These are questions I received about my musical “Romeo and Juliet”. My musical version of RJ premiered in January 2015 at the Historic Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon, WA. Directed by Joe Bowen and presented by META Performing Arts. The challenge set for this production was to score the entire musical using only Shakespeare’s original text. No watering down the words. No slang and updated lyrics. And no hipster modern setting. We set the set and costumes to the original Shakespeare time period of the late 16th century. It was a very challenging project and extremely fulfilling. Here’s a link to check out original musicals by Conrad Askland.

How have you adapted the themes of the play to adapt and suit the modern day audience and politics?

Yes and no. In my rendition,  I use Shakespeare’s original words. For the premiere run I requested period costumes and sets (1590’s). Of course, a future company could choose to change that approach, but to me those considerations are superficial. To my personal taste, those changes detract instead of adding to the production. Musically, I scored the show in a combination of North American Broadway style and light opera. So it was the music itself that was tailored to a musical theatre crowd while the text and presentation was true to the period in which it was written.

What aspects of it have you found challenging?

You can put any notes to Shakespeare’s words, but to have those melodies feel natural and not detract from the text was extremely challenging. I have seen many versions where composers approach RJ with a 20th century musical approach and use 12 tone scales and atonal music. To me, this is purely an academic exercise because they were under no pressure to sell tickets; they are underwritten by the universities they work at. When you have to sell tickets, but still honor Shakespeare’s original work – that was the core of the challenge. It was a very detailed process to make the words sing and feel natural. The work involved a lot of  re-writing. Each piece I wrote was usually re-written at least 5 times and in whole I wrote three times as much music as was eventually retained. In other words, I actually scored the entire work three times and threw two of them out.

What inspired you to change the play into a musical?

I was given the challenge by a director that I have worked with before. Originally he wanted me to “write a new Romeo and Juliet musical.” On researching the history of different approaches, I realized that no one had ever scored a successful version that used only Shakespeare’s original English text. There is of course West Side Story which is it’s own story and lyrics, there is Gounod’s opera but that is not in English, there is a Romeo and Juliet musical in French that has been successful but again it doesn’t use the original English text. At the time I started researching the project in November 2013, the Broadway Romeo and Juliet musical had horrible reviews. The main complaint in that production was that it watered down the story to much to try and placate and uneducated audience. So I had the challenge to write it, I found that it had never been done successfully in the original English and on top of that the Broadway show diluted the story with the assumption that an audience would not be educated enough to understand the original Shakespeare. Those were the three elements that set me on the course to score completely to Shakespeare’s original words.

Are there any parts of the script that you’ve had to change/adapt or take out to suit the modern day audience and what parts have you been able to keep the same?

I only changed three words in the entire original script. One was the reference to the “Capulet monument”. I didn’t feel a modern audience would understand the monument reference so I changed it to “Capulet tomb”. Also, the word “shrive” I thought a modern audience would not understand, so I changed that to “confession”.

For redactions of text, my over riding rule was to cut anything that a modern audience would not understand if seeing the show cold; in other words, if an audience member could not understand something without specifically studying this particular play, it was cut. An example of this would be in the Nurse’s long monologue in Act One. She makes reference to earthquakes that the audience in the late 1590’s understood, but there’s no way a modern audience would understand the reference. I also removed some references to classical references that are now fairly obscure to the general public. This process of editing was extremely slow and detailed.

There were a few instances where I re-arranged sentences. An example of this would be Juliet’s Act Two separation from the Nurse in “Go Counsellor” which I scored as a very angry anthem that Juliet sings with a belt voice. I also did add a flashback scene right before that to make clear to the audience the Juliet is making the intentional choice to separate from the counsel of the Nurse. This is one of the few areas that I thought was not clear in the original, and a very important plot point to me.

As to all the parts that are different and the same, the process was very detailed throughout the entire script. Many artistic choices and I also received advice from some Shakespeare scholars as they read through the script to find areas that I really needed to bring back in. It was important with me in this production that my script version be satisfying to traditional Shakespeare fans.

hi i’m joseph i’m just intersting to know what is a music producer, what are
there jobs and what do they do

My Answer:

Hi Joseph,

Direct answer to your question is that a music producer produces music. I’m not being a smartass when I answer that. A music producer needs to produce music. And actually I think for many up and coming artists that doesn’t really sink in or connect.

A cow produces milk under the right conditions. A spider produces spider webs under the right conditions. A farmer might produce carrots under the right conditions. A music producer produces music.

All of the examples above produce a product; they produce a tangible item. A music producer also must produce a product and a tangible item. The traditional stereotype of a producer is someone ultra cool calling the shots in the studio. In actuality, the music producer is responsible to overcome any obstacle that might keep the music from being produced. Just as a farmer might be responsible to overcome any obstacle that keeps those carrots from being harvested.

I’ll give a concrete example from when I used to run a public studio. This is an example for music producers that run their own studio which is very common today:

1. Artist comes to the music producer’s studio because they are interested in recording a CD project. First thing is to align yourself clearly with the artist’s goals. Is it a demo or a full release? This will dictate the amount of time and resources for the project. If it’s a demo you might cut corners on live musicians. If it’s a full release then you need to plan a full budget and think forward to mastering and CD duplication. The end of the music producer’s job will be when they hand the final music mixes to the artist. This initial stage was always the most time consuming for me because it’s paramount you are ultra-clear with the artist about what the final product will be, costs and time commitment.
2. Budget – For me, I would work out budgets based per song that included a set time for vocal recording. I would also “guarantee” musician tracks if I could use my own studio musicians. I know how my studio musicians work and how to communicate with them. If they wanted to bring in their own musicians then I would run the studio clock hourly and the artist would be responsible for tracks. Normally an artist would let me use my musicians which saved a lot of time and money.
3. Scratch Tracks – A music producer can start a project by sketching out the basics of the artist’s songs. This can be a simple click track, midi keyboard outlining chords if it’s a vocalist, or a sampled groove if it’s a rap artist. Put in just the barebones to outline the song.
4. Scratch Vocals – Once you have the artist vocals down then you can being to build with midi tracks, samples and live musicians. Normal work flow is to laydown basic rhythmic parts first and later put down the melodic parts so they have something to groove to.
5. Production Tracks – Now you have the barebones sketch with scratch vocals and you begin to produce the song. This is where the music producer really starts to implement their craft fully. What is the artist’s vision? What direction do the tracks feel they are going? What combination of live musicians and tracks are needed?
6. Rough Instrumental Tracks – Now the music producer creates rough instrumental mixes for the artist to practice with. These tracks contain the minimum that the music producer feels has to be on each track.
7. Finished Vocal Tracks – Music producer (or engineer) records multiple passes of the lead vocal and then creates a finished composite vocal. The “finished composite vocal” is the main vocal track that contains the best of each individual take. The end result should be a stellar performance that is emotional and best conveys the song. The engineer/producer may edit out breaths (or keep them in), do pitch correction, timing correction, etc. The end goal is not to have a “perfect” track, but to have the track that best convey’s the artist’s interpretation of the song.
8. Background vocals – After the main vocal is recorded then the BGV’s (background vocals) can be recorded if needed. This may be performed by the artist, other studio singers or a combination.
9. Finish tracks – Or what you might call “post production” in an album production setting. Here you get the chance to put in finishing touches and add any tracks that seem needed. The music producer may change sounds of midi tracks, replace samples with new grooves, record new studio musician tracks, even re-arrange complete sections of the song.
10. Artist approval and Finished Studio Mixes – Now the music producer presents the final product to the artist. It’s always an adrenalin rush for the artist and the music producer. The artist is hoping the product is fantastic and the music producer is hoping the artist is pleased. Usually this is a very exciting time for both. Sometimes the artist wants to re-do a song and go a completely new direction. Often they will have small changes in the mix.
11. Final Mixes – One thing I learned on doing final mixes before mastering is to always do an additional mix with the lead vocal up 3db or so. Invariably right before mastering an artist would say “I want my vocal louder in this song”. So we would already have that ready. Getting the lead vocal to sit right in the mix so it sounds great on different audio systems can be a difficult thing to do. Especially after hours of mixing it’s easy for ear fatigue to set in and change the perception of the lead vocal in the mix.
12. Mastering – The music producer provides final mixes for mastering. It’s always suggested that a different person do the mastering. If you have your mix engineer do the mastering then you get the same set of ears twice. By using a different person for mastering you get a new set of ears to hear the music fresh and make final changes without pre-existing prejudice. Mastering is usually fairly expensive. Anywhere from $500 to $3,000 USD for an album. My experience has been around $1500 or more for reputable mastering.

So that’s a run down of a music producer working in their own studio with a solo artist.

The scenario could be as simple as a hip hop music producer working from a room in their house with a solo artist. Or it could be as complex as a music producer working with an orchestra on a sound stage.

I can’t stress this enough: A music producer produces music. They must have an output. They must create product (audio).

Here are some other scenarios I’ve been involved in as a music producer:

• Scoring strings parts members of the Hong Kong symphony for the ZAIA soundtrack from Cirque Du Soleil. In this case the composer asked me to retain the sound of the original samples but to add small changes to enhance it. In this case I worked with the original scratch recordings and original scores – then made my enhanced score using Sibelius Notation Software for the musicians to read. I was present at the recording session for questions and changes. There was a separate audio engineer and a separate conductor so my job in this case was strictly as arranger.
• Producing soundtracks for impersonators. Artists that impersonate famous performers often need soundtracks. They would give me the original artist soundtracks and I would recreate these by ear in my studio. The artist would then direct the final mix for changes and edits that matched their specific act. In this case my role was as arranger and engineer. I guess technically it’s “music producer” but I don’t think of doing copy-cat work as really producing music; just cleverly reproducing it.

Well, I think you get the idea. I’ll stop on specific examples because I’ll be writing forever.

My overall point is that the more skills a music producer has – then the wider range of projects they are available for. In my case I have worked very hard to get skills in engineering, mixing, keyboard midi skills, orchestral scoring (sheet music), music software editing and conducting. Each of those skills allow me to do a wider array of projects.

I got into music producing as a result of being a keyboardist. It wasn’t something I planned on. I started as a vocalist but after college made my living playing piano which led to producing music. This is a common course for many keyboard players because we can usually read and chart music as well. So in my career I’ve had to “wear many hats” and do many different things to make a living and secure different jobs.

Another path is to do one thing and do it extremely well. One person might focus just on hip hop tracks while another might focus just on video game music scores (although that’s more of a composer job). These are viable roads to take. Just realize if your eggs are all in one basket then you might find yourself “getting a real job” at some point. Choosing that path is the most difficult part in the process. Or – you can do like me and let the river takes you where it wants to go.

Currently I work as music director for Cirque Du Soleil’s ZAIA show in Macau, China. In this case I am responsible for playing keyboards and running the live shows with the band. The computer editing for the software run in the show is also my responsibility. I love this because it’s a hybrid job of computer editing, working with live musicians, recording updated show material and live performance.

At home have a scaled down rig (all my studio gear is in storage back in the states) running everything on a MacBook Pro with Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton Live Suite, Kontakt Komplete, Sibelius Notation software and a couple terabytes of audio libraries including East/West products.

My current personal projects are taking classes with Berklee School of Music online (expensive classes but I enjoy them), working on a full length musical which I’m scoring in Sibelius, and also creating individual CD products for sale online.

I recommend Tunecore or CDBaby for selling your downloads online. FYI – you can’t find my products by searching my name online. I use pseudonyms for different product lines. It’s quite possible to get a nice income stream by producing audio products for download that are in demand with the general public. You could actually make a career of this without working with a single artist. (But what fun is that?)

A final note. You asked “what does a music producer do?”. My answer is: “Anything that keeps the music from getting produced” That means a music producer must hire someone else to overcome the obstacle or learn the skills to overcome it themselves.

Hope that helps.

I’m wondering how do I set up a raping audition.

My reply:

First step would be to install spell check on your computer because I think you meant to say “rapping”.

Hello
I’m just starting to play more shows with patch changes and such. Is there computer software that’s best for setting this up and controlling. Right now I control throughout the keyboard pedal. I’ve seen on broadway they have computers hooked up to the keyboards. Any help is great.

Thanks
Matt

Hey Matt,

For my current show I trigger my patch changes manually. My patches run in Kontakt and I trigger from a controller keyboard. Many of my patches I programmed with splits and multi-patches that trigger at different velocities so I can cover a lot of sounds within one custom patch.

If you are using Ableton Live 8 you can use Max for Live to automatically trigger patch changes at key points. You can also send patch changes to other instrumentalists.

I know there is software you can setup to do a series of patch changes in a linear fashion. In other words, you can setup 60 patch changes in a row and just trigger “next” for the next patch change. But I have personally not used this in any shows I’ve done.

You can do all this with Ableton Live 8 with Max For Live. I’d suggest learning it because so many shows are using it now.

I received this email:

i am member of a Shaloom Church in Pakitan. i am founding a Christmas Tree But i have no meet a Christamas Tree. Sir Plz Send me a Christmas Tree. Before a 25 December . My Pastor is a very upset. For a Christmass Tree. My all Planing is panding. i am waiting your’s to gift.

My Name is :      Shahbaz Tabassum
Address:             Shaloom Church, New Shoukat Town, Ghazi Road,
Lahore-Pakistan.
Pastore Name:    *Edited*
Contact  No.        *Edited*

God Bless You and your family and i wish you good luck in his future life.

MY RESPONSE:

Shahbaz,

I greet you and your family with Shalom and Sha-na-na. I also wish you and your family good luck – but if you like you can receive the good luck in this life; you do not have to wait until the next one. This choice is up to you.

As for the Christmas Tree. If I send you a Christmas Tree then you will just have a tree. And I don’t think that’s very much in the Christmas spirit. So instead, I will give you a wonderful Christmas gift by NOT sending you a Christmas tree.

The two Christmas gifts I give you are:

1. The gift of patience for your pastor who is upset about the Christmas tree. With a good sermon he will light the hearts of his congregation more than any Christmas tree.
2. For you I give you more time to spend with your family next year. If you are unsuccessful in getting a Christmas tree by trolling the internet for related blog posts – then I hope next year you refrain from doing this and spend that time saved with your family. I think they will appreciate it. I know I will.

God bless and Merry Christmas!

hi were moving to macau this january 2011.. i would like to ask if how much
if were going to stay there in your apartment for two weeks?

My answer:

Thank you for letting me know you are coming. If you had not let me known then maybe the apartment would have been messy and that would bring shame to my family.

First off it depends where you want to sleep. I have a large couch and it’s not very expensive. My second guest bedroom has a twin bed that other guests have enjoyed. I should add in passing that my previous guests were people I already knew.

If you want to sleep in MY bed then that gets more expensive depending on the photos you send me ahead of time. Please make sure the photos are full resolution and not edited in Photo Shop. Belly rubs and foot tickling cost extra. I prefer you bring your own feathers, copper wire, tubing and 40 weight motor oil.

I have a nice view of the water which is convenient. If people get boring or talk too much I like to stare at the water.

I came across your stie looking for sound effects to the musical “Annie”.
Do you know where I could find some?

Thanks!

Reply:

www.SoundDogs.com – I’ve been very surprised how many live theater productions I’ve done where the sound techs totally dropped the ball on sound effects. I mean like they hadn’t even thought of it. So as a rule I’ve gotten in the habit of going through the whole script and marking every possible sound effect idea I have to present to the director for consideration. And I get even more ideas if I can watch one live run through of the cast.

I can usually get most of what I need at SoundDogs.com – and then create the rest with Protools and my personal sound effects libraries.

SoundDogs.com prices are reasonable, the site is not rocket science to use. One time I didn’t get my download, contacted customer support and they had it fixed within like 30 minutes. They rock.

I’ve been producing for about 8 years now and now i’m ready to take that serious step I stay in Lincoln Ne, and it’s hard for a producer out here, so I was wondering how do I just really start I make hiphop,r&b,dirtysouth,soul and blues beats and i’m still not getting paid like I want to I know i’m damn good at what I do but just need to get with the right person, how do I reach or find that person, where do I look it’s hard for me here and at the same time I have family here and I want to do what I like, to make money that way I know i’ll stick with it

Thanks…………….Dennis

****************

Reply:

wat program did you use to first create music or Are you not a Computer Music Producer And Wat Genre Did you Start On .. 9 YEars Old is A  Nice Age to Starts still Im 13 and i started 4 to 5 Months Ago !

Reply:

Congratulations on the early start. Yes, age 9-12 is a great age to start. I never underestimate what someone in that age group can do. You have the mental freedom of not having learned the rules (confinements of protocol) yet.

These are software programs I use for music production:

• Digidesign ProTools
• Sony Acid
• Ableton Live

And here are other popular programs that friends of mine use:

• Fruity Loops
• Cubase

That’s a very incomplete list – there are many great programs that you can use for music production. Technology advances fast – I am told that my ProTools TDM system from 2002 (which I spent about $30,000 on including plugins) is equivalent to a 2008 loaded computer with ProTools LE (under $6,000 including a super loaded computer).

I can remember vividly my first computer for music applications in 1989 (that must seem like a long time ago to you) with very basic programs that always crashed. It is really amazing the current programs.

Here are my suggestions for starting out in music production:

1. Purchase the best microphone you can afford
2. Purchase the best mic preamp you can afford
3. Learn how to really slice and layer your beats, don’t just drag and drop
4. Learn midi (playing a keyboard into the computer)
5. Don’t worry about technology, it will always change. Focus on the vision in your mind.

Special tips for kids: Make sure to burn your new music on a CD and give to family members as gifts at holiday gatherings. When it comes around to gift giving times of the year, make sure you let it be known you might be a rich music producer if you only had that new microphone and/or software. And make sure you research the exact models you want so they don’t buy you bogus karaoke stuff. And don’t tell them I told you to do that. Shhh…..

And if anyone else has other programs they use for music production – please leave a comment here and let us know about it. Thanks!

In order to make a good pianist do I really have to learn notes and play them? Since 4 years from 12 to 16 I have played music by ear all the way through. I have also watched others play and I play what they play in a day literally. God gave me this talent to where I can play music that I want to within about 4 hours.

I have fans even though I am 16 but some people that ain’t fans do not like me. Some will say “I should learn notes that is what a pianist must learn. If you don’t learn it then what you play isn’t music.” Another is ” my 7 year old brother probably can play better than you.” I don’t believe that though. My teacher Brian Froge told me this, ” that is insane Anthony, I don’t know anyone that can play the entertainer by ear like you did!” That was my first song I learned.

I have been told that but I was told by a collage student that “the most professional piano players play by ear like I do.” Do you think I should stick with playing the way I have or playing with notes?

After this post and reply was made, this video link was sent of Anthony playing:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1fXxTrUprI

Conrad’s Original Reply:

Hi there,

To your original specific question: In order to make a good pianist do I really have to learn notes and play them?

My answer would be no, depending on what your bar or definition of “good” is.

However, learning to read music will open up a whole new world for you. There is a misconception about “playing by ear” – most professional pianists read music but also “play by ear”.

In conversations people often say to me “My father is a fantastic pianist and only plays by ear, no training. Do you play by ear or read?” And my usual reply is, “Oh, I only read” – and I try to say it sheepishly so they can retain their pride for their relative.

The two sides of playing great music is reading, then interpreting and getting the music off the page. The printed music is only a representation of a performance, it is not the performance itself. The perfomance itself is a quasi mystical journey and lives somewhere in the ether. How’s that for “out there”?

It has been my experience that the more I learn, the more I realize I have YET to learn. When I know little, that’s when I think I know a lot. My guess would be you are having this experience.

When you go pro there’s a painful experience of breaking out of the bubble – and being called on what you can and cannot do.

So my advice would be that if you enjoy your music for yourself, then by all means continue on this path and enjoy it. If you want to work in the field of music then I strongly recommend you learn to read music.

Have there been great pianists in history that cannot read music? Yes, mostly in pop, ragtime and jazz styles.

Do I know piano players that do not read music? Yes, but they lose a lot of work because of it, so not good for business.

I have mentioned that there ARE famous pianists that don’t read music. But I have had hundreds (yes, hundreds) of people in my life play piano for me and exclaim the joy that they have no training and cannot read music. Not one of them was any good at all. They all played the same tripe 12 bar blues or A minor melancholy pentatonic crap. Of course when they played I told them it was good because they were so excited about their talent. Why rain on someone’s parade?

Now if the same person told me they wanted to go into music as a profession, I would have a different (more pointed) conversation with them. The more you can do – the more versatile you are – the wider net of work you can get.

Hope that helps!