Snow White

Transcription of Songs Old and New

SoS’s latest Disney feature is Snow White; a musical with over a dozen songs featuring choirs and multiple characters that needed transcription to sheet music for localization. In addition, some songs had separate edits for the film’s soundtrack album, requiring review and sometimes completely different sheet music.

One of the highlights of the project was the inclusion of some of Disney’s earliest songs, like “Heigh Ho”. Our work provided the opportunity to dissect and marvel at the superb musical craft that causes these songs to remain classics nearly 90 years later. And, yes, there was some whistling while we worked!

A simple, cartoonish, white angelic character in flowing garments swirls around an upside-down, cute, black, perhaps hooded character also in flowing garments. Together, they resemble a taijitu, or yin and yang symbol. They are set on a black background with three shooting stars swirling around the characters. Above the characters reads “Hauntii”.

Hauntii Wins G.A.N.G. Award

GANG’s “Best New Original IP Audio"

The Game Audio Network Guild (GANG) has presented the indie game Hauntii with the award for “Best New Original IP Audio”. GANG recognized the game for “all audio elements, including sound design, music, and voice performance, plus their integration, mix, and context within the game”. Hauntii was also nominated in three additional categories: Best Audio for an Indie Game, Best Music for an Indie Game, and Best Original Song.

Hauntii’s audio director, Ben Seavello, composer Michael Kirby Ward, and SoS’ Jason Poss attended the GANG Awards ceremony on March 20th, during the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. The night before the GANG Awards, also at GDC, the Independent Games Festival named Hauntii the winner for “Excellence in Visual Art”.

Hauntii is a notable indie game for its nominations alongside large, AAA franchise titles like Star Wars Outlaws and Helldivers 2. Congratulations to Michael Kirby Ward, Ben Seavello, developer Leo Dasso, and the rest of the Hauntii team!

Click HERE to learn more about SoS’ role on Hauntii.

Colin Hay and Eden Contez sing on a darkened stage. Behind them can on the right be seen the wind and brass sections. To their left is the guitar, piano, drums, bass, and part of the string section. Behind them is a large screen displaying the 6th Annual SCL Awards logo.

The 6th Annual SCL Awards

The 6th Annual SCL Awards were held on Wednesday, February 12th, in Los Angeles, California. SoS once again assembled the orchestra and provided music preparation. In addition to the winners of competitive categories, the ceremony also honored the filmmaker-composer team of Ridley Scott and Harry Gregson-Williams with the Spirit of Collaboration Award, which featured Gregson-Williams conducting live performances of pieces from The Martian and Kingdom of Heaven.

Hosted by Grammy winner Colin Hay, the 6th SCL Awards featured musical performances by Eden Kontesz, Colin Hay, the SAG-AFTRA Singers, and an orchestra featuring LA’s finest musicians.

The 6th Annual SCL Awards Orchestra:

Tom Scott – tenor sax, clarinet
Jacob Scesney – tenor sax, clarinet, flute
Jeff Driskill – alto sax, flute
Ian Dahlberg – bari sax, oboe, english horn, flute

Laura Brenes – french horn

Ryan Deweese – trumpet, flugelhorn
Knox Summerour – trumpet, flugelhorn
Chris Tedesco – trumpet, B-flat french horn

Andy Martin – trombone
Craig Gosnell – trombone, bass trombone

George Doering – guitar, oud
Rich Ruttenberg – keyboards
Trey Henry – acoustic & electric bass
Gary Novak – drumset
M.B. Gordy – percussion

Stephanie Bennett – harp

Alyssa Park – violin (concertmaster)
Kyle Gilner – violin
Songa Lee – violin
Julie Rogers – violin
Shalini Vijayan – violin
Irina Voloshina – violin

Colleen Sugata – viola
Lynne Richburg – viola

Evgeny Tonkha – cello
Charlie Tyler – cello

Disney - Mufasa: The Lion King. Movie poster shows Mufasa characters on a snowy mountaintop. Text reads, “The story of an orphan who would be king… in theaters December 20 in Dolby Cinema, Read D 3D, and IMAX.” Credits are small and hard to discern in this image.

Mufasa: The Lion King

The end-of-year theatrical releases continue with “Mufasa: The Lion King”. SoS has been working on this film throughout the last year, providing music transcription for localization.

Our work began almost a year ago, transcribing small sections of character performances to create sheet music used by language territories to cast local voice actors. During postproduction the work continued, transcribing full versions of the songs and updating those transcriptions whenever edits to the film affected the vocals. The amount of music and number of characters in the film made this no small task.

“Mufasa: The Lion King” is in theaters worldwide December 20.

A simple, cartoonish, white angelic character in flowing garments swirls around an upside-down, cute, black, perhaps hooded character also in flowing garments. Together, they resemble a taijitu, or yin and yang symbol. They are set on a black background with three shooting stars swirling around the characters. Above the characters reads “Hauntii”.

G.A.N.G. Nominates Hauntii for 4 Awards

The Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) nominated “Hauntii” in four categories for the 23rd Annual G.A.N.G. Awards. “Hauntii” was nominated for

  • Best Music for an Indie Game
  • Best Original Song – “Home to Home”
  • Best New Original IP Audio
  • Best Audio for an Indie Game

SoS orchestrated, handled music preparation, and contracted the musicians and studio for “Hauntii”’s recording session.

We are delighted that composer Michael Ward’s excellent soundtrack is being recognized by the Guild. If you are a member of G.A.N.G., we ask you to consider voting for “Hauntii” in each nominated category.

Congratulations, Michael Kirby Ward!

To read more about SoS’s work on “Hauntii”, click HERE.