Warped choir review

In this review, we will be looking at the latest U.S.O (Unidentified Sound Object) sound effects library called Warped Choir. We received a stereo version of the library on which this review is based on. Warped Choir is also available in 5.1 format.

Content

Either version (stereo or 5.1) of Warped Choir comes in two parts. The first part features 6 categories (crescendos, ghostly sounds, impacts, soundscapes, stingers and swells) of designed sounds and the second part features around 20+ raw sounds that you can manipulate yourself. The categories give you a hint of what kind of sounds to expect in each category. In crescendos you will find mostly gated/stuttery sounds while in impacts you will find more impactful sounds as the name suggests. I will touch on sounds in a bit.

Warped Choir will take up to 2 GB of your hard drive. It is not a big library but still offers plenty of sounds for the price ($69 for stereo version). All sounds are also delivered at 96 kHz and 24 bit which makes them suitable for stretching and pitch shifting.

Sound

I like the overall sound of the library. It feels consistent and well designed. Where and how you will be using the library is up to you but based on the way it sounds I would say that is best suitable for horror sound design and for cinematic sound design. Having said that, there are few sounds that I find are missing in Warped Choir.

For instance, the Crescendos category features mostly gated/stutter sounds. Would be great if there were a bit more options like non gated designed versions. Impacts and swells also feature great elements for further design or layering but I feel some lack lower end. Maybe that is just me. The design of the sounds on the other hand is really cool and I am sure many will find the sounds usable.

You also have the option of raw sounds at your disposal. One should note that these are not dry/studio choir recordings but recordings from an actual concert. U.S.O does mention this in the product description.

Overall I have to say that I really enjoyed playing with this library.

Metadata

Now we come to the interesting part. I know everyone searches sounds in different ways so I will share my experience and what I think could be changed in Warped Choir metadata.

First of all, metadata is included in the file itself and in CSV and excel format. On the other hand I feel there is a bit too much metadata. The file itself will tell you what kind of sound you should be expecting but metadata will add few extra words you might want to filter out.

For example, the filename looks like this Warped_choir_crescendo_01 and the metadata looks like Warped Choir cinematic design production imaging element trailer teaser promo crescendo ascend vocal vox orchestra chopper accent transition special fx tonal.

Some may prefer it that way but I personally like more focused description of the sound. Below you will find three images from three different programs using metadata. You can decide what you prefer.

Test drive

For this example I created a short trailer sequence using only the sounds from the Warped Choir. The only processing can only be heard in the beginning where I used a low pass filter. The rest of the sounds weren’t modified besides fades and levels. Also there are no plugins on master output.

*some elements like hits, whooshes and other sounds were intentionally left out.

The footage was taken from two different trailers (Rings and Ouija). By now you should get an idea of what kind of sounds to expect from the library.

Project screenshot

Conclusion

Warped Choir is a well-designed sound effects library with enough content to expand your sound palette. The metadata in my opinion could be more focused but other than that Warped Choir is pretty solid sound effects library.