Spitfire Audio LABS

After you install your first digital audio workstation, one of your first instincts is to test most if not all the available instruments just to understand them and merge them into something that passes as music. Normally, this instinct never goes away. As you evolve, you’ll always look for sources of new sounds.

You’ll often find that audio plugins can help you with this aspect of your evolution. The most advanced plugins are dedicated to creating specific aspects of production, or even genres of music. Let’s say you would like to create a cinematic soundscape for your track. Obviously, many plugins can help you achieve that, but for starters, you should look no further than Spitfire Audio LABS.

Yes, you read that right; Spitfire Audio LABS is (at this moment) 100% free, even for commercial use. But the best part is that it’s an ever-growing library of professionally recorded musical instruments which you can start using right away.

Spitfire Audio has already created many highly complex plugins, some of them in collaboration with musicians such as Hans Zimmer, Ólafur Arnalds, and the London Contemporary Orchestra. In order to get LABS, you must first download the Spitfire Audio App, which will serve as a downloader, installer, and library manager for your instruments. You can then “get” any instrument from the program’s website, install it using Spitfire Audio App, and you’ll automatically get the Spitfire Audio LABS dedicated plugin.

While the plugin’s interface has a stylish design, its functionality can be considered minimalistic. Apart from a volume control, a dynamics control, a reverb knob and a keyboard, there isn’t any other way to reshape your sounds. But, as I’ve already suggested, the beauty of Spitfire Audio LABS is not in its technical capabilities, but in the sounds themselves.

You can use drums, various sets of strings (including an amplified cello quartet and a set of “scary strings” designed specifically for horror movies), three types of pianos (including a very cinematic modular piano), guitars, a choir, and even field recordings from the streets of London. And thanks to the developers’ dedication, this list of instruments is growing fast.

It’s safe to say that say that anyone with a strong interest in music production and enough space on their hard drive should get Spitfire Audio LABS.