{"id":7314,"date":"2021-06-09T10:21:42","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T09:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonarworks.com\/soundid-reference\/blog\/?p=7314"},"modified":"2021-06-20T11:26:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T10:26:33","slug":"interactive-theater-with-felix-carcone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonarworks.com\/blog\/studio-stories\/interactive-theater-with-felix-carcone","title":{"rendered":"Interactive Theater with Felix Carcone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many of us who grew up learning and playing music did it backward\u2014or at least that\u2019s how I see it. Playing an instrument should be a means to an end and not an exercise in technique. Communicating via song is the end goal, but the rudiments of playing an instrument take up the first few years of our education and often become so much of a burden that we simply drop the instrument altogether. As adults, we should keep this in mind and learn or relearn the skills we need to accomplish our goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This idea was reinforced to me during a recent conversation with the French composer and multimedia creator Felix Carcone, who takes the principle of means to an end<\/em> to the extreme. We discussed his musical journey and his participation in the creation of two immersive experience shows that take place in downtown Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Felix Carcone at his home studio<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As a teenager, Felix began to play jazz and fusion guitar as an outlet for his creative energy. He was a co-finalist for the international 2012 “Six-String Theory” competition (organized and judged by the great Lee Ritenour and Berklee + Yamaha. Felix also began producing full arrangements on a Yamaha midi workstation (the QS300) and his interest in music led to a conservatory education in harmony, composition, and musicology, with a focus on the music of the iconic film composer John Williams. Felix continued on to complete a second Master\u2019s degree\u2014Berklee\u2019s Master of Music in Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games in Valencia, Spain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Felix worked hard at the traditional art of composing and arranging in his mind and on paper\u2014not using a midi sequencer to flesh out the individual parts of an orchestration. He says \u201c[At Berklee] We were writing and recording arrangements every week, and I was creating melodies and harmony while I was walking between home and school. Then I would enter them right into Finale (notation software), only sometimes using a DAW to put down ideas.\u201d Felix says \u201c Of course I use Cubase, Reason, and Izotope RX to record and edit ideas for projects I collaborate on, but for writing melody and arrangements, I write in my head plus singing lines and playing the piano. I write it down on paper, I don\u2019t usually play into the DAW.\u201d Already an accomplished arranger, Berklee\u2019s program taught Felix how to organize and conduct a live orchestra session and how to manage the production of a complex project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon returning to France after school, Felix reunited with his friends, brothers Remy and Joris Aufray, and started a production company called Borderlive Concepts to develop live theater experiences. Their inspirations weren\u2019t traditional theater, but more the cinema and video games. Over the course of about three years, the team developed and launched their first show \u201cThe Live Thriller,\u201d a theater experience where a small audience participates in a criminal investigation. The show takes place in multiple locations around the 18th district of Paris and incorporates live actors, film-like movies, and immersive music and sound design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A scene from the show \u201cThe Live Thriller\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For the development of the show, Felix obviously put his music abilities to use but also had to learn how to create an interactive experience for an audience that could influence the progress and outcome of a live theater show. Borderlive\u2019s team shot and edited video footage around Paris and Felix composed music that was recorded with a live orchestra. 30 musicians performed the score in Budapest and Felix also recorded orchestral soundscapes that he edited in iZotope RX and Melodyne to create interesting sound elements and textures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of means to an end<\/em> truly came into play when Felix and his team had to devise a custom playback system that could control the musical and visual elements that accompany the live, fluid show. \u201cThe Live Holdup,\u201d for instance, divides the audience\/players into three different and collaborative paths, and their interaction guides the show to one of the multiple possible endings. Some amount of off-the-shelf theater automation could be used, but this show requires much more control than is typically possible with stock packages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Felix offers, \u201cThe Live Thriller show is pretty straightforward, with media that plays during the show, but for our second show \u2018The Live Holdup\u2019 it\u2019s way more complicated,\u201d He continues, \u201dFor that, I had to learn code. Real code; C++, Javascript, NodeJS, and networking protocols. I taught myself programming in one year, which was exhausting, but it was so interesting. At the start, many things were triggered manually, but now things happen as a more automated process.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A scene from the second show \u201cThe Live Holdup\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The shows took a break during COVID, but as of the middle of June (2021), \u201cThe Live Thriller\u201d and \u201cThe Live Holdup\u201d are resuming performances. During the lockdown, Felix says, \u201cWe have been able to clean up some of the elements of the show that we couldn\u2019t change while the shows were fully booked.\u201d Over a recent ZOOM call, Felix and I had a chance to talk about his composing process and studio setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Felix:<\/strong> Creating the live show was a super-interesting experience, especially for a composer like me. I had the opportunity to write the music and sounds for my own movie. Of course, I have to please my partners, but it\u2019s really a full suite of creative things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam:<\/strong> Tell me about your music studio setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Felix:<\/strong> I have had tinnitus for many years from playing guitar in the studio, so I\u2019m super careful with my ears. Mixing, for me, is complicated. The two most important things in my studio are my Focal Twin 6 speakers and my Sonarworks software. With the Focals, I\u2019m not afraid of the high-end anymore. Before I was scared, especially with hi-hats and bright things! With the Focals and Sonarworks, I can be sure that everything is correct in the frequency response and there are no weird peaks, which I\u2019m very careful of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n