We heard from our friend Dee Kelly, a TV personality, vocalist, certified Feng Shui expert and design consultant (wellnessdecor.com) regarding a TV theme for a show she was pitching to one of the cable channels.
The theme song, “The House Is You,” was written by Tom Costello who arranged and recorded a demoA recording created to preview the content of a show or song. Demos can also become master recordings. of the song, with Dee singing.
The channel in question had a demographic profile somewhat different than that suggested by the arrangementrefers to the structure and order of musical elements in a composition, such as melody, harmony, rhythm, and instrumentation. of the theme on the demo, and Dee wanted to ensure that the product fit the customer.
Here’s our comment notea symbol used to represent a specific pitch and duration on delivering our demo:
There are a lot of good things about Tom’s arrangement – a homey, classy vibe with a little sophistication – so I kinda went that way.
I thought the build into the second chorusA section of music usually referencing the title of the song, also known as a "hook." Also can refer to a type of ensemble consisting of a collection of singers, or in Jazz, one time through the entire progression of a song or tune, which repeats with variations or solos throughout the piece. was a little overdone, a little too anthemic-stadium-rock-y, so I went with strings and lead guitar for the other instruments that come in.
Here’s the before:
We started with a transcriptionThe process of notating a piece of music as it is performed, either by ear or from a recording. of the track, put it into Finale notationA system of symbols used to write down music., then brought the midiA protocol for communicating musical information, such as notes and control signals, between electronic musical instruments and computers. and stemsIndividual tracks extracted or exported from a mix as individual sound files into Proacronym short for Publishing Rights Organization, such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC Tools for the vocal recording and mix1. Collection of individual tracks or parts 2. The process of adjusting relative sound levels, processing and placement within a sonic realm 3. The result of sonic recording and processing at John Kilgore Sound and Recording in the Film Center Building, NYC.
Here’s what we did:
