In the film “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, there is a truly magical scene: Beethoven, time-traveled forward 200 years or so, gets the chance to jam out on a battery of modern-day synths. Just as he’s really heating up, however, a squad of mall cops shuts him down — leaving the audience to wonder what musical breakthroughs might have been.
For all who experienced musicus interruptus when that 1989 gem originally screened, relief may finally have arrived in the form of “Colossical.” Created by NYC-based production music specialists VideoHelper, it’s a concept-driven library of classical music formatted specifically for ads, promos and movie trailers – imagine the masterpieces lodged permanently in your brain being bashed in an atom smasher, and you’ve got the picture.
For VideoHelper founders Joseph Saba and Stewart Winter, the impetus for “Colossical” lay in a simultaneous reverence for the greatest classical music works of the Western world, and frustration with the relatively limited uses that these pieces – positively bristling with archetypal artillery – had available to them in today’s music-for-picture universe.
“We found people were going through recordings of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and using the same 90 seconds of it,” explains Winter. “So we decided, ‘Why don’t we take that part and condense it further so it tells a story?’ But then let’s also build on the recognizable melody, and give it a trailer-music style, larger-than-life feel to it.”
The Classics: Two Ways
As the plan began to take shape, the trick was to not only reinterpret the aural wonders penned centuries ago by the hands of Mozart, Wagner, and Chopin, but also make them consistent with the easy-to-edit qualities of all of VideoHelper’s other libraries: each cut had to offer loopable sections, modular hit points, multiple climaxes, and paste-ready endings to facilitate fast customization at the hands of a time-starved video or audio editor.
Wielding a “Bigger Better Shorter” mandate, the result is two two-disc volumes for the newly launched “Colossical.” One is “Orchestral Intensifications,” which presents each piece as a cinematic, over-the-top, larger-than-life, hyper-dynamic orchestral movie trailer, and features performances from members of the Czech Republic’s Capellan Orchestra. Each track also offers multiple melodic variations, as well as variations in mood and tonality, thereby increasing the storytelling options.
The other is “Hybridized Reimaginings,” which remixes the orchestral versions and reinterprets them. VideoHelper’s elite team of composers were encouraged to go in every conceivable direction remixing the Orchestral Intensifications recordings. That led to classical/modern Frankensteins like a horror-movie version of Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours,” and a -70’s Blaxploitation-themed Chopin’s “Funeral March.” All versions of each piece share the same key and tempo, allowing them to be used interchangeably.
Cartoon Canon
With the concept mapped out, the next step was to narrow down which lucky selections would be targeted by VideoHelper for transmogrification. For assistance, Saba and Winter didn’t quiz a Columbia University archivist – they turned to a wascally wabbit.
The massive sounds of Collosical — coming to a screen near you.
“We call this ‘The Bugs Bunny Canon’, because all of these classical pieces had been used in Bugs Bunny cartoons,” explains Winter. “When we were going through the top 150 public domain pieces, it was amazing how many of them were used by Bugs Bunny. But that’s a big reason why many of us remember them from childhood.”
The list of winners are guaranteed to light up memory banks, including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Rossini’s Barber of Seville and William Tell Overture, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie, Strauss’ Blue Danube, and Mozart’s 40th Symphony.
Constructing the Reconstructions
From there, the challenge was matching up these iconic works with the right composer to create the new arrangements. VideoHelper’s five in-house composers are always occupied with cuts for ongoing projects like their “Modules” library (see how they’re networked together in this previous article on SonicScoop), so Saba and Winter auditioned several outside candidates before deciding on LA-based Aaron Sapp.
“He’s a phenomenally good composer,” Winter says of Sapp, “and he also understands what it takes to build emotion, and how to basically fake people out: It’s not just about getting louder and louder – sometimes you lead them to the cliff, and let them dangle there for a second.
“Aaron saw what we were looking for was not just the ability to boil ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ down to thirty seconds, but to add a twist. It’ll sound like Wagner, so you can still identify it and it’s convenient for telling a story. But instead of only dark and brooding, it later becomes joyful and proud.”
A busy film and TV composer whose credits include ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, WB, the History Channel, TBS, Cartoon Network, and multiple game titles, Sapp took on the project with a surprisingly minimalist rig in his Woodland Hills, CA studio.
“My setup is really basic,” says Sapp. “No outboard and three computers – one DAW running Cubase 5, and two Gigastudio machines. I also have two speakers, a Kurzweil PC88, and a 15-year old mixer. Only what I need.”
Sapp, Saba and Winter kicked off their cross-country collaboration with “the most recognizable piece ever” in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. After discussing the emotional payoffs that VideoHelper was going for, Sapp would sketch out each piece in Cubase, using his MIDI keyboard to map out a preliminary woodwind, strings and brass arrangement.
“The most difficult part was to do each selection within the VideoHelper format, where they have to end at 29 seconds,” Sapp notes. “That’s tricky with some of those classical pieces, because sometimes the melody is longer than 29 seconds! I would try to come up with a build within those 29 seconds that sounds coherent, and doesn’t sound contrived.
“If the piece was in a major key, I’d make a minor key iteration of it, a slow or a fast version, a really small dainty version, a bombastically huge version and just about anything in between. For the most part, they let me run with it, and compose something that was appropriate while using these themes and motifs, all while still trying to retain the spirit of the original piece.”
Once Sapp’s initial arrangements were approved, he would write and record full arrangements within his DAW, using custom orchestral samples formatted to run on Gigastudio. VideoHelper upped the ante from there by recording many of the brass parts with the Czech Republic’s Capellan Orchestra via a SourceLive networked session.
Making Mozart Fit to Picture
Looking to the classics for inspiration is always laudable, but VideoHelper isn’t copping Chopin to be on the safe side. For Saba and Winter, providing a practical solution to content producers was the primary objective.
“There are a lot of trailer libraries that are large for large sake, and also so many classical libraries that just all sound the same,” says Winter. “We wanted to improve on both. To do something that was over the top – with an abnormal amount of bombast: drums ten layers deep, or an unnatural number of horns. We take it to the ridiculous, go-nuclear level. But still always making sure the music tells a story.”
VideoHelper’s trademark method of ensuring that each track has plentiful, and precisely timed, hits and stings kept the classical reworks constantly challenging for Sapp. “Some of the variations would be a really quiet version, very slow, massive, or comedic – basically anything I felt was useful,” he explains. “I had to approach this from an editor’s standpoint and say, ‘What would be useful to me if I were an editor?’
“When you’re talking about the classics, the orchestrations are masterful, but there’s a lot of details that would get lost in television. So I would more or less distill the orchestrations, so that the meat and potatoes would be much more well-represented and punchy.”
Sapp points to Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” as a good example of a Colossical-style makeover. “I did a :30 minor key variation that they liked so much they asked me to make a whole, 2:00 dark version of the Wedding March,” Sapp explains. “They said, ‘Make it the most horrible wedding you’ve ever been to.’ I came up with a few ideas, and the last one I did is the aural equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition. It’s horrific. That one was a lot of fun.”
For composer Aaron Sapp (bottom), working with VideoHelper was a nonstop thrill ride.
Getting Saba’s and Winter’s stamp of approval on a track is notoriously difficult – a fact that ramped up both the stress and satisfaction levels for Sapp. “They are very anal retentive about quality,” Sapp says frankly. “The commitment required of their in-house composers is about a track a week, which need to be a minute long. Any composer reading that would say, ‘That’s nothing!’ But then you see everything they ask for, and you can understand why it takes upwards of a week to come up with one minute. It can be very trying, but because of them I’ve improved as a producer far more quickly than I would have on my own.”
Where VideoHelper really surprised themselves was with the remix phase of the project, Hybridized Reimaginings. “The remixes have really been wildly creative – we didn’t expect them to be as good as they are,” Winter notes. “There are mariachi versions, Tarantino-esque Tex-Mex stuff, and heavy metal. But it’s all musical, and not just some throw-off jokes.”
“When I finally got the chance to listen to the remixes, I almost fell out of my chair laughing,” Sapp adds. “It was odd to work on these themes for so long, and then hear how VideoHelper’s in-house guys destroyed them in the best possible way.”
Staying Power
Maybe somewhere Ponchielli is turning over in his grave over VideoHelper’s EDM remake of “Dance of the Hours”. But hopefully he’ll rest a little more in peace knowing that the synch license for his altered masterpiece, now playing against network coverage of a Des Moines pie-eat in double time, was obtained with the utmost respect.
As people’s time spent with the classics grows deeper by the day, so does our understanding of the underlying musical mastery required to compose them in the first place. For everyone involved, the Colossical project reinforced why a construct like the Light Calvary Overture remains a hit for centuries.
“The one thing I can really appreciate from listening to these arrangements,” says Aaron Sapp, “is how they’re able to take a simple idea and make all kinds of variations on it, in really compelling ways. That goes a long way today as well.”
Likewise, Stewart Winter gets uncharacteristically serious reflecting on what VideoHelper learned from producing Colossical – an unexpected benefit from the hundreds of hours of classical immersion. “The orchestrations are so well-written,” he says. “There’s such beauty in them, and complexities beneath the surface with phenomenal effects. It’s amazing to look at these pieces and see how well-organized they are. There’s not a wasted note.”
When I spoke to Sylvia Massy via Skype, she was up in Oregon enjoying a day off. On or off, however, there seems no shortage of creative projects to fill up her day. Over the course of our conversation, Massy showed me two recent drawings and discussed painting, teaching, car restoration and other future avenues to channel her never-ending stream of creative energy.
And none of that should come as much of a surprise from a woman who moved from LA up to “the woods” of Weed, CA and converted an old theater into a world-class recording studio. The Weed Palace Theater, aka Loud Palace, is most definitely one-of-a-kind, and not just because of the vintage Neve 8038 in Studio A or the Trident Series-80 in Studio D. The A “live room” is a 1920s Art Deco style theater complete with 30-foot high ceilings and a 750 square foot stage.
“They’re [the bands, that is] actually set up on a stage like they would be live, in an auditorium, with seats, and I’m their audience,” says Massy. “There’s no glass, no red light fever anymore. It’s always being recorded.”
Views of Studio A at Loud Palace
Unfortunately for those like myself who have never had the chance to record at Loud Palace, Massy is now moving her studio to a new, yet-to-be determined space.
The producer/engineer who bounced from San Francisco to LA to Weed is now ready to bounce again.
Even though Massy loves the space, there’s no doubt that her next place will maintain the impressive allure of the Loud Palace.
“No matter where I go it will be as interesting a place to go record. There will be something special about it wherever it is.”
This culmination of an ultra-unique, vibey studio and her artistically focused workflow leaves little question as to why Massy has had such an incredible music career. Her discography reads like an all-star jam of artists who are as uncommon in their level of talent as they are in their musical style: Tool, Green Jelly, Fishbone, Skunk Anansie, Love and Rockets, and The Cliks.
When asked why, out of all of her interests, she chose audio, she smiles and shrugs…
“I was in a band – a pretty good band, I thought. I worked at a studio, so late at night I would go in and record my band, and some of the recordings came out pretty darn good. Then people who heard those recordings wanted me to do their recordings, and what I did with them turned out way better than what I was doing for myself, so I abandoned my own projects eventually and just began producing – it was a natural progression. I did not go to school for this.
“I spent a lot of time in the studio making little to no money and doing a lot of crappy jobs and it just developed til finally I wound up in Los Angeles, and I met up with the Green Jello and Tool guys and we had some great success and it went on from there. It could’ve happened to anyone.”
From the here and now, it’s wild to consider that getting the call to record Tool’s first two albums could have happened to anyone, but Massy wasn’t shooting for world fame when she stepped into the studio, she was just doing what she loved. And she kept doing it.
That love and passion landed her the role of engineer under Rick Rubin, where she recorded and mixed Johnny Cash’s album, Unchained, as well as System of a Down’s debut album, and Slayer, all the while working as a producer with artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sevendust.
Although she’s moved on both geographically and career-wise, Massy has nothing but admiration for Rubin.
“I absolutely admire him for so many reasons. And when he puts the right people in the room, he puts the right musicians with the right songwriter, with the right engineer in the right studio environment with the right songs and then he says, ‘OK, go.’ He may not be there to see how it goes but he’ll check in, say ‘Now, do this, try that,’ and rearrange things. Other projects he’ll be there every moment of the day – like the Johnny Cash sessions – I was the engineer and I got to record and mix Unchained. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were the back up band for that, if you can believe it. And it was guest artists, A list musicians day after day, and it was one of the most wonderful and memorable experiences of my life.”
Something Unique, Something Original
More recently, Massy’s been digging into the indie-folk genre, inspired by the energy and success of bands like Mumford and Sons. In that vein, she’s been working with a band out of Ashland, Oregon called Patchy Sanders – a gypsy bluegrass group with very unusual instrumentation. Harp, harmonium and banjo flow in 7-minute songs that read like stories with varying movements.
Sylvia Massy
A trendy genre isn’t enough to bring Massy to the table, however.
“It takes a little bit to win me over,” she says. “What attracts me to projects is music that has something unique and original to say.
“And yeah, I’m not always looking for heavy rock. There’s great music in any genre. I’d like to do all kinds of pop music and rhythm and blues, you name it. There’s great music and there’s sucky music in every genre.”
That being said, her production style for both Tool, Patchy Sanders and any other artist begins with the same thing: the right song.
“Choosing the song, I would approach the same way – there has to be something unique about a song to make it worth producing.”
From there, Massy has a production toolkit as vast and varied as her resume would indicate. She may turn on all the lights in the studio so that the singer feels they have nowhere to hide, feeding them playback without reverb so they hear exactly what they are singing, pushing for the best take. Or how about telling the singer to go outside and sing while cars drive by only to have them come in and knock that part out of the park. She’s also a fan of handing an artist an instrument they’ve never used before, seeing what they can come up with.
For Massy, producing is psychological as well as technical, and not necessarily just about pushing, but rather about getting the artist in the best place to create.
“I try hard to get them to be comfortable and to know that I can be fun and that I’m also very confident in what I can do for them to help them realize their vision.
I’m not going to be pushy and make them do things they absolutely don’t want to do or ruin their music or make them feel horrible.”
She pauses for a moment to think about her last comment, then laughs.
“Unless that’s what they need! If they need to feel horrible to get that angry, angry performance then I might give ’em a little bit of that, and then be nice afterwards.”
Hearing Massy talk about producing, it’s clear that this dynamic work is the cornerstone of her craft. In fact, she prefers to be the “overseer” of a project and vision more so than a constant technical tinkerer. While it’s very important for her that she be involved in choosing the material to work on, and developing the arrangements if changes are necessary, she appreciates the ability to step back from her work in order to see what it really needs.
Massy with the band Molotov Jive
“I like guiding a project more than being involved in every little aspect. Because as a guide, I can let them put it together and then see what it needs. And then take a break, let someone else mix, then come in and check the mixes, make comments. Being in the room every minute, you lose some perspective and sometimes you need to take a break, do something else, listen to something else, and then you realize, ‘Wow, we need to go in a different direction.’ So I do prefer a bit of distance from the technical and engineering details.”
Now, as the last of her gear moves out of Loud Palace, Massy is ready to get some distance once again and start a new adventure
She feels like a change and isn’t quite sure where the coming months will take her but judging by the smile on her face, she has no problem with that.
“I’m excited to put together a whole new studio world. Onto the next chapter.
“However I am really getting in to my art work. I might just be drawing bugs for a while.”
Eleanor Goldfield is a Los Angeles-based writer, musician and studio tech. She is lead singer in the hard rock band, Rooftop Revolutionaries, and chief tech at The Village Studios.
As new records by Savages, The National, Vampire Weekend, The Flaming Lips and Daft Punk spin on high rotation chez SonicScoop, we’re hearing about so many new projects coming down the pipeline that we thought we’d share in a new column.
Get ready for the details of some buzz-worthy new and upcoming record projects in production (or recently wrapped) all over the country. Read up on what’s happening, and hear some new music below!
Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band, the new project from TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe with [Tall Firs drummer] Ryan Sawyer, Josh Werner and Alex Holden, have a new EP – mixed out of Strange Weather Recording in Brooklyn by Daniel James Schlett (DIIV, Janka Nabay). Adebimpe told Spin, “If you like Can or This Heat, you’ll probably be into it.” A couple of the tracks on the EP were produced by Bill Laswell. Coming soon!
Meanwhile, TVOTR has been working on new material as well, out of band-member and producer Dave Sitek’s LA studio. They’re reportedly not in full album mode quite yet, but we can expect a single to come out on Sitek’s Federal Prism label this year. The band recently split with Interscope.
Also produced by Dave Sitek, Brazilian dance-rock troupe CSS has a new album, Planta, coming out June 11 on SQE Music. Listen to an advance track “Hangover” below…
Back to Brooklyn, songwriter Damon McMahon has been making a new Amen Dunes record with Schlett out of Strange Weather Recording as well. “It’s one of the things I’m most excited about right now,” says Schlett of the album. When we spoke to him, Schlett had also just finished Luke Temple’s (Here We Go Magic) new solo record and was about to start a new Heavenly Beat record for Captured Tracks.
Switching gears a bit, pop singer Brenda Radney (aka Bren) has a new single coming out on Justin Timberlake’s RCA imprint, Tennman Records in July. The song, “Ain’t You”, was produced by Vel Songs founder/producer Camus Celli out of his studios in DUMBO. Next door, another Vel songwriter/producer, Josh Grant, has been remixing under the moniker DJ Chuck Buckett, and has new remixes coming out on DFA for Joy Wave, Allies for Everyone and The Crystal Ark.
Australian electro-pop band Architecture in Helsinki has just finished mixing their new record with Damian Taylor (Bjork, The Killers) and “Somebody I Used to Know” engineer/mixer Francois Tetaz (Gotye, Kimbra) at Taylor’s studio in Montreal.
Also in Montreal, BRAIDS made a new record – recorded and produced by the band in their studio, and mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering. Listen to a new track “In Kind” at Pitchfork. The full-length LP Flourish // Perish will come out August 20 on Arbutus Records.
Killer Mike and El-P have a new album coming out this summer on Fools Gold. Production on the album, Run The Jewels, was handled by El-P and features co-production from Little Shalamar and Wilder Zoby. The album was mixed by Joey Raia at his //231 Studios, with additional vocal recording done by Nick Hook at The Space Pit – both located in Greenpoint – and was mastered by Joe LaPorta from his new studio at Sterling Sound. Listen to a track off the album here:
Dum Dum Girls have an album in the works that’s due out on Sub Pop later this year. As on previous albums, Richard Gottehrer and Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonettes are producing, with Alonzo Vargas recording and mixing. Basics for the album were tracked at EastWest Studios in L.A., and vocals were recorded in NYC. LaPorta will also master this record, which reportedly evolves from Dum Dum Girls’ lo-fi roots with modern textures.
Sune Rose Wagner also produced the new LP for San Diego rock band, Crocodiles, Crimes of Passion. Album influences include the Soft Boys, Street Hassle-era Lou Reed, the Jackson 5 and no wave guitar guru Glenn Branca. Click to listen to the first single, “Cockroach” via Stereogum.
A promising new NYC artist named Sean Wood released his debut album Sudden Loveindependently a few months back, when we were tipped off by the album’s producer/engineer, Mario McNulty. A folk and R&B-inflected modern pop album, Sudden Love has moments that will recall Prince, Frank Ocean, R. Kelly and even experimental folk a la Dirty Projectors. Wood recorded the album between The Magic Shop, Headgear and Studio G; McNulty mixed the release out of his own Incognito Studios. Listen to Sudden Love on Bandcamp.
NYC indie rock band Born Cages will release The Sidelines EP on June 18 via Razor & Tie. The EP was produced by Jon Kaplan (Walk The Moon, Augustana) and Oliver Straus at Mission Sound in Brooklyn. Listen to the Born Cages song “Don’t Look Back” at Vice Noisey. The song is available on iTunes HERE.
Seattle indie-folk band The Head and the Heart have been making a new album with Peter Katis up at his Tarquin Studio in Bridgeport, CT. Katis also has just wrapped a record with Brooklyn-based anthemic indie rockers We Are Augustines, and mixed the new National single, “Sea of Love”, off their new album Trouble Will Find Me. Watch the video below…
Talented NYC-based French jazz singer Cyrille Aimée has a new album coming soon, produced and mixed by Fab Dupont at Flux Studios, and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound. The concept of the record, says Dupont, was “to marry Cyrille’s voice with the sound of different kinds of guitars – gypsy guitar by Adrien Moignard, electric guitar by Michael Valeanu and nylon guitar by Guillerme Monteiro. The three virtuosos blend styles and eras into a new sound that marries the old with the new.”
Speaking of amazing voices, Swedish singer and songwriterNina Persson, of The Cardigans and A Camp, is making a solo album! Working with bandmate and husband Nathan Larson (Shudder To Think) and Eric D. Johnson (of Fruit Bats), Persson has recorded new songs at Vinegar Hill Sound in DUMBO – with Geoff Sanoff engineering.
Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples. Photo by Spencer Tweedy.
And a national treasure, Mavis Staples has another Jeff Tweedy-produced album, One True Vine, coming out next month via Anti- Records. Music on the album was reportedly performed almost entirely by Tweedy and his son Spencer, and recorded at Wilco’s Loft in Chicago by Tom Schick.
Jimmy Eat World will release their new album, Damage, on June 11. The album was produced and recorded at Alain Johannes’ (Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures) studio and mixed by James Brown at his home studio in Park Slope.
Speaking of Coady, he’s been working on a new album with a reunited Yuck(sans lead vocalist Daniel Blumberg) – at the converted-church studio, Dreamland, just outside Woodstock. See this Spin article for more on that.
Sam Hillmer of Zs has just released a new album of his solo sax/electronic project, Diamond Terrifier, via Chris Taylor’s Terrible Records. The album, The Subtle Body Wears A Shadow, was mixed by Taylor (Grizzly Bear) and mastered by Heba Kadry at Timeless Mastering in Greenpoint. Listen to a track off the record via Spin.
HAERTS – a new Brooklyn band led by Nini Fabi with Ben Gebert (of Nini & Ben), Garrett Ienner, Derek McWilliams, and Jonathan Schmidt – have two new singles out via Columbia Records, produced by Jean Phillip Grobler of St. Lucia. “Wings” was mixed by Michael Brauer and “All The Days” was mixed by Tom Elmhirst – both out of Electric Lady Studios. And both songs were also mastered by Kadry at Timeless Mastering.
Listen to “All The Days” here:
Down Nashville way,Kings of Leon just wrapped up work on their soon-to-be-released new album, The Collection Box – produced by Angelo Petraglia and recorded by James Brown at the band’s new headquarters, Neon Leon, in Nashville. Brown mixed the album in Blackbird Studio A.
A new Atlantic band, Saints of Valory, is recording their debut album at Blackbird as well. Saints of Valory hail from Rio de Janeiro and were signed following the success of their debut EP, The Bright Lights. They’re recording their debut with producer Joe Chiccarelli and engineer Ernesto Olivera.
Another Atlantic band, modern rock trio NEEDTOBREATHE, has also been making an album at Blackbird with Chiccarelli producing. Lowell Reynolds is the engineer.
Obits
Tam Lin – an inspiring singer/songwriter we profiled awhile back – has a new recording coming out soon. Paul Weinfeld aka Tam Lin recorded his latest, Medicine For A Ghost between Electric Lady Studios and Marc Plati’s studio, Alice’s Restaurant, with producer/engineer Mario McNulty.
Brooklyn via Washington D.C. punk band Obits have a new record in the works – the band recorded at Upstairs in Arlington, VA to 8-track (with engineer Nikhil Ranade), and then brought the recordings to co-producer/mixers Geoff Sanoff and Eli Janney, who each mixed five songs on the album. Coming soon on Sub Pop Records.
Production on the anticipated new Maxwellalbum, Summers, continues with Mike Pela (Sade, Maxwell) mixing several tracks.
Urban folk singer Jen Chapin has a new album out this week, called Reckoning, which was produced and mixed by the great Kevin Killen and recorded in part at Mission Sound in Brooklyn.
Singer/actress Rebecca Pidgeon has a new album coming out, which she recorded and mixed with S. Husky Hoskulds in L.A. and producer Tim Young. Hoskulds also recently made an album with Adam Levy and Shelly Segal, Little March.
The Spanish indie-folk singer known as Russian Red (Sony Music) is making a new album in Los Angeles, at Sunset Sound, with producer Joe Chiccarelli and engineer Ken Sluiter. Chiccarelli has also been at Sunset working on the new album for Britt Daniel’s other band, Divine Fits, for Merge. Look out for that, and a new soul-ful Spoon album. Says Spin.
And hopefully you’ve made it to the end, so we can tell you about UK/Spanish electro-pop/rock band Crystal Fighters who have a new album out this week on Atlantic, Cave Rave, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnson and mixed by Manny Marroquin in L.A. On our recent visit with Marroquin, he’d just finished mixing the record, and described the band as “MGMT-meets-M83” – check out the transporting “Wave” below and get ready for summer!
Producers, engineers, publicists, managers, artists…Fill us in on cool records we should know about by emailing names, links and production details to submissions@sonicscoop.com!
GREATER NYC AREA: We’re all over the local and musical map in this month’s epic Session Buzz, as we trace recordings by the likes of Yoko Ono, Talib Kweli, John Zorn, MGMT, Wale, Hole, Okkervil River, The Joy Formidable and more back to their studio sessions. Find out where several busloads of notable artists have been recording, not to mention film scores and Broadway Cast Albums, and who’s all engineering and producing these sessions. Below.
Warner Bros artist Wale has been working on his upcoming LP out of Daddy’s House Recording Studios in the SSL G series Room. Daddy’s House also hosted sessions with French Montana, tracking and mixing his upcoming album with Steve Dickey and Duro CEO, Bad Boy artists such as Machine Gun Kelly, Cassie, Red Café, Los, and Megan Nicole, and sessions with Fabolous, Wacka Flocka, Q-Tip, DJ Khaled, T Pain, Jose Feliciano and more.
Jordin Sparks with Doug E. Fresh (left) and Artie Green
Nearby at Area 51 NYC,Jordin Sparks and Ryan Beatty recorded a song written and produced by Artie Green (Ashanti, Ja Rule…), with engineer and studio co-owner Roey Shamir at the console, and rapper/producer Doug E. Fresh on hand. The song is being used on an album to benefit Hip Hop Public Health and The Partnership for a Healthy America/Let’s Move initiative. Area 51 co-owner Tony Drootin is a board member of HHPH and is a co-executive producer on the album.
In other Area 51 sessions, A$AP Rocky and A$AP F3RG were working on songs from their upcoming records with Bad Boy engineer Steve Dickey at the controls; and Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, and Galadrielle Allman (Duane Allman’s daughter) were in recording a radio interview to promote the Duane Allman box set being released on Concord Records.
Uptown at David Kutch’s studio, The Mastering Palace…it was a “tale of two Justin’s” this winter – with Justin Timberlake in to put final touches on The 20/20 Experience with Kutch, and Justin Bieber’s new Believe(Acoustic) LP mastered only days before its release in January. Some other big albums Kutch has mastered of late…Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox, Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire and the new album by The Strokes, Comedown Machine.
Urselli also tracked vocals for three different all-star collaborations with Italian pop star Jovanotti, along with a new acoustic song for a movie soundtrack; recorded a few new songs with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline for his Nels Cline Singers band; tracked and mixed four new albums for John Zorn featuring guests such as Bill Frisell, Thurston Moore, Joey Baron, Kenny Wolleson and John Medeski; and produced/engineered a new album by former Luca Carboni musical director and keyboard player Fabio Anastasi for an upcoming solo release on TempoPirata Records.
Germano Studios also hosted sessions with singer Paloma Faith – writingand recording in Studio 1 with John Legend producing and Dave Rowland engineering; Trace Adkinsrecording the Harlem Gospel Choir in Studio 1 with Frank Rogers producing and Richard Barrow engineering; Yoko Ono recording vocals with Sean Lennon producing and Kenta Yonesaka engineering; John Legend recording with Dave Tozer producing and Jason Agel engineering; and Fred Armisen cutting basic tracks in Studio 1 for Saturday Night Live, with Kenta Yonesaka engineering.
Michael Cera (right) at Terminus Recording
Meanwhile at Terminus Recording Studiosin Times Square, actor Michael Cera and Kelis were shooting an awkward recording studio scene for Cera’s upcoming short film, Brazzaville Teenager – for the new YouTube-based Jash Network. While Studio A was being prepped for filming, the team also recorded a vocal for Kelis’ song that appears in the film in Studio B.
Also at Terminus, DJ Khaled tracked vocals for his upcoming album, Suffering From Success, with engineer Ben Diehl. Guest vocalists included Akon, Anthony Hamilton, Meek Mill, Jeremih and Vado. Maino and The Mafia also cut vocals for two new tracks – one, “So Cold,” featured CashOut, and the other, “Real Recognize Real” was, according to studio manager Christian Rutledge, “released on XM Satellite Radio on the night it was tracked, showing up on Rap Radar and lighting up the blogs by the next day.” The Maino and The Mafia sessions were run by Terminus staff engineers Justin Rodrigues and James Yost.
Jumping over to Jersey for a minute, the two-studio Union City facility housed in an old sewing factory, Kaleidoscope Sound, has been hosting recording sessions for improvisational jazz violinist Regina Carter, with engineer Joe Ferla manning the API. And Kaleidoscope recently completed the 25th Anniversary Cast Recording for Nunsense.
Several other Cast Albums were recently tracked at MSR Studios in Midtown Manhattan, including that of the new Cinderella: The Musical with engineer Todd Whitelock, Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots with engineer Bill Whitman, Sh-K-Boom! Records’ Dogfight with engineer Lawrence Manchester, Giant: The Musical with engineer Joel Moss, and Pippin (engineered by Lawrence Manchester), and Natasha and the Great Comet with producer/engineer Dean Sharenow,and Kathy Lee Gifford’s Scandalous (produced by David Lai, engineered by Isaiah Abolin).
And some other recent action at MSR includes…Producer Salaam Remi working with Jennifer Hudson on material for her new RCA record, with engineer Gleyder “G” Disla, and MSR assistant Gloria Kaba; Engineer Todd Whitelock mixing new releases from Mack Avenue artist Kenny Garrett and Nonesuch recording artist Audra McDonald, assisted by Brett Mayer and Fred Sladkey; and the recording and mixing of David Sanborn and Bob James’ forthcoming follow up to their 1986 Grammy Award winning album Double Vision with engineer Ken Freeman with MSR assistant Brett Mayer.
Nearby, the landmark Avatar Studios played host to a couple of big film score sessions – composer Howard Shore’s score for director Arnaud Desplechin new film Jimmy Picard (starring Benicio Del Toro), with engineer Sam Okell, assisted by Tim Marchiafava and Tyler Hartman, and composer Teddy Shapiro’s score to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (directed by and starring Ben Stiller), engineered by Chris Fogel assisted by Marchiafava.
Audra McDonald also recorded out of Avatar’s Studios A, B and C with producer Doug Petty and engineers Todd Whitelock and Roy Hendrickson assisted by Bob Mallory and Mike Bauer. And Depeche Mode, Jonatha Brooke and Thompson Square were also recently in session at Avatar.
Talib Kweli and Brian Cid at SweetSounds
In SoHo, SweetSounds welcomedBrooklyn’s own Talib Kweli into the studio for some vocal tracking and sampling in the Crosby Room. Head engineer Brian Cid manned the room’s Neve 5088 console for the session as Kweli recorded in the studio’s windowed Live Room. And Crosby resident engineer Jason Finkel also tracked a full-on session with Brooklyn psychedelic chamber-pop band Friend Roulette. The tracking sessions included two drum kits recorded simultaneously, violin, bass, clarinet, electronic wind instruments and vocals.
In other Sear sessions, German actress and chanteuse, Ute Lemper, recorded an album with Chris Allen at the Sear/Avalon console and Todd Turkisher and Lemper producing. The tracks were mostly Spanish and French traditional songs utilizing an array of exotic percussion instruments; Tracks for a new film directed by George C. Wolfe, You’re Not You (Hilary Swank) were recorded with Ted Tuthill piloting the Neve 8038 and Todd Kasow producing; Jazz singer Gregory Porter recorded his new album with large string and wind ensembles – Brian Bacchus produced and Jay Newland engineered; Yoko Ono and Antony continued recording at Sear with Allen engineering, and Yoko producing; and Mack Avenue Records tracked and mixed a new album for the jazz pianist Alfredo Rodriguez with James Farber engineering, Al Pryor producing in Studio ‘C’, and Esperanza Spaulding singing and playing bass.
Masterdiskworked on a number of notable projects, including The Great Gatsby soundtrack for Interscope – produced by Jay-Z, and mastered by Tony Dawsey, assisted by Tim Boyce; a new album by The Brian Blade Fellowship Band, Landmarks, for Blue Note – mastered by Andy VanDette and mixed by Chris Bell; and Linda Thompson’s newfirst album since 2007’s Versatile Heart, mastered by Scott Hull and produced/mixed by Ed Haber.
Also mastered at Masterdisk recently…Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society’s Brooklyn Babylon for New Amsterdam, mastered by Randy Merrill, mixed by Brian Montgomery and produced by Beth Morrison Projects, and Kermit Ruffins – ‘We Partyin’ Traditional Style’ for Basin Street Records – produced by TraceyFreeman, recorded and mixed by Chris Finney, and mastered by Vlado Meller.
All the way downtown at Engine RoomAudio…alt-rock band The Joy Formidable (Atlantic) filmed a live recording session of their song, “Silent Treatment” with engineer Ben Lindell. Also at Engine Room…Anthony Daniel mixed Kat Dahlia’s (Epic) debut EP, Gangsta, 50 Cent mastered his latest single, “We Up” (feat. Kendrick Lamar) with Mark B. Christensen, and Austin band Boyfrndz mastered their new Ikey Owens-produced album, Natures, with Dan Millice.
To Brooklyn!
Producer/engineer John Agnello mixed three new albums at Fluxivity in Williamsburg, including Kurt Vile’s new Walkin on a Pretty Daze. In keeping with John and Kurt’s appreciation of analog sounds and following on the mixes made at the studio for his last record Smoke Ring For My Halo they returned to mix on the Neve 80 series console, and as before, the mixdown masters were recorded on ATR Magnetics tape using the studio’s Ampex ATR-102 tape machine.
John Agnello and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff during March mixing sessions at Fluxivity.
Agnello also mixed the new Okkervil River album at Fluxivity, as well as the new record by Canadian band Your Favorite EnemiesBetween Illness and Migration, the tracks for which were recorded in the band’s studio in Quebec, and brought to New York for John to mix through the collection of vintage gear in the Fluxivity mix room.
Down the block at Saltlands, disco band Escort recorded with engineer Nick Stumpf; Aussie singer/songwriter Scott Matthew recorded his latest with engineer Augustus Skinner; model-turned-singer Hannah Cohen spent a couple days writing and recording new songs with producer Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) – the producer of her debut, Child Bride – and engineer Jon Altschuler; and Audioms – a new (coming soon) “indie rock licensing company” tracked music with Shannon Ferguson from Longwave. Audioms founder Kevin Mazzarelli produced the sessions, with Jesse O’Connor engineering.
Back in Williamsburg, Grand Street Recording has been busy with a number of album projects, including Jared Saltiel’s upcoming The Light Within – an album of “magical realist” songs weaving layered instrumentals with “elaborate orchstrations and clever, Beatles-esque production”and featuring musical contributions from a talented lineup of players, including Max Moston, Rob Moose, Olivier Manchon, Clark Gayton and Rich Hinman. The album was engineered by Ken Rich and Tomek Miernowski, mixed by Rich, and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.
Adds owner Ken Rich: “We’ve also expanded our studio to include a “B Room” Pro Tools rig that can be used for light tracking/overdubs and editing. We’re running Pro Tools 10 with an Apogee Duet 2 and can offer clients last minute time slots at a significantly reduced rate (50% off!) while still offering access to our extensive mic and amp collection. In addition, we’re also revamping our FX Rack, and have acquired some classic reverbs and delays including a Lexicon PCM 42 delay unit as well as PCM 60 and PCM 70 reverbs.”
Nearby at GaluminumFoil in Williamsburg, producer/engineer Jeff Berner was juggling a bunch of records, including finishing the new album by Naam, Vow, that’s due out on TeePee Records on 6/4. Berner produced, engineered and mixed the record, tracking to GaluminumFoil’s Sony/MCI JH24 2″ machine and transferring to Digital Performer for overdubs and mixing), and added some additional guitar/synth/percussion/backing vocals along the way. The record has been mastered by Alex DeTurk at Masterdisk, and was “co-produced by X-Box the dog and many strong pots of coffee.”
Berner also recently engineered and mixed Dead Stars’ new EP, “High Gain” (also mastered by DeTurk and due out – via Uninhabitable Mansions – on 6/4; co-produced and engineered the new full-length album by Gunfight!, Stripes, which will be released later this year; and recorded new material by Weird Owl. “They came in super-prepared and finished four tracks in less time than it took to get a snare drum sound in 1987,” Berner noted of the session, which took place last weekend. Really excited to mix these great tunes in the forthcoming weeks!”
Meanwhile over at producer/engineer Matt Boynton’s Vacation Island Recording…sessions have been steady going. Most recently, Carsick Cars recorded and mixed a new record with Pete Kember (Spacemen 3) producing and Boynton engineering.
Over the last few months…Boynton also engineered sessions with MGMT – tracking vocals for their new album – and Andrew Vanwyngarden (one half of MGMT) recording and mixing songs for a movie; Bad Girlfriend – tracking basics with Aaron Phenning (Chairlift) producing; Kurt Vile tracking for waking on a pretty daze; Free Blood finishing mixes; Zachary Cale, tracking and mixing new material. Jolie Holland also tracking basics at Vacation Island for a new record with Doug Jenkins engineering.
And finally, it just makes sense to end at The End– also in Greenpoint – where The Daptones recently tracked new music with engineer Rocky Gallo, and Dirty Projectors and Holy Ghost! have been rehearsing for their upcoming sets at The Governor’s Ball in June. Also at The End…engineer Chris Boosahda has been busy working with Shakey Graves to track their album, finishing up mixing on Liam Finn‘s new record and Monogold’s upcoming new album. Boosahda’s also been recording demos for Kevin Devine’s new record.
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.
In the heart of Hoboken, Triple Colossal Studios is seriously specialized in that sector, providing not just premium rhythm instruments but an elite player – one Dylan Wissing — to go along with it.
A fiercely dedicated player who has played on GRAMMY-winning tracks, Wissing has set up his NJ facility to stand up as one of the top rooms for drum recording on the East Coast. From the looks of his client list – Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Drake, and many more – he’s met his objective and then some.
But there’s flexible strategies to go along with it: clients can work with Wissing remotely via his plugged-in drum den (don’t miss his diverse player-portfolio below). And what’s more, the stylish digs provide full-service recording, rehearsal, and podcast support.
Laser focus and versatility in one place – it’s a double whammy that makes Triple Colossal worthy of a Sweet Spot.
Overhead in the Triple C. (Photo by Johathan Cole)
Facility Name: Triple Colossal Studios/Indie Studio Drummer
Neighborhood Advantages: We’re five blocks from the Hoboken PATH train, one subway stop from Manhattan, surrounded by gourmet coffee shops and amazing restaurants, in a great town full of talented, creative people. And our Manhattan skyline views are unparalleled!
Date of Birth: 2009
Facility Focus: We focus on tracking drums, but function as a full service recording, rehearsal and podcast studio.
Mission Statement: Our primary objective is to excel as a remote drum room for artists and producers everywhere, through http://www.indiestudiodrummer.com. We provide Grammy winning, Platinum selling, #1 charting drum tracks for everyone!
Key Personnel: Primarily it’s Dylan Wissing (session drummer/engineer and owner) and Matt Teitelman (drum tech and assistant engineer). Cooper Anderson and Mike Judeh engineer here occasionally as well.
System Highlight: The centerpiece of Triple Colossal is a world-class collection of drums and percussion, both modern and vintage. We have amazing kits from GMS, Drum Workshop, Ludwig, Slingerland ,Tama, Pearl, Gretsch and so on. Over 15 drum sets, 40 snares, and a mountain of cymbals and percussion. We can cover just about any percussive sound you can imagine, from the entire span of recorded music!
For tracking we use an API 3124, A Designs Pacifica, UA 4-7110d, SCA rack with A12, N72 and T15 pre’s, and vintage Magnacordette Stereo Tube Pre’s, through an RME Fireface UFX into Logic 9. We have a nice collection of microphones from AKG, Audio Technica, Audix, BLUE, CAD, Cascade, E/V, and Shure, both vintage and new. And we have great-sounding compressors from dbx, Valley People and FMR. Everything is monitored through Dynaudio BM15As.
For rehearsals and writing sessions, we have a vocal PA by Bose, amps from Fender and Hartke, and a Privia electric piano.
We take great pride in the condition and maintenance of our studio and equipment, as well. Everything works as it should, and is immediately accessible.
The building is on fire, you only have time to grab ONE thing to save, what is it? After rebuilding our studio in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene (our original location was completely destroyed by flooding from the storm), then weathering the massive flooding from Sandy when our new location was surrounded by three feet of water, the only thing we would save in a fire would be any living creature in the facility. Gear is easily replaced, people are not.
Having said that – musicians, please INSURE YOUR EQUIPMENT!!! It’s way cheaper than you think, and you will never regret the modest expense on the day that you need to make a claim. Please contact us at info@indiestudiodrummer.com if you need advice on where to turn, we can definitely make suggestions based on our experience.
Artillery at the ready. (Photo by Kristie Andreula)
Rave Reviews: What do people tell you they like/love about your studio? Most importantly for us, people love the drum sounds that they get out of our studio. We have a nice, balanced neutral-sounding room that is very easy to configure for a wide range of sounds. And of course, we have a huge collection of drums, percussion and recording gear to achieve just about any sound imaginable.
We’re passionate fans of great graphic and industrial design as well, and have designed the room inspired by both Machine Age 1930s and groovy analog 1970s. People seem to instantly get what we’re going for here, and dig it. That definitely translates into the music we make.
Most Memorable Session Ever: Recently had the Rolling Stones’ horn section in to track for a client – that was pretty damn fun (and exhausting – those guys are amazing, and FAST). We hosted a roundtable podcast discussion with professional kickboxers arguing diet with a nutritionist, which got fairly heated – the nutritionist had them on the ropes for a while there…
Session You’d Like to Forget: While there have been a few long and difficult tours I’d prefer to erase from memory, we’ve found something interesting and compelling in every recording client that has come through the door.
Dream Session: If John Legend and the Roots record a follow-up to “Wake Up!” I’d love to host and play drums when Questlove is on a coffee break. If I could get Duke Ellington’s Blanton/Webster-era band in here as well, that would be ideal. And after having tracked drums at Alicia Keys’ personal studio, I’d love to have her out to Hoboken to do some tracking at my place!
Dylan Wissing — for more information on Triple Colossal Studios, or to contact Dylan Wissing for drum tracking, please visit http://www.indiestudiodrummer.com.
Gear to go. (Photo by Kristie Andreula)
A closer look at the total workstation — DAW control is directly behind the drums. (Photo by Kristie Andreula)
Over-the-shoulder view of the room. (Photo by Kristie Andreula)
Always check the mix on your boom box! (Photo by Jonathan Cole)
Pull up a (drum) chair. (Photo by Kristie Andreula)
Bustling cities like New York, L.A., San Francisco and Nashville may boast more recording studios per square foot than just about anywhere else on earth. With such high concentrations of talented professionals, it’s not surprising that so many commercial records are made, at least in part, inside of one of these major markets.
Then there’s a second tier of studio towns – places like Chicago, Miami, Seattle, DC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Portland, Boston and Austin – where recording culture is alive and kicking, although perhaps not quite as densely packed or competitive as it is in the big four.
But major cities aren’t the only place to make records. Artists from Led Zeppelin and U2 to Bon Iver and Beach House have long escaped into the countryside to complete their crowning works. With that in mind this week, we’ll look at three “recording retreats” – studios with onsite living accommodations, that bring the luxuries of a metropolitan tracking room into quieter, more affordable, more scenic locales.
There’s a recording studio in the small city of Asheville, North Carolina, that sits nestled into the Blue Ridge Mountains, not far from where the French Broad River meets the Swannanoa.
This region, nicknamed “Land of the Sky,” has developed something of a hybrid culture over the years. The population is fairly small and spread-out, but the area is home to a startling number of transplants from the coastal cities.
These ex-pats from New York, California, Washington, and bustling cities all around the U.S. are often credited with giving the place its dynamism. But by and large, they come to the town to adapt, not to overturn, and so it’s become one of those rare places where cosmopolitan tastes meet homespun values. The whole city sits at the center of a culture that revolves in part around craftsmanship and art.
“I think the city of Asheville itself is such a big part of why people come here to record,” says Echo Mountain‘s chief engineer Julian Dreyer. “People will be playing a show in town, and come for a studio tour and they’ll say ‘Wow, there’s this great studio here, and the town is incredible. I just want to spend two weeks here and make a record.’”
“There’s a huge appreciation here for arts and crafts, and all these little communities of artists and musicians,” Dreyer says. “That attitude leads to stuff like great food and restaurants. The bar for that is set so high now that unless you’re on top of your game you just won’t survive. So it’s a city of not even 100,000 people, but we’ve got food here that would rival your most ‘hipster’ parts of Brooklyn.”
“And there’s probably more little breweries here per capita than almost anywhere,” he says. They’ve even been voted “Beer City USA” three years in a row, just narrowly beating out Portland, Oregon. “People here are so proud of Asheville that they get so pumped up to vote in that kind of thing.” And it shows: Dreyer has a slow-spoken manner and just the shadow of a Carolina drawl, but he livens up when he talks about Asheville even more than when he talks about microphones.
The Church live room at Echo Mountain
Of course there’s more to Echo Mountain Recording than just the town. It’s more than just a studio – almost a little musician’s complex in its own right, sporting 4 full-fledge production rooms, the largest of which – built into an deconsecrated old church – houses a drool-inducing Neve 8068 console, a Studer A800 reel-to-reel and a full-blown Pro Tools HD3 system.
This main space, as well as Echo Mountain’s newer API-based studio in the adjoining building, was designed by the legendary George Augspurger. Two smaller studios round out the space, offering even more affordable rooms for overdubs and the like. None of them are hurting for instruments or mics either, and vintage Telefunkens, AKGs and Neumanns float from room to room.
Records made at Echo Mountain earned three GRAMMY nominations and two wins this year; but don’t let names like Smashing Pumpkins, Steve Martin, T. Bone Burnett, War on Drugs, G Love, VHS or Beta, The Avett Brothers, Zac Brown or Band of Horses scare you away. They also spend a fair chunk of time recording new acts from out of town, as well as local and regional artists.
“Our motto for the longest time has been ‘Relax, Record,’” says John Parks, co-owner of Saint Claire. “We want to get you out of the city and – hopefully – to turn off your cellphone and close your laptop.”
“Often, relaxation is the last thing that people think about when they’re recording,” Parks says, “but it’s actually a pretty important thing, I think. Is that 15th hour as productive as that 3rd hour in the middle of the day?”
Live room at Saint Claire Recording
This concept factored into most of the decisions that the Parks made when they built Saint Claire Recording Company, a 7,800-square-foot facility just five minutes outside of downtown Lexington, Kentucky.
For anyone who hasn’t been, these parts of Kentucky can be astonishingly picturesque, especially around sunset, as dusk gathers around the rolling hills. It’s long been the style in Kentucky to cut back the trees and nurture the local bluegrass for grazing, so that when you do catch a large black oak standing on the horizon, it’s silhouetted against the sky like an old watchman looking over the homestead.
“We thought that instead of building just another studio in Nashville, we could try and tap into that slower pace of life, and maybe help put Kentucky, and Lexington in particular, on the studio map.”
If the Parks’ goal was to take the accoutrements of a world-class SSL 9000J studio and put it into the context of small-town living, they have succeeded. But as quaint as Lexington might seem to a New Yorker, it’s certainly not the boondocks. It may only be the 62nd largest city in the U.S., but it’s the 10th most educated, with nearly 40% of residents in the city proper having earned college degrees.
It has its own attractions too: the bourbon trail, historic museums, and horse racing – particularly the Kentucky Derby – which takes place not far away in Louisville, KY, a place Parks describes as “like a metropolis” compared to the small-but-growing city of Lexington.
Saint Claire has become something of a destination for some busy coastal engineers including the legendary Tony Visconti, Neil Dorfsman, and our own Zach McNees. The clients they bring with them come from fields as far flung as Japan, Spain, Ireland and Canada, and to accommodate them all, Saint Claire has five bedrooms right on premises.
“When the client is here, we want them to treat it like it’s their house,” Parks says, “and when you shut the door behind you at the end of the day, you wouldn’t even know there’s a studio footsteps away.”
Since it attracts so many traveling producer/engineers, the studio’s house engineer, Tim Price, often finds himself putting on his assistant hat. It’s a role he’s equally comfortable with, having risen up from the ranks of intern at Saint Claire.
Living quarters at Saint Claire
And although the recording space is well-separated from the living quarters, the studio itself was designed with special attention placed on sight-lines:
“When we were designing it I wanted to squeeze in as many separate isolation booths as we could,” Parks says. “We ended up with four. And with the way the windows are placed it’s the closest you ever might come to the feeling of playing live in one room, while still being able to turn up the amps nice and loud.”
But as much as it’s equipped for a full-on rock session, Parks says they attract more singer/songwriters. They’re often the ones, he says, that best understand the value of getting unplugged and closing the door.
Luckily, New Yorkers don’t have to go far to get away from it all. Black Dog Recording Studio sits just outside of Albany, tucked into the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, in the small town of Stillwater, about three hour’s drive up the Hudson River from Manhattan.
Black Dog sports a 600-square-foot live room, a 400-square-foot control room, and three isolation booths. There’s a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house available on the property, and the gearlist offers a tempting melange of top-shelf condenser and ribbon microphones, a unique mid-70s Sphere console, and some early American tube preamps from Collins, Gates and RCA, in addition to the more standard fare from API and Quad Eight.
Blackdog live room
They may be the youngest studio on this list, so their amenities keep growing. For the spring, studio manager Seamus McNulty says they plan to add a 2” Studer machine and some rustic cabins for extra lodging.
McNulty describes the Rod Gervais-designed live room at Black Dog as “bright and tight” – and ideal for recording a whole band live together on the floor if they choose. For those who want even more control, the three iso booths are ample, with the smallest of them capable of fitting a harpist. The space is rounded out with a small library of guitars, amps and keyboards, including an original B3, and a complete line of vintage Ampegs.
Despite its size, gear and proximity to the big city, Black Dog is a shockingly affordable room (one of the perks of setting up shop in a small town.) The space has attracted its share of notable upstate acts like Ra Ra Riot, Sean Rowe and Railbird, and now, a growing number of New York City producer/engineers like Joe Blaney, Jonathan Jetter, and Andrew Maury, who gives the space rave reviews.
GREATER NYC AREA: New works by David Bowie, Vampire Weekend, She & Him, Azealia Banks, John Scofield, Common and more have been in production all over the city – in the studios highlighted below. Where’s everyone recording? And who’s working with who? Here is our neighborhood-by-neighborhood guide to recent NYC studio sessions…
First up, Sound City director Dave Grohl brought his Sound City: Reel to Real soundtrack to The Lodge to be mastered by Emily Lazar and Joe LaPorta.
Butch Vig, Joe LaPorta, Dave Grohl and Emily Lazar during Real to Reel mastering sessions. (Photo credit: Jim Sullos)
Mixed by Brooklyn-based engineer James Brown, the album was recorded on the legendary Sound City Neve 8028 at Grohl’s studio and features the various performances captured for the film, including Stevie Nicks, Trent Reznor, Josh Homme and Paul McCartney. The album comes out on Roswell Records on March 12 – pre-order it on iTunes and download the first single, “Cut Me Some Slack” (featuring McCartney).
Also at The Lodge, Vampire Weekend mastered their anticipated new album Modern Vampires of the City – produced by Rostam Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid – with Lazar and LaPorta. The record is due out May 7 on XL Recordings. Superstar DJ Armin van Buuren returned to The Lodge to master his new album for Armada Records. The album was produced by Armin van Buuren and Benno de Goeij and mastered by Lazar and LaPorta. And finally, LaPorta recently mastered the new Cold War Kids album, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts – produced by Lars Stalfors and Dann Galluci and due out April 2 on Downtown Records.
Nearby at SweetSounds, indie folk ensemble Miko and the Musket tracked a new EP in the Crosby Room – Brad Fisher produced and engineered, assisted by Josh Giunta and James Gill. The band tracked through the Neve 5088 console over a five-day session that SweetSounds owner Dinesh Boaz calls “epic and awesome.”
“To create a very big sounding record, six different room mics were employed at different times as well as an SPL Transient Designer to customize the sense of space on the drums,” says Boaz. “Acoustic, electric guitars, bass, and vocals on six songs were also recorded, comped, and prepared for mix. The last day ran for 16 hours straight, where vocals, guitar, re-amps, and bass were recorded for 3 of the songs without break.”
Tony Visconti, David Bowie and Brian Thorne at The Magic Shop. Photo by Kabir Hermon.
Another epic session wrapped recently at The Magic Shop(as we previously reported) – David Bowie’s new album, The Next Day, had been in production there for two years, with Tony Visconti producing, Mario McNulty engineering and Brian Thorne assisting. The album, Bowie’s first in a decade, comes out in March.
In other Magic Shop sessions… She & Him tracked and mixed their new album, Vol. 3, with producer/engineer Tom Shick, assisted by Kabir Hermon…studio owner Steve Rosenthal and staff engineer Ted Young worked with Sony Legacy’s Rob Santos on the upcoming Elvis record Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite: Legacy Edition, mixing the dress rehearsal from the original multitrack tapes… Kurt Vile‘s upcoming release Wakin On Pretty Daze was produced and mixed by John Agnello with Ted Young… Engineer/producer Alex Newport tracked Grandfather‘s upcoming release In Human Form…Lloyd Cole recorded for his new album with engineer Geoff Sanoff… and Lily and the Parlour Tricks recorded for an upcoming EP with producer Wilson Brown, and Young engineering.
With the departure of mastering engineer Warren Russell-Smith for Los Angeles, mastering engineer Jessica Thompson is now working out of the Blue Room while Sean Gavigan, Doug Bleek and Matt Zedolik continue restoration work out of the Red Room. Thompson recently mastered Balkan Arts Series – a collection of 1960-1970s field recordings of traditional folk dances, restored from vinyl – The Lake Reflections, an album of genre-defying piano improvisations by Boyd Lee Dunlop, produced/engineered by Allen Farmelo; and a new record of Irish tunes for Chris Byrne‘s (Black 47) new band The Lost Tribe of Donegal.
Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite
Next, up to Avatar Studios, where singer/songwriter Jonatha Brooke has been recording an upcoming project in multiple rooms with co-producer Patrick Rains and Roy Hendrickson engineering, and where Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite have been recording new material with producer Dave Einstein, and engineer Anthony Ruotolo.
Also at Avatar… Cirque du Soleil mixed their Zarkana cast album in Studio A with producer Nick Littlemore, and engineer Roy Hendrickson assisted by Mike Bauer…MTV shot live performances for their Artists to Watch series with Gold Fields and Hunter Hayes – produced by Dan Weissman and Allyssa Agro with engineer Ryan Jones assisted by Bob Mallory…the Wayne Shorter Quartet and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra recorded together in Studio A with producer Rob Griffin and engineer Todd Whitelock… up-and-coming band Basic Vacation recorded with producer David Kahne, and Hendrickson at the controls…And fresh off his performance at the Grammy Awards, Kenny Garrett recorded with co-producer Al Pryor and engineer Joe Ferla.
Also worth noting, 10 Grammy Award winning records (and 21 nominees) were recorded at Avatar (Paul McCartney, Anita Baker, Chick Corea, etc.). Check out the full list here.
A few blocks away at Sear Sound…Phil Ramone produced tracks for a new Broadway Show, I Will, I Can – based on Sammy Davis, Jr.’s autobiography – with Frank Filipetti engineering on the Avalon/Sear custom board; and actor and singer/songwriter Jesse Lenat recorded new material with engineer Chris Allen and producer Loren Toolajian for Sandblast Productions.
As usual, Sear hosted a number of jazz sessions, including pianist Gerald Clayton tracking a new album on the Neve 8038 with Ted Tuthill engineering and Ben Wendel producing… Sophie Millman recording with producer Matt Pierson and engineer Chris Allen…John Scofield recording his latest with engineer James Farber…and Kris Bowers tracking a new album with producer Chris Dunn and Allen engineering. Finally, Ten Dragon Films was at Sear tracking a score for their documentary, In The Magic of the Green Mountains – Allen engineered with Micah Burgess producing – and the “Flamenco Queen”, Buika, returned to Sear to mix her new album with Tuthill engineering and Eli Wolf producing for Warner Bros. Spain.
Azealia Banks
Back downtown at Germano Studios, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts were back to record more material for an upcoming album with Kenny Laguna and Jett producing, and Thom Panunzio and Kenta Yonesaka engineering.
And in other recent sessions at Germano…Harlem-bred rap ingénue Azealia Banks recorded vocals for a new record with Ric McRae producing and engineering…John Legend recorded and mixed for his upcoming record with Dave Tozer producing and Jason Agel engineering…French hip-hop band IAM recorded and mixed their new album with Prince Charles Alexander mixing (and Dave Rowland recording)… Passion Pit recorded and shot video with Dillon Francis producing…Isa “Machine” Summers recorded piano for the artist LP with Yonesaka engineering …and Japanese artist AK recorded and mixed with Yonesaka again at the controls.
Back up in Times Square at Premier Studios NY, Justin Bieber was working on some new music with his longtime guitarist Dan Kanter – Ari Raskin engineered the sessions with Oscar Lindquist assisting.
Meanwhile, Roc Nation artist/producer J. Cole has been working out of Premier Studio B, with Mez on the controls; G-Unit rapper Kidd Kidd was in tracking with Premier engineer Kevin Geigel; the whole Pro Era crew (Joey Bada$$, etc.) has been locked into Studio F working on upcoming albums and mixtapes with Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, A$AP Rocky, Sha Money XL and many more; Shontelle was in Studio E working on new material with songwriter Corey “Chorus” Gibson, producer Reo and Angelo Payne engineering; and Trey Songz was back in the studio working on new material with Premier engineer Anthony Daniel.
Masterdisk finished some pretty major albums of late, including the 2-disc vinyl set of the aforementioned Bowie album, The Next Day, for Columbia Records. Alex DeTurk was the cutting engineer. CoCoRosie brought their new Valgeir Sigurðsson-produced album, Tales of the Grass Widow to be mastered by Scott Hull for City Slang Records. French Montana’s new single, “Freaks” (feat. Nicki Minaj) was mastered by Tony Dawsey, and assisted by Tim Boyce. The track was produced by Rico Love.
Vlado Meller mastered Harry Connick, Jr.’s new album Smokey Mary, produced/mixed by Tracey Freeman for Columbia Records. Meller was assisted by Mark Santangelo. And Randy Merrill mastered the new Jangeun “JB” Bae record, mixed by Aaron Nevezie at The Bunker in Brooklyn for Inner Circle Music / Gimbab Records.
BROOKLYN ACTION
Some heavy hip-hop production sessions have gone down at The Brewery in Williamsburg recently: For one, producer Dot Da Genius linked up with the producer 88 Keys and Common to work on new material. Dot has also been in the studio working with Def Jam artist Logic.
Dot Da Genius, Common and 88 Keys at The Brewery
Meanwhile, Dot’s partner in The Brewery, engineer/mixer Andrew Krivonos has been working with Las Vegas-based hip-hop artist Sean Rose – splitting time between Brooklyn and L.A. and “rocking the Brewery’s completely upgraded Pro Tools rig.”
Krivonos has also been engineering sessions at The Brewery with Universal’s recent hip-hop signing, Mr. MFN eXquire, with Bryan Lampe mixing; and has been tracking drums/bass/guitar and vocals for the hip-hop band Downbeat Keys’ upcoming EP, Memory Chrome – taking advantage of the re-worked acoustics in The Brewery’s new live room. And songwriter Corey Chorus and the Philly Phatboi’s were at the Brewery working with Krivonos on some records for the Columbia artist, RaVaughn.
Mastering engineer Drew Lavyne, who blogged about the loss of his Breezy Point studio in Hurricane Sandy, has been cranking on projects out of his new studio in Bay Ridge. The first two albums he mastered, in fact, were back-to-back #1 records: Kim Walker-Smith‘s album Still Believe made #1 on the iTunes Christian and Gospel Chart (and hit #4 on the iTunes Top Albums) and Jesus Culture’s album Live From New York with Martin Smith hit #1 on the iTunes Christian and Gospel Chart.
Other recent projects since Lavyne re-located his A.L.L. Digital include mastering for Exile Parade, Cari Fletcher, Arianna feat. Pitbull, Walk The Moon, Two Door Cinema Club, and Antigone Rising.
All records were tracked to GaluminumFoil’s 32-channel Neotek Elan console, using their Sony/MCI JH-24 2″ tape machine – with a good majority of them mastered by Alex DeTurk at Masterdisk. (Why?, says Berner, because he’s awesome.)
Nearby at The Fort in Bushwick, producer/engineer James Bentley has been working on a few albums – most recently he’s been tracking and mixed an LP for surf-punk band, Trash Tide; wrappingup overdubs/mixing on an EP he’s producing for local “sci-fi rock band” Lord Classic, finishing mixes on an LP for pop/rock band Aquadora, and filming a session for a new video series called “Behind the Glass“.
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.
Get ready for the envelopes — and especially the crisp sound of them being torn open.
You want to see — and hear — every nominee at THIS awards show: contenders for the 2013 Golden Reels were announced today.
The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) has announced the nominees for their annual, and well-deserved, extravaganza: the 60th MPSE Golden Reel Awards. The essential art of sound editing for sound effects, dialogue, ADR, music and much more are recognized. The content that these artisans enhance is expansive, covering feature films, animation, documentaries, video games, and even student projects.
According to the MPSE, nominees represent the work of today’s most talented sound professionals and their contributions to all of these media types, culled from around the world.
Additionally, at this year’s event, the MPSE will present its Filmmaker Award to director Ang Lee and its Career Achievement Award to Foley artist John Roesch.
Cue the music! The 60th MPSE Golden Reel Awards nominees are:
BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY IN A FEATURE FILM
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Marvel’s- The Avengers
Prometheus
Skyfall
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit
BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE, AND ADR IN AN ANIMATION FEATURE FILM
A Cat in Paris
Brave
Dr. Seuss-The Lorax
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
Pirates: Band of Misfits
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-it Ralph
BEST SOUND EDITING: DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE FILM
Argo
Beasts of The Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Skyfall
The Hobbit
BEST SOUND EDITING: MUSIC IN A FEATURE FILM
A Cabin in the Woods
Argo
Django Unchaimed
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit
BEST SOUND EDITING: MUSIC IN A MUSICAL FEATURE FILM
Joyful Noise
Les Miserables
Pitch Perfect
Rock of Ages
BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE, ADR AND MUSIC IN A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Bully
Climate Refugees
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Marley
Searching for Sugarman
BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
80 Million
Amour
Children of Sarajevo
Hypnotist
The Intouchables
Rust and Bones
BEST SOUND EDITING: COMPUTER EPISODIC ENTERTAINMENT
Battlestar Galactica: EP5 “Blood and Chrome”
Cybergeddon
DRONE
H+The Digital Series: EP26 “African Aid”
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
BEST SOUND EDITING: COMPUTER INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Halo 4
Resident Evil: 6
Spyro: “Skylander Giant”
World of Warcraft: Mists of the Pandaria Cinematic Trailer
BEST SOUND EDITING: DIRECT TO VIDEO – ANIMATION
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
Justice League: Doom
Superman VS. The Elite
BEST SOUND EDITING: DIRECT TO VIDEO – LIVE ACTION
12 Dogs of Christmas:
Cowgirls and Angels
El Gringo
Fire with Fire
Marvel One Shot: Item 47
Osombie
Werewolf:The Beast Among Us
VERNA FIELDS AWARD IN SOUND EDITING FOR STUDENT FILMMAKERS
Dawn
Eli’s Overcoat
Exedia Nation
Fragments
Head Over Heels
In Aeternam
My Face is in Space
Stumble
BEST SOUND EDITING: SOUND EFFECTS, FOLEY, DIALOGUE, AND ADR ANIMATION IN TELEVISION
Adventure Time: “Card Wars”
Family Guy: “Yug Yimaf”
Lego Star Wars: “The Empire Strikes Back”
Robot and Monster-Security Risk/Ogo’s Birthday: “Security Risk/Ogo’s Birthday”
Robot Chicken: “DC Comics Special”
SpongeBob Squarepants: “Gary’s New Toy”
SpongeBob Squarepants: “It’s a SpongeBob Christmas”
BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM DIALOGUE AND ADR IN TELEVISION
Coma
Game of Thrones, Season 2: “Valor Morghuils”
Steel Magnolias
The Newsroom: “We Just Decided To”
Titanic: “Mini Series 4”
BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY IN TELEVISION
Coma
Game of Thrones Season 2: “Valar Morghulis”
Hemingway & Gellhorn
SEAL Team Six: “The Raid on Osama Bin Laden”
The Newsroom: “We Just Decided To”
BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM MUSIC IN TELEVISION
Damages: “But You Don’t Do That Anymore”
Girl VS. Monster
Hatfields & McCoys
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Titanic: “Night 1”
BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM MUSICAL IN TELEVISION
Camp Rock 2
Lemonade Mouth
Let it Shine
BEST SOUND EDITING: LONG FORM DOCUMENTARY IN TELEVISION
Love Hate Love
Rolling Stones Crossfire Hurricane
The Interrupters
BEST SOUND EDITING: SHORT FORM DIALOGUE AND ADR IN TELEVISION
BOSS: “Backflash”
Game of Thrones Season 2: “Blackwater”
Homeland: “The Smile”
Saving Hope: “Pilot 101”
The Newsroom: “Amen”
True Blood: “We’ll Meet Again”
World Without End: “King”
The Walking Dead: “Better Angels”
BEST SOUND EDITING: SHORT FORM MUSIC IN TELEVISION
Castle: “The Blue Butterfly”
CSI: Miami: “It Was A Very Good Year”
Fringe: “A Short Story About Love”
Game of Thrones: “Blackwater”
Person of Interest: “Fire Wall”
The Borgias: “The Siege at Forli”
BEST SOUND EDITING: SHORT FORM MUSICAL IN TELEVISION
Glee: “The New Rachel”
Smash: “Hell on Earth”
Smash: “PILOT”
BEST SOUND EDITING: SHORT FORM SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY IN TELEVISION
Alcatraz: “PILOT”
American Horror Story: “Welcome to Briarcliff”
Alphas: “Wake Up Call”
Game of Thrones Season 2: “Blackwater”
Grimm: “The Other Side”
The Borgias: “The Siege at Forli”
The Walking Dead: “Beside the Dying Fire”
Why do a year-end wrap-up? And why make a big deal about the New Year at all? After all, no matter what it says on the calendar, every day that you wake up is a brand new day.
But there’s something about our species that likes to keep track of what goes on, and marking one full rotation of the Earth around the Sun is a big event to stay on top of. A lot can go on inside that timeframe — and for all of us in the world of audio in 2012, a lot certainly did.
At SonicScoop, taking stock of highlights and lowlights was particularly eye-opening this year: It seems like there was a decade’s worth of action jammed into the last 365 days. Whether the primary viewpoint is tracking, mixing, audio post, crafting new technology or leading a retro charge, 2012 left its mark.
From NYC to LA, and everywhere in between, one of the top barometers for audio biz health is studio comings and goings. On that front, the action was nonstop from wire to wire.
The Bunker exemplified Brooklyn’s ongoing expansion in 2012.
Mastering, long a model of consistency in the audio world, continued to move patiently apace. Some additional vibrancy revealed itself, however.
The ongoing resurgence of vinyl – a 39% increase in vinyl sales in 2011! – by necessity brought increased business to mastering. We saw the “Vinyl Revival” from Brooklyn Phono to Infrasonic Sound in LA.
The legendary Sound One was shut down, a victim of its massive Brill Building overhead and a drastically different landscape than the one that had originally launched it in the 1970’s.
Meanwhile, original music for picture had no choice but to keep moving forward, even as competition intensified and the fees that composers command seemed even harder for many to maintain.
Speaking of new ideas, SonicScoop was just busting with ‘em all year! We didn’t have time to get to everything on our agenda, but we’re psyched about what did surface. Namely…
While still working hard to maintain its edge, Avid also continued to make some negative headlines. The industry’s undisputed hardware/software giant laid off another 20% of its staff in July.
On the other end of the spectrum, hope sprang eternal for startups launching in NYC, or opening up satellite offices here – for evidence see the likes of Splash.fm, Believe Digital, and Team Indie.
For many whose businesses were hit square in the jaw or indirectly affected, the trauma of Hurricane Sandy leaves a lingering effect going into the New Year. But it was the way that audio pros responded that shows the resilient stuff that so many of us are made of.
SOHO, MANHATTAN: How do you become an overnight success? It only takes about 14 years of busting your tail.
This music house knows how to stay hungry.
A perfect illustration of this measured move to recognition is Butter, a busy music-and-sound-for-picture company operating in the heart of SoHo. While this self-described “creative sonic collective” hasn’t been making a whole lot of noise about themselves, they’ve been doing it for plenty of other people: their 2012 reel is a Grade A brand list that includes Amex, Smartcar, Ragu, Sony, Mizuno, Dairy Queen, Audi, Mercedes, Dupont, and many more.
So where did Butter spring up from? Actually, this accomplished team of composers and sound designers – led by Creative Director/Composer Andrew Sherman and Creative Director Judson Crane — got its start in 1998 as a part of Fluid, which has long thrived in New York City’s extremely competitive video post and visual FX scene. But as Fluid’s music department got better and better, it became increasingly clear that it was in need of a brand of its own.
That’s why, in 2009, Butter became its own entity within Fluid. And as you dig deeper into what’s happened since then, you discover why this ambitious audio group represents smart music business in NYC right now.
Branding the Music
Fluid’s beautiful HQ is the kind of expansive, airy and stylishly appointed commercial loft that gives SoHo a very good name. Go past the in-house gourmet kitchen that feeds the crew daily, up the elegant interior staircase, head on back, and you arrive at Butter.
Ensconced in this luscious environment you’ll find four studios and a live room. It’s a roomy creative home for Sherman and a carefully cultivated squad of music-to-picture pros that includes Son Lux, Fred Szymanski, Kishi Bashi, and David Quattrini.
Making it tick on a daily basis is Butter’s Executive Producer Ian Jeffreys. A singer/songwriter who worked for years in the empire of NYC restaurant master Danny Meyer, Jeffreys takes an equal understanding of long-term business strategy, daily satisfaction through customer service, and – yes – music, to his work at Butter.
Production and post service providers are constantly debating whether it’s better to offer everything under one roof or to specialize. For Butter, the need to differentiate themselves from their comprehensive parent company had become clear.
“NYC has traditionally been a market that’s interested in specialists,” Jeffreys explains. “Whatever it is, you want the best for each thing – the best butcher, the best tailor. The same holds true for post production: You want the best sound designer, the best editor.
“Fluid’s concept — that there was a company with both disciplines [visual and audio] acting on a really high level – people couldn’t get their heads around, even though you can be phenomenal at both. With the name change, we have the separation. People know it’s the same company, but the operations of an editorial company and a music house are pretty different. Delineating in name and brand made a lot of sense, and allowed us to pursue different goals where appropriate – we’re clearly not joined at the hip, even though we share a space.”
Seceding from the Fluid name, which like any brand took years to establish itself, was a potentially risky move. “Like many business decisions, you’re never 100% sure if it’s the right thing to do,” Jeffreys states frankly. “But we’re all seeing that it has worked. We have an incredibly strong reel right now, we’re working on better, higher-profile projects, and our clientele is more diverse than they’ve ever been. It’s funny, because although it doesn’t feel like we’re doing things terribly differently, the results are clearly different.”
Managed Growth
One thing that’s affecting the results is that Butter’s in-house talent and support pool are consistently growing – both by necessity and by design.
(l-r) Butter’s Ian Jeffrys and Andrew Sherman
“We’ve had an extremely busy year — over the summer we had a high level of business and it was a challenge to keep up the pace,” says Jeffreys. “We have business goals every year, financial milestones that we’re trying to meet, and we saw that if were going to make our next round of goals, we just needed more people. We were working at maximum capacity, and to sustain it additional people needed to be hired.”
In expanding its staff and the facilities to accommodate them in-house, Butter’s bucking the growing trend of decentralized music houses, where producers virtually direct a global network of composers. “In the past few years you’ve seen music companies working on a skeleton crew model,” Jeffreys states. “A lot of them have downsized: it’s a producer with a phone, and they know a bunch of freelancers that they call.
“That can work sometimes, but in terms of the end product and its quality, it’s not consistent. And it’s harder to grow as a company and build your identity when you don’t have a core group. We’re making a conscious choice to go in a different direction.”
Butter’s creative directors, composers, and sound designers are backed up with support from Jeffreys, Associate Producer Annick Mayer, Production Assistant Ryan Alons, and Director of Sales Katie Northy. An LA office is in the midst of coming online. In addition, a full-fledged audio post mixing facility, Mr. Bronx, is on the floor.
Put together, they provide clients with a professional, dedicated group. And having a high-functioning unit makes a difference to the discerning advertising, film, and video game media decision makers that Butter is working with. Jeffreys points out that simply changing the name on the door didn’t turn the group into Butter — it took time to find themselves and evolve.
“We have a really strong team, but I think there was a period when we weren’t capitalizing on our strengths enough,” he says. “We weren’t following up on our successes, we certainly weren’t looking to publicize ourselves, and we didn’t have as clear of a plan for growth.
“In the last couple of years, it’s been my approach to create a plan, set goals for the future, and work towards those. In the process, we want to find ways to maximize every opportunity that we have. So rather than stick to the most traditional models of composer/producer/sales, we find the strengths of every person on the team and tailor our operations to those strengths. That has helped us move forward.”
How Composers Make the Cut
This seems like a crew many a composer would want to row with, and Jeffreys outlines Butter’s criteria for the sound creators who make it on their roster.
Deliciously equipped: Inside Sherman’s suite.
“First and foremost,” he says, “we want to see a reel from someone. I want to know that this person has spent time working to picture, and worked their way around creating underscore. Its one thing to create a well-crafted piece of music, it’s another to understand how that music needs to supports film or picture.
“Then we want to see record-quality engineering and production. That’s the bar. If it doesn’t sound as good as something on the radio, it’s not really worth considering.”
The toughest test of all: a musical personality. “We want to see a point of view. I think our company has been strong in that each of our composers, while they are able to create music in different styles, all absolutely have their strong suit. You give them any creative brief – orchestral, vintage pop, dance, electronic – they’re able to do it all, but they each have their sweet spot.
“Andrew is phenomenal at orchestral writing. I think of him as the John Williams of the commercial world, with his beautiful orchestral scores. Judson is really great at creating pop-style tracks that have a quirky element, but are more compositional in nature. Son Lux, who’s based in LA, is known for chamber and dark electronic music. Another composer might be strong with dance and hip hop and top 40 sounds, will still another does fantastic, quirky electronic remixy stuff.
“They all cover a different part of the spectrum, which is great when we’re submitting music for a job: You’re not going to get nine of the same thing. You’ll get different versions of an idea. I think that really helps a project, and that’s where we want to continue to focus our services in the future – giving a set of compositions to our clients that covers a wide spectrum of possibilities.”
Butter also finds fresh sound sources through an artist residency it’s established, where talented composers, writers, and artists can work in their studios for a month. Johnny Rogers, Leah Siegal (Firehorse), Andrew Judah, and Len Cavanaugh (Soul Mafia) have all taken part so far.
“They come in and kind of see how we do business,” says Jeffreys. “They have access to the state-of-the-art tools in the studio, all of the instruments, and they get a catered lunch every day. It’s a creative home for an artist. We give them funding to create new music, which we will then represent in our library. It’s become beyond what we initially expected – it’s this mutually beneficial and inspiring process.”
Project Focus: Mizuno
A real-world example of Butter’s approach can be experienced via Judson Crane’s arresting score for the spot “Manifesto”, a :60 micro-movie for shoe maker Mizuno.
“The Mizuno spot really exemplifies how we work,” says Jeffreys. “Every Butter composer explored in a broad range of directions. It was definitely a long process, but I think it was a very rewarding one.
“For ‘Manifesto’, we talked about capturing the duality of the runner’s experience There’s the physicality and the strenuous push that’s needed on the athletic side. Then there’s also this internal and eternal, meditative sensation that comes from running.
“Judson’s score is an outstanding piece of music. It’s compositionally strong, it’s got a lot of great live performances featured in it, and the way he engineered it is really inventive. That’s cello that you hear in the beginning with a tremolo on it – it’s a unique sound you don’t hear every day. And I love the ending — it feels like it will just swallow you with the sound.”
Going Goal-Oriented
From his Executive Producer perspective, one of Jeffreys’ top directives is to streamline communications between networks, agencies, content producers, and Butter’s composers.
All roads at Butter lead back to the kitchen.
“I like to think of myself as an interpreter,” he reflects. “There’s an old quote that I reference a lot, ‘Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.’ Our clients are primarily writers and art directors whose strengths lie in words and visual media. But when it comes to music, not all clients are as strong in talking about it.
“One of my primary functions is facilitating the communications between creative groups and composers, and finding a piece that will satisfy everyone.”
Jeffrys isn’t the first to draw parallels between running an audio business and a restaurant. But his years of experience working for Danny Meyer – whose Union Square Hospitality Group includes such decorated NYC restaurants as the Union Square Café, Grammercy Tavern, Blue Smoke, and Shake Shack – give him a genuine point of comparison between cuisine and commerce.
“I think the restaurant analogy works for a lot of businesses,” he says. “Most businesses deal with the front of house and back of house just like a restaurant – there’s the sale, relationship, and the production.
“I worked for Danny Meyer at Blue Smoke on both sides of the line. He runs an incredible business, and watching him manage production, organize a staff, and prepare for a large volume of business taught me a lot about organization and time management. When you’re under high-stress conditions and trying to maintain relations with the clientele, it doesn’t hurt to have restaurant experience to teach you how to manage all of that in a graceful way.”
So if you want fries with that, just ask. But at the same time that Butter is making sure the daily special goes swimmingly, their edge comes from the ability to plan far in advance – then make it happen on time.
“If you’re not setting goals, you’re just treading water,” Ian Jeffrys says. “When you have a desired endpoint that you can focus your will towards, it may take longer than you want it to, but you do make headway and get closer to that goal.
“Otherwise, you’re just grabbing the low-hanging fruit and not really reaching. I don’t think that’s the way to create a sustaining business. But when you hit your marks, that feels very good: It gives everyone momentum to do more, and try new things.”
— David Weiss
Like it says…
Andrew Sherman in his natural surroundings.
Real instruments at the ready.
Media at its most multi.
Enter the live room.
Lunch break, where Butter, Mr. Bronx, Platige Image, and Fluid congregate.
Work in progress: inside another Butter composer suite.
Outboard insight
Step up to the mic — and keyboard.
Neumann X/Y
Percussion is at hand.
When day is done…former full-time foodie Ian Jeffreys still knows how to concoct a cocktail.
