Thatch Music received the signed contract to produce and direct the music for a large corporate function next month, so we have a busy four weeks ahead to prepare our contribution to the convention. Due to confidentiality, and surprise of the evening, we need to keep the exact details mum, but we’d like to take you through the process that we’ll be following. But first – check out this video of a corporate function that we were involved with last year.
PLANNING THE MUSIC FOR A CORPORATE FUNCTION | DUE PROCESS
Firstly, all songs have been signed off with the show director and the artists need to be booked. We’ve placed Brandon October, Bongi Mthombeni, Jeremy Olivier and Pebbles (of Newtown fame) on the bill. Our next step is to arrange each song for the function. We believe that each song should have a specific personality that is unique to that event so that the guests will walk away thinking “I loved the way that they played that song tonight!”. These shows are so much about momentum and holding the audience’s attention, so we rarely allow a song’s duration to go longer than three minutes. Shorter is better.
Before we choose our arrangers and orchestrators, we create a mock-up of each track. This is essential to our process as it allows the other producers (and dancers) to rehearse, plan and design their contributions to fit with the music. These mock-ups will have all the creative and performance ideas that the Thatch team recommend, which is then pitched and signed off by client. From here, it is the ‘simple’ job of re-arranging these for a 45-piece orchestra!
We’ll more than likely write up a more detailed article soon, but here are Thatch’s tips and tricks in short… (from James)
That’s our week – BOOM!
The first clip is of the original arrangement and the second is of our performance, which will give you a good idea of how our work process is guided. We are privileged to work with such talent!
PLANNING THE MUSIC FOR A CORPORATE FUNCTION | DUE PROCESS
Firstly, all songs have been signed off with the show director and the artists need to be booked. We’ve placed Brandon October, Bongi Mthombeni, Jeremy Olivier and Pebbles (of Newtown fame) on the bill. Our next step is to arrange each song for the function. We believe that each song should have a specific personality that is unique to that event so that the guests will walk away thinking “I loved the way that they played that song tonight!”. These shows are so much about momentum and holding the audience’s attention, so we rarely allow a song’s duration to go longer than three minutes. Shorter is better.
Before we choose our arrangers and orchestrators, we create a mock-up of each track. This is essential to our process as it allows the other producers (and dancers) to rehearse, plan and design their contributions to fit with the music. These mock-ups will have all the creative and performance ideas that the Thatch team recommend, which is then pitched and signed off by client. From here, it is the ‘simple’ job of re-arranging these for a 45-piece orchestra!
We’ll more than likely write up a more detailed article soon, but here are Thatch’s tips and tricks in short… (from James)
- Import the full original track into Logic.
- Beatmap the entire track to make sure that bars (measures) are exact.
- Open the lyrics in a word processor as a working document.
- Edit the track down to approx 2.30min.
- Do numerous passes of the song, all the while visualizing it on stage, making notes in the word processor and translating those into the mock-up. These ideas are either sequenced in or recorded vocally. Sometimes there’s not much that needs to be done, sometimes the song needs to be entirely reprogrammed to translate our idea properly. Regardless, now is the time to do it.
- The producer (and any other necessary parties) now have access to the music (exact timings), lyrics and performance ideas.
- This process usually takes the Thatch boys approximately 30min – 2 hours per song.
That’s our week – BOOM!
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