Geoff said he was lucky to get the same three guys to sing with him. His wife Kathy is the production manager and fortunately she had saved the costumes so they just had to add a few props

Per Kathy Castellucci, Bow and Arrow guy is based on Kili, the one with the ponytail and curly mustache is based on Bofur (They apparently bought the weird hat that character wears but Geoff didn't want to wear it.), the blonde with the beard braids is based on Fili, and the low bass in the fur cloak is based on Thorin Oakenshield.

Geoff is born talented and then he works his butt off to get better and better. Not only can he sing like that he does all the arrangements, plays all the background music using plugins, plans and edits the music and the video. He has someone else do the final mix. He gets help from his friends on lighting, costuming, makeup,etc. but 89% is Geoff. In addition to this, he is a great husband, really great dad, bakes his own bread and makes cakes, and more. Darn near a perfect man. I think you should do his cover of Way Down by Elvis. I think you guys would like it.❤❤

Five Octave Range. He uses every bit of it. He also practices every day.

He is the primary member of his team, and his wife Kathy does all of the support. (She's also production manager for Voice Play). He plans and edits his own videos, he played the piano, he does the arrangement. He spliced all of the vocals together and did preliminary editing before passing it to Ed. The lower range is newer, but he's also talked about how hard he worked on the upper range when he was younger. Originally he wanted to sing lead in a rock band, and then his voice started dropping. His other big love was musical theater - and the best roles there go to tenors too. So he worked it, constantly pushing it higher, and he worked it hard. He constantly recorded himself, 70-75 times at a go, day after day, then did it again because it didn't sound good enough. He's always been focused on the quality and beauty of his tone, and not simply managing to hit the notes. When you're always auditioning, you know you have to do that. So - he's been working hard to improve his voice/range since high school, he's 42 or 43, and its continued to dropped further even in the last 2 years.

The first jump was 2 octaves, then the next jump was another octave higher. It just sounds so massive because of how deep he was in the beginning.

He usually records low parts and high parts separately, as they require different parts of his voice to be warmed up properly, especially if he needs to do super low parts. But on good vocal days he might record them all in one session. The vocals for VoicePlay's Oogie Boogie song for instance, where he sings lead for pretty much the entire song with him up in tenor and down in bass throughout the whole song, he recorded that whole thing in just about a single hour.

@johndeeregreen4592

Жыл бұрын

I was wondering about that. For Oogie Boogie, though, he takes a more of a classical bass approach... sans the final subharmonic. So he would show more agility using that style compared to his darkened, lowered larynx (on the verge of fry) approach on "I See Fire".

Geoff has a remarkable range: A0 in Enemy (growl), B0 (subharmonics), F#1 (full chest), his highest as falsetto is in Elvira live on stage A5 and it may be that is outdated in one of their shorts, Peaches (from Super Mario). Geoff does all his arranging, premix, costuming (in this one-his wife Kathy did costumes (most or part from Misty Mountains, and the weaponry), Layne has done some of the camera work (he did the Steadi-cam in Geoff's Way Down (Elvis) and Eli has taken up the lighting and computer backgrounds, green screens (this one is Pattycake Studios - brought in trees, pine straw, etc. Some people wanted real fire but 2 reasons it wasn't done, pine straw inside the studio - not good, each character had his own time on the stage. The wood on the fire could not be reset for each one singing. Ed Boyer is the genious final audio mixer - does all the best acapella groups (but I think he is best with VoicePlay), Rick Underwood is the makeup/beard wrangler artist brought in for the extensive work - think In the Hall of the Mountain King (if you haven't seen it - don't wait, I'd love to hear your comments.) Pattycake Studios is in the Orlando area in a mall. Seven Nation Army was done in an empty dept store in that mall. When watching Geoff's soloes, he has come to doing regular comments after the mirror image grammaphone at the end and they are worth the extra few seconds. VoicePlay doesn't do it as often but again it's worth the time. You can use the slider to see if they are speaking. I've enjoyed your 4-way commentary and I'll be here for your next Geoff and or VoicePlay, may not always make the others, just because I'm working in the gardens and between weeding, planting, cutting trees and tree limbs and getting clean afterwards (I hate ticks) I run out of time but I never miss VoicePlay's and Geoff's as soon as they are available at their site and then my 30-40 favorite reactors/analysts. Look up another mini by VoicePlay called Wellerman, only a couple of minutes, done in the mall outside their studio. Just another sea shanty.

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

That is a lot of good info and we really appreciate you putting us on that list of reactors!

Awesome reaction guys Left to right... Killi... Bofur... Filli... Thorin.

Geoff clearly was gifted with a beautidul voice but has worked hard for years on his bass range. He's made videos on how he does it. How To Sing Low. Or Very Low. He has such control over his voice, breath control. and puts emotion into his covers that is often lacking in the original. His voice and arrangements tug at the heartstrings. Great reaction guys. There is a credits list under the title but you'll see that Geoff and his wife Kathy do just about everything. I've copied it here for you: to save you the trouble. :) Arranged, Produced, Filmed, Performed and Edited by Geoff Castellucci Mix Engineer - Ed Boyer Production Manager, Costuming and Props - Kathy Castellucci Makeup and Hair - Rick Underwood Lighting Automation - Eli Jacobson Filmed at Pattycake Productions Studio - Huge thanks as always to Layne Stein and Tony Wakim for all of their help! OPB Ed Sheeran

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

Good info! Thank you!

Great reaction guys! I know that Ed Boyer does both Geoff's and Voiceplay's post editing and production, but Geoff does most of his recording and layering in his home studio. I'm guessing he records the lower tracks first thing in the morning and progresses from there. The video portion is done at Pattycake Productions (Voiceplay's Layne Stein is co-owner with a former member of the group). Each character is videoed separately, then all spliced together. Insane amount of work for a 4-5 minute video!

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info!

@justinthompson7623

Жыл бұрын

Even more impressive, it was filmed at Pattycake, but Geoff does all of the editing. There were only 3 people there that day when he shot the video. Geoff, his wife Kathy and Rick doing makeup. Eli had programmed the lighting the day before. Dude is insanely talented.

Such a blast to see you all enjoy Geoff's talent! Thank you for your reaction ... we've been waiting! Please, consider doing a reaction to VoicePlay's cover of Phil Collins "In the air tonight": it's a gem!

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

Added!

What a great reaction. Those of us who have been Geoff and VoicePlay fans for a while always get excited when new reactors jump on board. I can remember how stunned I was after watching Misty Mountain. I still have my paperback Lord of the Rings set from my college days in the early 70s so I was thrilled to hear him sing that. Misty Mountains remains one of my favorites just because it’s so beautiful. However this is a work of art. Not just the incredible singing, but everything about it. This is the first of his works where he has sung in the tenor range for a sustained period of time. Normally you can hear them in the BGV’s’s but usually for a very short time so this was a real treat. If you watch VoicePlay’s cover of Oogie Boogie, you’ll see the first time that he dropped into subharmonics on a recorded video. I believe that was an E 1. Since then he has gotten all the way down to A0. Geoff is heavily featured in that song and my favorite part is still at the end when he slides down from the heights all the way down to the E1. I see some items that hint that you might be gamers. Since you’re sort of on a cosplay kick, you might check out VoicePlay’s cover of Dragonborn/Skyrim. I am not a gamer, and I have no idea what they are saying when they are singing in the dragon language, but it is another one of my favorites.

@bonniewells9208

8 ай бұрын

Absolutely listen to Ooggie Boogie! Geoff = 5 octaves at the end of this song!!!

Geoff records his vocals, records the music (piano is him, everything else is from a plug in which he also plays on the keyboard), adds sound effect, like wind and fire. then he puts the track together, edits and first mix. The lighting is usually done by Eli Jacobson from Voiceplay. He linked it to the vocal track so that whoever was singing is in the same light. The he records the video, one dwarf at a time. The video is almost always done in one day. Final mix is done by Ed Boyer. Makeup was done by Rick Underwood, he still had all of the facial hair and stuff from Misty Mountains. His wife, Kathy is his and Voiceplay's production manager, she put together the costumes as well. On the day of shooting it was just Geoff, Kathy and Rick on set with three cameras. Great reaction guys, your slack jawed visual matched mine.

Oooh! Yeah, Geoff usually does his recording in parts (separating high from low) but quite frequently on the same day and even often in the same session. It doesn't seem possible, because it isn't. For humans. Which Geoff clearly is not. XD He was gifted with an incredible voice, true, but he's worked very hard to stretch up and down from his natural range. He certainly didn't *start* with a five and a bit octave range. That was hard f'n work, is what that was. You can see all the credit lines in the notes below his videos, but i'll save you the work! With rare exceptions, they're the same every time. CREDITS: Mix Engineer - Ed Boyer Production Manager, Costuming and Props - Kathy Castellucci Makeup and Hair - Rick Underwood Lighting Automation - Eli Jacobson Filmed at Pattycake Productions Studio - Huge thanks as always to Layne Stein and Tony Wakim for all of their help! He has a team for things like lighting and props (mostly his wife Kathy and his other band and former bandmates) but when it comes to the production of the film itself? Geoff does everything but the actual sound mixing.

I love your reactions. Geoff does his own arrangements and he is the whole package. He arranged Nothing Else Matters for VoicePlay as well as some others. One of my favorite arrangements he has done was for the Christmas song God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. It was my least favorite Christmas song and he took it and made in one of my favorites. I suggest sometime you all should react to that whenever you can. You will hear his full range in that song just like in this one.

Geoff and Tim Foust, low, low base for Home Free, ate good friends and Tim worked with Geoff on how to get under the basement low, from what i understand. Those 2 acapella groups are friends and support each others accomplishments which i think is awesome! Both groups men from Voiceplay and Home Free are nice, humble guys. Thank YOU guys for your great reaction! May God bless each of you always. ❤❤🎉🎉

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

Thank you, so much!

@huldradraco

Жыл бұрын

Tim taught Geoff how to do the growl technique, yes. He doesn't use it much nowadays, as he has focused on mastering subharmonics instead.

@robinhatcher8021

Жыл бұрын

@@huldradraco so cool! Thank you! Geoff is SO CLEAR even subharmonic.

All the info you need is in the video Credits. Arranged, Produced, Filmed, Performed, and Edited by Geoff Castellucci. You didn't watch the end.

Many people have requested he cover "The Last Goodbye" as the last song. It was written and performed by Billy Boyd (who played Peregrin Took in the Lord of the Rings movies) over the end credits of The Battle of the Five Armies. 🤷‍♀ Needless to say, Geoff will do what Geoff wants to do. 😁

Geoff was a tenor in middle and high school. Baritone when he performed in the Beetlejuice Graveyard Review at Universal Studios. With vocal coaching and age his voice deepened. Voiceplay and Geoff do everything themselves except makeup, camera and audio mixing. His wife Kathy is the Production Manager. The song he'd do fro Hobbit 3 would be The Last Goodbye.

Got range? 😂 He actually can do it all in one day. He usually gets the deepest stuff first thing in the morning but he's been working on his voice constantly and he's still growing. It's crazy! In VoicePlay's cover of Oogie Boogie's Song, (from the Nightmare Before Christmas) he goes from low to high and hits a solid B4 then goes down to E1. When they sing live, he just does it. There's also a cell phone video of them doing Elvira live on stage and he goes pretty low, then way up, then back down. It really is wild! Loved your reaction, guys! ❤

He posted a short video on his channel, where he sings the first part of this song straight into the mic, no filters nor post. And he sounds pretty amazing all the same. 😁 He worked for years upon years to develop BOTH his lower and higher range, and extend both ever further. One just can't do THAT out of pure talent, that is just "mythology", there's always a huge effort behind performances of this kind. You have probably noticed that each one of the four characters has precise, unique characteristics that make THAT voice immediately recognisable. That takes a lot of skills and control. 🙂 The beardless Geoff... Good observation, he could well be Baird, yet he "should" be Bofur. I'm not sure. 🙂 See you next time!

@tiredangel39

Жыл бұрын

That short is one of the most impressive things I've ever heard. What's surprising is how much alike live and processed sound.

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

We're not saying he doesn't put in the work. Clearly he does. There are plenty of people, though, that can put in twice as much work as he does and they'll never be a tenth as good as him. That's where his innate talent comes in.

@DavideBaroni

Жыл бұрын

@@weaintraisedrightpodcast Yep, you're right. I could practice as many hours daily as I possibly could, and I'd NEVER get even close to that. 🙂 What I was trying to say was that, even with all the talent one can have, it STILL requires hard work and dedication. Heck, talking about... guitar, for example, both Steve Vai and Paco de Lucia said in interviews they WERE "blessed with talent", yet they were practicing 10+ hours DAILY (up to 14...) to make that talent fulfilled 🙂, I think that we live in an era in which the myth of the "pure talent" is so pumped up that oh so many real talents are wasted because they're not prepared to the harsh reality of hard work and practice. That's why I stressed the point. Not for you guys, and I apologise if it sounded like that, but to make the point clear to whoever reads. 🙂

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

No worries, friend! Thanks for clarifying!

Killi - Bass Bofur - Tenor Filli - Baritone Thorin - WTF Geoff

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

Had me cracking up with the "WTF Geoff"

I thought long-haired Geoff was Elven at first, because of the bow. But nope, he's actually a dwarf. Just one of the youngest ones.

I’ll let you in on Geoff’s secret. His voice is FM (Freeking Magic)

💯🔥🔥💣💣👀👀 Wow!!!!

He's immensely talented and immensely hard working. Love seeing you all react to him and vp

Yep he is gifted. Geoff Castelucci and Tim Foust of Homefree are the only two that I’ve seen with that range. I believe they met during the sing off on NBC back in 2014. Tim encouraged Geoff to use is bass more and gave him tips. I believe Avi Kaplan of Pentatonix is right behind them as far as range. All 3 of them are capable of blowing out speakers. I’ve seen Tim and Avi do it. Haven’t seen Geoff blow a speaker yet but he’s capable 😊

Don't feel to bad others have thought it was multiple guys too and have asked who they were. Its actually quite entertaining listening to them. And reading their comments when they are informed its all one person 😂 As for how he's able to hit both the high and low notes, pure talent and hard work 🥰. I've listened to several interviews and one thing Geoff, Tim and I think Avi all agreed on was when they work on their higher notes they're able to go lower. Not sure exactly how that works, but if three of the top Bass Singers all agree on different interviews without knowing the others said the same thing, I'm inclined to believe them.

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

We're inclined to believe then as well

It is so much fun watching your reactions. Pleas, please do Geoff’s group, Voiceplay, doing Seven Nation Army or In the Air Tonight. Geoff is just as amazing. But he has a group of amazing singers and a beat boxer that you won’t believe.

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! We've actually reacted to a couple of Geoff's songs and a couple of Voiceplay's songs. I believe our reaction to seven nation army was our third or fourth reaction video.

he has a 5 octave range, and I think you get to hear it all in this one.

Also, listen to Geoff's version of Way Down (Elvis) LISTEN FOR THE LAST NOTE!!! WAY UNDER THE BASEMENT!! You're going to love it!!

These most recent he has teamed with the guys at Pattycake on the post a little. Some of the early ones like Misty Mountains the whole thing was just him and Kathy. And yes, Misty and this one are really bad at confusing people because of the costuming making it easier to not see that it is just him. Go hit one like Way Down, 16 tons, or one of his Halloween ones and see exactly how much he has done.

You've got to listen to Geoff's version of The Rains of Castamere! It's freaking awesome!

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

8 ай бұрын

It is definitely on our list!

We been requesting him to do the Song of Durin. Can't wait to see him perform that song.

Been waiting for this!

I'd love to see you guys react to a few more Home Free songs.... then Home Free "Mayday".... THEN Tim Foust "Will you still love me/Stay".... in that order... you guys rock.

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Ай бұрын

We definitely like reacting to Home Free and will continue to do so. We DO have a reaction to Mayday.

Love your reaction hope to see the New VoicePlay one soon It cover Phil Collins In The Air but do hope to see some more of Geoff and VoicePlay..

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

Жыл бұрын

We definitely have more VP and Geoff scheduled for the future. We have a couple reactions for them already on our channel.

@traceyandrob13

Жыл бұрын

@@weaintraisedrightpodcast already watch like the ones on your channel can't wait when do put them out.

@Ogre_Smash

Жыл бұрын

@@traceyandrob13 Awesome! We put out new react videos on Tuesdays and Fridays at 10 am EST. I think it'll be a couple weeks before another Geoff or VP react video comes out.

@traceyandrob13

Жыл бұрын

@@Ogre_Smash I know put when you put out I watch pretty much when it comes out. Just letting you know you have a person that watch them 😁

@Ogre_Smash

Жыл бұрын

@@traceyandrob13 thank you so much! All of us appreciate it!

Just an FYI, Geoff has a range of at least 5 octaves.

Been binging your reactions, love them 😄. Another great cover where he shows off his beautiful upper range is High and Dry. Way underrated with reactions, too, so I really recommend you go check out that one. 😁

@weaintraisedrightpodcast

7 ай бұрын

Added to the list! Glad you're enjoying us!

if you want your mind blown listen to his version of high and dry

You guys are talking about Ori

Watch a live recording e.g. Elvira and you will hear him live go high to low. Or Hoist the colours, Enemy both big ranges