User blog:ElizaCreststeel/DEVELOPER INSIDER: RANDY DANDY-OH

Posted by Tyler on Sept. 18, 2019, midnight



The Music Video


History Sometimes also called: Rollicking Randy Dandy O, and Galloping Randy Dandy O. The Randy Dandy Oh Shanty dates back to the early 18th Century and is considered a capstan shanty. Lyrically, this song is similar to the previous Shanty we discussed called: Roll The Old Chariot. This is because extra verses were added to the song to fit the length of the task at hand. Also, the reason why it's called a “Capstan Shanty” is that the song would be sung while the crew was working around the Capstan, which was a wooden rotating apparatus that was used on sailing ships to multiply the pulling force for anchors, ropes, etc.

Credits
Sung by:



Glenn Bulthuis



Matt Espinoza



Helen O'Connor

Composed by:


Tyler Grow

The TLOPO Version
This song has many versions, but most are of the same melody. We decided to go completely off the books with this one and make it sound entirely different. I can say that this was one of the most challenging music tracks that I've worked on so far, but oh, what a fun challenge it was! I knew from the get-go that Randy Dandy Oh was too short for my liking. I found myself singing this song and just after a minute and a half, it was over! So going into this project I knew I wanted to repeat the song twice, and each has a different tempo. To be more specific on that: the first time we sing Randy Dandy Oh would have a much higher tempo compared to the final time we sing which would be a lot slower.



Unfortunately though, saying how we want to create a song is much different and much harder when it comes to putting in the effort, sitting down, and composing it... We did multiple versions of this song over a 3-4 week period so it wasn't a straight shot and then done. No, not at all. So let's talk about it!

I sat at the piano and played out the chords of this Shanty which were: a Cminor 2nd Inversion, Gminor, Cminor, and C Sus4. Play all of these together and you get a really beautiful sound that can be heard here:

https://soundcloud.com/tyler-grow/randy-dandy-oh-chords/s-r2hAc

An interesting fact is that this song may sound completely different than any other version of Randy Dandy you've heard (because of the instrumental backing track), but actually, we're not completely too far off. Listening to The Dreadnaughts version, The Longest Johns, and so on, they all sang in the same range of notes mostly. So what we did was combine those notes (the vocalists sang) into chords and let our TLOPO orchestra play those chords. For example:

Glenn would sing these notes: D# - D - C - G then back up to C- D-C-G before moving on. Combine G-C- and D# and leave out D, you are left with the first chord for the orchestra to play which was the 2nd version of Cminor. This created for the first time heard anywhere a backing track for the singers of Randy Dandy Oh, because what mostly all other artists have done for this shanty is vocal only.



(This is a screenshot of my work session with Glenn's voice. I am using Flex Pitch which analyzes Glenn's voice and tells me the notes Glenn is hitting. I use this to remove any abnormal sounds that may have occurred during the recording and sweeten his voice just a little with EQ and other vocal effects.)

The next thing to figure out was the TEMPO of the song. I had in mind at the beginning I wanted Randy Dandy Oh to sound extremely sad. I remember telling Glenn I wanted him to sing as if:

"You would be leaving your loved ones behind as you pull away from port on the Titanic." So while working with Glenn, we decided on using 80BPM for the first half of the song then moving onto 56BPM.

In retrospect, we ended up doing the sad part in the final version only in the second half, throwing out the entire "depressing" feeling for the song out the window. It was a neat trick though, watching everyone's reactions. Glenn, Helen, and Matt all recorded this song thinking it was going to be depressing. Then when we showed them the final version and when they heard the first half of the song that was ANYTHING BUT DEPRESSING and rather exciting/adventurous, their reactions were quite fun to see. "That is far more energetic than I thought it would be!" Helen said jokingly.

Listen to the progression of the song in VERSIONS found later below in this article.

Harmony Was Key
Glenn sung lead, so we recorded him first and then brought in Helen who provided a lovely harmonization on the higher register with her voice and finally Matt who sings on a deep low register as a bassist. Matt provided three different harmonizations for me to choose from. Instead of choosing from only one, I thought: Why not! It couldn't hurt to use all three! And let me tell you it didn't, because when we mixed all their voices it sounded as if there were more than three vocalists in this song!



He gave me the first one which was him accompanying Glenn's lead with no harmony added. That sounded like this:

https://soundcloud.com/tyler-grow/developer-insider-matt-lead-1/s-wUumC

Then a second one that had a more noticeable harmony that sounded like this:

https://soundcloud.com/tyler-grow/developer-insider-matt-noticable-harmony-2/s-ePSou

And a final recording that was the lowest he could go as a bassist. Add in Helen's amazing harmony and Glenn's beautiful voice singing lead and you get this:

Note: that we ended up panning Glenn’s voice to the left and Helen’s voice to the right only for the second half of the song so that it wasn’t mixing with Matt’s lower register and the cellos playing. It also helps their voice stand out more.

Versions
And finally, can I also just add what amazing talented singers they are? What I didn’t tell you guys was that we re-corded many versions of this song until we got it perfect. They spent a total of many hours together devoting their time to this project, and they were amazing every step of the way. Here’s how we got to where we are now:

Version 1 : https://soundcloud.com/tyler-grow/randy-dany-oh-version-1/s-qFMEq
 * No hum in the beginning


 * Glenn is singing by himself with only Helen accompanying him.


 * A much more relaxed beginning instead of an upbeat banjo lead.


 * Violin present.


 * For the second part of the song, there is no instrumental backing them. Just reverb and the singers.

Not mixed, raw.

Version 2 : https://soundcloud.com/tyler-grow/randy-dandy-oh-version2/s-CNGWQ
 * Matt now hums the beginning of the song


 * More instruments added since Version 1


 * Matt can now be heard backing Glenn and Helen

Instrumental of Versions 1 & 2 : https://soundcloud.com/tyler-grow/randy-dandy-oh-insturmental/s-OXDOy

Version 3 : https://soundcloud.com/tyler-grow/randy-dandy-oh-version3/s-1Ugu1
 * Drumbeat in the humming part was changed.


 * The entire beginning instrumental of Glenn's introduction was changed. There is a new melody, and the leading banjo is finally present.


 * Tambourine added to accompany the drum beats


 * We added more of Matt's harmonizations into the song. Now it sounds like there are many singers.


 * Around 2:07 there is a mistake in the mix and we accidentally left Matt's voice in while he is waiting to come in for the second part


 * Most notably the second half of the song is not mixed yet, and everything is scattered. This export was to show the developers of the game the progress of the first half.

Version 4 : https://soundcloud.com/tyler-grow/randy-dandy-oh-version4/s-jHEB8
 * Drumbeat in the humming part was the same, but I wasn't too fond it yet.


 * Glenn's introduction is finally halfway mixed together with all the other singers and instruments backing him. It sounds a lot better compared to version 3!


 * Most notably there is no second - half that was slower

I could talk about this all day, but I’m afraid that’s it for now. I can’t wait to share with you guys more in-depth looks at the music for other projects we have planned for you guys! Until then, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed listening to Randy Dandy Oh as much as Glenn, Matt, Helen, and I had fun working on this special song!

Fair Winds! ~ Tyler

Lyrics

Now we are ready

to sail for the horn

weigh hey, roll and go!

Our boots and our clothes,

boys, are all in the pawn

To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!

Heave a pawl, o heave away

weigh hey, roll and go!

The anchor's on board

and the cable's all stored

To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!

Roust 'er up, bullies, the wind's drawin' free,

(Resp) Way, hey, roll an' go!

Let's get the glad-rags on an' drive 'er to sea

To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!

Heave a pawl, o heave away!

weigh hey, roll and go!

The anchor's on board

and the cable's all stored

To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!

Come breast the bars,

bullies, heave her away

weigh hey, roll and go!

Get crackin', m' lads, 'tis a hell o' a way! (Chorus)

To be rollickin' randy dandy O

Heave a pawl, o heave away!

weigh hey, roll and go!

The anchor's on board

and the cable's all stored

To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O