Total Pop Star

[Bart Elliott]

I had never really heard of this until just a few days ago.  http://www.totalpopstar.com]Total Pop Star  is basically an online version of American Idol if you will. A jazz artist here in Nashville contacted me about playing percussion for her video entry. It turned out that she just came over to my studio and I shot the video here. We did two takes: the first one is just a bust shot of her, the second is of both of us. For the competition, she only needed video footage of her singing, but I did the second take to see if I could create a two shot version for my own uses. The audio used is from the first take of her performance; the second take was used to fly-in video only.

What impressed me with this artist is that she had her phrasing down so well that I could use either video shot and her vocals from Take 1 lined up almost perfectly every time. The only thing that kept me from using more of Take 2 video was me ... because I didn't always play the exact same embellishments as in Take 1. The challenge was to find video shots in Take 2 that would work with the audio of Take 1. Sometimes her hand gestures were such that it would look like two separate takes if I had used the shot ... so I was limited ... but still, for two takes and only one run-through, it turned pretty good.

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33355360

"Aint No Sunshine" - Bill Withers

Debbie Cunningham - Vocals
Bart Elliott - Cajon

If you want to see her entry (just the first take of her) on  http://www.totalpopstar.com]Total Pop Star , as well as vote or rate her performance, here's the link:
http://www.totalpopstar.com/?profile/video/&3427,3680]http://www.totalpopstar.com/?profile/video/&3427,3680
I know she would appreciate your vote if you like what she does.

I could tell that Debbie was a little embarrassed about entering this thing, but she's looking at this as a chance for more exposure and hopefully more gigs. She liked what I did and enjoyed working with me, so it looks like I'm going to be playing with her more in the future, probably on drums in a jazz trio setting.

Another cool thing about this clip is that I only used two mics. One AKG 414 above the vocalist and an AKG D112 near the port on the Cajon, mixed with a little reverb ... nothing more. There is a high frequency, line noise, that is driving me nuts when I use my camera, audio adapter and firewire; I've got to resolve that some how because it's driving me nuts!

[Todd Norris]

Nice!  I cast my vote.  It was # 108. 

Oh, and Bart's streak of working with talented young ladies continues... 

[NY Frank]

Nice!  I cast my vote.  It was # 108. 

Oh, and Bart's streak of working with talented young ladies continues... 

Yeah - Bart's a singing-young-lady magnet.    ;D

[Bart Elliott]

Yeah - Bart's a singing-young-lady magnet.

You guys crack me up. Yeah, the babes just love me.  ::)
I don't know why I don't work with that many male artists.
I guess they feel intimidated by me.

[Chris Whitten]

Nice Cajon playing!
Also nice videoing and professional editing.

Slight negative note....
She has a great voice, but donning my Simon Cowell hat, she could have chosen a better song. 'Ain't No Sunshine' must rank near 'I Will Survive' as one of those songs done to death.
I'm sure she could have done a killer version of a less well known song, especially with that interesting cajon playing behind her.

[Bart Elliott]

Thanks for the props Chris.

You may be right about the song choice; it wasn't my call. I think she just wanted to do that particular song with only vocals and percussionist. If I understand her correctly, she's going to do more video examples with her singing to some tracks. She did talk to me about possibly tracking and video recording that for her as well.

[Bart Elliott]

The artist has since added several more songs to her profile; I believe both are originals.

On a completely different note (no pun intended), I crack up when I read contestant's comments such as: "I voted for you and gave you a 10 ... now do the same for me!"  Yeah, these contests are real accurate.  ::)

[Bart Elliott]

Well, I thought I would check to see how many votes Debbie received, and it turns out that she is one of the finalists.  :)