September 30, 2005
The Music Man
By DEANNA DAHLSAD
Chris Leap thinks having a verb for a surname is a nightmare. I think
it's perfectly descriptive for one who jumps so enthusiastically into
things...
Thirty-two years ago Englishman Chris Leap was born, but it took
receiving a gift to make Chris spring to life.
"As a kid, the first birthday present I remember was a tape recorder.
Recording burps hehe. Since then, it's been all music, technology,
synths and PCs." says Chris.
After discovering sound with his tape recorder, Chris was bound for
performing arts school. He dove into the lifestyle, studying music, and
recording. He loved it so much that after graduating he hopped to
another art school to get another degree in music technology. But then
it was time to soar - Chris began touring with bands.
Touring he experienced "depravity, mindless abandon, rock n roll" which
likely set the stage for his working on the internet...
Chris posted music samples to the web, including work under the user
name of "Dog." In December, 2003, Dog received an email from Kat. Kat
was Kat Caverly, who wanted to know who the composer of one of the music
samples was. Dog wrote back, and Chris eventually made a leap of faith,
coming to work for No Evil Productions. Now, Dog & Kat make more than
beautiful burp noises together.
It seems to me, Leap is a rather good name for the head of the No Evil
Productions music department, for he leaps into action - and hasn't
missed yet.
(Unless you count one fall off a pier trying to impress a girl in
Portugal, but we don't dwell on that unless it's a slow day at the
office...)
Chris' favorite projects:
Posted by photocartoonist at 12:45 AM
September 29, 2005
Leap-ing to Conclusions
Folks hear our professional music - sophisticated, full orchestrations,
quality stuff - and what do they conclude? It must be either licensed
or used without permission. Ahh, bless their little hearts for such
a compliment!
In truth, all the music is like the animation, photography, & other
artwork: original.
Kat Caverly says "It is time for the world to know that the team is not
just freelancers, but artists who are brilliant, who are devoted, who
are on staff." So here we are, telling you all about it.
The main reason the music is so fabulous is the No Evil Productions
music department. This department is headed by Sound Designer Chris Leap,
who is composer, arranger, musician, sound FX designer, foley
artist (matching environmental effects), voiceover artist, lyricist, and
songwriter.
(Is that all, Chris, you slacker? :snort:)
Err, no. There's more.
Not only does Chris have multiple talents, but he's flexible in his part
in the process of production: He literally can join in anywhere in the
process.
Says Chris "Each project is different. They come at different stages,
some with finished animations, some in script form, some with voice
tracks, some with a title or feeling and some a mixture of these.
Working this way opens up lots of ways of writing and composing. There's
a lot of freedom. Pushing the limits of software and hardware and
breaking the rules is encouraged."
(No wonder his last name is an action word!)
Kat says this about Chris, "He has this passion for music; he has to
make music or he feels physically ill. I can come up with a never ending
stream of ideas and projects and this makes Chris very very happy and
his music just flourishes and grows. He is such a blessing."
Chris in turn feels blessed, "I get to do what I love, creating music
and sound and recording and mixing and breaking rules (including
grammatical ones)."
(Hey, back off on the grammar errors, Chris. Leave a little something
for the rest of us!)
So no, dear fans, the music doesn't arrive here via licensing. As they
say, music comes from the soul. And that's the way it's all done here
at No Evil Productions: All original, all the time.
By DEANNA DAHLSAD
Posted by photocartoonist at 12:02 AM
June 15, 2005
Developing a Theme Song for Quacki Chen
Quacki's Song ©Kat Caverly Enterprises, all rights reserved
Quacki's favorite song is a classical Chinese composition from the Ming Dynasty, Under the General's Orders. As a young Peking duck he spent countless hours hearing Wong Fei Hung stories and decided that this is his theme song. He studied to this song. He practiced to this song. At night this was the soundtrack of his dreams.
Posted by photocartoonist at 8:27 PM
June 5, 2005
A NEW Birthday Song
Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday
song ©Kat Caverly Enterprises, all rights reserved
It is time for a NEW birthday song. We can always use a new birthday song! The Beatles offered theirs, which was really groovy for the Sixties. But when was the last time there was a new birthday song?
Over here at No Evil productions, we have been busy (maybe TOO busy) thinking about the Happy Birthday song but besides the legal copyright issues and the history of the tune that the world knows as THE Happy Birthday song, it got us all thinking about, well, Happy Birthday, and the fun we could have with this kind of music.
There's our very own 'appy 'appy Birthday and the Arrogant-Worm's Once a Year we celebrate...Happy Birthday. We are playing with all kinds of tunes and lyrics, like Stuff Your Face with Cake and Happy Birthday, you're Old.
I was quite inspired by reading Patty Hill's account about her and her sister creating the songs for their "Song Stories for the Kindergarten" and how simplifying the melodies was the essence to even the youngest child being able to learn these songs. Music is the language of the heart and there is a magic to how they capture our minds and spirits. It can be argued that music speaks the basic language of our brains and transcends all language; communicating much more than any words. I think this is why Patty Hill chose to simply repeat a simple line, "Good morning to You"; and how it was natural for the young children to sing the words "happy birthday to you" and any other variation to match the occasion.
Posted by photocartoonist at 11:12 AM
September 18, 2004
Ganesh Chaturthi | September 18, 2004
Om Shree Ganeshaya
There is a world of celebration out there and today is the start of the festival in India celebrating the birthday of Lord Ganesh. There is a beautiful devotional song, called an arti, for this holiday and we recorded this especially for Ganesh Chaturthi on the sitar.
I am making a list of all of the holidays all over the world where people send greeting cards to celebrate their special festivals. My motto is, No Holiday Left Behind.
Posted by photocartoonist at 2:11 PM | Comments (2)