The Turret Opera

The first song I decided on showcasing here was a bit of a 'fun' project, I think.

At the end of the the video game, Portal 2 (released in April by Valve Software), there is a section in the ending where you are treated to hear an actual Italian aria (click the link at your own peril, as it will spoil the ending) sung by a member of the vocal cast, Ellen McClain, who also happens to be an opera singer as well.  As part of an in-joke between the software developers and the composer of the music, they wrote that song and created that part just for her.  It also resulted in one of the best vocal pieces of music, albeit short, you would ever hear in a video game.  I could go over the translation, but that would spoil the ending for those that have never played.

Now, for my rendition, I scoured Youtube for other renditions and I came upon this version, made by a freelance studio called A Capella Records.  They took the original song, separated the lyrics from the original tune and placed them into a standard four-part choir, along with a soloist.  While certainly interesting, I couldn't help but feel that there wasn't enough bass going around.  Thankfully, A Capella Records was kind enough to place the arrangement online for free.

So, I printed it out, used my keyboard to rehearse each part, used the open-source program Audacity, along with a microphone I had received as a gift from my father a few years ago, to rehearse and record myself singing the entire thing as a bass quintet.

It's a tad shaky in places, I will admit, because this was done over the course of only three days of quick practicing, during bouts of networking meetings, running, and general job searching.

However, this Friday, I'll put up another song I'm much more familiar with, which should eventually be a nice place to put all my music.