Paradise Is There, A Film by Natalie Merchant, Premieres Tonight in NYC

NEW YORK - Oct. 26, 2015 - PRLog -- Paradise Is There, directed and written by Natalie Merchant, is premiering in New York tonight at the Landmark Sunshine Theatre on Houston Street in NYC. A film produced by Award-winning Jon Bowermaster, it is a documentary video of singer songwriter Natalie Merchant's life, and background to her music. It marks the 20th anniversary of the release of her album “Tigerlily” (a five-times platinum album), and also her first solo album after splitting from 10,000 Maniacs. The film gives us a look at Natalie’s life, from childhood to womanhood—her journey as a songwriter, musician, and socially conscious human being. The audience will gain a deep introspective into the making of her music, what the songs represent to her, and many others around the world. Never before has Natalie shared her life and music in such a way. Touching, beautiful, and musical, as she performs many of her songs from “Tigerlily” recorded live, and accompanied by a string quartet, as documented in the film.

Natalie Merchant is a highly recognized and celebrated artist, but walking away from seeing this film, you will come to know that she is a humanitarian, an environmentalist, and simply a truly caring soul that did things her way, by not selling out to be something that wasn’t true to herself. It’s rare to find that in a person today, much less an artist with such a following and powerful persuasion as Natalie Merchant.

To capture the live recordings to make this film, the executive producers chose Creative Audio Post’s Jacques Boulanger, joined by George Cowan (FOH) and Eli Walker (Monitor Engineer). They conventionally set up mics on each instrument and vocals, as well as set up the rare Soundfield ST-450s of Boulanger’s unique microphone collection to record surround crowd ambiance and reactions, and the string section during Natalie Merchant's live concert, while also recording the entire mixing desk feed on two redundant 40 track portable recording rigs at the Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown, NY.

Boulanger and his team used two Soundfield ST-450 microphones: one perched at the edge of the balcony - capturing a 360º recording of both the balcony audience as well as the entire band distant perspective - and the second one above the string section. These specialized mics record in the B-Format, which allows to extract a surround recording in virtually any format, from LCR to 7.1, after the recording, during the CD release mix, and the post production mix to picture.

"Recording crowd ambiance and reactions is often a neglected part of a live concert soundtrack, yet it is such an integral part of recreating the live experience. Our coveted ST-450 Soundfield Microphones give us the flexibility to capture with precision to "zoom in” on the reaction of a specific area of the audience. It captured an unprecedented surround imaging of the individual string players which allowed me to create a full surround sound experience and transport the viewer to the venue, as if they were there," says Boulanger.

The final CD release tracks were up-mixed into 5.1 and layered throughout the film in front of the ambiance surround microphone from the balcony to give the entire film and performance an extremely realistic, unique and vibrant “live” quality, one that uses the surround speakers to their full, yet subtle potential in order to achieve a remarkable theatrical experience.

Natalie Merchant’s, Paradise Is There premieres tonight at the Landmark Sunshine Theatre in NYC.

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/new-york-city/sunshine-cinema/film-info/paradise-is-there-a-memoir-by-natalie-merchant

Tickets are available for an added second screening at 7:30pm, concluding with a Q&A with Natalie Merchant and filmmaker Jon Bowermaster.

Check other show times across the country, as it will be coming to a city near you.