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Watch ‘Toyz Noize’ and ‘Buzzwing’ on YouTube!

At long last, my Toy Story tracks are out there getting some sunshine. It bowls me over how fast my videos  collect views. In just two days, ‘Toyz Noize’ already had half the crowd of ‘Gardyn’ tuning in. Disney Pixar has also posted the videos to their channel, slapping on some paid advertisement and featured promotion on the YouTube home page. I’m excited. Working passionately within corporate restrictions has proven to be disfunctional at times, but if there’s one thing I’m grateful for, it’s the fact Disney is fixing a medal to my jacket instead of tacking a subpoena to my forehead. It seems the mouse has a merciful side.

Production

The production of ‘Toyz Noize’ had me burried away in my hermit-cave for a good month or so. I spent many hours scanning through ‘Toy Story’ for syllables, sound effects, chords, passages – anything that made my ears prick. I produced several sections that I ended up binning, including an awkward section of John Lasseter rapping about the success of the film. The structure of the track changed enormously over time. At one stage, the track began with a darker version of Woody’s rap. At another stage, it was Randy Newman’s mix that finished the track off.

‘Toyz Noize’ starts off with a loop of the beep sequence that plays when Buzz presses his voice button to impress his new friends. We then hear a brief fade-in of his respiratory system in reverse before the track kicks off. The kick drum is Woody’s magic 8-ball hitting the floor behind Andy’s desk. The percussion comprises sounds of Buzz’s helmet and wings, Slinky’s spring and a few other toy sounds from around Andy’s room. In the first section leading up to Randy Newman’s mix, I used the “bobbing” of the orchestra that plays during the opening jib shot of the film, accompanied by my own bass to gives it some extra definition. All of the chords and passages throughout ‘Toyz Noize’ are recorded from the film, the longest of which is the string détaché that loops as Woody tries to cheer up his fallen space ranger during the breaks. All in all, I recorded a total of 206 sounds from the film.

‘Buzzwing’

‘Buzzwing’ was a side-project I developed when I wasn’t bent over at the grindstone. Composing freely in my spare time is like a breath of fresh air – investing my creative energy into a commissioned project with a deadline can often be a very different experience. ‘Buzzwing’ bored into my head very quickly. I found myself listening to it more and more, particularly at times when my levels of happiness and optimism were sagging. I found it emotionally fortifying for lack of a better description, so I decided to submit it to Disney along with my major project. I’m surprised to hear that some people actually prefer ‘Buzzwing’ to ‘Toyz Noize’.

Legal Issues

A few days before the fruits of my labour hit the web, Disney Legal hit the brakes with a last-minute issue that needed resolving. Any shots featuring the pink-haired troll doll had to be removed. Apparently, the rights to display this particular toy in my video could not be obtained in the two months I gave them to clear the video for release. The troll appeared in several shots throughout Andy’s playtime sequence, and I spent just over half an hour finding suitable replacements at the last minute. I feel the sequence is compromised as a result, but hopefully that’s just the perfectionist in me. The mouse also warned me that the Tinker Toys microphone that Woody holds throughout his rapping sequence might be off limits as well, but thankfully this was not the case in the end. What I would have done without MC Woody I’ll never know.

Logo Design

The logos for each track are my own works as well. For ‘Toyz Noize’, I spent two hours drawing a Z to perfection and enlarging the red box to make way for the word ‘Noize’. The challenge was not just to employ the same design characteristics like angles and shadows, but to design and position a new letter so as not to stand out. I’m still not sure if the Z should be of equal height to the O or taller than the Y, but overall, I’m quite happy. The ‘Buzzwing’ logo is a complete custom job inspired by the colors and lettering I saw on the front of a magazine that Rex finds at Al’s Toy Barn in Toy Story 2.

The Future

I thoroughly enjoy listening to ‘Toyz Noize’ and ‘Buzzwing’, and I hope they go on to excite and inspire people as they do me. Some MP3′s from the mouse would certainly meet popular demand, but hey, even ‘Upular’ remains an ornament for who knows how much longer. Thank you for your amazing support, everyone, and keep tuning in for more tracks in the near future!