Dê Uma Olhada Neste Toca-Disco - Classe A

A Look At Building A High-End Turntable

First of all thanks to BOBBY OWSINSKI for this article.

There’s no question that vinyl is back with a bang, and as a result, so is the turntable business. In fact, most turntable manufacturers both big and small have experienced double digit sales growth in the last few years, a trend that looks like it won’t be stopping anytime soon.

But what exactly goes into making a turntable, especially a high-end one? In the following video you’ll no doubt marvel at what a fine hand-crafted precision tool the Riga RP8 is as you see it being made from scratch. By the way, the RP8 sells for $3,500 with the stylus cartridge and $3,000 without.

That’s no doubt more than most people are willing to spend on a device to play their vinyl (in most cases their entire playback system doesn’t cost that much), but it doesn’t make the RP8 any less cool if you have that kind of money to spend.

Indústria Da Música Dois Dígitos De Crescimento

U.S. Music Industry Sees First Double Digit Growth in Almost 20 Years as Streaming Takes Over

It looks like happy days are here again: U.S. recorded music sales were up 11.4 percent in 2016. The industry brought in $7.65 billion in revenue, according to the RIAA, up from $6.87 million in 2015. Although the music business showed signs of a recovery at the half-year mark, the 2016 year-end results show more significant growth, led by streaming revenue.

This is the first time since 1998 that the U.S. industry has experienced a double digit increase in overall revenue. Back then, the industry enjoyed revenue of $13.7 billion.

Unsurprisingly, streaming is pulling the business back to health, as revenue grew 68.5 percent to $3.93 billion, up from $2.33 billion in 2015. In fact, streaming grew so much last year, that it now accounts for more revenue than downloads, CDs and vinyl combined. Together, these formats brought in $3.51 billion. Paid music subscriptions doubled in the U.S., according to the RIAA -- up to 22.6 million, from 10.8 million in 2015.

Even with this robust growth, recorded music brings in just over half the $14.6 billion it generated at its 1999 peak.

There is more good news, though. When you subtract out the year’s $883.9 in royalties collected by SoundExchange, and divide revenue by the 431.74 billion streams counted by Nielsen Music, the average per-stream rate is $0.0072. Last year, that number, which includes video and audio on-demand streams, was $0.00517. In 2014, it was $0.00666.

So even though on-demand, ad-supported revenue, like that from Spotify’s free tier and YouTube, grew 25.9 percent to $469 million, payments from paid subscription services are growing three times as fast. Paid subscriptions generated $2.26 billion for the industry industry, up 94.9 percent from $1.16 billion in 2015.

On the sales side, digital downloads accounted for $1.84 billion while physical sales totaled $1.67 billion. The decline on the digital side came largely from singles: download song sales fell to $751.1 million, which led to a 24.1 percent decline in revenue to $9.06.8 million.

Digital album sales declined 21.3 percent to 86 million units from 109.3 million units in 2015; they generated nearly $876 million, a decline of 19.6 percent from $1.09 billion in 2015.

On a per unit basis, the average list price for downloaded songs increased slightly to $1.21 from $1.20, while the average list price of albums also increased slightly, to $10.18 from $9.97 in 2015.

Physical sales remain important to the industry, accounting for 21.8 percent of revenue, though they generated 15.7 percent less revenue in 2016. And since unit sales were only down by 15.7 percent, average prices are falling as well.

CD sales fell 20.9 percent to $1.17 billion. The average list price of CDs was $11.80, down from $12.36 in 2015.

The vinyl revival is losing some steam, although the format remains a bright spot. Unit sales grew 1.8 percent to 17.2 million, while revenue rose 3.5 percent, to nearly $430 million. (This year, revenue from ad-supported streaming surpassed than of vinyl -- it rose to $469 million.) Since vinyl growth averaged 38 percent a year from 2012 through 2015, according to Nielsen Music numbers, some wonder if the format’s resurgence has peaked.

Revenue from synchronization licensing -- $204.3 million -- was essentially flat, while revenue from ringtones and ring-backs fell 26.5 percent to $40.1 million.

For the first time, the RIAA broke out revenue generated by limited-tier subscriptions -- those that restrict the availability of songs, the devices they can be heard on, or other features. That category brought in $220.3 million in revenue. In another first, the RIAA reported $101.2 million in revenue from ad-supported streaming services that operate without a statutory license (and license music directly from labels).

Warner Music Lança Um Selo Exclusivo Para Vinil - Run Out Groove

Warner Music Launches Fan-Driven, Vinyl-Only Label Run Out Groove: Exclusive

Warner Music Group is officially unveiling its new fan-driven, vinyl-only record label: Run Out Groove.

The label’s forward-thinking format calls upon fans each month to determine which of three records -- either previously unreleased, out of print, or an entirely new collection compiled from the Warner Music vault -- will become available for purchase in a limited run.

"The crate-digging community is steering the ship," said Billy Fields, vp of sales and account management for WEA, the artist and label services branch of Warner Music Group, in a statement. "We are crowd-sourcing niche but in-demand selections from our vast vault to be pressed on high-quality vinyl, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to see where the community decides to take us."

Each month, fans will vote on the record they want pressed to vinyl from a trio of selections; the popular vote wins. The record with the most votes will then be available to pre-order for 30 days, and once the window closes the quantity being pressed will be revealed. Run Out Groove already opened operations quietly; its first release was MC5’s The Motor City Five, though its first fan-chosen release was a new collection from Echo & The Bunnymen, It’s All Live Now, recorded in Sweden, which features live covers of "Paint It Black," "Soul Kitchen" and "It’s All Over Now Baby Blue."

"I am chuffed that our fans came out in droves and voted for us," Will Sergeant of Echo & The Bunnymen said. "It’s a historical document of another time, another place, another me and a very interesting stop off traveling the road map of the band's life."

Once the pre-order window for a particular record closes, fans may still be able to snag the release at local participating retailers. Potential future releases, which can be voted on right now, include Solomon Burke’s Best Of Atlantic Soul 1962-1965, Secret Machines' Now Here Is Nowhere and Golden Smog’s Down By The Old Mainstream.

"With LP's you feel like you have actually got something worth having, to hold and read while you listen," Sergeant added. "I love the organic visceral nature of the record, a piece of plastic that can bring forth such wondrous sound. It’s all pretty weird when you think about it, some sort of wonderful sonic voodoo."

Streaming De Música Brasileira Esta Desafiando O Spotify

This Brazilian Streaming Music Player Is Challenging Spotify, Using Chatbots

First of All thanks to Murray Newlines  for this article.

Disrupting the streaming music market is extremely difficult to do, given the entrenched positions of Pandora and Spotify in the world market. But Brazilian company SuperPlayer is doing just that, with its streaming music service that is simple, curated, and effectively halves the price of Spotify’s Premium service in Brazil. With the ability to listen to music offline without consuming data, Spotify should be worried.

But the most impressive disruption that SuperPlayer has pulled off is using chatbots in their influencer marketing schemes. It’s no secret that chatbots are essential to customer service, but SuperPlayer is the first to integrate music into chatbots, and effectively.

At an event hosted by Apex-Brasil  during SXSW  I spoke with Gustavo Goldschmidt, CEO and co-founder of SuperPlayer, to find out more about how chatbots are revolutionizing streaming music, and the future of chatbots in streaming music.

You compete with people like a Pandora, how and why you are so successful, do you think?

We are focusing on very simple-to-use service that provides great music for every moment of people’s lives. The interface is easy to use, and we curate by activities so people don’t have to think about what they would like to listen to, they just do it. That made SuperPlayer a big hit; people started using and adopting it, and we started to grow -- we had 100K users in the first month, and now we have one million active users per month, and over four million downloads in the app stores.

How are you using chatbots in your marketing and in your company?

We started building chatbots for SuperPlayer so people could tell the player how they were feeling or what they were doing, and we could provide a soundtrack right away. This was very cool and very innovative, so some record labels asked us to build bots for them and for their artists. Now we’re providing chatbots for artists that can send their concert schedule, their music videos, and also playlists that take users to our streaming service. Besides being beneficial for the artists, we’re benefiting from using that to acquire users, and it has been a nice strategy.

How did you work with particular artists to make that work?

We initially worked with Luan Santana, one of the biggest artists in Brazil, and Som Livre, one of the biggest Brazilian record labels. ChatClub, one of our sister companies through our investors, made a chatbot for Luan Santana which launched the first music inside a chatbot in the world. Luan Santana posted a video saying, “If you want to listen to my music, go to my chatbot and ask for my music.” Then Facebook helped us to distribute this video to the whole fan base of Luan Santana, and in five days we had 350K plays of his music. It was a really innovative way of launching a song.

Why do you think that chatbot was so successful?

Bot is a new technology, but it’s a new technology that is easy to use. It’s not like something new that only people who are incredibly technological can use. It’s a new-old technology, and very accessible to everybody. Having an artist to promote it was key to our success. If we launched a bot and didn’t have that artist appeal, it would be difficult to scale. But with the artist, it was a good way to grow fast. People love to stay in touch with the artist and know everything he is doing, and a bot is a good way to build that relationship.

What are your future plans using bots and technology? How do you see using them to grow your company?

Our goal is to make music close to people’s lives; to improve people’s lives. I think that bot can help people have control of what are they going to listen to, like an unlimited service, but with the simplicity and convenience of curation. In the future people are going to say, “I want a bot playlist with Justin Timberlake – for jogging,” and then the bot will understand and create only this playlist. It will make it so much easier for services to find the right music for you.

Seis Gravações Da Última Década Que Transformaram A Indústria Da Música

Six Records From The Last Decade That Transformed The Music Industry, According To Zane Lowe

DJ Zane Lowe attends Esquire's celebration of March cover star James Corden and the Mavericks of Hollywood presented by Hugo Boss at Sunset Tower Hotel on February 8, 2017, in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Esquire)

"My job is to be a conduit between the artist and the fan."

If Zane Lowe's life were a classic hip-hop record, this phrase would be his breakbeat. Speaking at SXSW yesterday to a packed audience, the world-renowned DJ and Creative Director of Apple Music's Beats 1 returned frequently to this idea of connecting artists and listeners, as he presented his vision of the music industry as unifying rather than divisive.

"Music tends to fall into camps: punk versus rock, rich versus poor, fans versus artists," he said. "In radio, my role is to keep standing strong with one foot on each side."

Exuding an infectious energy and charisma reserved only for the best DJs and radio hosts, Lowe walked the audience through his multifaceted journey with music—from "pirating the sh*t out of Nirvana," to landing his first jobs at Max TV in Auckland and secondhand record store Music & Video Exchange in London, to watching his weekly stacks of tapes and CDs at BBC Radio 1 slowly dwindle under the weight of an up-and-coming site called Myspace.

"Myspace often gets an also-ran badge in the internet space, alongside the ranks of Ask Jeeves," said Lowe, drawing laughter from the audience. "But Myspace was one of the most exciting centers of the music industry because the fans took control. That was where the conversation was really happening. If you didn’t have radio play as an artist, Myspace was where you could really develop an audience from scratch."

His stance on Napster is more ambivalent, and not just because of its negative financial repercussions. "Sure, Napster meant no more shiny, plastic, expensive albums, no more gatekeepers or politics—but there was also no more love, no more layers of thought," he said. "It was music made modern, but to me, as an avid owner of this"—he pulled out a vinyl record from behind the podium—"it felt like we were going back to the stone age."

On the other hand, Lowe suggested, the more positive legacy of free was that it "encouraged artists to think for themselves." He pointed to six records from the last decade that preached this paradigm by capitalising on the Napster revolution and its aftermath.

First up was Radiohead's 2007 album In Rainbows, which the band released without a record contract under a pay-what-you-want model on their website. From that point on, not only was the value of music itself thrown into question, but "artists began searching for ways to make record distribution itself into an event," said Lowe.

Jay Z would continue paving the path that Radiohead forged with his 2013 album Magna Carta Holy Grail, which was made available for free to Samsung customers through the rapper's Magna Carta app. In general, by providing almost infinitely more choice, technology allowed artists to "experiment more not just with distribution, but also with promotion—how and when to speak," said Lowe.

Another iconic output of this experimentation was Kanye West's Yeezus, which Lowe deemed "the modern punk record of our time." This was less about technology, and more about personality.

"Kanye's genius is in his transparency: his willingness to let us behind the curtain into his complicated world, the way he crafts every rant, every social message, every idea like a new hit," said Lowe. "He's absolutely fearless when it comes to his vision, which leads to his high-intensity relevance."

Despite West's mega-celebrity status, Lowe argued that the rapper's approach to fame could provide a blueprint for emerging artists as well. "If you ask any aspiring pop star on the edge of culture, they'll tell you that creativity is a business model and attention is a currency," he said. "Tomorrow’s artists know that there’s so much more to music than just music. Artists can no longer thrive on just one hit record; the emphasis is on great ideas that build alongside great music."

The importance of ideas in 2016 pinnacled with Beyoncé's album-cum-short film Lemonade, which  "taught musicians that they could now mold themselves into TV, film and fashion," said Lowe. He added that multimedia, interdisciplinary projects at large offer fans even more layered, nuanced contexts that "could not be told through playlists alone."

Meanwhile, Migos' viral, meme-friendly single "Bad and Boujee" presented both a lesson and a warning about today's fragmented music audiences. While the record received hundreds of millions of streams and views online within weeks, it peaked only at around #40 on the U.S. radio charts.

"Are these audiences separate? I think so," said Lowe. "Terrestrial radio had been driving pop music for the last 50 years, but I'm not sure that’s still the case."

He fittingly closed his SXSW keynote with a listen to Frank Ocean's new single "Chanel," which premiered on Ocean's Beats 1 radio show blonded RADIO earlier this week. Ocean's recent clash with Def Jam Recordings over the independent release of his album Blonde went down in history as an iconic victory for indie artists. In Lowe's eyes, "Chanel" continues to carry the torch, pointing to the tectonic digital shifts happening under the music industry's feet at the hands of streaming services and any artists willing to venture over the edge.

"Music is restless, always searching," said Lowe. "If it's great, then move."

Suzanne Ciani Uma Pioneira Da Música Eletrônica Uma Vida De Inovação

Electronic Music Pioneer Suzanne Ciani On A Life Of Innovation

Suzanne Ciani is a music pioneer who in many ways defined electronic music. She speaks to George Howard about her career journey and the premiere of a documentary on her life's work.

Sometimes the world lines up. International Women's Day is resonant and profound on so many levels. Who knows definitively where the music industry falls along the spectrum of injustices foisted upon women. My guess, based on 25 years or so of participation, is it tends closer towards abject awfulness with respect to gender inequality than other industries. This makes it all the more significant that, purely serendipitously, I was able to speak to my friend and electronic music pioneer, composer and platinum certified artist, Suzanne Ciani on International Women's Day in front of a group of Berklee College of Music Students, a group, by the way, that was roughly 50% female. For full disclosure, I am an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music.

Ciani talked about how she innovated and developed modular instruments with Don Buchla, which set her on a path the ultimately led to, among other things, her unexpected radio hit, "Velocity of Love" and establishing the New Age format. Along the way, she created her own label at a time when that really just wasn't done (and certainly not by women).

Ciani's most striking anecdote entailed what led to her supplying the iconic bubble and fizz sound design for a Coke jingle, and thus becoming one of the first female composers for ads. What struck me about this story was that it truly was a result of reaching a level of anger and frustration—i.e., "nothing left to lose"—and barging, unannounced, into a session being helmed by legendary songwriter and producer of music and jingles, Billy Davis.

Many of the highlights of our conversation are presented in the recently premiered documentary, A Life In Waves, that chronicles Ciani's amazing career.

People say that art transcends gender, race and ideology, and perhaps it does...in its final form. However, few who haven't experienced it firsthand know the challenges related to gender, race and ideology that must be overcome for this art to emerge.

What a thrill, therefore, to speak to Ciani--someone who not only knows the challenges, but blazed the trail for others to follow--on International Women's Day in front of a group of emerging music business innovators, and to learn about her remarkable journey to the enduring music.

Napster É A Primeira A Incorporar GIF em Seu Streaming

Napster Becomes The First Streaming Music Service To Incorporate GIFs

One of the biggest problems facing streaming music services that have not already been able to gather audiences in the millions is differentiation. When every company has the same catalog at the same price point, what can convince a user to go with a lesser-known platform instead of one of the more popular options? This is a question that many companies have had to deal with, and every so often one rolls out a new feature that might not be a game-changer but is worthy of consideration.

Today, Napster (formerly Rhapsody) has just become the first streaming music site to incorporate GIFs into its listening platform as part of an update aimed at significantly improving the playlist-making experience. The company has partnered with online GIF titan GIPHY to make millions of short, looping videos available to add to playlists, which is something that has been missing from streaming. 

Those who use their Napster account to create playlists for parties, for friends or even just for themselves will now be able to cover them with a GIF, which can often be much better at expressing the precise mood or feeling the music about to be played conveys than the album art associated with singles.

In addition to making playlists much more visually appealing with GIFs, users can now also take recommendations from the service when creating their next run of songs. Napster has added a Tinder-like function that takes cues from what songs have already been added to a playlist before suggesting what should come next. Users can listen to a few seconds of a song and swipe one way or the other, depending on if they like what they’ve been served or not. 

Neither of these new features will convince many to switch services or begin paying if they aren't already, but they are welcome additions to the streaming world. While many of the bigger services already allow users to make as many playlists as they want, that’s typically where the fun ends. Sharing these creations isn’t always easy, and there aren’t many options when it comes to creating or adding a cover, nor is there much help for those users who aren’t sure what they should add next. Napster is taking a step forward with these sensible innovations, which probably should have been made available a long time ago.

A Música De "A Bela E A Fera" Com Frank Wolf

The Music of Beauty and the Beast with Scoring Mixer Frank Wolf

This week we talk with Scoring Mixer Frank Wolf who worked on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast directed by Bill Condon. Frank has a long working history collaborating with Composer Alan Menken and we discuss what it was like to record and mix many of the beloved songs from this 1991 Disney Classic. We also discuss the process of recording several of the new songs featured an all star cast including Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Ewan Mcgregor, Ian McKelland and Emma Thomson.

Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) directed this live-action retelling of the Disney animated classic from 1991. As before, this fairy tale centers on a young woman named Belle (Emma Watson), who is forced to live in an enchanted castle with a prince who is cursed to look like a hideous Beast (Dan Stevens). In time, the pair fall in love as Belle learns to see the good man hiding behind the Beast's monstrous exterior. The film co-stars Luke Evans as Gaston, Ewan McGregor as Lumière, Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, Ian McKellen as Cosgworth, Kevin Kline as Belle's father, and Josh Gad as Gaston's sidekick LeFou.

Journey “Don’t Stop Believing ” Vocais Isolados

Journey “Don’t Stop Believing ” Isolated Vocal

First of al thanks to Bobby Owsinski  for this article.

“Don’t Stop Believin'” is one of those classic rock songs that keeps on going and refuses to fade away. You hear it at sporting events, on television and movies, and on the radio even after 35+ years since it was recorded. Journey had a lot of success at its peak, but this may be song that defines them in the end, so today we’re going to have a listen to the isolated lead vocal from the song.

“Don’t Stop…” is an interesting song in that the chorus only comes once in the song and it’s at the end. I can’t think of another song where that happens but it’s not a song structure that you’d teach an aspiring songwriter, and yet here it is in this huge hit. Let’s get into it.

1. Journey vocalist Steve Perry truly has one of the most incredible voices in music and it’s perfectly on display here. The song was recorded as we entered the age of perfectionism in the studio (thanks to the 24 track tape machine), but this performance is still scary good.

2. I didn’t hear one slight imperfection at 0:33 where he went slightly sharp on “…anywhere” but that’s really splitting hairs.

3. The audio quality of this video isn’t great, but you can still hear that the vocal has in a nice long delayed reverb. If you listen carefully to the decay, you can hear a midrange ring to it.

4. On the B sections you can hear a double slightly to the left and an octave below the lead slightly to the right.

5. The vocal is edited together so there’s no big gaps from the instrumental sections of the song.

Tool Finalmente Coloca O Seu Catálogo Nos Serviços De Streaming

Tool to Finally Put Catalog on Streaming Services: Report

For those who haven’t checked: You cannot find a single Tool song on Spotify, unless you count a DJ called TooL whose single “Anti-Nuclear Bacteria” has racked up over 500,000 plays thanks to its crafty branding.

You can’t sample the prog-metal superstars’ music on Apple Music either, or even download them on iTunes. Tool, who have not released an album since 2006’s 10,000 Days, remain one of the most high-profile acts to still be resisting their bleak future of digital music dissemination and measly royalties.

But according to a new report from Bloomberg, that might all be about to change. According to “people with knowledge of the matter,” Maynard Keenan and his cohort have been talking to Spotify and Apple Music about making their catalog -- including albums like Lateralus and Undertow -- available to stream, for the first time ever. This would happen ahead of the impending release of the band’s new album, according to Bloomberg. (The band didn’t comment.)

Rumors of a new Tool LP have been circulating for years, but in January, sketchy, non-committal comments from the generally-reclusive Keenan about progress on new Tool music began to fuel speculation anew. Guitarist Adam Jones has also released cryptic Instagram communiques that seem to indicate that Tool has been working on new material. 

The band is also set to perform a slew of shows in the United States and Canada in May and June, including an appearance at Governors Ball in NYC. 

Após a Morte De Chuck Berry As Vendas Explodiram Em Mais De 10.000%

Chuck Berry Sales Explode By More Than 10,000% Following His Death

Legendary rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry died this past weekend, and millions around the world reacted by snapping up his music, and they did so in incredible numbers.

According to music industry data analytics firm BuzzAngle, the rocker sold more than 2,050 albums on the day he died, and that figure climbed to just over 3,800 the following day. To put that figure into perspective, his daily average before his death was just 39 albums. Of course, he moved many more copies at the height of his career, but Berry hadn't released any new full-lengths in decades. Sales for his entire back catalog jumped almost 9,600%, with most sales for his popular greatest hits compilation, The Definitive Collection. 

When it comes to single sales, the numbers are, almost unbelievably, even more impressive. The day after news of his death spread across the internet, Berry’s single sales rose by 11,684%, upping his daily count to 16,600 units sold. About one-quarter of those were sales of his song “Johnny B. Goode,” which is not only one of his staples but also one of the greatest rock tunes of all time. 

These numbers are only representative of the first few days of sales following his death, and once a full week or so has gone by, the full turnout by his fans will be understood much better. Berry will surely reappear on at least a handful of Billboard charts when they are refreshed in a few days, especially when streaming is also taken into account. Undoubtedly, his plays on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music have absolutely also risen to new, previously unknown heights.

Minha Experiência De Gravar A Trilha Sonora De 'Final Fantasy XV'

My Experience Recording the Final Fantasy XV Soundtrack

First of all thanks to  Dan Hultman  for this article.

This week marks the official release of the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack, and yours truly got to sing in the choir on several of the tracks. In this post, I share with you the path that led me into the recording studio to lay down some vocals for original compositions by Yoko Shimomura (one of my favorite composers) for one of the most popular game series on the planet – as well as some takeaways from the experience that can help you rock your next recording session.

First off, a very special thanks to Shota Nakama of Video Game Orchestra & SoundtRec Boston, who originally invited me to join this exciting project, and Jose Delgado of Força for inviting me back and being an amazing session conductor.

I’ve always felt a sense of wonderment when I hear an orchestra tuning up. That sound let’s you know that something magical is about to happen, and I get excited like a little kid at Disneyland every time. Imagine my delight sitting in the recording booth listening to the orchestra tune up to record Final Fantasy XV music. So awesome.

!!!!!!!!!!AND I CAN FINALLY SAY IT OUT LOUD!!!!!!!!!!

I’m a bit excited about it. I’ve been playing Final Fantasy games since I was in 3rd grade, after all.  Not only did I make it into the soundtrack, but the first full-choir recording session was video recorded for a presumed making-of feature that I have yet to confirm or see.  What I HAVE seen, however, is my very brief appearance in a Japanese TV commercialadvertising the soundtrack release:

Hey, I know that guy! My awesome facial expression and I appear for a precious half-second during the Japanese TV commercial for Final Fantasy XV’s official soundtrack.

If you haven’t yet, listen to and purchase this amazing soundtrack (now available on iTunes): Final Fantasy XV Official Soundtrack

Now that I’m (mostly) done gushing, I’m going to move along to a few things that I hope will provide some perspective as to how someone lands a gig like this. Shall we?

Networking: a Long Term Strategy

This opportunity did not drop out of the sky into my lap. In 2014, I reached out to Shota Nakama, the head of the Video Game Orchestra in Boston to explain that I had sales/marketing experience and a music background, and that I was interested in working with the VGO/SoundtRec in this capacity. He was interested to hear my ideas and graciously agreed to meet up for coffee, but ultimately it wasn’t the right time to work together in that capacity.

Bummer?  Sure, a little bit.  But I continued to attend VGO shows and show my support for Shota’s work, and kept in touch.

Make Yourself Useful, and Add Value

About a year later, I visited the VGO booth at PAX East and Shota remembered that I was a singer. He asked me to join the choir for a performance with Tommy Tallarico’s Video Games Live show, which was an awesome opportunity and an absolute blast of a time. This was really my first chance to deliver value beyond social conversation, so I jumped at the chance. I received sheet music beforehand and practiced the hell out of it so I’d be prepared to crush it at our brief pre-show rehearsal.  My second opportunity to be useful came on the day of the performance. I had originally been asked to sing Tenor, and practiced all the Tenor parts. When I showed up, however, for some reason we were shorthanded on Basses – so I volunteered to sightread the whole show and sing Bass.

Fast forward a few more months to a conversation with Shota, during which he asked me if I was available for a recording session that was coming up – which I obviously agreed to because if Shota’s recording something it’s probably good. I arrived to discover that we’d be recording “Apocalypsis Noctis,” a piece of music to appear in the international release trailer for Final Fantasy XV. I sign an NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement) stating that I wouldn’t talk about our work, reveal the game or developer I was working with (basically, keep everything a secret) until the trailer was unveiled publicly at the Final Fantasy XV special event.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ok I’m done.

So at this point, I’ve worked my way into a smaller recording gig and – once again – I do my homework and show up ready to crush it. All goes well, and – as I had hoped and anticipated – I was asked to record with them again when another mysterious, much larger project came around. Once again, I show up prepared and ready to rock and walk in the door and OMG IT’S FINAL FANTASY XV’S SOUNDTRACK AND YOKO SHIMOMURA IS HERE.

Look who I found! Dan Hulsman (left) and Yoko Shimomura (right).

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ok I’m done.

Again, I bring the professionalism and do the best damned job I can. It must’ve paid off, because shortly after the session I was asked to join a second, smaller recording session to sing for some additional tracks.  Even more awesomeness.

The Long Play is The Way

That, my friends, is how I ended up singing for the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack. It’s a long-winded explanation on purpose: I want to illustrate how important it is to BUILD long-term relationships and not FORCE short-term relationships. This all happened over 2 YEARS. It’s also vital that you provide value in your relationships if they’re going to grow and continue. In this case, my years of classical voice training, choral performance, and sight reading (being able to immediately read sheet music that you’ve never seen before) were the skills that helped me bring value to these projects.

And now, onto some of the more musical takeaways…

Remind Musicians to Be Prepared

This is one of those trust-but-verify kind of things.  Everyone should be prepared without you saying so, but you should make sure that everyone agrees on what YOU consider “prepared” to be.  For each section of the orchestra/band, these things will be different.  For singers, this typically includes:

• Having all scores printed and bound in a binder, with the pages organized to minimize the number of page-turns (page turns make noise – bad for recording);
• Bringing a pencil, ready to make notes/corrections;
• Wearing clothing that wouldn’t make additional noise in the room, removing all jewelry, etc;
• Warming my voice up BEFORE the recording session;
• Being on-time.

For singers, I’d like to offer these additional options for bonus points to really bring the professionalism:

• Bringing an *extra* pencil, because sometimes you lose your pencil or sometimes the person next to you needs a pencil and I’m nice like that;
• Remaining focused during time in the recording studio, because every minute in there costs money;
• Using downtime and breaks to review the upcoming repertoire and practicing any tricky rhythms or lyrics that were added last-minute.

Jose Delgado, our conductor for these sessions, made sure to provide scores, special notes, and logistical details – as well as some reminders about being ready to go before all recording sessions.

Orchestra VS. Choir (Spoiler Alert: Orchestra ALWAYS Wins)

I learned this little tip from my college years, during which I was part of a choral department who bi-annually collaborated with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra to perform large works like *Carmina Burana* or *Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9*, which demand a large orchestra and choir to do them justice. This tip is true during both live performance and studio recording, so if you’re ever working with a choir and they’re going up against an orchestra you better listen up.

Here’s the deal: The orchestra always wins.

Specifically, I’m talking about raw volume. The human voice is a powerful instrument, but the average singer – and average choir – can easily be overcome and drowned out by an orchestra. The orchestra will always overpower the choir, so you have to make some changes for the performance to be as effective as possible.

The words you’re singing, specifically, are threatened the most by the tapestry of sounds booming out of the orchestra. People may be able to hear the pitches you’re singing, but they may have no idea what you’re saying unless you’re careful. In live performance, this is critical: unless you use this tip, no one will understand you. In the studio, you run the same risk and/or create more work during the mixing process to make the choir audible enough to be understood without overdoing it.

The Cheat Code: Articulation

Here’s the tip: Articulate. Over-enunciate EVERYTHING. When we speak in our daily lives, we tend to slur sounds together and drop some sounds entirely and nobody really notices. That’s fine. In musical performance, that’s the exact opposite of what you need to do. As a singer, you should be using clear enunciation (pronouncing every letter sound of every word) all the time. As a stage actor or performer, you should be over-enunciating (over-pronouncing) consonants so that the audience can understand you clearly. Slurred or sloppy consonants just don’t carry, and the result will sound unintelligible to your poor audience.

Choirs? Same deal: you have to over-pronounce your consonants to an absurd degree. While you’re standing in the choir, or in front of the choir as the conductor, it may sound like *too much* – comical, even. You might THINK you’re sounding ridiculous, but in the sound booth (or the audience seats) you’ll sound loud and clear. If you don’t feel like you’re giving those consonants 10 times more attention than they deserve, you’re not giving them enough.  By over-enunciating the lyrics, a choir is able to cut through the curtain of sound created by the orchestra in order for their lyrics to be understood.

Now, you might be thinking that proper microphone placement and usage will mitigate this challenge during recording/performance. This is true, but it’s not always enough – especially when you’re doing something loud/big/epic. If you’re talking about a lone singer, a microphone and some decent enunciation might cut it. When you have a group of people singing together at the same time, however, things can get muddy very quickly. Everyone is attacking each note/word at *slightly* different times, with varying degrees of intensity, and these differences – when added up – muddle the lyrics and make them harder to understand. By agreeing as a group to over-enunciate, you’re agreeing on when to pronounce the “T” at the end of a word (is it at the end of the whole note, or the downbeat of the following measure?) and using teamwork to overcome a difficult sonic challenge: cutting through the orchestra.

If you want a great example, go listen to a professionally-produced audiobook.  Any narrator worth their salt will pronounce every single consonant well while making it sound natural.  The “t” sound at the beginning of a word does not become a “d” sound, for example.  It’s a real “t” sound.

The Other Cheat Code: Multi-Tracking 

Another way you can beef up your choir (or any other ensemble) is by recording them multiple times and layering them overtop one another. This approach is called multi-tracking, and can create the illusion of a larger ensemble than you actually have present.   This is a great tactic for getting big sounds out of small groups, but there are a few considerations to keep in mind should you go this route:

• When layering, use different takes instead of layering the same take multiple times.  The minor differences in articulation, tone, inflection, and timing will create a more authentic illusion of a larger group (using the same exact take multiple times would be noticeable to most listeners).
• Repositions musicians relative to the microphones .  For example, have choir members sing nearer to the microphone for the first take and have them move backwards, away from the mics, to create an imaginary second row to sing for the second take.  This further enhances the illusion of a larger choir because, with an actual larger choir, you may have the singers arranged in two separate rows.
• Check rules and regulations in your state/country before doubling musicians to comply with any compensation rules.  For example, musicians that belong to a union may be entitled to an additional 20% of their normal hourly rate should you double them on a recording.

Preparing for a Successful Recording Session

If you’ve never had the opportunity to record live musicians (or play on a recording session yourself), you may not realize the staggering amount of preparation that goes into a single professional studio session. There is a LOT of prep involved in setting up and facilitating a successful session. Here are just some of the tasks:

• Orchestration/arrangement: Translating your songs into a score that is playable and complimentary to the instruments you’re recording;
• Score preparation: Producing a conductor’s score with rehearsal markings, correct dynamics, expression marks, etc on large paper that is bound in a page-turn-friendly way;
• Hiring musicians for recording session: Sourcing, hiring, and coordinating recording artists for your session based on the needs of your score;
• Preparing reference/click tracks: Creating mock-up tracks that musicians can play along with (optional), and creating click-tracks for all pieces you’ll be recording to provide musicians with an audible tempo “click” in their headphone monitors to keep them on the beat.
• Booking a recording studio: Booking a studio, communicating your recording session’s needs, and delivering all relevant materials that they need ahead of time to prepare the studio for your musicians.

Now, I’ve only listed the tasks that I could think of off the top of my head that go into preparing for a successful recording session – but notice that none of the tasks that I listed are small tasks. Most of them take hours of work – yikes! This is another reason why you should 1) never work for free, 2) charge fair rates for your expertise, and 3) consider alternative pay structures other than the per-minute or per-hour rate for large projects. If you’re working with live musicians to record any part of your work, the amount of non-composition work involved will be significant and surprising to you AND your client which means you’ll either surprise said client with a huge bill OR you’ll feel badly about billing them the extra time and trim/slash your invoices (and thus, your income) to avoid the sticker shock and subsequent awkward confrontation. Not good.

In short, factor all of the work – not just the raw composing – that goes into a project when pricing your services so you don’t rip yourself off or shock anyone later.

MIDI Mockups

The choir was fortunate to record our tracks later in the lifespan of the project, which means that we were usually singing along with orchestra recordings in our headphone monitors – which was epic and awesome.  However, someone always has to go first!  If you want to provide the players/singers an accurate feel for the piece they’re recording while they play along, a high-quality MIDI mockup will be necessary.

We beat the strings section to one of the tracks we recorded, which means that their recordings didn’t exist yet so we couldn’t sing along to their playing.  However, Yoko Shimomura and the SoundtRec team were prepared with a high-quality mockup for us to hear while we sang.  It was a big, epic battle theme that was fast-paced and intense and the mockup communicated the feel of the piece very well.  It was still fun and epic to sing along to, and so when the choir sang our intensity matched the intensity of the composition on the first take.  I was impressed with the musicianship built into the mockup that we heard!

MIDI mockups can also come in handy when you’re trying to show your client what the end product will sound like before they foot the bill for the recordings.  Not everyone you work with will be a musician or be knowledgeable about music, so a high-quality mockup can help bridge the gap between your vision and their ability to hear your vision before it’s fully realized.  Even if you’re gunning for a smaller recording budget with a handful of live players and a more modest instrumentation, giving your clients a glimmer of what things COULD sound will be useful.

Conclusion: Go be nice and useful.

I spent the majority of this article talking about how I stumbled my way into this amazing gig, and I hope that the big take-away here is that you must build relationships over a long period of time to maximize your success.  Happily, the gaming industry is full of amazingly generous, kind-hearted people who are super passionate about video games.  There’s a lot of common ground to build friendships upon, so get out there and meet some people – and make yourself useful!