Posts Tagged "theater"
Whoops
OK, so I’ve got this blog, here. And it hasn’t been touched or updated in about three months. And I’ve offered no explanation. Whoops. Simply put, life has just started getting in the way of producing these ditties every day, and it seems kind of silly to make them sporadically, since the whole game was that I needed to make one each and every day. It was an ongoing challenge, and it’s what made it fun for everyone.
So, that said, I’m not going to make the claim that Ditty a Day is dead forever. It’s just on a temporary hiatus, until I find myself with some more steady time to actually devote to making it a regular, ongoing thing again. Sorry if you enjoyed hearing the ditties – they’re still here, for your repeat pleasure, and there will probably be more in the unspecified future.
In the meantime, though, please enjoy this clip, showing just a little bit of what I have been up to recently. (And come see the show on November 7, if you’re so inclined! I’m the MD!)
Gay For You
Special treat! Today’s ditty is a full-length song! I’d like to thank Vassar College for giving me the fodder for this spritely work.
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Revivals
On vacation I took the time to listen to a few versions of Little Shop of Horrors, since I think I’m supposed to be playing it soon. It’s fantastic in all its forms (though what the heck were MD and album producer thinking in the original Broadway recording? Speed everything up so it’ll fit on an LP? Drench it all in reverb and delay?), but it got me thinking about revivals and such.
People get attached to original cast recordings, and I never gravitate to them when another option is available. I’m zeroing in on why I never like them, and I think it comes down to orchestration. When a show is first let into the wild, the emphasis is, and shoul be, on the content itself. The singing, the lyrics, the melodies–the things that make it a show. That’s great, but oftentimes the orchestrations are the afterthought. They’re usually prepared a couple days before they need to be played, and the orchestra is just wallpaper for the singing.
In a revival situation, however, the time that would normally be spent composing or actually changing the show is sent on polishing, like fixing problem areas, and reorchestrating. It happened recently when Les Mis was brought back to New York, and dear God were those orchestrations nice.
The same happened when Little Shop was revived. The band got an additional trumpet and reeds section, the tempos were standardized, and the piano became a little more subdued. And, man, did it sound nice and full. It made the whole thing sound really polished, and this is why it’s my favorite recording of the show now.
There are certainly exceptions, but this is why I favor revivals so much. They get a similar budget and rehearsal time for a work that’s already been through its paces. As long as the casting was done right and the director has some sense, the music and arrangements are really given a chance to mature, and this is what makes them sound so much better.
Compression Thoughts
First off, I apologize for the nerdiness of this post. But I’ve been thinking about it, so I’m going to write it anyway.
I was listening to the movie version of Rent (nerd point No. 1), and was kind of taken aback by the recording quality (nerd point No. 2). It wasn’t so noticable at first, but it barely had any dynamic variance at all. I understand how this could be a good thing on, say, the radio, but I don’t really get it in a movie mixed in 5.1. Take this clip for example:
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(You probably want to use a good set of speakers, or at least headphones, to hear the point I’m about to make.)
Now, we can hear her voice just fine, and understand all the words. I can hear the piano pretty clearly panned slightly left, the bass is pretty present, the drums (including what I can only imagine was a kick drum made of cardboard) are clear, and the guitars are audible. However, pay attention to when the vocals get “louder.” Do they seem farther away? The compressor clamps down on the voice, and while the overall level stays the same, the dynamics are all but removed.
Now, this does seem pretty terrible from a sound reproduction standpoint, but then I got to thinking. I can hear all of the parts in this recording. Now, which is more important? Should the peaks in the vocals momentarily drown out the ride cymbals, or should this kind of compression ensure an even mix among all the parts? Put another way, if you paid someone to mix a recording of a musical, would the compression and dynamics in the above clip be acceptable?
I’m not sure what the answer is, and this is why I’m putting it out here. What’s your take?
Virtual Orchestras
David Pogue just posted a blog entry about the alleged disappearance of live musicians in pit orchestras. His fear is that these systems are getting/will get advanced enough to seamlessly sound like real players, and we’ll just can the musicians altogether. I’m a little reluctant to agree. Here’s my response:
I was recently the conductor of a production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, a show that requires a fairly large orchestra. We’re a student group at a small college, so we’re limited in our performance spaces. I was in just that situation–having a pretty full orchestra, but missing a string player here and there, and a third trumpet player. My initial inclination was to contact the licensing company about their virtual orchestra setup.
I’m now confident that this thing will very rarely replace the volunteer orchestra entirely. The cost of the rental is high enough to prevent volunteer organizations from using it at all. In fact, for a lot of shows, it would almost be cheaper to hire live musicians to fill in the parts. Add this to the fact that most amateur productions have very limited runs, and the setup and fees begin to look extremely inefficient.
In the professional world, producers are throwing so much money at shows that the cost of the musicians is comparatively low. The unions in place would also pretty much prevent the complete replacement of the live players.
In the eighties there was a great fear that synths would wind up replacing musicians altogether. More recently, though, there’s been an emphasis, particularly in recording, on finding just the right blend between synth, samples, and real players. We’re learning now that emulation may be a good tool, but one that should augment real players in order to sound convincing. I think the same will hold true for musical theater.
What do you think?
