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New soundtrack music at mutuni.com, to be released between Monday the 10th to Friday the 17th:
[Taken from mutuni.com.]
I recorded the demo in F, but when I went to rerecord the song, I tried two new options: Lower the key to A like Elvis' "Blue Suede Shoes," or slightly lower to Eb like "Jailhouse Rock." The key of A didn't work. I liked how my horrible, horrible Elvis-Meatloaf impression sounded in Eb, so I was going to rerecord all the other instruments in Eb. Then I listened to the F demo again, and I really liked how the guitar sounded in F, so I just bumped up the Eb vocal to F, and that was that.
In other words, producing music is complicated and satisfying.
Download "Do the Code"
We continue to quietly make progress on the film. We are now in the final stages of post-production as we go into sound, music, ADR, and color correction (post-post). I cannot be specific on when the film will be complete and ready for a premier but I can say that we are closer than we have ever been. I can also say that everyone who worked on this picture should be very proud. We will keep you posted. ...and don't worry - I have not forgotten about anyone - though some of you haven't seen me since production, I saw you many hundreds of times during the editing process and - man - do I appreciate the effort and artistry! :-)
I was testing out some relatively new equipment and programs so I could successfully implement these new aces-up-my-sleeves for the Elan Vital soundtrack. Anyhow, some of the equipment is (hopefully subtly) implemented in this new Mutiny Universe commercial:
In the process of creating the above video, I stumbled upon a new problem with Pro Tools M-Powered, as well as a possible workaround (through the process of trial and error). When using Pro Tools M-Powered with the Mobile Pre USB to score to a video file, make sure the video file is on the computer's hard drive and not on an external drive. If both the music files and the video are on the same external hard drive, the external M-Audio interface/sound card will make a hideous noise to prevent any and all productivity...or at least on my shoestring budget equipment. I'm guessing that my external hard disk drive isn't as fast as the computer's hard disk drive to access video.
To reiterate the above spiel: Save your music files on an external hard disk drive (as recommended by virtually everyone who uses Pro Tools), and have Pro Tool M-Powered access the video on the computer's main hard drive. The interface will be less noisy, less often, and you will be more productive. (I just did a quick search on Google, and apparently, intermittent noise is inherent to M-Audio's Mobile Pre USB...which means I really should save my rubles and pesos and Euros to get a better Pro Tools-ready interface.)
Also, on a related note: A few months ago, I discovered a catastrophic problem in Pro Tools M-Powered. Never, ever, ever add time to the beginning of the Pro Tools timeline, as it will give you an Access Error involving the Tempo Map.
Since last I wrote here, we've changed our hardware set up. We are now working on a 24" iMac Core2 Duo Extreme. Believe me - it makes a difference over the Powerbook. We are working on locking the picture now for sound. Much of the effects work is done but we decided to stop working on that for now so we can lock a final edit for Ryan. He is doing the score and the dialog and I now understand cannot really dive into this until he has the final final edit. This process is not terribly difficult but does require meticulous attention to detail and two sets of eyes for quality control.
Once we are satisfied on the picture end with the way the thing is cut together, we'll pass it on to Ryan so that he can start digging in. At that point, I will go back to the picture, finish the special effects, and color correct scene by scene. I will then insert sound effects. Once all of this is finished, Ryan should have something for me to listen to. I'll probably put it in the edit temporarily and we will talk about any changes that need to be made. He'll keep honing and we will by that time know what ADR will be necessary so we can arrange for certain actors to re-record certain dialog. At the end of all of this - and a lot of credits - will be the marriage of sound to picture and the film will be complete...Complete - but still locked in the hard drive. Getting it out of there at the highest possible quality is a whole other blog entry.
So as you can see, there is a lot more work ahead of us - but - we are actually able to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. It is a good feeling. It's all about small victories adding up when you're making a film independently. And so we trudge on...
We are getting there with the movie. A film tends to take on a life of its own. It reminds me more and more every time I work on it of a painting. There just is not a formula. It is so much like life. Unexpected twists and turns and wonderful surprises wait around every corner. Besides crafting the "cut" of the scenes, I've been working with visual effects which is an ongoing learning experience, an experiment, and an exhilarating process all at once. It's also very technical. Final Cut 6 is a fantastic program that has evolved considerably from previous versions in a seeming effort to steal some thunder from Adobe After Effects. The Color program as part of the FCP suite is also fantastic and robust program, proving useful as I get into the color and effects process.
On another note, this is a phase that has me a bit on edge. In the past, I've had complete control of all aspects of the post process for my projects. I had the footage, sound effects, music, and any extraneous material right in front of me. This case is a little different. I have the footage and access to thousands of sound effects and visual effects but what I do not have readily available is the score and finished dialog. Mr. Ryan DeRamos has been working hard on these aspects of the film in a different studio with his own pro equipment. This causes two disparate things to happen at the same time: First, I get all anxious because I'm at a point in the process where I'd really like to see this picture a step closer to completion. Second, I get kind of a charge inside as I keep honing the picture and all its thousands of details into the one that I am looking for. This charge occurs because I realize that soon, when Ryan's work is added to mine, a HUGE jump will be made in the quality and impact of the work that I have been doing on Elan Vital. I look forward to this point and I am sure the film will evolve even more from that point on as sound and picture should be a marriage with a long engagement and not a blind date.
So - we're getting there. It is taking longer than I expected but the film may actually be longer than expected and (better) than expected - but you can be the judge of that when we are all through. In the mean time, I continue shaping away the story and fine tuning the details. Anyone interested in an inspiring story of a director's first film against all odds, take a look at these facts about the film, Eraserhead from 1977 (the year I was born) - and don't worry - Elan Vital will not take nearly as long to complete. Thank God for digital!
In an ideal world, we would track the drum parts for the soundtrack this way: We would hire a professional drummer, just like the actor who played the role of the drummer (Nathan Gallaher, pictured to the left, is also a real-life drummer extraordinaire). We would somehow acquire a great sounding drumkit, made out of the finest wood and with the product name "Yamaha ____ Custom." We would record all drum performances in a good sounding drum room with about 15 microphones. A competent engineer would record and mix all that goodness. And it would be good...so very, very good.
In our low-budget real world, I've been using the next best thing to the ideal: A robot (well, a Pro Tools plug-in called Digidesign Strike
And so I've been telling Strike to not only mimic, but to improve upon the demo drums that were created from samples and loops. While Strike is theoretically akin to a sequencer that uses samples and loops, there's this added dimension of human-like randomness and feeling for grooves and jamming. It's incredible.
So far, my biggest hurdle with my robotic musical collaborator was to figure out the best sounding drumkit for him to use consistently. The on-screen drummer performs two songs in the movie, and I'd like the drumkit to remain constant throughout the movie. There's a jazz kit that sounds good for one song ("the drone") but sounds muffled for the second song ("Do the Code" - the boogie woogie). I think we've found a happy medium that will leave the drone (ironically) jazzy and give the boogie woogie the punch it needs...all the while being a consistent drum kit. It's a bit of needed realism in a film that borders (and sometimes crosses into) the realm of the surreal.
I wish I could provide some samples here for our readers to compare, but I guess you'll have to wait for Elan Vital. Besides, it's back to work with my robot.
Strike will only work in a Pro Tools digital audio workstation, or else he'll turn into a kill-bot (or was that a porn-bot?).
