- Aug
- 18
- 2008
awake o’sleeper: vocal session
9:18AM by Brandon McCormick | Cetagories: News and Updates
The following update is from Whitestone composer Nicholas Kirk, the mastermind behind all the score and music for our films.
“Hey, can you sing like a big burly man?”
That’s basically the question I asked a few friends recently. We just tracked a huge male group vocal for the new short ‘Awake O Sleeper’. It’s always fun to record background vocals (or “BGV’s” for you industry insiders out there) and this was no exception. We had 10 guys come in and sing their parts 8 times. That makes for 80 voices when it’s all said and done. That’s huge. That’s awesome.
Without getting too technical, the reason you record that many times is because, well, you can’t fake 80 voices. I always try and fake it for the demos, but in the end, more = more. The demo usually consists of Billy and myself singing the parts around 10 times to try and beef up what we’ve got and sell the idea. Problem is, it sounds like Billy and I singing 20 times.
That’s 10 great takes from Billy, each with varying degrees of pitch/intensity/character; and another 10, at best, mediocre takes of me desperately trying to keep up with Billy’s greatness, while running from the console to the vocal booth and being out of breath when I get there.
Lame.
When you’ve got the varying inflections of 10 guys, in one room, screaming their lungs out, man funk stinking up the joint, well kids, that’s magic. Stay tuned. This one’s gonna be good….
-nk
As always, photography by the very talented Luanne Dietz.
Tags: awake, music, nick, o'sleeper, preproduction, sleeper
