VSL Basso Profondo Choir

The Mysticism Of The Choir's Deepest Voices

The experience of hearing six contrabass singers fill Synchron Stage Vienna's large Stage A with the robust sound of a low C is undeniably mesmerizing, and they can go even lower!

Basso Profondo singers, whose voices are distinguished by their rich, resonant, and profoundly deep vocal quality, stand out for their ability to reach the lower limits of the human vocal range, typically encompassing notes as low as two octaves below middle C (C2) or even lower.

Also called oktavists, they often sing an octave below the bass part as soloists, and to capture an entire ensemble of these exceptionally gifted vocalists was a special treat for our team!

As with the Vienna Boys Choir, the idea for this Collection was born after the production of choral recordings for the Amazon Prime fantasy series "The Rings of Power", the prequel to "Lord of the Rings".

The essential element in Bear McCreary's score is the use of choirs, which were recorded at Synchron Stage Vienna in 2020 and 2021.

At first, we quite frankly questioned whether we could fulfill the composer's wish for a basso profondo choir.

However, working in the musical city of Vienna has its advantages and soon we were able to assemble an astounding ensemble of bass vocalists who were prepared to offer their talents in a choir, not only for the score recordings, but also for the creation of a sample library.

The enthusiasm of the artists is palpable in the recordings of this library.

It was a completely new experience not only for our team, but also for the singers to be able to explore the depths of their voices together as an ensemble.

The pitch range of this unique ensemble spans from a very low A1 to A#3.

Articulations include short notes, long notes, legatos and marcatos of the vowels AA (ah) and UU (oo), also sung espressivo, sforzato, as short and long crescendos, and as short and long diminuendos.

There's also humming as well as a variety of consonants in combination with short and long vowels.

What's more, the wide range of lower register effects and articulations such as "om", "hey", deep shouting, prayer-like performances, rises and falls, laughs, creepy sounds, clusters, and others make this unique library a treasure trove of archaic and other-worldly human sounds.

Multiple Microphone Positions

To capture the spectacular ambience of "Stage A" of Synchron Stage, our engineers employed seven separate phase-coherent microphone configurations to provide a broad range of room options.

All of them are available as separate channels in the mixer section of the Vienna Synchron Player that lets you create the sound according to your needs and liking.

Pre-configured mixer presets provide a wide variety of tonal characteristics, from close to distant, from classic to ambient, from airy to church reverb.

As with all Synchron Libraries, you can mix the Basso Profondo Choir in stereo, 5.1 surround or even Dolby Atmos and 9.1 Auro 3D, or any other immersive audio format.

Microphone Setup

The Standard Library and the Full Library of Basso Profondo Choir both include the same set of articulations.

The difference lies in the number of provided microphone positions:

Standard Library

1. Close Mic - Stereo
2. Mid Mic - Stereo (L/R)
3. Main/Room Mic - Decca Tree Stereo (L/R)
4. Main/Room Mic - Decca Tree Mono (Center)

Full Library

1. Close Mic - Stereo
2. Mid Mic - Stereo (L/R)
   
3. Main/Room Mic - Decca Tree Stereo (L/R)
   
4. Main/Room Mic - Decca Tree Mono (Center)
   
5. Main Surround - Stereo (L/R)
   
6. High Stereo (3D) - Stereo (L/R)
   
7. High Surround (3D) - Stereo (L/R)