"It's the musical equivalent of someone whispering in your ear": Max Richter's SRM Sounds releases ASMR Choir, a vocal and string library with a "low-dynamic and ultra-close" vibe

SRM Sounds is a virtual instrument brand headed up by composer Max Richter and his partner visual artist Yulia Mahr. Recorded in Richter's Oxfordshire studio space, Studio Richter Mahr, the company's libraries are developed in partnership with Song Athletics, a creative studio founded by ex-Spitfire Audio CEO Will Evans.

Having previously released Kontakt instruments based on the sounds of his Steinway D SPIRIO | r and a 15-piece timpani ensemble, Richter has focused SRM's next library on the phenomenon of ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, the euphoric tingling sensation some of us experience in response to soft, gentle or particularly tactile sounds.

ASMR Choir is a vocal and string library made up of four separate instruments, all sharing a "low-dynamic, ultra-close" vibe, that Richter says is “the musical equivalent of someone whispering in your ear”.

"This instrument is super evocative," Richter says. "It's extraordinary. You start playing it and you don't really want to stop. It leads you into this hypnagogic state which is quite beautiful."

"This comes out of spending years in recording studios working with singers and instrumentalists and thinking about a category of sounds which is super magical, but we don't often get to experience in isolation – all these tiny sounds that you can capture with close-mic'ing techniques."

At the heart of the instrument is a small choir specializing in Renaissance music, recorded in the main room at Studio Richter Mahr and led by soprano Grace Davidson. Also included is a small string section of solo violin and cello, recorded on its own and also together with the choir. The vocal and string recordings were also run through Richter's analogue vocoders to create a fourth processed instrument with a more synthetic character.

Each sound source was recorded with three mic treatments, which can be blended together before the results are shaped via the ADSR envelope and processed via onboard filter, drive and reverb.

Max Richter is a Grammy-nominated German-British composer and pianist known for his works for stage, opera, ballet and screen. Richter recently received an Academy Award nomination for his score to Chloé Zhao's Hamnet.

"We decided to launch SRM Sounds because, even though there are a million sample libraries out there, I could find hardly any that really hit the spot for me. For composers, sound is an incredibly personal and emotional thing," Richter says of SRM Sounds. "These instruments have the colours that I love to use to tell the stories I want to tell."

ASMR Choir is currently priced at £149. You'll need Native Instruments Kontakt version 7.10 or higher to run it, or the free Kontakt Player plugin.

Find out more on the SRM Sounds website or check out a walkthrough video below.

ASMR Choir - Walkthrough - YouTube

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