David Das » Arranging

Shout for Joy Choir Arrangement Published by Gentry Publications

ddas — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 21:39:13 +0000

A choral arrangement of mine, titled Shout for Joy, has been published by Gentry Publications/Fred Bock Music and is distributed by Hal Leonard. Shout for Joy is a modern spiritual, written by my friend Martin Bass. This arrangement is for a cappella SATB choir with a female soloist, and it was first performed in 2002 by the New Jersey All-State Chorus.

Shout for Joy is available for purchase directly from Hal Leonard. Score excerpts can be viewed here. If you are a choral director and would like a complimentary copy, please use the Contact form to request one, and include your mailing address.

Here is a complete stream of the 2002 performance of the piece by the New Jersey All-State Choir:

Troy MacCubbin: A Night at the Gallery (Live)

ddas — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:00:37 +0000

Troy MacCubbin‘s new live album, entitled A Night at the Gallery, has just been released. This was a live recording of two concerts I did in Los Angeles with Troy in April 2011. As well as arranging the strings, playing keyboards, and MD’ing the band (detailed in a previous article here), I also produced and mixed this live album for Troy, and we’re all extremely excited to finally see its release commemorating these two very special nights of music. The album is available for download on both iTunes and Amazon, and will soon be available for physical purchase too.

Troy is a singer/songwriter and professional guitarist (T.A.T.U., Wilson Phillips, etc.) The two concerts took place on back-to-back nights on April 5-6, 2011. Both concerts were fairly similar, and both were recorded in multitrack, which made the process of producing the live album much easier, as there was a lot of material to choose from. We had a wonderful band, including Danish drummer Jesper Kristensen, bassist Al Slavick, and the string quartet Thread.

This is the first live concert I’ve ever had the opportunity to mix, and it required a very different approach than regular studio mixing, with the emphasis not so much on every musical detail fitting in perfectly, but more in capturing the vibe, ambience, and spontaneity of the live music. The string quartet was a challenge to blend, because its overhead mics ended up capturing too much room ambience and not enough strings, so we had to rely mostly on the direct pickups from the strings (which produce a dry, direct sound, without any blend from the other instruments).

The finished album was mastered in high-definition (24-bit, 96kHz). We’re currently looking into distribution possibilities for the high resolution audio as well as considering a possible surround mix of the concert.

Click here to download the liner notes to the album as a PDF. Preview or purchase the entire album at iTunes and Amazon MP3 and also as an audio CD at Amazon.

Working on the new movie Joyful Noise

ddas — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 07:32:49 +0000

Joyful Noise, a musical film starring Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah, has just been released, and I had the chance to work on the music for the film in a variety of behind-the-scenes aspects, including preproduction, keyboard work, drum programming, horn arranging, engineering, and assisting the composer for the movie, Mervyn Warren.

From the IMDB entry: “Joyful Noise is the story of a small town choir out to win a national competition despite overwhelming odds. A story of faith and determination by the choir leaders (Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton) and the young talent who give their all to win God’s praise and beat the competition for the grand prize.”

The soundtrack includes gospel classics, modern classics, and new original songs written by Mervyn Warren, and Dolly Parton. An all-star roster of players graced the recordings, including Paul Jackson Jr, the Jerry Hey horns, Reggie Hamilton, Kirk Franklin, as well as Dolly and Queen themselves.

Underscoring The Sing-Off

ddas — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 03:51:10 +0000

After doing arrangements for a group that appeared on a previous season of NBC’s hit show The Sing-Off (more details about my work available here), this season I’ve come on board to write and record a large quantity of a cappella underscores that join the seams of this wonderful show.

The Sing-Off features sixteen of the country’s best a cappella groups performing popular songs like you’ve never heard them before. There’s no lip-syncing, backup bands, or safety net. It’s hosted by multi-platinum recording artist Nick Lachey and judged by Ben Folds (Ben Folds Five), Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men) and Sara Bareilles.

Composer Michael Elsner and I came together to compose and record more than sixty different cues, ranging from short vocal stabs to grooves in various styles that will be used throughout the season. We began by working on basic demos that outlined our ideas. Decisions about tempo and feel were made first. Then we laid down layered rhythm tracks of claps, snaps, chest thumps, foot stomps, and mouth percussion. Melody and harmony ideas came next, then background filler parts to accompany the melody and harmony. After our skeletal demos were complete, we brought in a team of nine session singers to bring the music to life.

Here’s a preview medley of some of the cues:

The same music is also being used for new international spin-offs of The Sing-Off that will be appearing in the next year overseas.

String Arranging and MD’ing with Troy MacCubbin

ddas — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:27:52 +0000

On April 5th and 6th, 2011, I arranged strings and then played keyboards as musical director for singer, songwriter, and guitarist Troy MacCubbin to put on two shows at the Fake Gallery in Los Angeles. Troy’s music is a blend of pop and rock with a blues/country influence, and it was a joy to work with the veteran string quartet Thread (Songa Lee, Lisa Liu, Ginger Murphy, and Caroline Buckman), who between them have played with everyone in the industry from James Taylor, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, and hundreds of other artists. Rounding out the rhythm section was the extremely capable Danish drummer Jesper Kristensen on drums and Al Slavik on bass. The concept was to take a pop/rock show and add some unique elements to make it a very special night, hence the addition of the string quartet and the vibe of the art gallery, owned and graciously opened to us by independent artist Paul Kozlowski.

To get the show ready, we began with Troy’s rough guitar/vocal demos of each song. I worked on string arrangements and sent mockups using sampled strings to Troy via e-mail for his approval, and after we were both satisfied with them, the arrangements went to a copyist for layout and then we headed straight into string quartet rehearsals to iron out the intricacies of the string parts. The rhythm section rehearsed independently, and because of time constraints, we were only able to bring the entire ensemble together a couple of hours before the first performance for a quick run-through before showtime.

We were tremendously excited by the results, and the two shows were recorded and will be released later this year. (Update: this project has been released, and details are here.)

Vocal arranging for NBC’s The Sing-Off

ddas — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 01:02:27 +0000

Two of my arrangements for mens’ a cappella groups made it to air on this season of NBC’s popular The Sing-Off TV show.

Men of Note performed the theme from the 80′s TV show Growing Pains (“As Long As We Got Each Other”) and Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time,” the latter of which is now available on iTunes.

Aaron Lazar: Caruso

ddas — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 04:59:05 +0000

I’ve been producing some new tracks for the accomplished singer and actor Aaron Lazar on some new songs for an upcoming project. Aaron is a Broadway star, having appeared in lead roles in such products as Les Miserables, Light in the Piazza, A Little Night Music, and Phantom of the Opera. His new material falls into the classical-crossover vein; his huge stage voice brings a beautiful drama to the material. This has given me a chance to do some larger orchestral arrangements to suit the gravitas of his voice.

This project is not yet released, but stay tuned…meanwhile, here is a clip from the project:

John Chisum: A Table in the Wilderness

ddas — Fri, 07 May 2004 04:48:13 +0000

I just finished producing veteran songwriter and worship leader John Chisum‘s latest album, A Table in the Wilderness. The album is a collection of ten lyrical worship songs. I arranged and played the majority of instruments on the album, then the tracks are augmented with the talents of veteran session guitarist Mark Baldwin and the strings of David Davidson.

Pick Up The Pieces

ddas — Thu, 12 Sep 2002 22:35:06 +0000

One night in 2002, I was up late in my studio, grooving to the classic Average White Band song Pick Up The Pieces, when the thought came…WWBMD? (What would Bobby McFerrin do?) Twenty or so vocal tracks later, I answered the question.

Still In Love: Best of College A Cappella 2000

ddas — Wed, 13 Dec 2000 00:08:05 +0000

The University of Rochester’s premier female a cappella group, Vocal Point, has been singing and recording some of my arrangements for years, and one of them was selected for inclusion on the annual compilation series BOCA 2K: Best of College A Cappella 2000. The arrangement is a smooth a cappella rendition of Brian McKnight’s “Still In Love.”

It’s available for purchase from Amazon.

David Das » Arranging

Shout for Joy Choir Arrangement Published by Gentry Publications

Check out these related projects:

Troy MacCubbin: A Night at the Gallery (Live)

Check out these related projects:

Working on the new movie Joyful Noise

Check out these related projects:

Underscoring The Sing-Off

Check out these related projects:

String Arranging and MD’ing with Troy MacCubbin

Check out these related projects:

Vocal arranging for NBC’s The Sing-Off

Check out these related projects:

Aaron Lazar: Caruso

Check out these related projects:

John Chisum: A Table in the Wilderness

Check out these related projects:

Pick Up The Pieces

Check out these related projects:

Still In Love: Best of College A Cappella 2000

Check out these related projects: