Announcement
- Producer . Songwriter . Mix Engineer . Arranger
Managed by Universal Music Publishing
http://www.tattong.com
http://twitter.com/t2tattong
My blog More entries >
-
Karen Mok 莫文蔚 【太多太多】
Sunday, Sep 19, 2010 3:00PM / Members only
378 views Share 
-
Refresh. Rise. Roar. (2010 Youth Olympic Games-Coca Cola Campaign Theme Song)
Sunday, Aug 8, 2010 1:00PM / Members only
277 views Share
-
Behind the Scenes: Arranging RTHK #1 hit 你们好 - Jonathan Wong
Saturday, Jul 3, 2010 1:04PM / Members only
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL92-p8byDUFirst, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who left invaluable feedback on my first behind-the-scenes blog entry! This will be the second entry on 你们好, answering the following questions:
1) How did we develop the idea of arranging this song a cappella, without any instruments?
That this song has no instruments should not be a surprise, given Jonathan's a cappella influences! If you are familiar with Jon's debut album "超越声音 Beyond Sound", it's clear that a cappella is one of the most prominent elements in our productions. We often strip out instruments in parts of our songs, leaving only the vocals. In addition, we've also created introductions and interludes entirely out of voices!More trivia: Jon was a member and musical director of the Cornell University a cappella group Last Call, which I also sang in...
I guess that was just a long winded way of saying that a cappella is not just a gimmick to us, but an integral part of both Jon as an artist and myself as a producer. :) Upon hearing the fun, slightly campy way our song's melody turned out, we were led to the conclusion that an a cappella treatment would not only be appropriate for the song, but also accentuate its unique flavor and vibe in a way that no other treatment could!
2) How did we make voices sound as full and complex as an instrumental arrangement? What was the arranging process like?Technique A: Direct Transcription
The arranging process really started seamlessly with the very beginning of the songwriting process. We transcribed the chord pattern using a notation software package called Sibelius. The four-beat, blocky Motown pattern in the piano chords I played, morphed eventually into the backbone of the arrangement for voices.Technique B: Layering - Percussive and Held textures
Once this backbone was set, Jon started developing parts to add varied textures on top of the basic structure. A basic technique we used was to layer percussive parts on top of held parts. For example, both held "oooh"s and percussive bell-like "ding"s were used in the prechorus section to add texture and interest to the arrangement. The clip below demonstrates this layering effect: first we have the "ding" part, then the "oooh" part, and lastly both combined.Technique C: Syllables FTW!
For the rapped bridge by MC Jin, we used another technique of layering not just different rhythms, but different sung syllables, to both change up the sound and also add a new dimension to the meaning of the song. As a tribute to the idea of "World without strangers", the layered background parts feature "hello" sung in various different languages. For example, phrases like "Guten Tag" and "Konnichiwa" are hidden in the texture, if you listen really carefully. How many different languages do you hear? :)Technique D: Instrumental ImitationAnother technique we used was instrumental imitation: all "drums" and "trumpet" on this track were beatboxed and lip-buzzed, respectively. Here's an example of the "vocal trumpet" raw recording, followed by the mixed/processed sound. You'll notice that the raw recording is actually quite close to the final mixed sound! These vocal techniques do take a lot of practice, but really add a whole new dimension to an arrangement when used sparingly...And on to mixing...We aimed to achieve a final product that was a dense, layered arrangement sounding every bit as powerful and interesting as an arrangement with instruments. In other words, the listener should be able to enjoy the song without missing real instruments one bit!
To achieve this outcome, on top of creating an interesting and effective arrangement, I had to employ various specialized mixing techniques to enhance the vocal tone, morph parts to sound more like instruments and drums, and anchor the entire song in deep, booming, subwoofer-ready bass. :) The picture above shows an actual screenshot of the SONAR 8 session for 你们好. To find out more about this process, stay tuned for the next entry of this blog: Behind the Scenes - Mixing!357 views Share
-
Behind the Scenes: Writing RTHK #1 hit 你们好 - Jonathan Wong
Saturday, Jun 26, 2010 10:48AM / Members only
Hey everyone! As promised, here's the first entry that takes you behind the scenes, on the creative process behind some of my most successful productions. Today, we dissect how Jonathan and I composed his new RTHK #1 hit: 你们好...Step #1 - WritingI was up in HK in late Dec 09 visiting Jon, and one day, we decided to write a simple, happy, instantly accessible sort of tune.When I write with Jonathan, one of the techniques we use is to sit at the piano and decide on a 4-chord pattern. I'll play the pattern repeatedly, and we'll each take turns to sing fragments of melodies over the chords. We bounce back-and-forth off each other's ideas and morph/combine them until we get something that "clicks". This process of cranking out song ideas usually takes no more than an hour per song. When the melody is "set", we do really rough piano+vocal recordings on our cellphones so we don't forget it! Later on, we can dust these ideas off when it's time to create the actual track. (Here's an example...)The Verse...Simple... catchy... fun... A wave of inspiration hit me, and I started with a 4-bar riff on the chords: F -> E-flat -> A-flat -> B-flat, played in a typical 60's Motown rhythm. Almost instantly, Jon started humming an ascending melody in his rich baritone. It worked great off the bat, and at that moment, I knew that it wouldn't be long before we nailed the verse! Sure enough, within a couple of minutes we had the final verse melody with low, ascending bluesy lines.The Chorus...The chorus had to be insanely catchy - and after some discussion, we felt that we had to keep the rhythms straight and simple, the melodic range narrow, and have lots of repetition for it to "stick" upon first listen. We ended up throwing around ideas for a good half-hour before settling on the 3-note figure (D-F-F) that is the main hook in the chorus:However, we needed a middle section within the chorus that was contrasting (another great songwriting tip from our mentor and executive producer Hei - too much repetition and uniformity can also work AGAINST your song being remembered. We always need to strike a balance between "hammering" a tune into people's heads, and giving them the occasional jolt with surprising melodic twists). After trying a few fragments that were either too freaky or too ordinary, Jon suddenly came up with a simple, yet distinctive melody that consisted of only 1 note: F, but with octave jumps!That was the moment when the chorus "clicked" into place, and we finished off the song minutes after.
Coming soon!In my next post, I'll talk about how we came up with the idea of arranging this song without any instruments at all! And share some secrets on how to create a full, dense, radio-ready sound - with ONLY THE HUMAN VOICE.Take care, and till next time! :)372 views Share
-
Jonathan Wong - Spectrum Launched!
Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 10:24AM / Members only
Just back from HK... where do I start? So many good memories...It was really cool to see my good friend and musical partner-in-crime Jonathan Wong 王梓轩 in his element. :) Despite the punishing schedule in the run up to his Spectrum album release, we still managed to find pockets of time to just hang out and goof off, like the college kids we once were.The day of the press conference was really amazing for me, on so many levels...
PersonalIt was surreal seeing our collaborative hard work over the past year - writing, recording, arranging, re-arranging, mixing, finally come to fruition. Having seen some of these tunes gestate and evolve into their present form from end-2008 till today, I felt an immense sense of satisfaction and closure as Jon presented each tune to the media. Not to mention seeing the effect that the music had on the audience... I got goosebumps on a few occasions, including the extremely funky band rendition of "东西", and when all the kids danced around onstage for Jonathan's performance of "你们好". And to think that we had just written the song together at his piano, singing and humming gibberish, barely 6 months ago!
ProfessionalI had the chance to share thoughts on music and showbiz with not just HK artists like Hins Cheung 张敬轩, but also the British dude responsible for creating the Spice Girls! Also, what struck me was how humble and approachable all these incredibly successful people are. Wow.
And meeting really, really cool people...Like our very own AliveNotDead Patrick, who bought me a really expensive dinner despite having known me for a grand total of 4 hours... (dude, when can I return the favor?), the Avex team, Fergus, Won, Justina, the OMF team, etc... I learned so many different things from different people, on music, business, life, and egg tarts... Still trying to digest all these random elements as I type.Upcoming blogs!!On the suggestion of some of these amazing people, in the coming days, I'll be writing some "behind the scenes" blog entries on the making of some of my latest productions, including Jonathan's "Spectrum" and the upcoming Derrick Hoh (何维健）[Warner Music] album. Stay tuned!Peace and take care! Till next time...365 views Share
&content=utf8&pic=http://www.alivenotdead.com/user/99/photo_522899.jpg?1262488321 "分享到新浪微博")
Stats
- Tat Tong brings the full force of his multiple talents to every project...
- Occupation: Music Producer , Sound Engineer , Composer
- Gender: Male
- Total visits: 7,173
User menu
RSS feed
|
