In the summer of 2011, 32 high school students went into Manifold Studio near Pittsboro, NC and recorded their versions of REM’s “Everybody Hurts” and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”.
Funded by a grant from the Institute for Arts and Humanities Innovation Fund at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CCP commissioned vocal arrangements from Eric Hirsh, recipient of the 2010 ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composers Award and cellist Shana Tucker to create vocal arrangements for both songs. CCP additionally hired local band, The Beast (all UNC Department of Music graduates) and Mallarme Chamber Players (who kindly volunteered) to accompany our chorus for this studio session.
The two tracks were recorded live in one day at the stunning Manifold Studio, with the exception of the string section, which was recorded later as an overdub. It was a challenging logistical exercise for engineer and producer Ian Schreier, to record 32 vocalists, a band and a string section live, but studio maestro that he is – he succeeded beautifully! Thanks to studio owner, Michael Tiemann for all of the extra work involved in recording this giant project and to Shana Tucker for her skill and passion teaching the chorus the arrangement and conducting them in the studio.
Scott Rucci with his fantastic crew filmed all day and created a video for each song. The video for Everybody Hurts was released to YouTube on Monday, August 15th after a private screening for chorus members and their families at The Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill. REM loved what our kids did with their song and added it to their website and Facebook page. As a result – the video has chalked up many thousands of plays and continues to climb.
Lauren Bromley Hodge