(for background on this project check out quoted text below)

About a week before the premier of Harold Crumb (short film) Adam invited me into the studio to record some credits music, and the night before our session he emailed me a scanned copy of the part:


(excerpt of sheet music)

Initially I was really pissed because this is a pain in the ass to learn and none too simple to play – and I hate wasting peoples’ time in the recording studio with tons of bad takes. But once I played through it once I could tell it was a cool piece, it lays under the fingers surprisingly well and is somewhat intuitive, although very confusing at the same time. The premise of the three moving parts is that they’re all based on the same 2-bar sequence of notes, but offset by one 8th note (aka, a canon). And then there’s some transition material for the modulation to C# minor (every cellist’s favorite key).

I was a bit worried walking into the studio, but overall the session ended up going very smoothly and once everything came together we were all surprised at how well it turned out:

Crumb Credits

Huge props go to Graham Wakeman and Dane Hoppe for their fabulous expertise recording, and for blazing through the post-production bullshit while entertaining me and Adam’s every whim.

Also, here’s a recording of the montage scene from an older recording session:

Harold Crumb – short film (May 18-24)

The above date is only the time that I spent on this project, whereas my friends Adam Conrad (music composer) and Christoper Jopp (writer/director) have put in COUNTLESS hours to create this film.
(cello part)
Check out the <trailer> and the video Chris shot of our recording sessions <here>.
(Adam Conrad/Dylan Jack)
I’ve done quite a bit of work with Adam playing his compositions, and he provided me with crucial support on my first composition project, so I was thrilled to have the chance to work with him on this production. Rehearsals and recording were a lot of work, as is necessarily the case with film scoring, but the musicians, recording technicians and other supporting artists made it an excessively positive experience.
(Ben Kelly)
The unexpected MVP of the whole process was Ben Kelly, who Adam had enlisted as our ‘rehearsal assistant.’ His job was to follow along in the score and take notes on reoccurring mistakes/rough patches/whatever, and to offer an outsider’s opinion on which takes were good, and/or how they could be better. Ben was absolutely the hero of each recording session – and he plays a mean bass guitar in gangster jazz band Sexy Delicious.