The Crow Hill Company releases Tina Guo - Storm Cello

The Crow Hill Company kicks up storming sample instrument in close collaboration with virtuoso namesake as TINA GUO - STORM CELLO

The Crow Hill Company is proud to announce availability of TINA GUO - STORM CELLO — closely collaborating with virtuoso cellist, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and entrepreneur Tina Guo, one of the most recorded solo cellists of all time in film, TV, and game soundtracks, who teamed up with multi-talented composer and producer Steve Mazarro to create her first sample instrument supervised entirely by herself according to the needs of ‘AAA-list’ composers with whom she has worked during the last decade, before turning to the music- making community tools-maker to help them storm over the finish line with what brings to the musical masses the seriously sought-after and undeniably unique sonic capabilities of her electric cello that has graced so many iconic scores in recent times — as of January 29…

As a GRAMMY and BRIT Female Artist of the Year nominee, Tina Guo herself hardly needs much more in the way of introduction. It would perhaps be remiss not to mention recent projects (both on and off the big screen) that include Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2023), Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024), Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), Dune: Part One (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Gran Turismo (2023), and Top Gun: Maverick (2022) — not forgetting, of course, that she co-composed ‘Wonder Woman Main Theme’ with long-time friend and collaborator Hans Zimmer. Duly dedicating his life to creating music and soundscapes using synthesisers together with orchestral sounds, the so-called godfather of orchestral sampling has over 150 big screen credits to his notable name, including a sizeable slice of the biggest blockbusters witnessed worldwide, as well as associated sellout arena tours on the grandest of scales — with none other than Tina Guo joining him onstage.

TIME TO REWRITE THE CELLO PLAYBOOK is how The Crow Hill Company chooses to best support the TINA GUO - STORM CELLO sample instrument with well-chosen words that could conceivably change musical lives. By bringing Tina Guo’s approach to blockbuster recordings into anyone’s work with TINA GUO - STORM CELLO, the resultant meeting of minds collaboratively combines traditional electric cello multi-samples with articulations that will make users of the sample instrument in question feel like Tina Guo is interpreting their music live while they are composing. It is an electrifying cello library that offers an ability to produce and process the raw performances, switch on Tina Guo’s custom pedal board, and access a host of new sound-shaping functionality — dreamt up by the virtuoso cellist herself, co-producer Steve Mazarro, and the award-winning developers, producers, and composers at The Crow Hill Company’s Scottish sound HQ — housed in a new and unique working environment worthy of carrying the music-making community tools-maker’s mark of excellence and innovation in the process of doing so.

It is worth highlighting here some notable features found on TINA GUO - STORM CELLO’s gorgeous GUI (Graphical User Interface): FORM — blends the original ‘captured’ signal with a secondary layer of global processing of all sounds with six fixed ‘styles’ to choose from; SIGNAL — offers control over the blend between the DI (Direct Input) and an acoustically captured signal; SPACE — controls the mix of the virtual space (as selected and tweaked in the effects pane); TECHNIQUES — opens and closes the technique selection browser to access different styles of playing, from simple short and long articulations all the way to stylistic choices that are unique to Tina Guo; and TEXTURES — opens and closes the textures selection browser to access unique soundscapes and fragments of performances, with an additional nine layers of custom and controllable sound design created by Steve Mazarro.

Musically speaking, a workflow was established from the outset, working its way into this trailblazing interface. Indeed, describing this workflow effectively describes the way in which the TINA GUO - STORM CELLO sample instrument works and how to use it. Initially, Tina Guo and Steve Mazarro worked together to painstakingly capture not only a series of samples per se, but rather notes imagined as part of a performance idiomatic of her seriously sought-after and undeniably unique electric cello performances. Then this signal was processed through a series of custom pedal boards that can be dialled into the sound produced by each of those techniques using the FORM control. Moreover, more in-depth control can be achieved by utilising the TEXTURES mixer page, available for all texture-based techniques. The core techniques were all assigned to a dedicated key — to key-switch to and from live, through real-time left-hand performance — or by using technique switches triggered by a piano roll within a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). As a series of TEXTURES have also been created by Steve Mazarro, making use of a multitude of rarefied vintage and digital outboard gear, the resulting texture design abilities are unique to TINA GUO - STORM CELLO, allowing users to create entire sound worlds out of Tina Guo’s unique and iconic performances. And as if all that was not enough to be getting on with, this combination of ‘live’ performances, FORM signals, and TEXTURES then terminates at a comprehensive FX (effects) rack that includes an onboard granular re-synthesiser (GRAINS), gate step sequencer (GATE STEPPER), and a MASTER bus featuring a DOUBLE function that duplicates Tina Guo’s performance for added size and width of signal.

Says composer Christian Henson, who founded The Crow Hill Company on the back of primarily working on television and film soundtracks, so clearly knows what he is talking about: “By coming together with Crow Hill, we hope we have matched Tina and Steve’s enthusiasm to create something truly exceptional, unique, inspiring, and versatile — tailor-made to the incredible demands made on professional composers and music makers working in the trade today.” That said, he happily gives credit where credit is ultimately due when closing with, “We would like to offer our humblest thanks to Hans Zimmer for bringing Tina, Steve, and everyone at Crow Hill together and making this entire project possible.”

Featuring 19 core orchestral TECHNIQUES (devised and performed by Tina Guo on her electric cello) and 23 experimental TEXTURES (including a nine-layer sound design mixer crafted by Steve Mazzaro), TINA GUO - STORM CELLO is available to purchase for a time-limited introductory promo price of £129.00 GBP until February 28, 2025 — rising thereafter to a RRP (Recommended Retail Price) of £179.00 GBP — as an AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-format-compatible sample-based virtual instrument plug-in — comprising over 60 GB of uncompressed material (compressed losslessly to 32 GB) that loads into any DAW — directly from The Crow Hill Company here: https://thecrowhillcompany.com/tina-guo-storm-cello/

For more in-depth information, including some superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated TINA GUO - STORM CELLO webpage here: https://thecrowhillcompany.com/tina-guo-storm-cello/

TINA GUO - STORM CELLO installation and activation requires installation of The Crow Hill App — an easy-to-use app designed by the best in the business to provide seamless download, installation, integration, calibration, and organisation of The Crow Hill Company tools — available for free from here: https://thecrowhillcompany.com/crow-hill-app/

Watch Christian Henson’s illuminating introductory walkthrough video for TINA GUO - STORM CELLO here:



Access an ever-growing collection of free, professional tools and resources by simply signing up to become a Crow Hill member here: https://thecrowhillcompany.com/join-crow-hill/









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