Electro-acoustic artist Melissa R. Kaplan has been writing music under the alias Universal Hall Pass (UHP) since 2001. A student of classical/modern and jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music with a piano principle, she went in search of an outlet for her voice, and found her way into the electronic trio Splashdown with Adam Buhler (Sirensong, Anarchy Club) and Kasson Crooker (Symbion Project, Freezpop, Elyxr). Melissa also privately studied Bulgarian singing with famed Balkan Thrace diva Tatiana Sarbinska, rehearsing /performing in Tatiana's Balkan choir Divi Zheni ("Wild Women"). Splashdown was signed to Capitol/Java Records in the late 90's where she met and worked with film composer and 80's industrial/electronic innovator, Graeme Revell on a few of his projects opening the opportunity for score singing/arranging, multi-tracking, pan-ethnic vocals and many other genres. She has sung and co-written songs for film, television and video game soundtracks and is most widely known as the voice of the first four Assassin's Creed games, Rise of Nightmares, Dead Rising 4, "Black Friday trailer" O Christmas Tree, Arknights, and most recently Horizon Forbidden West as the music voice for Beta. Her voice can been heard in well over 70 soundtrack titles and counting.
Kaplan also teamed up with Curt Smith from Tears for Fears via his social media project to sing and do some arranging on his song "Perfectly Still" thanks to one of her amazing listeners suggesting her name to him on Twitter. Universal Hall Pass is a solo/collaborative project. Melissa and Kasson released SYNDICAT, a collection of all their collaborations for 2 decades plus their new song “Ghosts”, On occasion she teams up with trance artist Derek Ryan, and most recently was score vocalist for the CW’s “Leonardo” starring Aiden Quinn. Her influences cover a wide range - electronic, world, indie/alternative-pop, impressionist, romantic, baroque, and minimalist composers. Earlier influences cover, jazz, progressive/punk/glam/math rock, alt/folk, and anything experimental that has a unique, well crafted song at its heart.
UHP's previous releases are Mercury (LP), Subtle Things (EP), a Middle Eastern tinged cover of "Ring of Fire" released online in 2001 (which may or may not have quietly influenced later attempts at this as seen on "Rockstar" and "American Idol"), a synth pop cover of "The Crickets Sing for Anamaria" and most recently the digital singles "Lyra" and “Sin Eater”. She continues writing/ producing other songs for UHP for later release.
Graeme Revell
Film Composer
"Melissa's soaring vocals have added layers of emotional depth to several of my projects. Her wide-ranging capabilities, from pop to classical and exotic, along with her happy collaborative spirit and professionalism make her one of the greatest assets any composer could hope to have."
Jeff Toyne
Film Composer
“To say that Melissa is an extremely gifted and generous artist would be an understatement. I met Melissa when we both worked on Ed Shearmur’s seminal score to K-PAX. I still tell people about the way she blew everyone in the studio away that day. I’ve worked with Melissa on dozens of projects since then, spanning many seasons of television, feature films, shorts, and video games. She always delivers. Her vocals are the crown jewel in any production. Her lyricism is always thoughtful and surprising, her counterpoint and harmony are executed at the highest level. I know I can always rely on her to bring magic to the music - on-time and on-brief!”
Co-Founder/Creative Director at Interleave
“Melissa is a truly gifted artist...a vocal Renaissance woman...her work speaks for itself.”
Audio Lead - Music and Sound at Walt Disney; Owner, Ryedan Productions
"I've had the opportunity to work with Melissa Kaplan on a variety of projects. In each instance, she truly displayed a remarkable ability to enhance the cue that she worked on. Melissa always finds the right balance between enhancing my melodic structures, and adding her own unique twist. This, I believe is the essential quality that a composer can ask from an artist. Melissa infuses her own artistic vision with my requests from her vocal performances, and adds a new dimension to my music. And she does so with a passion that always surpasses what I've given her to work with. I truly recommend working with her. I know that I will continue to call upon her on any project that requires a passionate interpretation of my music."
David Steele, Composer
Pendulum Music and Audio Artistry
“Working with Melissa Kaplan on music projects has always been a pleasure. Her level of service and professionalism exceed one's expectations..She approaches each song or music cue with such passion. The timbre of her voice is so unique and special to listen to. Her audio deliveries always contain more than you expect. The extra harmonies and vocal layering I have received from our projects always bring an extra dimension to the song or track. Melissa has a wide range of capabilities, so don't even consider pigeon holing her into a certain style. She can and will deliver for just about any music style there is, everything from classical to electro-pop to jazz to exotic film scoring cues. She just "gets it" and gets it right! every time. I highly recommend Melissa Kaplan for any song or film cue project. Her unique voice simply makes every track sound incredible. She is the first female vocalist I think of for every project I embark on that requires vocals.”
Trumpeter / composer at Kevin Davy and Busha Mann
“I met Melissa Kaplan in the late nineties, when I was on a US tour with the UK group, Lamb. She was the lead vocalist and front person in US alternative rock group, Splashdown. A few years later, I was happy to be invited to record on Melissa's solo album "Mercury" in a collaborative venture. Since then Melissa has kept busy with free-lance session vocals on film sound-tracks, and involvement in her own writing projects, for two albums. Also she has a keen interest in impressionistic music, harmony, and the music of eastern Europe, and the balkans, as well as middle-eastern music. She has a purity of vocal tone and delivery, which is very distinct, and I enjoyed working with her. The positive feedback on her work, speaks for itself.”
