When I moved to Braughing in 2020, I became involved with the local church and the bell ringing band that has rung at the church for over 300 years. I was talking to the tower master after a rehearsal one evening and he mentioned that the tower was still in possession of the original hand bells that were used in companion with the tower’s main bells.

My sampling brain kicked in and I said that it would be possible to sample the hand bells for future generations to enjoy.

There are two octaves, starting at G, and I sampled them over the course of two evening sessions to reduce the risk of any background noise. I used my stereo pair AKG C414 XLSs, going through my Tweed C506/2 pres, then straight into my DAW. Production-wise, I have tried to keep as much of the ‘sound’ as possible, with only light compression and surgical EQ’ing to remove harsh or unpleasant frequencies.

Contributors

juliuspepmusic

This was my first foray into creating a sample pack, so all recording, mixing, programming and testing was performed by me.