She Loves Me Recording?- Page 2

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 10:12pm

Last night, I spoke to Jim Walton and asked if he knew when the release date was. He said he heard it would be available digitally next week. We both agreed that sounded a bit strange, but he said that's what he had heard. So we'll see, I guess...

[slumdogdelaware]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 10:25pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Last night, I spoke to Jim Walton and asked if he knew when the release date was. He said he heard it would be available digitally next week. We both agreed that sounded a bit strange, but he said that's what he had heard. So we'll see, I guess...

 

That would be amazing!!

 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 10:29pm

How long ago did they record it? That does sound a bit strange. That would be a very quick turnaround although part of me has often wondered why they don't release these albums digitally as soon as they're finished. I know the CDs take longer to manufacture and Sh-K-Boom is generally good about releasing their albums digitally weeks prior to the CD release but I do wonder why record companies sometimes wait when the album is obviously ready. Like when American Psycho went up on iTunes for pre-order and they started releasing single songs leading up to the scheduled release day when the album had clearly been finished and ready for some time. Why the teasing?

[slumdogdelaware]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 10:33pm

CATSNYrevival said: "How long ago did they record it? That does sound a bit strange. That would be a very quick turnaround although part of me has often wondered why they don't release these albums digitally as soon as they're finished. I know the CDs take longer to manufacture and Sh-K-Boom is generally good about releasing their albums digitally weeks prior to the CD release but I do wonder why record companies sometimes wait when the album is obviously ready. Like when American Psycho went up on iTunes for pre-order and they started releasing single songs leading up to the scheduled release day when the album had clearly been finished and ready for some time. Why the teasing?

 

Yeah it's been like 2 weeks haha.

 

[divarobbie2]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 10:56pm

It's definitely not next week, as artwork is still being completed.

[slumdogdelaware]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 11:06pm

divarobbie2 said: "It's definitely not next week, as artwork is still being completed.

 

Don't you dare bring facts into our wishful delusions.

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 11:17pm

I'm sure it's not next week, either. But the sooner they get it out there, the better.

[divarobbie2]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 11:18pm

Jordan Catalano said: "I'm sure it's not next week, either. But the sooner they get it out there, the better."

 

I agree, and I'm loving designing it – it's one of the best albums I've worked on.

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 11:23pm

Oh, you're working on it? That's awesome! Can you tell us if there's dialogue included in it?

[ChiTheaterFan]

Posted: 5/11/16 at 11:25pm

They recorded on 4/25. The cast was tweeting from the studio. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 12:41am

Even just that preview was wonderful. I can't wait!

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 2:18am

divarobbie2 said: "I agree, and I'm loving designing it – it's one of the best albums I've worked on."

I can't believe no one is tapping you for details about your craft! I'm dying to know:

How does one design an album in the digital age? Are you even allowed to discuss any details before its release? What are the biggest limitations in designing for a digital album? File size? Screen real estate?
Growing up, I never listened to an album without the LP jacket in my hands! Not so much with digital music, as text is smaller, pictures aren’t as easy to get lost in (because they’re so small), and even the cover art is reduced to a postage stamp size in iTunes. The digital booklets that sometimes come with a purchase (but mostly aren’t a part of he purchase at all) haven’t been all that great in the .pdf format.
As a designer, what are your goals for the end user’s experience (i.e., what kinds of things do you do to try and re-create/compensate for regarding that LP jacket experience)? Can you speak about why this is “one of the best albums” you’ve worked on? Were you speaking about the quality of the recording, or the design of the digital booklet?
I miss having a detailed synopsis of the show, with the songs in bold print where they occur within the synopsis. That used to be ‘standard’ with musical LPs (many times taking advantage the disc’s inner sleeve for text and photos), as well as including the lyrics for each number. Will that be part of your design? What about pictures from the show?
With most computer monitors now having a wide format, would you/have you considered designing in landscape mode, with scroll function from left to right, rather than top to bottom? I’d really like to have that “book” feeling of seeing two pages at a time (like opening a double album).
I’d be interested to hear anything you want to share about the process of designing for a digital album.

[divarobbie2]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 11:52am

Jordan Catalano said: "Can you tell us if there's dialogue included in it?"

There was some dialogue recorded, yes... I don't know how much.

[divarobbie2]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 12:23pm

John Adams said: "I can't believe no one is tapping you for details about your craft! "

SO MANY QUESTIONS! I'm going to base this more on the broader spectrum than just on SLM – earlier this season I designed FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, so let's assume same principles. Limitations are many – what photos are approved (sometimes I've been handed five, sometimes 200, once a DVD and was asked if I could grab screenshots and make that work), will lyrics be printed, etc., and when it's a cast album, it has to go through several sets of approvals: the record label, the producers of the show, the writers of the show, the producers of the album, etc. Sometimes the notes can cancel each other out, so it's a lot of work. 

Because I am such a cast album aficionado, and have been doing this for about 12 years, I try to design for my best customer: ME. I know what I love about cast albums, and try to get all of that into the package. I love detailed synopsis, a liner note about the show, lyrics if they can fit (that's not always a "must" in a revival), and tons of full-color photos of the specific production being recorded (SLM has the most of any album I've done). I also think about the design of the show, and that influences my design choices for the album (you'll see that in the physical package of SLM especially). Of course it's changed a lot (my first album was a 32 page book for "Hugh Sings Martin", and iTunes wasn't really a "thing" then, AND digital books didn't exist). Now, we have unlimited size of booklets in digital (and have to live in the multiples of 4 for print), and I try to make each experience the same while dealing with the challenges of two different sizes (perfect square for print vs. a rectangle that can be blown up to the size of the computer screen for digital). That can get tricky. iTunes has specific guidelines that have to be obeyed, (under 10MB, sizing), and it doesn't really allow for page to page flow like a book, but a PDF of up and down. 

Hope this answers some of your questions, and you can always find me on twitter @divarobbie if you have more!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 12:44pm

Hey, Diva if you designed Fiddler then you can answer the question some had about the cover. How come the original design had the picture of Danny on it and the final version didn't? Was that a note from a producer/label/writer? Someone just didn't like it?

[divarobbie2]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 1:05pm

CATSNYrevival said: "Hey, Diva if you designed Fiddler then you can answer the question some had about the cover. How come the original design had the picture of Danny on it and the final version didn't? Was that a note from a producer/label/writer? Someone just didn't like it?"

That actually wasn't Danny... it was a model hired by the ad agency, and his contract didn't include the cast album (that is my understanding).

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 1:31pm

Of course! Money. They would have had to pay the model more for the cast album. That's fascinating. Thank you.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 1:46pm

Strange that the stars contract didn't include he cast album. 

[divarobbie2]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 2:00pm

Jordan, the image isn't of Danny, a model was used. The model's contract didn't include the cast album.

[phan24]

Posted: 5/12/16 at 2:07pm

duvarobbie2: thank you for all the insight, it really is amazing, I am so excited for the final SLM product!

[Jayne3]

Posted: 5/13/16 at 3:29am

Wow, that's really interesting, thanks for the insight!

Some of the cast said on periscope (no longer available to check) that there'd be a listening party sometime next week I think, but didn't say when it would be available to the public.

I'm very excited for this!

[Jshan05]

Posted: 5/13/16 at 12:11pm

I loved the little bit of the title song that was teased earlier this week. I am itching to get a listen to Laura singing any of her songs. I haven't been this excited for a cast album in a long time...definitely my most anticipated one this season (after Hamilton of course...)

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/13/16 at 2:01pm

divarobbie2 said: "I try to make each experience the same while dealing with the challenges of two different sizes (perfect square for print vs. a rectangle that can be blown up to the size of the computer screen for digital). That can get tricky. iTunes has specific guidelines that have to be obeyed, (under 10MB, sizing), and it doesn't really allow for page to page flow like a book, but a PDF of up and down."

Thank you so very much for your post! I learned a lot.

I'd forgotten to be inclusive in my thinking about the many who still purchase hard copy CDs (and consequently that your designs would need to be inclusive of both print and digital mediums).

Most disappointing to read about the 10MB size limit for iTunes. I mean, you can barely send a decent email (with attachments) at under 10MB. In food terms, that's barely an appetizer portion.

I'm still curious about (and perhaps, still pushing for..) the page orientation of digital booklets. Changing the orientation from portrait to landscape wouldn't effect file size, so I'm wondering what other stumbling block(s) may prevent a page to page flow?

The reason I'd prefer the horizontal flow is, I think, psychological (maybe subliminal?). I think it's because of how my peripheral vision sends subtle messages to my brain regarding "something more is coming".

When I read a page in .pdf format (from left to right, vertical/portrait mode, top to bottom), my peripheral vision constantly detects a white wall at the right border. My brain subtly perceives, "Stop. There is no more".

In landscape orientation, however, my peripheral vision always sees that "more is coming". The same was true for me when reading LP covers and liners. The physical landscape was large, so there were many columns, signaling "more" to the right. Same for books.

That always created a sense of pleasure for me - seeing/feeling there was "more" to devour. With books, even before reading the last page, I always feel a twinge of sadness when I turn the page and see one page of text, and a blank end sheet.

I don't get that kind of "end of book" sadness with .pdfs, but neither do I feel that pleasurable "more is coming" excitement. There's always that perceivable, white wall on the right to prevent it.

Updated On: 5/13/16 at 02:01 PM

[Jshan05]

Posted: 5/16/16 at 2:30pm

Just checked the SH-K Boom website and no dates have been announced yet. Does anyone have any information on when it will be released? I'm dying with anticipation!

[sondmon]

Posted: 5/17/16 at 7:39pm

On roundabout's site you can pre order the album. They say it will ship early June before it is released to the public. http://www.roundaboutmerchandise.com/she-loves-me-cast-recording-pre-order/