Image may be NSFW.
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Some books just have a face for audio—they’re written with clean edges and nice, round plotlines and strident (compelling!) voices. They’re a delight to play during your morning commute, when you can promptly ignore them and think about lane closures on the turnpike. Such dulcet, soothing tones—they’re the perfect babble to get you from point A to point B . . . be it the commute or the plot line.
Some books just never will grow up to echo inside sedans on highways. There may be too many voices inside them . . . or jagged corners that snag plots . . . or even things that have no business being in stories, like symbols or formulae or languages we don’t even understand. Those books are every bit as “book” as the flavor-of-the-week waiting its turn to nap in your stereo. And you can listen to them, if you’re ready to pay attention . . .
Chimpanzee, forthcoming this September, is one of those books. It’s full of narrative traps and black holes and recursions . . . all in place to help you experience the cognitive disassembly of one Benjamin Cade. But you can’t simply listen to it—you have to join the revolution fomenting in its pages. You need to hear those many voices, each of which has a critical role in the narration . . . you need to throw your brain against the foreign and the arcane and the un-hearable. You need to be a fly on Chimpanzee‘s narrative wall.
Resurrection House, in conjunction with Great Room Studios, is bringing you the Chimpanzee audio-play, narrated by the author and voiced by actors, musicians, day-laborers, academics, drunks, and layabouts. The audio-play is edited and engineered in the spirit of a traditional radio-play but modernized with environmental soundscapes and scored by over a dozen participating bands, ranging in style from experimental ambient to death-folk.
The full edition of the audio-play will include a bound companion guide, detailing how this project came to be and why a creative community rallied around it. In the meantime, get your earballs ready with this photo-essay of some of the production in progress.
Photographer: Christi LaViolette
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Much like a film script, an audio-play with this many scenes, characters, and effects must be recorded out of order. We rely on three tabets and a laptop to keep the data straight.
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As writer, director, and producer, a fair portion of my time is spent simply combing through content for exactly the right line.
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Writer/director Darin Bradley (left) with singer/songwriter George Neal (Little Grizzly, Slowburners, Hares on the Mountain)–the voice of Dimitri.
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One of the official mascots of Great Room Studios . . . Chuy.
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Michael Seman, Ph.D. (singer, guitarist – Shiny Around the Edges), the voice of the Renewal Warden.
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Group recording can be complicated, which is why most productions will record and splice different tracks independently. Since we prefer a rounder tone and natural feel, we have to coordinate carefully.
Pictured here, Melissa Cornelius (right) and Rima Abunasser, Ph.D. record a flashback with Darin.
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Simple effects can create ambiance in a scene. The overhead fan lends a familiar sound to a steamy summer night scene.
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Each actor was familiar with the script prior to his or her recording day, but we still spent some time discussing character concepts and how the actors could take ownership of those personalities. Pictured here, Heather Bransom Walker, frequent FUNimation voice actress, prepares to read Zoe.
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Benjamin Cade’s academic program director was voiced by Dave Coulter, preparing here for one of several scenes wherein Ben’s memories are scrambled and fragmented.
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Chimpanzee makes use of several forms of narration, including text messaging, phone calls, and computer networking. Some sounds are better recorded naturally than created in a lab.
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FUNimation audio director, voice actor, and musician Tyler Walker (Monkeyshines, Wirewings), reads for David, one of the members of the clandestine Chimpanzee movement.
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With so many actors involved in the production, we have to arrange multiple recording sessions. When they occur at night, we make sure to involve beer.
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Roger Sneed, Ph.D. reads one of two gunmen. His amusement is a stark contrast against the intensity of the scene.
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Singer/songwriter Chris Welch (Pinebox Serenade, Old Warhorse) reads Jeremiah “Rosie” Rosemeade, Benjamin Cade’s weary Renewal Dispatcher and one of the keys to the revolution.
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Actress Vanessa Welch reads Dr. Cynthia St. Claire, the Repossession Therapist reclaiming Ben’s education. She is both his tormenter and his guide . . . and she is one of three candidates behind the mysterious Chimping Woman.