For the Music Production deliverable in RTA 311: Intermediate Audio, we were assigned groups and asked to record instruments and vocals in the studio space for an original song. We decided to write a Thanksgiving song that described the joys of the holidays while poking fun at the family experience. We then did a rough edit in Pro Tools before going our separate ways and producing a song.
My version of the piece, dubbed "Pumpkins and Pecans", plays into the dreamy but cheery sounds that can be found in Christmas holiday songs. It tries to adapt to the floaty reverb that can be found in Christmas carols (almost as though it is in a church), has the tambourines treated in a way that makes them sound like bells, and centers the main vocalist to make it seem as though they are the pivotal narrator to this holiday. They too have supporting vocals from one of their cousins adding depth to her melody.
The thing is, the song is also a parody of all the songs it references. Not only through the fact that it is a Thanksgiving song - which is both a controversial holiday and completely different from the mainstream Christmas - but because in this narrative the supposed monologue the character is having is interrupted by her cousins and family; twisting the sweetness in a way that is to be comical.
By the end of it, she gives up trying to play into the narrative and joins in laughing and making jokes.
