Review: Spitfire – Hammers

Plugins and libraries that supply producers with pristine cinematic percussion are a rarity nowadays, but one brand that has been nailing this is Spitfire Audio. Spitfire recently teamed up with film composer Charlie Clouser to create a new and impactful collection of percussive elements called Hammers. Clouser has worked on the film scores of movies such as Saw and Resident Evil: Extinction, so you can bet that this collection of cinematic drums in Hammers are filled with intensity and excitement.

Features

When you open up the Hammers library, it automatically has the first drum sound in the collection loaded up. The collection has 50+ drum sounds and loops, 1000+ recorded cinematic sounds, and around 120,000 samples. In the top half of the plugin interface, there is a multi-use knob that can adjust the level of effects added to the drums such as reverb, compression, reverse, normalize, and even a lowpass filter. To the left of the knob, there are two level controllers: expression and dynamics. The expression controller alters the level of technique and the dynamics controller crossfades between dynamic layers.

The lower half interface of the Spitfire Hammers plugin is where many of the unique and creative features can be found. The Technique section (indicated by the waveform icon) allows the user to switch between percussive techniques on a drum sound. The types of techniques will vary depending on the preset being used. Some of the techniques included (not limited to) are hits, flams, ruffs, rolls, solo centre, solo edge, two player, and more.

Next to the waveform icon is the mixing icon, which accesses the Signal Mixer. The signal mixer contains around 12 to 15 different mixing settings, depending on the preset that is in use. Each of those settings can be turned on or off and can be controlled using the level adjustments on each individual setting. A few of the mixing settings that can be used are Crush, Close, Overheads, and Room. On the far right hand side of the Signal Mixer section, there is a stereo width controller that can be adjusted as well as inverted.

On the right of the Signal Mixer icon are the Controllers. The Controllers section allows for the level adjustment of each individual effect from the aforementioned multi-use knob at the top of the interface.

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Price

The price of Spitfire Audio’s Hammers is currently $299.00.

Verdict

This cinematic and impactful set of sounds from Spitfire Audio and Charlie Clouser can truly bring the level of production or composition to the next level. Whether you’re a composer trying to make a new score for a film, TV show, or game, or a music producer looking to make instrumental breaks and buildups more impactful and exciting, Hammers could be the right choice for you.

Check out a walkthrough of Hammers below.