Summer Session Buzz: Who’s Recording In & Around NYC
GREATER NYC AREA: The summer slump may have hit some studios, but then again some others are cranking. We found artists such as Esperanza Spalding, Crystal Stilts, Tegan and Sara, Rick Ross, Cee-Lo Green, Bruno Mars, Robert Randolph and more have been recording in the city this month.
Cyrille Aimée
Let’s start at Flux Studios in the East Village, where French jazz singer Cyrille Aimée has just made her new album. Aimée and band spent a week in the Dangerous room tracking the album, which is being produced by Fab Dupont and engineered by Dupont and Daniel Sanint. Dupont has also been recording/producing NYC pop singer/songwriter Jay Stolar’s new album.
In other Flux sessions: Talib Kweli has been tracking in the Revolution room with several guests, including Rah Digga, and resident engineer Eddie Krakaur; indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara were in writing sessions in the Revolution and Fabulous Rooms; Actor Paolo Costanzo stopped by to oversee the recording of a song by Teddy Geiger for the show Royal Pains – tracked by Sanint and mixed by Mark Saunders (The Cure, David Byrne).
And on the technical tip, Flux reports they’re “ecstatic” about their new Focal SM9 and Elektra 1038Be speakers; finding a lot of excellent uses for the new Lauten Atlantis microphone (developed in collaboration with Fab Dupont), i.e. vocals (Cyrille Aimée), acoustic guitars and upright bass; and have upgraded all their rooms to Pro Tools 10. The Revolution room currently hosts an Avid HD I/O interface with an HDX card. Also, the recent event they hosted with PreSonus left Flux with the new Studio One software ready to go in every room.
A few avenues over, Germano Studios was busy with a wide spread of sessions including rapper Rick Ross who was in recording vocals with John Rivers engineering, Cee Lo Green mixing with Graham Marsh producing and engineering, K’naan recording vocals with Michael Franti of Spearhead, Japanese hip-hop artist AK-69 recording with Kaoru Hoshizeki engineering, and Brooklyn indie-rock band Snowmine recording basic tracks with Jake Aron producing and engineering.
Snowmine
Also at Germano, Michael Bolton recorded vocals with Dave Tozer producing and Jason Agel engineering…Tozer/Agel also recorded with John Legend (vocals, piano, keyboards and guitars) in both Germano Studios…Anita Baker recorded keyboards and vocals with Barry Eastmond producing and Kenta Yonesaka engineering…singer/songwriter Jodee Seiders recorded with Chris Johnson producing, Gihan Wright and Dave Rowland engineering, and Cobra Starship was in for writing and recording sessions with Sandy Vee producing and engineering.
Meanwhile, jazz artists flocked to Sear Sound this past month: Esperanza Spalding recorded at Sear a for Universal Classics release – playing bass and tracking vocals in Studio C (“on her favorite Telefunken Elam 251”) with Jeremy Loucas engineering and French composer/DJ P.C. Solal producing…jazz pianist David Virelles mixed an upcoming release with Sear’s chief engineer Chris Allen… singer Tyler Houston tracked covers and standards with a band and horn octet, Allen engineering and Dave Suchanek producing… and ensemble The Clayton Brothers (John, Jeff and Gerald Clayton) tracked a new album for Concord Music, again with Allen engineering.
In other Sear sessions: HBO’s Boardwalk Empire returned to track some new songs – engineered by Stewart Lerman, and produced by Randy Poster… The Public Theater / Shakespeare Festival tracked the music for “As You Like It” with Gary Maurer engineering and co-producing with the composer Greg Pliska…composer Loren Toolajian produced tracks for Sesame Street with Allen engineering…and Chris Shaw tracked for “The Voice” for Universal Music Australia.
Psych-pop band Crystal Stilts recorded a new song at Saltlands in DUMBO, in full band tracking sessions with producer/engineer Jarvis Taveniere of Woods. Another Brooklyn psych-rock/pop band, Desert Stars, also tracked at Saltlands in July with producer/engineer Nick Stumpf (Caveman, French Kicks).
Comedian/director Louis CK returned to Stratosphere Sound in Chelsea to record music for Louie, Season 3. Also at Stratosphere…Brooklyn bluegrass ensemble Six Deadly Venoms mixed their new album to tape with engineer Adam Tilzer…NYC-based songwriting/production team Robopop (Maroon 5, Lana Del Ray) recorded with assistant Mike Nesci…and the Food Network and NBC’s Smash were in for sessions.
John Zorn was back at EastSide Sound in the Lower East Side, recording solo violin with chief engineer Marc Urselli for an upcoming release…Urselli – who just got back from touring with Lou Reed – also mixed the five movements of NYC composer/violinist David Fulmer’s first commissioned composition for saxophone and ten-piece chamber ensemble, to be released on Zorn’s Tzadik Records… mixed trumpeter Matt Holman’s new record, recorded drums, cello and vocals for cellist Leah Coloff’s new album, and recorded drums for percussionist Ravis Momin’s upcoming album.
Apoplectic with engineer/mixer Serge “Sergical” Tsai (second from left)
At Jerry Wonda and Wyclef Jean’s Platinum Sound in Midtown…Suriname alt rock band Apoplectic mixed their upcoming album with Serge “Sergical” Tsai in Studio K. And the song “Blame” by Island Def Jam artist K’La (ft. Nas) was produced by Wonda for Wonda Music, and recorded and mixed by Tsai.
Several blocks downtown, producer/engineer Matt Gill runs his studio, The Key Room, out of the Shelter Island Sound complex – also home to the songwriting team, 1984, and Bob Power’s studio. Gill recently served as producer/musical director/engineer and mixer on a new mobile app for Whynoceros, recording guitarist/bassist Robbie Seahag Mangano (Grandmothers of Invention, Tom Morello), saxophonist Stuart Bogie (Antibalas, Superhuman Happiness, TV on the Radio) and violinist Kari Bethke (Bad Buka, Rana Santacruz).
Gill also recently recorded and mixed an acoustic performance by Metric in the Hotel Rivington penthouse as part of a campaign for the Sony Xperia Ion smart phones – with video produced by Brooklyn’s Mixtape Club. And – at Mavericks Recording in China Town – he recorded an album for Irish-music ensemble Streams of Whiskey live off the floor, assisted by Kevin Schinstock.
Further downtown at Engine Room Audio – Mark Christensen recently mastered 50 Cent’s new album, Murder by Numbers, assisted by Dan Millice and Benoit Holliger.
Boyfrndz at Engine Room (l-r): Aaron Perez, Joseph Raines, mastering engineer Dan Millice, and Scott Martin
Indie rock group Cloudeater – profiled here last year – recently teamed up with rapper Wale on the experimental hip-hop track, “Faces“, and turned to Millice to master the track which was released mid-June as a single. The track is the artists’ first track to have been Mastered for iTunes (iTunes Plus).
Indie experimental rock band Boyfrndz brought their self-titled debut to Millice for mastering as well. They originally released the album last year, but Millice re-mastered it for vinyl at Engine Room. The album, which was recorded to tape, was produced by keyboardist/producer Isaiah ‘Ikey’ Owens (The Mars Volta, Jack White) – you can stream the original release at Bandcamp.
Legendary engineer/producer Eddie Kramer recently tracked Robert Randolph up at Manhattan Sound Recording (MSR Studios), in Studio A, using the Endless Analog CLASP system, Studer A827 machine and Pro Tools HD. The sessions were for a side project that Robert is producing. Brett Mayer was the assistant.
Also at MSR…Def Jam artist 2 Chainz was in working on his album with Q-Tip producing and Blair Wells engineering, Make Layos assisted…NBC’s Smash has started recording again with Marc Shaiman producing and MSR’s Ian Kagey engineering in Studios A and B…Producer Nick Littlemore (of Empire of the Sun) and engineer Angie Teo spent a week in MSR Studio C working on a new project for Universal/Republic pop artist Mika…50 Cent worked on a new single with engineer Ky Miller and assistant engineer Gloria Kaba…and Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin has been working with engineer Chris Soper on a new project.
MSR also started cosmetic renovations on Studio B last month and look forward to having them finished before the end of the summer.
Bruno Mars. Photo by Sebastian Kim.
Meanwhile, pop star Bruno Mars has been working on the follow-up to his chart-topping Doo-Wops & Hooligans at Avatar Studios with producer Mark Ronson and engineer Alan O’Connell, assisted by Bob Mallory and Tyler Hartman. Mars has been recording out of Avatar Studios A, B and W.
In other Avatar sessions… Tony Bennett sang duets with Thalia and Marc Anthony in Studio C with producer/engineer Dae Bennett, assisted by Aki Nishimura and Charlie Kramsky… The Leap of Faith cast album was recorded in Studio A with producer Alan Menken, engineer Peter Karam assisted by Bob Mallory…Harry Connick, Jr. recorded with producer Tracey Freeman, engineer Vince Caro assisted by Tim Marchiafava… Gospel artist Hezekiah Walker recorded in Studio A with a 60+ piece choir with engineer Larry Sturn..and New York Voices recorded in Studio G with producer/engineer Elliot Scheiner assisted by Bob Mallory.
NYC rock singer/songwriter Patty Smyth (Patty Smyth & Scandal) recorded vocals for an upcoming Christmas album at Threshold Recording Studios, with producer Keith Mack and engineer Jeremy Sklarsky (Freelance Whales, We Are The Woods). Sklarsky also engineered sessions at Threshold for jazz musicians Ron Carter, Gene Bertoncini & John Abercrombie, with producer David Becker; rocker Madame Mayhem, with producer Mark Hudson; and multi-instrumentalist/producer Mark Rivera (Billy Joel, Ringo Starr Allstars) with Rodney Howard, Tony Tino and Greg Mayo.
Back in Brooklyn, Broadway star Chester Gregory (Dream Girls, Hairspray, Sister Act) has been working on his solo R&B project at Brewery Recording in Williamsburg. Working with producers Woodro Skillson and Taylor Gordon, and with engineer Andrew Krivonos at the controls, Gregory’s been laying down vocals and mixing three tracks for his project which should be out by the end of the year.
In other Brewery sessions…rapper Jojo Pellegrino has been back to wrap up his latest project, Machine Gun Pelle. Krivonos is mixing the 16-song album, produced in part by Lofey and UVex…electro-pop band Ch!nch!lla has been mixing their new LP with engineer Nick D’Allesandro…and Staten Island’s Thomas Jr. recorded and mixed his hip-hop + spoken word mixtape with Bryan Lampe.
Ch!nch!lla at The Brewery with Nick D’Allesandro
And we know there’s so much more going on out there! If you’d like to be featured in “Session Buzz,” please submit your studio news to submissions@sonicscoop.com.