「スタジオで頭を悩ませているクリエイター達の救世主となるであろう、良く出来たサンプリング・ソース。」 "Every music technology student knows that brass sounds are the most difficult thing you can ask a synthesiser to mimick. What's not so widely appreciated is that , these days, it's not so much the sounds themselves that are the problem: digital multisampling techniques and advanced filtering can do wonders in creating a smart trumpet stab. But, if realistic- sounding brass is your goal, and you want to go beyond simple stabs, then the best bet is to sample from 'real" sources, like records and CD's. Of the latter, there have been a few attempts at producing the ultimate brass sample CD, but none with the unique appeal of Phantom Horns. The CD is the brainchild of two session men who've worked together as a horn section on dozens of records: trumpeter John Thirkell and sax-man Gary Barnacle. Rather than set out to produce an all-dancing brass CD, they've opted to specialise in the work of yer typical brass section in pop, rock, and dance. The samples are divided along stylistic lines, with suitable homage being paid to three of the popular music's greatest brass sections, the James Brown horns, Earth Wind & Fire, and Tower of Power. Of these, the JB- inspired riffs are juicy-sweet and funky, while the EWF styles are suitably spectacular, if a little on the thin side. Rock 'n' roll and reggae sections swiftly follow, but the most intriguing part of Phantom Horns comes near the end; some 30-odd tracks worth of solo sax and trumpet samples, which can sound a bit daft in isolation, but which act as building-blocks for the user to assemble custom riffs and solos. Long notes, short notes, swells and falls -- they're all here waiting to be chopped up and hurled into the mincer. Like the longer blasts that precede them these solo snippets are all offered in a choice of pitches no more than a fourth apart, so no matter what kind of track you're trying to fit them into, you shouldn't have to do any radical detuning. The longer riffs also come in a choice of BPMs, so 'artificial' stretching should be averted in most sessions. Instrument -wise, there are alto-tenor, and baritone saxes for Mr Barnacle, and trumpet, flugelhorn, and trombone from Mr Thirkell. Flugelhorn is one of the great under-used brass voicings; it's nice to see it here. Recording-wise, everything is very clean-- but there's some serious compression going on here (the engineers preference or simply a symptom of the CD mastering process?) which seems to choke off some of the best riffs just as the players are starting to open their shoulders. Overall though, Phantom Horns is a clever and well executed package that should cure a lot of headaches in a lot of studios. To misquote a well-known advert, it does exactly what it says on the sleeve."