Abbey Road One: Sparkling Woodwinds

Name: Abbey Road One: Sparkling Woodwinds
Price: 49 USD
Author: Spitfire Audio

by Spitfire Audio · Instrument · Woodwind and glockenspiel library

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Abbey Road One: Sparkling Woodwinds by Spitfire Audio

Sparkling Woodwinds is a single-section library recorded at Abbey Road Studio One by Grammy-winning engineer Simon Rhodes, with lyrical woodwind lines doubled in octaves and paired with glockenspiel.

It has two mixes and ten mic signals, and costs $49.

Best for: Acoustic Instruments. Genres: Ambient & Cinematic, Jazz, Acoustic & Classical.

Keywords: woodwinds, mallets, film & game audio, cinematic, bright, electric piano, leads, monophonic, sample-based, classic, ensemble, tight, vintage, loose, simple.

What it does

Abbey Road One: Sparkling Woodwinds is one of Spitfire Audio's Abbey Road One film scoring selections: small, focused libraries recorded in Abbey Road Studio One and sold on their own. It blends a high woodwind ensemble in octaves with a glockenspiel on top, to "create magical, lyrical woodwind lines" in the classic film-score style.

Ensemble: oboes, clarinets, flutes and piccolo (per Sound On Sound) played together by London session musicians, with a glockenspiel layered over them.
Sparkling Legato: an octave legato for lead lines, which Sound On Sound found convincing across runs.
Long and Staccato: sustained octaves for chords and short notes for bright, bouncing patterns.
Glockenspiel control: the glockenspiel can be turned off for pure woodwinds, and its timing can sit tight with the winds or loosen for more movement.
Mixes: two curated mixes (Mix 1 and Mix 2) by engineer Simon Rhodes.
Mic signals: ten more: Vintage 1 and 2 (ribbons), pop close, pop room, close, Tree 1 and 2, ambient, outriggers and spill.

No trial is mentioned.

Source: Spitfire Audio product page

When to use it

Sparkling Woodwinds is the better pick when you want a ready-made, twinkling woodwind colour without orchestrating it yourself. Compared with BBC Symphony Orchestra Core and Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition, it has only three articulations and no separate instruments, but the blend of octave winds and glockenspiel works straight away. Those full orchestras let you voice each flute, oboe and clarinet on its own, which this library can't do. It also costs far less than either.

Best for: magical woodwind melodies, bright chords and staccato figures in fantasy, adventure and family film music.
Genres: cinematic and orchestral.
Look elsewhere if: you need individual woodwinds, solo parts or many articulations; BBC Symphony Orchestra Core or Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition cover the whole section.
Tip: Sound On Sound suggests turning the glockenspiel off for plain woodwind leads and using the tightness control to sharpen staccatos.

What producers say

Reviewers like its classic film-score sparkle and value, but note how narrow it is.

Sound On Sound (Dave Stewart) gave it 4 out of 5, calling the glockenspiel pairing "a master stroke" and praising its chords and legato lead lines.
MusicTech (Clovis McEvoy, 2021) said it feels like you've "stepped straight into the golden era of cinematic scores", and liked the simple UI and the glockenspiel timing control.
Criticisms: few articulations and a limited palette that can pull you towards classic cinema clichés.

Where to buy

Spitfire Audio: $49
PluginFox: $49

Tutorials and reviews

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