All the music in a new Channel 5 preschool kids’ show has been made on Teesside – and the man responsible says he was thrilled when his baby son interacted with it.
Animated show The Woohoos, which airs on the channel’s Milkshake section on Saturday and Sunday mornings, follows the adventures of four best friends as they explore the natural world of Wise Island.
Every piece of music, along with sound effects, comes courtesy of Teesside composer and sound engineer Rob Penrose.
When the first episode of 52 premiered earlier this month, he watched it with a very special person – his 17-month-old son, Bobby.
And, admits Rob, it couldn’t have gone better. He said: “He managed to throw his arms up in the air and shout ‘woohoo’ when we were watching the theme song, so that was a great moment. I’ve done shows before that I’ve watched with my wife, Amy, but to watch it with little Bobby and to get that reaction – it was a bit magical.
“It’s also the only job I’ve done 100 per cent while living back in the North-east, so it’s been quite cool.”
Stockton born but raised in Middlesbrough, former Newlands School pupil Rob achieved a first-class degree in music technology at Middlesbrough College before landing a job in Manchester with TV post-production firm Flix Facilities.
For 10 years, Rob mixed the audio for all sorts of TV shows – “everything from Rip Off Britain to Songs of Praise and everything in between,” he says. But when he went freelance, he steered more towards the music side – and it’s paid off handsomely.
His first main commission was to provide music and sounds for CBeebies series Dog Loves Books, where the characters go “inside” a book that’s in the library.
He said: “I had to do a different style of music for each of the 52 episodes. So, there was a pirate, there was ‘under the sea’ music, then there was interstellar-type stuff for space travel – it was a great job to develop my craft.”
Rob’s original surname is Foster but he changed it to Penrose on marrying Amy three years ago. He says he has three main strings to his professional bow – audio post-production, voice acting and writing music. And after Dog Loves Books, he got a job where he did all three in a series called The Singalings.
He said: “It’s about three little characters that sing and harmonise and I did all the voices, wrote all the songs and did all the sound effects.”
But now Rob, who, with Amy and little Bobby, moved from Manchester to Ingleby Barwick around a year ago, says much of his time in his home studio is taken up working on all 52 episodes of The Woohoos. The show features Wynona the puffin, Iggy the wolfhound, Scotty the highland bull and Ellie the hare as they wonder at the natural world all around them on Wise Island.
Each episode brings an exciting “ooo” moment – a new discovery that needs explaining – and when they find the answer, what do they say? “Woohoo!”, of course.
Rob said: “The brief was they wanted the music to sound like hand-made instruments because it’s all about woodland-type creatures discovering nature. It’s got quite an organic feel but it also needs to be quite cartoony, so there’s lots of silly trills and things.
“Today, I’m sat in front of episode 28, so I’m just over half way. And it usually takes a week per episode, so I’ll probably be working on it until the summer.”
And Rob, who also teaches one day a week on the Middlesbrough College course he graduated from, says there’s much more work involved than people realise.
“Every sound you hear has to be put in because it’s animation. So, as well as the music, there can be a door opening, a car going past, whistles, boings and lots of silly sounds. For the shows I’ve been working on, it’s wall-to-wall music from start to finish. And sometimes every sentence each character says needs a different type of music to go behind it.
“Every time a character falls over or jumps up or does a spin, I have to match that with the music – it takes a really long time to go through and do each moment bit by bit.
“But it does make a big difference. You’re helping tell the story with music and sounds, so it’s worth the effort.”
The Singalings is available on NOW TV and Sky Kids. Dog Loves Books is available on iPlayer. The Woohoos! is available on demand on My5 and broadcast on weekends.
Original article: Written by Dave Robson Gazzette Live
