I was asked create a theme song for a short 30 second animation by a small group of animators - Tom, Tim and Will (add last names). My main area of practice is recording and mixing, but I'm always open to trying new things and producing a theme song sounded like a lot of fun! So I went ahead and met up with the guys, to learn more about their ideas and requirements for the animation.
They're re-creating the title theme for an old 'Family Fantasy' film - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in-fact it was released in 1968!
First meeting:
Hearing their pitch, and liking the excited 'lets do this' attitude of the guys, I accepted the work and began to chat to them about genre, reference tracks and other audio options for the theme like foley and atmos.
After our meeting I had a clearer idea on what kind of tune they wanted, a promise from Tim that he'd send me a few reference tracks later that day, a follow up meeting date, and a rough timeline for each stage of the production.
Reference Tracks:
These things are so important when creating music for an animation, game or movie. After Tim sent me a bunch of material that the group liked, it really gave me clear direction to begin my scratch track. After listening to it all (around 10 songs) I chose a few that I really liked and started budding ideas for how I can create my own original piece inspired by these tracks, while remaining in the same genre. Here are my favourites and what I'm hoping to pull from them.
I love the drums in this track, it definitely has the classic and cheesy 80's vibe that I'm after! The huge verb on the claps/snare, the simple bass and the cool stereo high end shaker-like sounds are some of the things I'd like to re-create for this theme.
The groove of the kick and bass here sounds perfect to me, and I'd love to top off the cheesiness of my theme with something similar to the double tom-fill that you hear at 1:45. If I can I'm keen to put some vocals in my track, something simple and similar to this tracks "Look Out for number one!" could work out really well.
This is the original theme for the film and I'd like to have the intro and maybe the outro of the animation reflective of the strings based melody you hear in this song. Hopefully I'll be able to find some awesome samples or virtual instruments to recreate this natural orchestral sound!
Timeline:
If we assume that day 1 is when I first met with the team, here is the rough timeline I've done up with some hopefully realistic expectations of myself and the animation team!
Day 1: First meeting, ideas thrown around and reference tracks presented to me. Everyone gets a feel for the vision and how we will move forward.
Day 2 to 6: Finding samples for 80's drums and strings ensemble, scratch synth sounds (probably presets) and writing structure for the theme.
Day 7: Second meeting and presentation of scratch track, exchange of 'animatic' - which is basically a scratch track for animators. This will help me re-work my scratch to get timing correct for events. Feedback will be essential during this meeting to ensure we all love where we are headed, or to help guide the scratch more toward what the vision is to the rest of the team!
Days 8 to 13: Re-work scratch, building synth sounds for my already programmed MIDI tracks form he scratch. This basically personalises the sound and helps everything fit well together. I'll also do a rough mix of the song during this time including FX and processing.
Day 14: Third meeting and presentation of rough mix with hopefully final synth sounds. Final animation presentation from the guys, will enable me to finalise any changes in the timing of the track. Feedback for the rough mix.
Days 14 to 16: Final mix down and incorporation of feedback into the theme track.
Day 17: Presentation to the team of final track, last minute changes perhaps in session. Maybe even an end of project Celebration! =P
There you have it, my goals and my plan to achieve the end result. Let's see how I go, stay tuned for the next blog on this project that will likely have my scratch track and the animatic! :)
- Andy
Bibliography:
YouTube. (2018). Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 06 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - 2. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CnhgYzDr-o [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
YouTube. (2018). Feel It Right (Electric Track). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyGyX_UKVmM [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
YouTube. (2018). Project One - Look Out (Interface Dance) 1984. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oLk8FaqPnw&t=190s [Accessed 25 Jul. 2018].
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