50-Minute Fun Break

50-Minute Fun Break, released in 1992, is the fourth studio album by the collegiate comedy a cappella group the Stanford Fleet Street Singers. It was a landmark album in the a cappella genre for its pioneering recording techniques and use of studio effects. The album won critical acclaim for its studio work, including a special award in engineering from the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, although some critics criticized the studio engineering as "intrusive." 50-Minute Fun Break marked a breakout album for its audio engineer, Bill Hare, who went on to become the most-awarded engineer in a cappella.

50-Minute Fun Break
Studio album by
Stanford Fleet Street Singers
Released1992
Recorded1991–1992
StudioAstral Sound in San Jose, California
Genre
Length53:31
Producer
Stanford Fleet Street Singers chronology
curious...
(1990)		 50-Minute Fun Break
(1992)		 What You Want
(1994)

Critical reception

The album was generally well-received, with critics noting its new style of studio engineering, the group's original songs, and 3D-modeled computer-generated cover art. A critic from the Recorded A Cappella Review Board wrote of the album: "Of all of the collegiate albums I have heard, this is the one that I would recommend most readily. If I could have only one collegiate album, this would be it."[1] At the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs), the album won awards in five categories, a new record for the Awards.[2]

Engineering

50-Minute Fun Break featured a number of studio effects never heard before in recorded a cappella. At the turn of the 1990s, through collaborations with Fleet Street and with other Stanford a cappella group the Mendicants, audio engineer Bill Hare had developed new methods for recording a cappella. Before, a cappella was generally recorded exactly as a listener would perceive a live performance: with two microphones capturing the whole group at once, singing in a room.[3] Hare's new techniques, which he'd deployed in part on Fleet Street's 1990 album curious..., principally involved recording every voice as one would record instruments: each voice with its own microphone, and each singer just a few inches away from their microphone.[3][4] Placing all the voices so close to the listener's ear increased the presence of each voice, creating a new sound that would come to define contemporary a cappella recording.[5]

At the time of the album's release, its engineering polarized a cappella critics. On the one hand, one critic praised the album, saying "[Fleet Street's] studio engineering work is incredible", and a second said, "This is technically one of the best albums I've heard from the collegiate scene." On the other hand, some critics took issue with the studio work, calling it "intrusive," "unnatural," and "strange." One argued that a studio "should be used to enhance and perfect the original sound of the group, not add odd effects and sounds unachievable on stage."[1] Another hedged their positive commentary, saying, "I didn't care for some of the strange studio effects on the basses."[1]

At the 1993 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, CASA president Deke Sharon praised the album, writing in a statement that 50-Minute Fun Break had "the best engineering we've ever heard on any collegiate album. Ever."[5] In a podcast twenty-five years later, Sharon recalled, "It was so exemplary, it was so ahead of its time, that Bill Hare just walked away with a special award in best engineering."[6]

Accolades

The Contemporary A Cappella Society announced the second annual Recording Awards in 1993. 50-Minute Fun Break won a record-setting five categories at the Recording Awards, including Best Album and Best Song in the male collegiate category.[2]

Year Award CategoryNominee(s) ResultRef.
1993 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards Best Male Collegiate Album 50-Minute Fun Break (1992) Won [2][7]
Best Male Collegiate Song "You Always Hurt the One You Love" Won
Best Original Collegiate Song "Prayer to the God of Partial Credit"[lower-alpha 1] Won
Best Collegiate Cover Design Gray Norton Won
Best Mixing and Engineering Ben Evans and Bill Hare Won
  1. Originally composed by Fleet Street founder Kyle Kashima, with lyrics by Bambi Haggins.[lower-alpha 2]
  2. Davi, John (1999). Up Toward Mountains Higher (booklet). Stanford Fleet Street Singers. p. 17.

Influence

Audio engineer Bill Hare had been pioneering contemporary a cappella recording techniques for a few years, including on albums by the Stanford Mendicants and on Fleet Street's prior release, curious... (1990). But it was Hare's engineering on 50-Minute Fun Break that landed him on the map for good.[5] Hare would go on to work with a cappella's biggest groups, including winners of The Sing-Off such as Nota, Home Free, and Pentatonix, with whom Hare would earn a 2× multi-platinum certification.[8][9]

Track listing

Credits adapted from liner notes.[10]

No.TitleWriter(s)Arranger(s)Length
1."Hello, My Baby (Live)"Howard and EmersonP. Rardin with Tom Smith[lower-alpha 1]3:22
2."Ruby Baby"Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller[lower-alpha 2]Tom Smith[lower-alpha 1]4:15
3."The Pharaoh Bop[lower-alpha 3]"Martin Puryear,[lower-alpha 1] Eric Ranelletti,[lower-alpha 1] Kevin Quinn,[lower-alpha 1] and Sean Mitchell[lower-alpha 1]Martin Puryear,[lower-alpha 1] Eric Ranelletti,[lower-alpha 1] Kevin Quinn,[lower-alpha 1] and Sean Mitchell[lower-alpha 1]4:44
4."It's a Blue World"Chet Forrest and Bob WrightJason Venner[lower-alpha 1]2:32
5."Since I Fell for You"Buddy JohnsonD. Norfleet3:46
6."Dat Dere"Bobby TimmonsChad Dyer[lower-alpha 1]2:35
7."When I Fall in Love"Victor Young and Edward HeymanR. Campbell3:54
8."Think"Aretha Franklin and Teddy WhiteBen Evans[lower-alpha 1]2:57
9."Wonder Woman[lower-alpha 4]"Charles Fox and Norman GimbelSean Gibson,[lower-alpha 1] Jason Windawi,[lower-alpha 1] Greg Chun,[lower-alpha 1] Bill Moore[lower-alpha 1]1:48
10."Stanford Girl[lower-alpha 3]"Jason Mayland[lower-alpha 1]Jason Mayland[lower-alpha 1]3:21
11."My Funny Valentine"Richard Rodgers and Lorenz HartKyle Kashima[lower-alpha 1]4:31
12."You Always Hurt the One You Love"Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher[lower-alpha 5]Ben Evans[lower-alpha 1]3:06
13."Natural Woman[lower-alpha 6]"Gerry Goffin, Carole King, and Jerry WexlerBen Evans[lower-alpha 1]2:51
14."Jingle Bells"James Lord PierpontMartin Puryear[lower-alpha 1]3:00
15."Their Hearts Were Full of Spring"Bobby TroupBen Evans[lower-alpha 1]2:43
16."Prayer to the God of Partial Credit[lower-alpha 3]"Kyle Kashima[lower-alpha 1] and Bambi HagginsMartin Puryear[lower-alpha 1]4:06
Total length:53:31
  1. Denotes a member of the Stanford Fleet Street Singers
  2. Arrangement of cover by Donald Fagen.
  3. A Fleet Street original song.
  4. Theme song to Season 1 of the 1970s TV series Wonder Woman.
  5. Arrangement in the style of Spike Jones and his parody version of the original song.
  6. Original performed by Aretha Franklin.

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.[10]

  • Engineering – Bill Hare
  • Mixing – Ben Evans and Bill Hare
  • Art and Design – Gray Norton
  • Sound effects – Ben Evans, Ben Meisel, Chad Dyer (track 12)

See also

References
  1. "The Recorded A Cappella Review Board: 50-Minute Fun Break (1992)". The Recorded A Cappella Review Board. 1992. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  2. "1993 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award Winners". The Contemporary A Cappella Society. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  3. Chin, Mike (23 February 2009). "In Their Own Words: Bill Hare". The A Cappella Blog. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  4. Mapes, Jillian (14 May 2015). "How 'Pitch Perfect' Helped A Cappella Hit a High Note in the Mainstream". Flavorwire. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  5. Sharon, Deke (2018). So You Want to Sing A Cappella: A Guide for Performers (print). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 248–250. ISBN 978-1-538-10587-0. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  6. Deke Sharon and Rob Dietz (23 May 2019). "Episode 10: Bill Hare Mixes it Up". Counterpoint with Deke and Dietz (Podcast). Event occurs at 11:16. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  7. Yu, Cynthia (28 February 1995). "Fleet Street wins national awards: Album 'What You Want' sweeps three of four categories". The Stanford Daily. Stanford, CA. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  8. Schwyzer, Elizabeth (5 February 2015). "A singing tradition: More than 50 years on, a cappella thrives at Stanford". Palo Alto Online. Palo Alto Weekly. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  9. "American certifications – Pentatonix – That's Christmas to Me". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  10. Evans, Ben (1992). 50-Minute Fun Break (booklet). Stanford Fleet Street Singers. San Jose, CA.
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