Musical Sampling Atelier Series: Barker Clarinet

Barker Clarinet is a true legato clarinet library performed by conductor and educator, Joshua Barker.

Recorded at Orb Studios in Austin, TX; we aimed to create an agile, emotive clarinet.

We recorded all of the performances with natural, progressive vibrato.

In our view, this helps warm up the sound and expands the emotional range of the instrument.

Each patch was produced to more uniquely address certain contexts.

The Emotional patch includes a more subtle style of vibrato, fragile but confident.

The Workhorse patch is an agile, mezzo-forte instrument; great for traditional, upbeat contexts.

The Fat Lead was actually recorded in the same space as Sasaki Trumpet/Austin Saxes; initially intended as an energetic compliment to those two libraries.

What we found is that it also serves as an excellent, emotional instrument for strong, dramatic contexts where you really want the clarinet to properly sing.

Lastly, we included a Breaths patch to help sell the performance with both short inhales and longer, subdued inhales with the clarinetist in the ready position.

Patches

• Emotional
• Workhorse
• Fat Lead
• Breaths - Short & Long

Features

• Legato clarinet
• Performed with natural, progressive vibrato
• "Natural" and "Tuned" patch variations
• Recorded close for mixing flexibility
• Adjustable reverb of custom hall impulse
• Recorded in 48khz / 24bit
• 2.1 GB compressed NCW format

The "Natural" patch variations can be great for solos that don’t share the same register as the accompaniment.

It's also great for doublings and harmonies with other instruments when used in more upbeat passages.

The subtle (and not so subtle) pitch discrepancies playing against each other often adds a lot of life to arrangements.

While we like the adjustable reverb chosen for this library, we would suggest turning it off and putting the clarinet through your favorite reverb plugin to give it a sense of presence/space that suits your track.

To add extra realism and spice to your clarinet, try riding the pitch wheel slightly upwards quickly during more "difficult" passages to imitate sharp pitch corrections.