Spencer Dukoff came to Firedog last year with the band "Fine Print".  They were referred to us by a mutual friend P Fess (Paul Fessock from the band Amp'd).  We recorded a handful of FP's songs with Ian Paytas on drums, Steve DeClerque on guitar,  Mike Gorman on bass, and Spencer on guitar and vocals.  The songs were very well written and the guys did a great job performing the tracks.  Not too shabby for a bunch of teenagers!  Spencer came back to work on a solo project a couple of months later and Kevin and I worked hard on producing and performing on Spence's tunes.  We put together a very nice collection of songs which highlighted Spence's vocals and guitar work.  We added in some coloration with drum loops, percussion, bass, keyboards, and some extra guitars. 

Spence has been a musician since the age of 12 where he started out playing piano.  He switched to guitar and began excelling quickly working his way up to writing 2-3 songs a week! 

Besides music, Spencer is a very busy individual.  He is involved in school plays, student council, model UN, and the tennis team.  Along with his many school projects and plays, Spence works at Scotti's record store in his home town of Summit, NJ (one of the oldest independent record stores in the country) and plays shows as much as he can.  Being under 18 can be a damper for the many bars and clubs in Jersey, but there are other outlets such as Surf Taco in Belmar, Espresso Joe's in Keyport (where Spence played with Firedog), and a local coffee shop in Summit.  This past summer Spencer was awarded a full scholorship to the National Guitar Workshop in Nashville, TN.

We are very proud to have worked with Spencer and we are also very exicited that he will be back at Firedog this winter to finish up his solo record.  Stay tuned for the CD and other great accomplishments from our friend Spencer Dukoff and for now, you can hear one of his tracks called "The Fire Within" at Firedog's myspace.

TD.

 

We receive quite a few calls a day at Firedog,  but I was very excited to receive a call in September from Leo Zachari.  Leo teaches the "Audio in Media" class at Brookdale Community College and he was looking for a guest lecturer.  Leo remembered Firedog from our advertisements every year at the Brookdale Guitar Show. 

 

I was elated that he thought of me to fill for a couple of hours and teach about real life experiences and share some stories of studio mayhem.  I was a bit nervous at first being removed from my own comfy studio and classroom environment but it was a great experience to chat with college students about mixing consoles, microphones, and studio techniques.  The students were very responsive and the QA section of the lecture was very interactive.   Overall I had a great time and I hope to be back there again in the near future.

TD

 

Back in the year 2000, I started recording Christmas tunes as a present for my parents. (insert sappy awwwww sound)  Well, I'm happy to say that we continue on with the holiday tradition this year by releasing "Brother Terry's Christmas at Firedog Studios".  It's a collection of 5 songs that we recorded at Firedog,  three of them we did recently with Brother Terry, his family and friends (we had the whole Booth family partaking on vocals)  and the other two were older songs played by yours truly.  We had a great group dynamic with all of the kids and adults as you will hear on Silent Night and Away in the Manger.

The EP has a very cool vibe relaying the Christmas story as the songs segway from track to track.  We had such a great time in the sessions that we are looking to release a full length CD of holiday songs next year.  The EP will be available soon on Itunes.com along with other releases by Brother Terry and the Firedog gang. 

To celebrate the release of the CD, Brother Terry, family, friends, and the Firedog gang will be performing at Espresso Joe's coffee shop in Keyport, NJ on December 18th at 7:30pm.  We hope to see you there for some acoustic holiday cheer!  For information and directions go to Espresso Joes.
Happy Holidays!

TD.