The Global Sound Movement has launched a sustainable fundraising platform, enabling western music producers to make use of royalty-free samples of extremely rare and exotic instruments and sounds.
Following a recent visit to Uganda with London-based charity Sound Foundation, the group, which is made up of academics and students from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), has created a sonically rich and exclusive online sample library for use in Logic’s EXS24 Sampler and Native Instruments Kontakt.
Global Sound Movement personnel recording samples in Uganda.
Recorded in hi-resolution 96kHz/24-bit, the library is made up of sounds from rare hand-built instruments and the local environment, providing unique audio collections that capture the authentic sounds and ambience of Uganda.
These interesting and unusual sounds are royalty-free and can be used commercially by the music industry. The library consists of over 240 audio loops and over 2.5GB worth of environmental recordings, meaning they can easily be incorporated into different types of music by music producers and film makers.
The money generated by sample library downloads is given back to the communities from which the sounds were recorded, helping to fund the economic growth of these areas, creating a sustainable and mutually beneficial fundraising cycle.
Phil Holmes, senior lecturer in music production at UCLan said: “The Global Sound Movement provides the international music industry with a variety of unconventional sounds that have been recorded in collaboration with musicians from areas of social and economic need.
A local Ugandan musician playing one of the instruments, the Amadinda, sampled by the Global Sound Movement.
“The aim is to connect communities through music, and it’s a win-win situation – the communities receive income from the sales of the libraries and the music industry gets high-quality, unique sounds that can be used in new material.”
The sample library is an ongoing project for the Global Sound Movement, and one that the group will continue to expand following trips to Cyprus and China next year.
Paresh Parmar, senior lecturer in brand management at UCLan said: “The sample library we’ve created has massive potential for growth. There are so many unusual instruments across the globe that produce fantastic sounds, but some are so rare that they are only heard by a handful of people.
“The Global Sound Movement was created to share these sounds with the rest of the world and use them as a way to generate income for communities at the same time. The library will expand as we discover more unique instruments and we look forward to hearing some of these new sounds being fused with western music.”
