Music Editing Day, Part 2: Is It Through You

Welcome back to music editing day! Like before, I will remind you that the process of creating sound for a show is different every time; some choreographers work with composers (which I'd love to do, but I don't have the budget this year), some work with set music by other composers, and some make their own sound scores. For this show, I'm landing somewhere between the latter two. Here is my process for Is It Through You, one of the two pieces I'll show in March. 

Just to remind you, here's the upcoming show: 

Photo: JHsu Media

Is It Through You
March 15th, 2019Friday at 6:00pmMillennium Stage, Kennedy Center

Katie Sopoci Drake presents an evening of dance featuring the Mountain Empire Performance Collective in Is It Through You, a multi-artist collaboration directed by Katie Sopoci Drake that takes inspiration from Whitman's poem "To A Pupil"; and her company Spacetime Dance in Awakening which floods the stage with sound and motion designed to awaken our senses to nature. 
Awakening features special guest company LucidBeings Dance.

Is It Through You is a group work I am directing for the collaborative company I am a part of, the Mountain Empire Performance Collective (MEPC). I am using MEPC's signature long-distance collaborative method, in which we create work separately with the same set of movement prompts. Each piece we are creating and their musical elements will highlight each unique movement artist moving in their own choreographic voice. Which is where the excitement of blending these very individual sound-prompts into a cohesive whole becomes a challenge fit for a long-distance choreographer. 

As each artist began creating their solos, I asked them to send me or describe to me sounds that they loved or defined their lives right now. Here are the sounds each person has ascribed to them:

Shay (Spacetime Dance, DC) told me about her dog, her love of the rain, her love of classic rock.

Aquiles (Spacetime Dance, DC) told me of his time spent out of doors on a daily basis, and sent me music he created himself. 

Emily (MEPC, UT) sent me sound clips of her children Henry and Eloise the sounds of her grinding coffee beans and pulling an espresso shot, and sounds of Eloise playing in the leaves outside. 

Eliza (MEPC, OR) sent me sound clips of her child Claire in the rehearsal studio, and described the interlude music found between news segments on NPR. Then she told me her dad was a musician, and I asked if he could give us some "NPR-like" interludes to use and he graciously obliged. 

Joy (MEPC, MA) was really busy so I pulled an audio clip from a vacation we took together on the Oregon coast when a whale surprised us at the beach. It contains her naturally excited and exuberant sounds and I hope she doesn't nix it in the final edits!

Rachel (MEPC, VA) was also really busy, so I pulled audio from a previous piece MEPC worked on where another collaborator, Annie, recorded herself giving Rachel movement prompts. It may be added on to or may remain, but it will always remind me of Rachel dancing. 

"ACK! HOW DO YOU MAKE THESE INTO A COHESIVE GROUP PIECE WHEN ALL OF YOUR DANCERS WON'T BE IN THE SAME ROOM TOGETHER UNTIL THE DAY OF THE SHOW AND THEY NEED TO KNOW WHEN TO ENTER AND EXIT!??!"

Good question. I'm trying not to freak out about it, but thankfully this ain't my first time at this particular Long-distance-improvisation-based-collaborative-dance Rodeo. 

Flippant Answer: It involves much massaging through the music editing process. 

How I Put All The Sounds Together, Step-by-step Answer: 
1) Decide an order for the dancer's movement contributions
2) Decide which of the dancer's sound contributions you will actually use and edit them into useable forms, or create/find the ones you need. 
3) Start putting them into the sound editing software and create a first draft. 

My first draft went something like this...

Shay's entrance: 

• I start with layering a woman laughing that sounds just like Shay. Shay's got this laugh... and she uses it liberally. 
• Then I bring in the sounds of melting ice on a river. I wanted natural running water or rain, sounds that are soothing to shay, but I chose this because even though it's melting ice, it registers to the ear as a more pleasant running water. It is warmer, deeper, and softer than regular flowing water. 
• Next up is the dog snuffles. Shay's dog Chase snuffles around a lot and he's definitely a big part of Shay's day. 

Rachel's entrance: 

• Annie's voice calls to Rachel (pretty clear, right?) and directs her in movement. 
• I've left Shay's water noises going through this to add continuity and soften Annie's sharp (and hilarious) speaking pattern. 

Eliza's entrance:

• Eliza's Dad's first composition is lovely and rolling, so it is a great segue from the soft water noises. 

Aquiles' entrance:

• I added crow calls because they're ubiquitous in the city and countryside. All places Aquiles inhabits. 
• Then comes Aquiles' original composition. It is distorted and hazy, all qualities that work nicely with the soft woodland and bird noises in the background.
• At the end, I bring the birds back up and add in ocean sounds to prepare us for Joy's entrance. 

Joy's entrance:

• Here I swiped the audio from our trip to the Oregon coast. We were at the beach and a whale began spouting in the nearby cove. You can hear Joy exclaim and talk. Very Joy. 
• I keep the soft wave and beach noises in here to keep us at this ocean location for the duration of Joy's solo.

Emily's entrance:

• I overlapped Henry's counting song with the waves. 
• Eloise and Henry's playing come next as the waves fade away. 
• We hear the espresso machine in the background warming up. This gives us a sense of depth and puts us into a home environment. 
• Then I layer Eloise's feet in the leaves with the grinding of coffee beans and the espresso machine working. All very homey as Henry sings his counting song again. 

Aquiles & Shay's duet enters:

• We hear the reemergence of Aquiles' music and birds. 
• I brought in a soft thunderstorm here. I wanted some classic rock for Shay, but alas, rights to fabulous songs come at a price (and time). So imagine "Riders On The Storm" here. 
• Shay and Aquiles love the storm. I personally think it gives them the soft crackly energy needed to connect. 

Eliza and Emily's duet enters:

• The thunderstorm overlaps Eliza's dad playing another NPR-inspired theme. I tossed a soft baby coo in there (it's Eliza's baby, Claire!!) to precede it just to get her ears going. I'm sure she'll recognize the piano, but I KNOW she'll recognize Claire. 
• I then faded out the thunderstorm and brought up the sound of a meadow on a hot day to bring us back to a homey place (for Emily). 
• Claire's cooing comes up to make us feel right at home. 
• I then rounded it out with a sprinkler. Feels like summer. 

Rachel & Joy's duet enters:

• The sprinkler continues and Annie begins talking again. Rachel will definitely get this cue.
• Ensemble can begin to enter after Annie says "fingers and toes"

Ensemble begins to gather:

• The sprinkler fades as the water fades 
• Chase sniffs
• Crowd conversation ambience to give us a sense of community
• Birds in the background to put us outside
• Dog sniffing
• Crowd and birds begin to fade

Ensemble finds resolution:

• Claire cooing to prompt the women laughing

I'm currently looking at sound levels of each section and listening to the final product to suss out drops in energy, sound, and funny pops. There will be more edits and substitutions/additions of sounds, but this is a good and meaty start. 

I sent it out to my collaborators so their ears and sensibilities can get used to it. I'll ask for thoughts and edits, then head back to the music editing software for more tweaks. 

Onward!