We are currently doing a production of THE PRODUCERS. I am looking for any
reference on the typewriter and ratchet sound effects for the number 'I
Wanna Be A Producer". They say there is a click track that I must create,
but I can't find any reference for it on the soundtrack album, so I don't
know the rhythm I need to reproduce. Can anyone help?

Have you tried looking at the music score? I'm sure it's indicated,
probably in the percussion section what rhythm it's supposed to be.

I guess I'm assuming also that you can read music?

-Justice C. Bigler
sound technician
Tulsa Performing Arts Center

It's in the percussion score. It was done on B'way and the subsequent tours using a typewriter and a ratchet.

Sent from my mobile device

On Sep 28, 2012, at 8:27 PM, Justice Bigler <justice.big...@gmail.com> wrote:

We used party favors. Mounted them to fake adding machines. The kind that  
make noise when you spin them.

In a message dated 9/28/2012 8:27:19 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  

Have you  tried looking at the music score? I'm sure it's indicated,
probably in the  percussion section what rhythm it's supposed to be.

I guess I'm  assuming also that you can read music?

-Justice C. Bigler
sound  technician
Tulsa Performing Arts Center

On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 3:55 PM, Shapi <_SShap21...@aol.com_

We  are currently doing a production of THE PRODUCERS. I am looking for any
 reference on the typewriter and ratchet sound effects for the number 'I  
Wanna Be A Producer". They say there is a click track that I must create,  
but I can't find any reference for it on the soundtrack album, so I don't  
know the rhythm I need to reproduce. Can anyone help?  
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My next show is The Producers, so I'm interested in what others have done.  
Sounds like it might be the first time I'll mic a typewriter in the pit!

Derek...I'm doing the Producers right now...we recorded a ratchet and old
adding machine on top of a click track I'm activating from the podium. My
sound designer is Steve Shapiro, who's on this list serve. d

What Douglas said... using typewriter samples, or even reinforcing a real
typewriter might not sound 'real' enough.

Sometimes you have to really exaggerate a sound to get the effect across -
I haven't designed "The Producers", but I have had to provide the sound of
a typewriter in the past, and I ended up using a combination of sounds, I
know I used ratchets, and believe it or not, struck slates, and some other
stuff I don't remember. In my case it was a droning sound that had to be
turned on and off, and it had to sound like 1, 2, 3, or 4 people typing. As
it turned out, you could tell one typewriter, and you could tell more than
one typewriter, but you couldn't really tell how many more than one, which
surprised me a little.

We had about two dozen looped samples, each was about 30 seconds in length.
I am sure, now, that I could have gotten away with fewer samples, but not
shorter samples. It was very obvious, to me, when the shorter samples
looped. 30 seconds seemed to be about right to prevent folks from picking
up on that.

I wanted to play them from a sampler (Ensoniq EPS), but it wasn't up to the
task, so this was my first time using a computer (Commodore Amiga 3000) for
playback. It worked, but I was a nervous wreck! These days I'm becoming
more comfortable with using a computer (started using SFX this season.)
Various attempts at some kind of hot-standby pair have proven troublesome,
so now I just keep a pair of CD players loaded in case something goes wrong.

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 9:24 AM, Douglas Levine <doug...@levinemusic.com>wrote:

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 10:55 AM, Bill Thompson <wsthomps...@gmail.com>wrote:

There is a great article by Walter Murch available online called Clear
Density, Dense Clarity, that goes into this phenomenon fairly extensively
along with a few other ways we can cheat as sound designers.  Well worth
the read if you haven't.

        Thomas Vecchione

What we ended up doing was a click track. My MD made a click, to which we recorded an old adding machine (hitting all the keys) and a percussion ratchet. I augmented them with some canned sound effects. Worked well.

I have another question about a sound from this show.  In the Broadway
version, during Springtime for Hitler, there is a Mel Brooks voice over
saying "Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party!".  It
doesn't seem to be with any of the materials we got from MTI or with the
OrchExtra program we're using to augment our 8 piece orchestra.  The
director and MD seem to want this gag as opposed to just having one of the
ensemble members delivering the line.  Anyone else who has done this
recently, did you get this file or use it, or just go with the ensemble
person?  Someone suggested just lifting it from the cast recording, but
there's a bit of music over the first two two words, so I'm not sure it
would sound good.  And we're not trying to get away with doing something
without paying for it either.

We just had the ensemble do it. I do have the VO. I'll send it to you off
list. Let me know if there's any other Q's you need.

Sent off list for obvious reasons.

But when I did this show, I just lifted it from the film.  The original
film, not the film of the musical.  It had the least amount of music under
it.  And I was able to tweak it a bit to minimize the music as much as
possible.  When played in context of the show, no one noticed a bit of
background music tail and no one knew except myself and the music director.
He triggered it via a MIDI note from a small controller keyboard which fired
off the cue in SFX.  Which is also how we did most of the effects that show,
with things like the explosion, gunfire, etc..  pretty much everything in
Springtime for Hitler was fired off that way.

In our mind, not having Mel Brook's actual voice would have been stupid and
any real fan of his would cry foul.  Worth the risk of getting your hand
slapped in my opinion.

Good luck,

Richard

From: theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com
[mailto:theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Derek Dumais
Sent: November 12, 2012 12:37 PM
To: theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [theatre-sound-list] THE PRODUCERS - typewriter and ratchet FX

I have another question about a sound from this show.  In the Broadway
version, during Springtime for Hitler, there is a Mel Brooks voice over
saying "Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party!".  It
doesn't seem to be with any of the materials we got from MTI or with the
OrchExtra program we're using to augment our 8 piece orchestra.  The
director and MD seem to want this gag as opposed to just having one of the
ensemble members delivering the line.  Anyone else who has done this
recently, did you get this file or use it, or just go with the ensemble
person?  Someone suggested just lifting it from the cast recording, but
there's a bit of music over the first two two words, so I'm not sure it
would sound good.  And we're not trying to get away with doing something
without paying for it either.

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Oooh, no it wasn't. But I won't tell Warner Brothers.

John

On 14 Nov 2012, at 17:08, Richard B. Ingraham <rbingra...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

I'm sure Mel Brooks is not reading this list...

Andrew

On 14/11/2012 12:08 PM, Richard B. Ingraham wrote:

I feel like lifting it from the movie is "cheating" not only are you stealing someone else's work but IMO there are more exciting an challenging ways to achieve this effect without using someone else's work.

JD

Audio Department Head
Drury Lane Theatre
IATSE Local 2

On Nov 14, 2012, at 11:12 AM, Andrew Hamlin <and...@hamlin.ca> wrote:

Whopps!  Oh well.

Too late now.  shows long closed.  

Anyway, try explaining your point of view to a director that "wants it" and
won't take "bad idea" for an answer someday..  If you can win those
arguments, well you're better than me then.  and you can label me however
you like, don't really care.

Richard

From: theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com
[mailto:theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of GMail
Sent: November 14, 2012 12:24 PM
To: theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com
Cc: theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [theatre-sound-list] THE PRODUCERS - typewriter and ratchet FX

I feel like lifting it from the movie is "cheating" not only are you
stealing someone else's work but IMO there are more exciting an challenging
ways to achieve this effect without using someone else's work.

JD

Audio Department Head

Drury Lane Theatre

IATSE Local 2

On Nov 14, 2012, at 11:12 AM, Andrew Hamlin <and...@hamlin.ca> wrote:

I'm sure Mel Brooks is not reading this list...

Andrew

On 14/11/2012 12:08 PM, Richard B. Ingraham wrote:

Sent off list for obvious reasons.

But when I did this show, I just lifted it from the film. The original film,
not the film of the musical. It had the least amount of music under it. And
I was able to tweak it a bit to minimize the music as much as possible. When
played in context of the show, no one noticed a bit of background music tail
and no one knew except myself and the music director. He triggered it via a
MIDI note from a small controller keyboard which fired off the cue in SFX.
Which is also how we did most of the effects that show, with things like the
explosion, gunfire, etc.. pretty much everything in Springtime for Hitler
was fired off that way.

In our mind, not having Mel Brook's actual voice would have been stupid and
any real fan of his would cry foul. Worth the risk of getting your hand
slapped in my opinion.

Good luck,

Richard

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I'm also pretty sure that Mel Brooks wouldn't mind...

John

On 14 Nov 2012, at 17:12, Andrew Hamlin <and...@hamlin.ca> wrote:

Well, Mel and I were hanging the other day and he just happened to
mention that...

Chip 1

On 11/14/2012 12:22 PM, John Leonard wrote:

We did it with rachet type noise makers attached to fake adding  machines

In a message dated 11/14/2012 12:50:43 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  

Whopps!   Oh well…
Too  late now…  shows long closed.  
Anyway,  try explaining your point of view to a director that “wants it”
and won’t take  “bad idea” for an answer someday….  If you can win those
arguments, well  you’re better than me then…  and you can label me however
you like, don’t  really care…
Richard

From:  theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com  
[mailto:theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of  GMail
Sent: November 14, 2012 12:24 PM
To:  theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com
Cc:  theatre-sound-list@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re:  [theatre-sound-list] THE PRODUCERS - typewriter and ratchet  
FX

I feel like lifting it from the  movie is "cheating" not only are you
stealing someone else's work but IMO  there are more exciting an challenging ways
to achieve this effect without  using someone else's work.  

JD

Audio Department Head

Drury Lane Theatre

IATSE Local 2

On Nov 14, 2012, at 11:12  AM, Andrew Hamlin <_and...@hamlin.ca_

I'm sure Mel Brooks is not reading this  list...

Andrew

On 14/11/2012 12:08 PM, Richard B. Ingraham  wrote:

Sent off list for obvious  reasons…

But when I did this show, I just lifted it from the  film. The original
film, not the film of the musical. It had the least  amount of music under it.
And I was able to tweak it a bit to minimize the  music as much as possible.
When played in context of the show, no one  noticed a bit of background
music tail and no one knew except myself and  the music director. He triggered
it via a MIDI note from a small  controller keyboard which fired off the cue
in SFX. Which is also how we  did most of the effects that show, with
things like the explosion,  gunfire, etc…. pretty much everything in Springtime
for Hitler was fired  off that way.

In our mind, not having Mel Brook’s actual voice would  have been stupid
and any real fan of his would cry foul. Worth the risk of  getting your hand
slapped in my opinion.

Good luck,

Richard

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