WHAT'S
AN "ARTIST'S PROOF" and HOW IS IT AN "INTERACTIVE"
PROJECT?
Film-makers
have "pre-release screenings. " Broadway shows have
"Out-of-Town Tryouts." How do recording artists try
out their recordings before they manufacture thousands of copies
of a new CD?
Usually they ask their friends to listen .... but what if an artist
wants a larger cross-section of response?
This
dilemma led us to the concept of the "Artist's Proofs,"
private pre-releases of Deborah's upcoming 2004 CD. We've planned
the "Artist's Proofs" to be released in at least three
phases, each progressively more "complete." That means
we're making this new CD at least three times. Until we feel we've
got a CD we want to release to the national market, each version
of the CD is considered an "Artist's Proof."
"Artist's Proof - Phase 1," released in Sept. '03, included
8 audio cuts and 3 video cuts and a Questionnaire. Those who sent
their
Questionnaires back by our specified deadline received a discount
on copies of "Artist's Proof - Phase 2," the upgraded
version of "Artist's Proof - Phase 1" -- and their comments
helped shape the changes we made in the Phase 2 CD.
The
comments on the Questionnaires were great -- everything from how
much people loved the songs to warnings that if we included certain
cuts they'd never buy the album. One person liked one of the songs
so much she thought it should be the first track AND the last
track. Someone else liked a different song so much he wanted an
extended-play version of it. Producer Mike Dineen from Q-Division
studios had great ideas for experimenting with how we mic the
harp and how we edit the tunes. The diversity of response -- even
on the same tunes -- was fascinating! The best part was that people's
comments helped us pinpoint musical problems we sensed were there,
but just couldn't put our fingers on.
The
most common response from "Artist's Proof - Phase 1"
questionnaires was "Love the video!" We were surprised
to discover that almost everyone who responded not only loved
the video but had no trouble following our directions for viewing
it on their computers.
Interactive?
You bet!! If you buy one of the "Artist's Proofs," you
can consider your computer and CD player as the screening rooms
for this new work. You'll get a Questionnaire with the CD so you
you can become part of the Artistic Research Team, so to speak.
Or you can just enjoy the CD and forget the Questionnaire (to
see a copy of the Questionnaire: click
here
HOW'S
THE 2nd DRAFT, "PHASE 2" DIFFERENT FROM "PHASE
1?"
"Phase 1" was released in Sept. '03. "Phase 2"
was released in late Nov. '03. In Phase 2 we added 3 new tunes,
deleted one tune, made a few cuts in other tunes, went into the
studio with strings and horns to enhance several of the arrangements,
and added a cover and artwork which we think is a lot of fun.
Phase 2, like Phase 1, is also an "enhanced CD." That
means there's video footage embedded in the CD itself which you
can play on your computer. We kept the same 3 video cuts since
we got such a great response to them in Phase 1.
For
us, the creative potential of the project raised about 5 notches
between Phase 1 and Phase 2, and in great part because of the
feedback we got from the Phase 1 CDs.
VIDEO
ON A CD?
One of the basic questions we address in this project is: how
do we make Deborah's CDs as powerful as her live performances?
To answer that, we asked what makes live performances "work"
on a level beyond her CDs? The answer was: people need to SEE
her -- and she needs to know how they're responding. To get the
response we ... well, we asked for it. And to let people see her
... we put video footage on the CD.
HOW
COME IT ISN'T JUST A DVD?
We're heading in that direction, but we're not
there yet. That may be our next project. But right now, we're
still working on this project. The video on this CD is a couple
steps above web-video -- but you still use your computer to play
it, not your DVD player.
WHAT's
NEXT?
We'll
head back into the studio to work on "Phase 3" Summer
or Fall of '04. We'll re-record several tunes, remix others, re-record
live strings & horns, and add more live instruments to many
of the tracks. Other changes we make will be determined, in part,
by our response - and your response - to Phase 2.
For
more from Deborah about the "Artist's Proof" project,
read on ... or if you've received this on paper, send your browsers
to: http://www.hipharp.com/artist_proof_cd.html
DEBORAH'S
TAKE ON THE "ARTIST'S PROOF" CDs & HER CREATIVE
PROCESS:
The problem is that when the "idea" of an album or a
symphonic work or a movie or play comes to me, the first moment
it arrives, it FEELS complete. I "feel" the impact as
though I had just listened to the CD or been to see the play.
But
that feeling is completely non-verbal, undrawn, unstructured,
unexplainable. So it's not a work of art yet. It's just an idea.
I "understand" the piece on a deep level, but that doesn't
mean I could explain it to anyone else. They say Mozart conceived
of his pieces whole, and so he could start writing them start
to finish or finish to start. And they say Michelangelo "saw"
his sculptures already finished inside of big hunks of marble,
so he basically liberated them with his chisel and hammer.
Well,
I ain't Mozart and I ain't Michelangelo, so I had to figure out
plans that works for me.
I
genearally approach my ideas in a few different ways:
1.
Try to catch them:
I can hunt and catch my ideas by sitting in the woods of my
imagination and letting the idea approach me ... or I can make
a trap for them: an outline of it, a drawing, a map, I can act
it out, make miniatures .... anything I can do to get closer
to trapping the idea or coaxing it onto paper, into words or
movements so I can understand better how to bring it to life.
These preliminary versions, "mockups," "drafts,"
"designs," "outlines" help "see"
into my imagination and to try to organize it so I can start
working with it.
2. Make Mud Pies out of them:
at the same time I also spend time playing with the idea in
a completely unplanned and disorganized way, a process I call
"making mud pies." I do it without much thought. I
just play around.
3.
Make a "One Hour Specials": This is
a combination of mudpies, hunting and lighting a fire under
myself. To make a "One Hour Special." I put on a timer
and furiously cut and paste the project together for one hour.
I'll even record a whole album from start to finish in one hour.
I'm not saying the result is pretty. It's usually a mess. But
it allows me to start understanding the project as a "whole."
Then I spend time listening to it (usually while I'm out running),
often stopping to take notes (yep, I carry index cards and pen
with me when I run - and no, I do not use them as an excuse
to stop running. Well, not usually.).
I
might make several "one hour specials" over a series
of weeks until I have a pretty good idea of how the "whole"
fits or works togther. And, ok, I'll admit that sometimes I
give myself more than an hour. But I try not to.
Once
I have a pretty good idea of how the whole works, then I can
start working the individual parts of the project, and from
time to time, plug them back into the "whole" and
see if it still works as a whole.
And,
of course, sometimes changing one "part" completely
changes the "whole" idea. Then I need to ask myself:
is this new "whole" more or less powerful, meaningful
or beautiful than the previous "whole?" Did I just
get lucky? Or did I just shoot myself in the foot, just "improve"
a song to death? Do I need to change my original idea of the
"whole" or do I need to get rid of that new "part?"
These
are not rigid scientific methods, mind you - they're dances I
do to court and marry with my idea.
GOTTA
HAVE A PEN!!
Now, sometimes the whole thing is ridiculously easy. A song simply
"happens" -- I'm singing it before I know it's a new
song. Like the other day ...
...
my neighbor was talking about "Artist's Proof Phase 2."
He said he liked it, but it was so gosh-darned happy. "What
I'm wanting to hear," he said, "Is some kind of low-down
song -- you know, something about love gone bad."
So
the next day, I went out on my run and before I knew it I was
singing "Love Gone Bad." Not just the first verse, but
verse after verse! I reached into the pouch where I keep my index
cards and pens and found - NO PEN!!!! No pen!! I searched around
on the ground --you can find pens and pencils a lot just by looking
around, but this was a clean neighborhood -- NO PEN! I could feel
the song starting to drain out my ears -- so I ran up to the nearest
house rang the doorbell, but no answer. Man, I was desperate!
Nobody was around! And then I saw a Verizon truck up the way and
a guy loading a ladder onto it. I got to him just before he drove
away and, breathless, asked if he had a pen. He dug around and
found me one. Thankyou Mr. Verizon-guy!
I
don't know if the song will make it into the next version of the
CD ... but at least I got it down on paper. Some songs happen
that fast. But larger projects can take a lot more work.
BUILDING
BRIDGES:
Sometimes an idea is like a different planet. Making it into a
work of art is like building a bridge to get to that planet, to
carry the idea from my own imagination to other people's imaginations.
The
great adventure is knowing that as I build the bridge, I'll find
so much more in the idea than I first conceived. The great danger
is that I'll lose my connection to the initial inspiration as
I focus on building the bridge that brings the work to physical
form. Mary Shelley wrote one of my favorite books about that problem.
Her book is called 'Frankenstein.'
ROMANCING
THE IDEA:
I guess you could say I'm romancing my idea when I make it into
a new work. And part of the romance is be able to see the work
anew, over and over. That's where other people can help me a lot.
Bizarrely enough, I myself, will hear the piece with new ears
when I'm in the room with someone else who's hearing it for the
first time. In a situation where I'm actually performing the "One-Hour
Special" for someone, I often spontaneously solve artistic
problems in-the-moment just because someone's actually listening.
I'm inspired to make the story or the piece spontaneously "work"
for them in wonderfully simple ways.
Seeing
how people respond - when they start fidgetting, when they're
rapt, when they laugh or cry or start to sing along -- all that
tells me what's working. Sometimes it's working in the way I planned.
Sometimes it's working in ways I never expected. Sometimes ...
it's not working at all. And all of that is what I need to know.
Sometimes
people ask me questions about the work and those questions show
me what needs to be clearer or bring up possibilities I never
thought of. That's all icing on the cake.
Sometimes
I find out that a piece I thought I still needed to do a lot of
work on ... IS DONE! Then what I've learned is "Stop! Don't
go any further. You're already there!" And that's pure gravy!
It's
for all those reasons that I need audience response.
AND
THUS, THE "ARTIST'S PROOF
The Artist's Proofs are like "One
Hour Specials" on a grand scale. You could also look at them
as high-level"mockups," "miniatures" or progressive
"blueprints." Each "Artist's Proof" draft
contains full-blown arrangements, and some cuts from each draft
will make it into the final release. Other cuts will be re-produced,
enhanced or deleted.
Each
draft of the "Artist's Proof" could each could conceivably
stand on its own -- yet each new draft becomes successively more
"complete" until we have a "Final" proof.
By privately releasing the "Artist's Proof" drafts to
a limited audience, we have the advantage of listener responses
before we release thousands of copies onto the national market.
WHEN
WILL IT REALLY BE "DONE?"
We can't answer that definitively. We've
scheduled the "final" version of the CD for spring or
summer of 2004, but if we feel we want to continue with the experiment
at that point -- we will!
WHY
INCLUDE A
"QUESTIONNAIRE"????
We
need to know people's responses, but we discovered that if we
just ask people "what do you think?" they often suspect
we're asking for marketting advice. Worse yet, they sometimes
give it to us! But we're not looking for ways to make the work
more marketable or even more palateable. What we want is to hear
individual people's individual responses.
In
my dream world, I'd invisibly watch people as they listen to the
album: see where they fidgeted, where they tapped their feet,
got up and danced, hummed along, smiled, wiped their eyes, got
irritated and switched to the next cut, which cuts they listened
to over and over, when their brow furrowed because they couldn't
read or understand the text in the CD Booklet.
I'm
looking for clues that will help me identify what needs to be
clearer and I'm looking for responses that resonate and clarify
my own response to the work.
So, to help people know what kind of responses we need,
Jonathan and I created a Questionnaire (you can seea copy of it
at the end of this webpage).
BUT
WHY MAKE AN ALBUM THREE TIMES?
Because we can. The
fact that we CAN make "Artist's Proofs" on this level
is because of new technology. Not only were we able to put audio
and video on a single disc, but we were able to print that disc
in small enough quantities and for a reasonable-enough price that
it made financial sense as artistic "Research and Development."
GOT
MORE QUESTIONS?
email us at info@hipharp.com
and when we'll try to get back to you as quickly as we can.
HOW
TO GET ARTIST'S PROOF CDs:
HOW
TO GET PHASE 1 "ARTIST'S PROOF": If you want
to order a copy of the original "Artist's Proof - Phase 1"
CD, with six audio cuts and three video cuts ("Way You Are
Blues," "Land of You" and "That Ain't Right"),
click here.
HOW
TO GET PHASE 2 "ARTIST'S PROOF":
If you want the NEW version of the CD (Phase 2) order on line
BUT MAKE SURE TO SPECIFY that you want to wait and get the PHASE
2 version (which won't be available until Nov. 22nd)!
HOW
TO GET A QUESTIONNAIRE: Underneath the photos below is
a link to the Questionnaire PDF -- and for those who don't like
opening PDFs: just scroll down a little bit further and copy/paste
the questions right into an email. Don't forget to listen to the
CD first ...
