In my most recent post I mentioned that I was about to work on a “secret song” with Dan Castellaneta this past Monday.
On Monday morning, I went into my home studio, placed a phone call to the Marge Simpson ADR stage (most all of the dialogue for the show is recorded on this stage), and was patched through to Dan’s headphones as he stood by for directions. Eight takes later, we called it a “wrap” and all the audio files were sent to me over the Internet. That afternoon I edited a couple of different versions and sent them to Al jean for approval.
Then later that day I received a call from our editor Mike Bridge and he told me that Jim Brooks had made a few changes and asked if I could re-edit the music to accommodate those changes. I made and sent the changes, then a couple of hours later Larina Adamson called to say that everything was approved and that I was finished editing.
The one behind-the-scenes tidbit I’ll share is that the vocal you hear in the final version is a blend of the new lyrics Dan recorded on Monday and old lyrics Dan recorded back in 2002. Thank goodness for well-archived tape and a thorough database that allowed me to quickly cobble together all the elements into the finished product. Everyone was pretty happy with it and I’m proud to have done my part.
Click here to view the “secret song” video and leave me a comment telling me what you think.
Simpsons Music 500 
Thanks for sharing this!
You did a great job blending new tracks with old. That sounds like a pretty difficult thing to do.
I love Nelson’s “Ha Ha” at the end. That summed it up best. 🙂
Thanks for the compliment. Nelsoln’s “Haw Haw” is appropriate at so many occasions. My favorite is when Natalie Maines used it when accepting a Grammy Award in 2007. Check out this video and watch at 2:53.
Not long ago, we’d get out the “2-inch” from the Fox vault, make copies of the vocal tracks on half-inch tape, splice with a real razor blade . . . oh, and possibly even varispeed it to match timing . . . thank goodness for digital technology! You even got Dan’s voice to sound like Larina’s! Good show! “Doo-doo-doo-doooo-doooo!”
DA-88s + Pro Tools = a much easier life for me!
Sweet. I wondered why it took eight takes, but when it’s so short, why not.
On THE SIMPSONS the number of takes is never about good takes vs. bad takes. It’s about trying different readings and inflections so that we have choices.