Interview With The Producer

     My name is Cameron Credelle, Manager for A Burning Century. Below is an email interview I had with the man who brought A Burning Century together.

     Will Wheeler produced A Burning Century's debut album, Lucid Dreaming. He is a television editor for "The Best & Worst of Tred Barta" on the Versus Network. Wheeler started his own music production company, Buck Walters Music Group, in December of 2009. The company specializes in songwriting, scoring and publishing.

Cam: Tell us about yourself and your music background.

Will: I started recording at age fourteen. I'd always record whatever band I was playing drums for at the time. Tracking all those bands was great because I was able to learn so much, even if we were pretty bad. 

I went off to study music business and audio engineering for two years at Belmont University in Nashville. The school was okay, but it wasn't for me. It's really tough to stick with music when Carrie Underwood's producer looks you in the eyes and says, "You're gonna work at Pizza Hut and do music at night for five years and then there's still only a small chance you'll become successful enough to do music full-time." I came across so many negative people up there. It was insane.

I learned a good bit in Nashville, but knew struggling to make a career in the music industry was not something I wanted to do. Music has always been fun for me and I felt the struggle would take away from everything I enjoyed about it.

I finished out my education at Georgia State University and picked up a degree in business. During my time at GSU, I got the opportunity to record some really talented artists, some of which are in ABC.

Cam: Tell us about the SpacePark360 project.

Will: This project was a monster under-taking, but only because we were committed to doing it right.

I was contacted by Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum in July of 2010 to do consulting on a planetarium show they had just purchased. Tellus was looking for new music to sync to the show. I was informed that the show was about "roller coasters in space." Having no experience in the planetarium world, my initial reaction was, "What are these guys talking about?" At our first meeting, I sat down in the Tellus planetarium and was immediately impressed with the visual.

There are nine rides, some roller coasters and some "pendulum style" rides. Each ride is located in a different location across our solar system, so there is educational value for those looking for it. Patrons of the show view the image on the planetarium dome as if they are seated on the actual rides. When you stare up at the screen you really do feel the motion.

The show is an out-of-the box concept for the planetarium world. It is based around allowing the viewer to have fun and it definitely accomplishes that. I'll admit that I was grinning like a little kid when I experienced the show's first ride, "Quicksilver".

Tellus gave me a shot at writing and syncing up one song to a ride before we moved the project forward.

I've done projects across the board as far as music genres go, but I knew this album had to be rock. It was a great opportunity to get loud and create a huge sound.

I contacted Maggie Smith to help get the job done. Maggie is an incredible talent. She’s a great singer, a great songwriter, a great pianist and a great painter. She's an "artist" to the full-extent of the word. We had worked together quite well in the past and I knew I could count on her to help secure the project.

We also pulled Will Gaylord on board. He's young, but his playing is fantastic. He and I had done multiple projects with one another.

Both Gaylord and I, along with Chase Dudley, had played some shows during the summer of 2010 with Maggie as the "Maggie Smith Band". The band had built up a small set list of original music. We chose to record one of the band's faster songs, "Watch Me Go", and try to sync it up with a SpacePark360 roller coaster.

Recording the song was easy. It was the syncing that was a nightmare. I spent days chopping and editing, trying to get the song to fit with the ride. The end result was a perfect fit, but I'll admit we got lucky. We took a song with an already set tempo and format, took it apart, and then rebuilt it to match the visual. It was a pain.

To make a long story short, Tellus loved it, we wrote and produced nine more songs (one ride has two songs) and here we are today with A Burning Century's debut album, "Lucid Dreaming". The whole process was ten months long, consisting of writing and recording on weekends and mixing on weeknights. There were many times we scrapped songs completely, then there were others that the songs just fell in to place (my favorite kind).

Chase Dudley came onboard to write with us and then Tyler Cook joined.  A few songs in, the band felt, "Hey, we have some really really good stuff. We would be idiots to sync it to a planetarium show and then leave it alone."

The "Maggie Smith Band" re-formed as "A Burning Century".

C: Tell us more about "the process".

W: My number one priority was to match the music to the visual. I wanted every single note to coincide with what was on the screen. Did we get everything to match? No. But we came very close. We were limited by our drive to create really good songs. It was a game of give and take. If the ride was going to be perfectly synced, the formatting of the music would lose a little and vice versa.

I think we created the perfect balance. It was surprising to see the timing of the rides coincide with general music structure.

The creation of every song/ride combo was gone about differently, but it always started with us watching the ride over and over again. We'd account for speed, motion and sometimes the color tones of the ride location were factored in.

If any band member had something they were working on, we'd preview it with the ride. However, a majority of the songs were written on the spot. In one instance, the drums were written and recorded before any of the other instruments or vocals had been written.

We would tweak things as we went. Once the chord structure and timing were correct, Maggie would go off with an mp3 file and work on the vocals. Initial recording sessions would leave behind the general core of the song, then I'd come in to produce and arrange.

Like I said, every song was different, but this was the general process.

I really feel like we nailed it. Our formula was exactly what the show needed. The music is current and matches the rides. Maggie's vocals have a universal vibe to them and those who don't enjoy rock can still appreciate what the music does for the show. We took risks, but we still managed to keep it sonically friendly for all ages that see SpacePark360.

C: What is your favorite song from the album?

W: “Summer Storm” is really well done and I love listening to it again and again, but the title track, “Lucid Dreaming”, is my favorite. That song was a blast to work on and it was a turning point for everybody involved with the project. During “Lucid Dreaming” tracking, everybody realized this was more than just a score and that we really were going to have a great album.

The song is so simple, but it's big and has complexities. The harmonies are tight and the openness of the verses makes the chorus even bigger. The message is great too.

C: When and where can we see the SpacePark360 show with ABC's music?

W: The show launches June 4th at Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Ga. The band will also be there to view their work in a planetarium for the first time. It's been a long process, so everyone is pretty excited to see and hear the finished product.

The show will continue to play daily at Tellus throughout the summer.

C: Anything else we should know about the SpacePark360 project?

W: The guys at Tellus were incredible clients. We really were given total creative freedom. Tellus took a big risk by going with us, but it has definitely paid off for both parties. How many other science museums have backed a rock album? There can't be many. It was great working them and I highly recommend everyone go visit their incredible facility.

Q: Thank you for your time!

For more information visit: facebook.com/aburningcentury

Contact Will Wheeler at: buckwaltersmusicgroup@gmail.com