Strikas Come To Winnipeg!

Over the last 9 days, we have had the pleasure of Bruce Legg's company (director of Supa Strikas) all the way from Cape Town! It has been a fun, productive, and always entertaining time!



As Supa Strikas is about a soccer team, we had Jerseys made to inspire us! To wrap up Bruce's time here with us, we took a DACAPO - Supa Strika team shot (Bruce is number 10 on the right)!



That's not all of course... in his time here, Bruce got introduced to some important Canadian things... like this

... and this





We also took Bruce to the Winnipeg Folk Festival

Had a few more drinks...

And introduced Bruce to the production team...Jesse on Sound Effects and Sound Design Kevin on Music Nolan on Voice Direction Olaf also helping with music, ...and myself of course!

We also got lots of voice work done, with voice talents like Sambath San as Twisting Tiger

Its been fun Bruce.... we'll be sorry to see you go back home, but we're excited to know that we'll be working together on this project for the next year! Thanks for everything Strika!

The 80's Rise From The Ashes...

Phoenix Group, a great agency located in Regina, Saskatchewan celebrated it's 25th annaversery this past Thursday with a 1982 theme party (they opened 25 years ago in 1982... NOW DO YOU GET IT??!).

We have had the pleasure of working with David Bellerive and Dustin Panko on a couple of project recently, including Truck Town and Access Communications.

To show our love, Kevin, Olaf and myself drove down to Regina for their fête, and dressed the part...

mmmmm.... gotta love the 80's!

Growing PAINS!

Well, although recent blog entries have not reflected it, things have been hoppin' here at the studio. We have recently signed a really exciting contract with 'Strika Entertainment' based in Cape Town, South Africa to provide all the audio production for the new animated series Supa Strikas.

I had the chance to pop down to Cape Town at the end of April to visit with Oliver and Bruce and to finalize the production schedule (photos to follow.. they were taken on a (gasp) FILM CAMERA!).

To accomodate the Supa Strika (13 X 22 Episodes, with some animation being done by our good friends at FatKat Animation), we are building three new sound rooms...

This used to be our Foosball room...

... but it is now 'en-route' to becoming an audio editing suite.

I have also, unfortunately, lost my office as our building is suddenly too small for our requirements. Here is where I USED to work...

...Annalee spent an afternoon in it while the floor in her office was being redone last week... ...and it now looks like this (and soon will become Olaf's composition room and a new edite suite, and a VO booth).

In any case, in addition to Supa Strikas, business has been so busy that we have hired a new Commercial Production Engineer, Paul Bell, who started with us on May 31st! It is going to be awesome to have another engineer here. For now, whe have put him to work in MY OLD OFFICE...

Sound Productions

About three years ago, things were slow around the office, and to pass the time we decided to create a short film based on - what else - our studio exploits.

We've had this video kicking around the office for a while, but only recently exposed our shameful performance on YouTube...

Sound Productions, Part 1

Sound Productions, Part 2

daCapo Voice Talent of the Year Awards, 2006

A big part of any success we have as a company is the talent that we regularly work with and hire. If we didn't have access to a wide variety of skilled and unique voices, we could not do the work that we do! In order to recognize the contributions that our voice talents make to us, our clients, and the audio production industry (and to have a really good excuse to eat cake at 2:00 in the afternoon), we initiated the FIRST ANNUAL DACAPO PRODUCTIONS VOICE TALENT AWARDS!!!!

(Clint addresses the black-tie crowd at the awards ceremony)

The winners (talent of the year, and runner-up) were chosen based upon a complicated formula involving total number of projects voiced, total revenue earned, and some linear programming. Our runner up was... Monique LaCoste who has the added caché of being able to do excellent voice work in French and English (note the beautiful trophies these folks were presented with. You don't find things like this at just any pawnshop, let me tell you!).

Our overall winner was... Gordon Tanner

Congratulations everyone! It has been great having the opportunity to work with you over the years!

Alter Egos?

We found this website that tells you what 'superhero' you would be based on your personality, and made everyone complete the questionnaire (with the exception of Olaf who was out, and we collectively did his form for him). Anyhow, with the exception of my apparently cross-gender alter ego, I think everyone was pleased with the results!


The Flash

The Flash 85% Superman 80% Supergirl 68% Green Lantern 65% Spider-Man 65% Catwoman 60% Wonder Woman 58% Hulk 55% Iron Man 45% Batman 45% Robin 45%

Fast, athletic and flirtatious.

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman 75% Supergirl 65% Robin 55% Spider-Man 55% Green Lantern 55% Superman 50% The Flash 50% Iron Man 45% Hulk 45% Catwoman 40% Batman 0%

You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character.

Supergirl

Supergirl 72% Catwoman 70% Robin 67% Wonder Woman 62% Superman 60% Batman 60% Hulk 60% Green Lantern 55% Spider-Man 55% Iron Man 55% The Flash 50%

Lean, muscular and feminine. Honest and a defender of the innocent.

Muscular and feminine, mmmmmmmmm!

Hulk

Hulk 70% Robin 62% Green Lantern 60% The Flash 55% Iron Man 50% Spider-Man 50% Batman 40% Catwoman 40% Superman 40% Supergirl 38% Wonder Woman 33%

You are a wanderer with amazing strength.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man 90% Wonder Woman 80% Catwoman 75% Iron Man 75% Hulk 70% The Flash 70% Green Lantern 65% Supergirl 65% Batman 60% Robin 50% Superman 40%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

A Retired Employee!

daCapo has had its first retirement! Amadeus Pyttlik-Derkson, long time greeter, sound editor and financial auditor officially retired from full-time work at daCapo (although he will continued to provide services on a project-by-project basis when his skills are required). We had a party for him on Thursday, and presented him with a number of gifts, including an engraved gold watch (see that doggie bling on his paw!). We presented him with a cake.... Which he ate... ... aside from his work collegues, Amadeus had a few guests, including his friend Astrid who was linked VIA netcam from Germany (note the I-heart-Amadeus sign she sports)... ... and his good friend Mila, who came with a balloon for her buddy! As the even wore on, Amadeus admitted that he was a little sad to leave daCapo... ...but admitted he was looking forward to hitting the links this spring!

Amadeus listened to a song I wrote about him: This Dog.

He also asked that we post some footage from the ceremony.... (see below) Happy retirement buddy!

daCapo Golf Day

Ok, I do realize that this is LATE LATE LATE, but I just found it on my computer this morning, and thought I should post it.

daCapo Golf day was in October, and was a resounding success. Nolan discovered a natural aptitude for Golf. Kevin discovered a natural aptitude for beer. I discovered that I was very bitter and jealous of Nolan's natural aptitude for Golf. Annalee discovered that Golf could be very cold, and Olaf discovered that cold golf could be remedied with application of whiskey. All in all, it was quite a day, as this video no doubt will attest to...

daCapo Writes Comedy for CBC

In an unprecedented and probably regrettable (for the rest of the world) turn of events, daCapo staff can now add the following credits to their weird and completely unpractical résumés:

Clint Skibitzky: Comedy writer for CBC Radio
Nolan Balzer: Voice extraordinaire for CBC Radio Comedy Segments.


Yes, the freaks at daCapo are writing and producing comedy radio for CBC... AND THEY ARE PAYING US YOUR TAX DOLLARS TO DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!(except of course if you are part of the majority of the people in the world, and you do NOT LIVE IN CANADA. If this is the case, on this issue at least, you are quite fortunate!).

Through some fluke e-mailing, some CBC producers got their mitts on some stuff we did for fun at the studio when there were no REAL jobs to do. Evidently they liked it, cause' they said, 'hey, let's give you money to do this regularly!'

We now have had the distinction of having had our segments played across the nation, including Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Sydney, Moncton, Windsor, Cornerbrooke, Regina, Whitehorse, St. John's, Halifax, and Calgary.

If you want to hear any of these lovelies yourself (and DIDN'T hear them live on the radio!) have a look below!

Say It With Cash
Child Sponsorship
The Diet Patch
Reality Tour, 2007

The Best and The Worst!

We have an exercise here that we do every week where one person picks an album that they have not heard, purchases it, and makes every other daCapoite listen to it. We then have a group review of the album and express our deepest feelings about it to everyone.

This has been going on for about a year now, so I have compiled daCapo’s list of the best and the worst of ‘Albums Of the Week’ for 2005/06. Here they are, by staff member along with any comments they passed on to me. All of these discs are available for purchase from Apple’s iTunes, if you are interested. Finally, a full list of the year’s worth of albums of the week is at the bottom.

Kevin Aichele

TOP 3
1. John Mayer - Continum
2. Carolyn Dawn Johnson – Love and Negotiation
3. Sarah Slean – Day One

WORST 3
1. Chantal Kreviazuk – Ghost Stories
2. James Blunt – Back to Bedlam
3. Aphix Twin – Come To Daddy






Annalee Schellenberg

Top 3
1. Carrie Underwood – Some Hearts
"I love pop country"
2. Sarah Slean – Day One
"This is just overall a really great, catchy album"
3. Beck – Guero
"Okay, this is a good album, not actually my favorite album but instead of choosing yet another female singer I thought I would choose this album to try and present my musical taste as slightly more well-rounded. I did actually get hooked on this song-of-the-week."

Worst 3
1. Westernhagen – Nahaufnahme
"OLAAAAAF uuugh!"
2. Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Journey of Dreams "I just plain don't like this style of music, and this album goes on forever!"
3. Massive Attack – Collected
"I'll show you what's not massive.... this album"






Olaf Pyttlik

TOP 3
1. John Mayer – Continum
2. Cake – Comfort Eagle
3. Imogen Heap – Speak for Yourself

WORST 3
1. Carolyn Dawn Johnson – Love and Negotiation
2. Westernhagen – Nahaufnahme
3. Chantal Kreviazuk – Ghost Stories






Clint Skibitzky

Top 3
1. Hot Hot Heat – Elevator
This album has creative and original instrumentation mixed with hooky melodies and strong pop rhythms.
2. Camille – Le Fil
This is a wholly original production with a very unique sound construction. After listening to it once, I was not certain that I liked it, but I knew I had to hear it again.
3. Sarah Slean – Day One
Creative, catchy, melodic...

Worst 3
1. Carolyn Dawn Johnson – Love and Negotiation
"Every bad cliché both musically and lyrically...please SHUT UP!)
2. Miami Vice – Soundtrack
"This is the best selection of bad tracks by several well known artists I have heard in a while, with the exception of the Phil Collins cover"
3. Chantal Kreviazuk – Ghost Stories
"Ghost Stories indeed...the last track on this album is incredibly haunting, and NOT in a good way!"






Nolan Balzer

Top 3
1. Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself
"Great Variety. arrangements and production. All round consistent flow and presentation."
2. Donald Fagen - Morph the Cat
"The classic oddball storytelling of Steely Dan with the best damn musicianship ever.
Sparse but funky production and crystal clean sound."
3 Sarah Slean - Day One
"Great song writing and arrangements without a low moment on the album. Always interesting and a tip of the hat to cabaret in a pop sensible manner."

Worst 3
1. Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy
"What the hell is this. Interesting if I wanted a soundtrack to losing mind.
2. Westernhagen – Nahaufnahme
"He should get over himself. I think he had a bunch of tunes no one else would take and he put them all on one album. When they sounded awful he decided to play trumpet on them. Unfortunately the sound worse now than they must have before the trumpet debacle. Bad decisions all over the place"
3. Chantal Kreviazuk – Ghost Stories
"Apparently she recorded this at home. Why am I not surprised?"

Date	Artist	Album	Picked By
October 17, 20005	Aphix Twin	Come To Daddy	Nolan
October 24, 2005	Hot Hot Heat	Elevator	Clint
October 31, 2005	Enigma	Love Sensuality Dev..	Olaf
November 7, 2005	Jamie Warren	Make Me Believe	Annalee
November 14, 2005	Sarah Slean	Day One	Nolan
November 21, 2005	Ladysmith Black Mambazo	Journey of Dreams	Clint
November 28, 2005	Pink Floyd	Dark Side of the Moon	Olaf
December 5, 2005	Imogen Heap	Speak for Yourself	Annalee
December 12, 2005	Bruce Cockburn	Speechless	Nolan
December 19, 2005	Beck	Guero	Clint
January 2, 2006	James Blunt	Back to Bedlam	Olaf
January 9, 2006	Madonna	Confessions on a Da..	Annalee
January 16, 2006	Fiona Apple	Extraordinary Machine	Nolan
January 23, 2006	Tori Amos	The Beekeeper	Clint
January 30, 2006	Depeche Mode	Playing the Angel	Olaf
February 6, 2006	Paul Anka	Rock Swings	Annalee
February 27, 2006	Jason Falkner	Can You Still Feel	Nolan
March 6, 2006	The Be Good Tanyas	Blue Horse	Clint
March 13, 2006	Kanye West	Late Registration	Olaf
March 20, 2006	Carrie Underwood	Some Hearts	Annalee
March 27, 2006	Donald Fagen	Morph the Cat	Nolan
April 3, 2006	Arctic Monkeys	Whatever People Say..	Clint
April 10, 2006	Westernhagen	Nahaufnahme	Olaf
May 15, 2006	P!nk	I’m Not Dead	Annalee
May 22, 2006	Van Hunt	On the Jungle Floor	Nolan
June 12, 2006	Train	For Me, It’s You	Clint
June 19, 2006	Massive Attack	Collected	Olaf
June 26, 2006	Dashboard Confessionals	Dusk and Summer	Annalee
July 3, 2006	Kean	Under the Iron Sea	Nolan
July 10, 2006	Camille	Le Fil	Clint
July 17, 2006	Cake	Comfort Eagle	Olaf
July 24, 2006	Carolyn Dawn Johnson	Love and Negotiation	Annalee
August 22, 2006	Esthero	Wikkid Lel’Girrls	Nolan
September 5, 2006	The Killers	Hot Fuss	Clint
September 12, 2006	John Mayer	Continum	Kevin
September 19, 2006	Miami Vice	Soundtrack	Olaf
September 29, 2006	Chantal Kreviazuk	Ghost Stories	Annalee
October 15, 2006	Joseph Arthur	Nuclear Daydream	Nolan

Jesse Bell is Alive and Well.... and Living at daCapo

Well, due to things really REALLY hoppin' around here, we have asked Jesse Bell who is fresh off doing a full round of audio post production for a full season of television involving puppets, to give us a hand with Cloë.

All he know is that Cloë is a friendly children's cartoon aimed at helping them learn their numbers and recognize the different species of sea monsters... until... OH NO.... Jesse realizes this that all sea monsters are NOT polite. Fortunately for Jesse, Nolan was there to console him, and promise that the worst was yet to come!

Offical Opening!

We had our official opening of our new recording studio! In attendance were all the luminaries from daCapo Productions, including (from left to right) The Honorable Kevin Aichele, Olaf Pyttlik (Esquire), Nolan Balzer (Pig Searer), and Annalee Schellenberg (Spouse Extraordinaire of Steinbach Mayoral Hopeful). All went well.... until Kevin dropped the official scissors, at which point we revoked his 'Honorable' prefix and re-christened him Kevin 'The Klutzy'. Anyhow, Kevin finally got to sit behind his new workstation.... .... and we all listened in wonder to his first audio construction. You can listen to it too by clicking here!

New Staff, New Studio!

Well, it is now official, we have a new studio and new staff! As seen in these lovely photos, Olaf finished painting the new facility last week... ...note the lovely shade of yellow, which was the subject of much personal soul searching on Olaf's part... Painting always reminds me of when we were painting the outside of our building last year, and the paint store across the street from us RAN OUT OF PAINT! This, of course, reminded us of Monty Python's "Cheese Shop" sketch, and prompted us to update it for the paint store... you can listen to it by clicking here! Here we see Kevin moving into his new studio which we have dubbed "Baker Street", our other studios being named "Piccadilly Circus" and "Leicester Square" respectively. ...unfortunately, 10 minutes after moving in to the studio, Kevin tried to mitigate the bright yellow of the studio walls by using a soldering iron on himself OH NO!