In a new collaboration between Saw composer Charlie Clouser and Spitfire Audio, percussion has never sounded so brutal

Creating drums sounds for cinematic textures requires great drum samples, with a heavy layer of signal processing. This is where Spitfire’s latest product could take the hard work out of your next project, with these unique hits and loops, driven to brutal distraction.

Sawing Nails!

Charlie Clouser is a Hollywood composer best known for the angsty scores which accompany the Saw film franchise. He started musical life as a drummer, before becoming a keyboard player and programmer with the band Nine Inch Nails. Also known for their processed and dark musical tendencies, his simmering pot of stylistic percussion-based sound design led Spitfire Audio to his door, with a view to creating a software instrument to host percussion sounds for the current and next generation of cinematic composers.

Hammer flow

“Clouser’s simmering pot of stylistic percussion-based sound design led Spitfire to his door”

Hammers is based around Spitfire’s very own virtual instrument, in a format that has become familiar. Instrument selection occurs at the very top, while realtime controls default to the upper part of the instrument GUI, where two familiar faders control expression and timbral/dynamic volume. The now-familiar Spitfire ‘knob’ can be assigned to one of five control elements, reverberation, low-pass filter, reverse, compression and normalise, although not all are available with all instruments. This section also allows the user to see what’s occurring with articulation options, which may also be automated via key-press. There’s also access to the numerous mic or bounced signals, for greater control of your initial sound construct.