Common Spitfire Audio Mistakes to Avoid

I've made every single one of these Spitfire Audio mistakes at some point while getting into orchestral libraries, usually while overexcited about a new instrument at midnight. Learn from my nonsense so you don't have to repeat it.

Buying the Biggest Spitfire Audio Library Before Trying LABS

The free stuff exists for a reason. Jumping straight to a full professional orchestral collection before you've spent proper time with LABS or a smaller edition means you're learning the interface, the articulations and your own taste all at once, on the most expensive and complex option available. Slow down and build up.

Treating the Spitfire Audio Mod Wheel as an Afterthought

This is the single most common mistake I see, and it's the one that makes a part sound flat no matter how much reverb gets thrown at it. Dynamic control in these libraries usually swaps between genuinely different recorded performances, not a simple volume automation curve. Draw in a static mod-wheel value and leave it there, and you'll wonder forever why your string line sounds lifeless compared to the demo videos.

Doubling Every Line Across Every Section

It's tempting to stack violins, violas, cellos and basses all playing the exact same line for a bigger sound. Mostly, it just gets dense and synthetic-sounding instead. Give each section its own defined role, and you'll get a result that actually breathes, rather than a wall of sound with nowhere for the ear to rest.

Drowning Everything in Reverb

Room and ambient microphone signals already carry a genuine sense of the recording space these instruments were captured in. Piling a heavy reverb plugin on top of that, without balancing the mic mix first, tends to push everything backwards into a smeary, distant mush rather than adding the polish you were hoping for. Balance the mics you've already got before reaching for a plugin.

Ignoring Storage Requirements Until It's Too Late

Some of the deeper professional libraries genuinely need hundreds of gigabytes of disk space, and figures vary considerably between products and editions. Starting an install without checking the current requirement first is a great way to run out of space halfway through, or discover your ageing hard drive is going to make loading painfully slow. Check first, then install.

Assuming Every Spitfire Audio Library Works the Same Way

Some products run in Native Instruments' Kontakt, others use Spitfire's own dedicated player, and requirements can differ across versions of the same product line too. Assuming compatibility based on one library you already own is how people end up confused about why a new purchase behaves completely differently.

Writing Outside the Instrument's Realistic Range

Sample libraries will technically let you push notes far outside a real player's comfortable range, but that doesn't mean you should. Realistic register, phrasing and breathing matter enormously for believability, and pushing a part somewhere no real musician would actually play it is one of the fastest ways to break the illusion these libraries work so hard to create.

Mixing Before the Writing Is Actually Finished

Fiddling with microphone balance, EQ and reverb before the musical content itself is settled means redoing that work every time a phrase changes. Get the writing and articulation choices right first, on a basic mix, then move to proper mixing once the piece itself is done.

Forgetting Which Interface You're Even Looking At

Because some libraries live inside Kontakt and others use Spitfire's own player, it's an easy trap to go hunting for a setting in the wrong interface entirely, especially when you're switching between projects that use both. A minute spent confirming which platform you're actually in saves a surprising amount of frustrated scrolling through menus that don't exist there.

Where to Go From Here

If several of these sound uncomfortably familiar, it's worth going back to the full explainer on how these libraries actually work, or the beginner's guide if you're still building the fundamentals. Anyone about to buy their next library should also read the complete buyer's guide first.

The Bottom Line

Almost every Spitfire Audio mistake on this list comes down to rushing past the fundamentals — the mod wheel, the mic balance, the realistic range — in favour of buying bigger or reaching for more plugins. Slow down on all three and the results improve dramatically.

Frequently Asked Questions