, every quiver and bow stroke amplifies the raw energy captured by TheCrowHillCo. It’s a treasure trove of sound, where music meets archaeology in a mash-up of fossilised strings and modern harmony. This library lets composers break free from the constraints of polished studio recordings, encouraging a more tactile, hands-on approach to musical expression. It’s not just nostalgia; it’s a revolution in the making.

From Symphony to Ferocity: A Composer’s Playground

The individual instruments within TheCrowHillCo’s library showcase a spectrum of textures and density. From the robust resonance of the hadrocello to the almost vocal tones of the raptor violin, each unique instrument contributes to a dynamic playing field for composers. The walkthrough reveals how these instruments, far from being lifeless replicas, rather breathe with primal intensity, offering unprecedented narrative depth to any score. Adapting these new sounds into existing orchestral workflows isn’t just smooth; it’s seamless, a blend as natural as sedimentary layers stacking over millennia. There’s a thrill in hunting for ‘sweet spots’, coaxing out the filthiest sounds—those imperfections that add humanity to music. Such is the allure of working with TheCrowHillCo’s prehistoric ensemble.

Closing Rhythms of an Ancient Era

As the video winds down, it becomes evident that these instruments are not mere gimmicks—they signify a bold reinvention of musical narratives. TheCrowHillCo has succeeded in making history resonate anew, turning the once-static art of string composition into an electrifying, unpredictable encounter. Viewers are invited to consider how the dynamic nature of these prehistoric instruments can invigorate the familiar realms of film scoring. As each note echoes through time, there’s a pulse, a raw and unfettered beat that could only come from instruments crafted with such audacious intent. Like a musical excavation site, this library teems with possibilities—not only expanding the horizons of sound but also enriching the emotive vocabulary available to composers today.

"If you use Crow Hill or indeed any other reputable string libraries, this way of working will be very familiar to you."

© Screenshot/Quote: Thecrowhillco (YouTube)