Studio Spotlight During AES 2014   

Capitol, East West, The Bridge, NRG and United...LA Studios Welcome AES

The 137th Audio Engineering Society (AES) Convention, held Thursday, October 9-12, 2014, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, California, was the place to be if you have anything to do with the audio industry. The exhibit floor, panels and technical sessions were packed all four days, and with 15,403 registered attendees and 307 exhibitors/sponsors, this AES far surpassed any West-Coast AES Convention in the last 10 years. At show close, AES reported a 28% increase in registration since the last time the convention was on the West Coast (133rd AES Convention in San Francisco in 2012).

Elaborate parties at historical and award-winning recording studios in LA drew many of the AES attendees in the evenings to Hollywood, North Hollywood and Burbank. Warner artist LP turned studio one at East West into an intimate stage during AES (footage from the party) on Friday October 10. LP appears to be the reincarnation of Edith Piaf meets Lou Reed -- big voice and style in a petite female package, super emotive and talented.  Her new album Forever For Now is out now and was reviewed in our September issue. She calls herself a "Chronic whistler," but she (photographed above) is more - with a firm command on keeping the audience in the palm of her hands. Trans Audio Group packed the legendary studio 2 with gear, their inventors and enthusiastic visitors - David Bock, Geoff Daking, A Design, Crane Song, Tube Tech, ......guests took turns to tickle the ivories on the piano. 

Capitol studios took guests (above Brent Fischer and Rafa Sardina with friends)  back to the rat pack era onThursday night, October 9th. Sponsors Moet  Champagne rolled out their bubbly for arriving VIPs on the red carpet.  PMC's QB1-A announced sale of two pairs of monitors to Capitol as part of the their ongoing refurbishment program at the historic studios, one pair installed in Studio A, the other for Studio B. 

Ambassador of Soul, Ellis Hall (Ray Charles, Tower of Power ) graced the make-shift stage at Capitol studio A performing Motown and Ray Charles hits (Ellis-ized with his own soulful style) on the piano to an enthusiastic industry audience. Hall who has solidified a reputation for soul-searing Rhythm & Blues, and has electrified audiences throughout the world, is also a distinguished Hammond artist. Like he says, a big "Chakalaka!" Guests got to hear recordings by Amy Winehouse, Nirvana and Led Zeppelin mixed at Capitol Studios' legendary control rooms.

PMC QB1A rolled out its gear with red carpet event at Capitol studio during AES with fabulous host Chandra Lynn   

The studio tour of some of LA's best studios moved to the valley on Saturday October 11, first to The Bridge and later to NRG 

studioexpresso caught up with House of Blues Studio owner Gary Belz and his son Eric who were checking out ATC speakers at the Trans Audio Group booth at AES. We caught up with Air EQ CEO & designer Fabricio Gabriel, who talks about controlling the resonance with his new EQ software. 
studioexpresso met up with Skywalker Sound's award-winning engineer Leslie Ann Jones  who tells us about her new wine label, Cole Ridge (watch it here)!
Mixing music and blending wine near Napa Valley sounds like music to my ears. I think I'll stock up for the holidays. Meantime,  Like 2011 Cole Ridge on Facebook! 
nonzeroarchitecture had a booth at AES this year. Principal Peter Grueneisen and his staff provide full architectural, planning and design services to local, national and international clients from its offices in Santa Monica, California. Its studio bau:ton division continues to offer a comprehensive approach for the creation, recording, production and distribution of audio and visual media and for the live arts. Peter Grueneisen's work with nonzero\architecture focuses on new explorations in architecture and on the generation of form and sustainability in the contemporary context. With studio bau:ton he continues the integration of architecture and technology, and with finding solutions to complex multi-disciplinary problems. With Greeniron Constructs, Peter is venturing into the architect-led design/build process, exploring the many advantages of that approach while attempting to recapture the role of the master builders of the past.

l-r: Designer Peter Grueneisen with daughter manning the nonzero/architecture booth at AES. Skywalker's Leslie Ann Jones introducing her new wine, Cole Ridge

The next stop that evening was at the super viby NRG Rcording Studios where guests enjoyed live music streamed with sponsors to include Studio Suite introducing its latest release of management software Xi. Watch CEO, Joel Stoner explain the new improvements on this helpful asset management tool.

l-r: Grammy-winning producer Brent Fischer, Tamara and multi-Grammy winning Mixer/Producer
Rafa Sardina with studioexpresso & C Artist's Claris Sayadian-Dodge at NRG Recording reception during AES 2014
 

l-r: Auro 3D CEO Wilfried Van Baelen, Dub Brothers president with Sound designer Chris Jacobson (Spiderman 3, new Poltergeist) at Dub brothers during AES 2014 

 ATC SCM20PSL Passive 2 Way Monitors in studio G, Brooklyn where Puss N Boots perform "Don't Know What It Means 

ATC ANNOUNCES NEW LINE OF POWER AMPLIFIERS
THE P1 PRO & P2 PRO  

The TransAudio Group is proud to announce the release of two new MOSFET Class A/B design dual mono power amplifiers from ATC - the P1 Pro and P2 Pro. At 150W/ch into 8 Ohms and 300W/ch into 8 Ohms respectively, these fan-less, rack-mountable power amplifiers offer the perfect solution for any studio wishing to get the best out of their passive monitors, including the all-new ATC SCM20PSL Pro. Both models feature a 19-inch rack-mount chassis with front panel mounted standby button and L/R clip indication. The amplifiers incorporate the same gain reduction and loudspeaker protection circuits that are used in the ATC active monitors. These circuits ensure that the amplifier will not clip, even when working at very high volumes, which protects the loudspeakers from damage and improves the subjective performance of the entire system. Importantly, neither amplifier uses a fan, so they can be placed anywhere, including the control room.

The P1 Pro and P2 Pro are of a 'true' dual mono design: the power supplies, signal, and return paths are totally separated from each other. This approach maximizes signal separation and minimizes crosstalk. Further, intermodulation between channels via the power supplies is reduced to an absolute minimum at all frequencies, and the power demand from one channel cannot affect the specified power available to the other channel.

Brad Lunde, president of the TransAudio Group, ATC's U.S. distributor stated, "ATC is famous for building active studio reference monitors that give engineers a consistent, honest reflection of their work. Although ATC's revolutionary drivers and chasses get most of the credit for the brand's legendary transparency, ATC's superbly-designed amplifiers deserve equal credit. Just as the new passive ATC SCM20PSL Pro gives engineers access to ATC's loudspeaker without the amplification, the new ATC P1 Pro and P2 Pro give engineers access to ATC's zero-compromise amplification without the loudspeaker itself. Any reference monitor will benefit from the clean power of an ATC P1 Pro or P2 Pro."

For the latest info on ATCs contact  Brad Lunde at  702-365-5155 

1973 WINS RESOLUTION AWARD  

Ivor Drawmer, veteran designer and manufacturer of boutique high-end audio processors, has earned a 2014 Resolution Award for the new Drawmer 1973 three-band stereo FET compressor. The Drawmer 1973 benefits from Ivor's deep, thirty-plus years of experience building best-in-class signal processors and is unique in its combination of three critical attributes: its controls are remarkably easy to use, its price is low, and its sound is, of course, beautifully musical. Resolution Magazine's Resolution Award is determined by industry expert nominations and reader votes, and the Drawmer 1973 edged out three other respected manufacturers in the "Dynamics" category. "The Drawmer 1973 multiband compressor is the kind of tool that mix and mastering engineers will find so useful they'll wonder how they ever got by without it," said Brad Lunde, president of TransAudio Group, Drawmer's U.S. distributor. "It has a pristine signal path that imparts dimensionality and life to a signal - even as the processing tames its dynamics, and the multiband controls are easy to visualize and work with. Nevertheless, Drawmer has set the price of the 1973 far, far lower than its quality and features justify. The 2014 Resolution Award win is nice validation of everything we're so excited about in the Drawmer 1973."  ,   

Photo credit: Rossumedia    

Autumn is a great season to discover Holland. Enjoy a gourmet weekend in Haarlem or Breda, try out new flavors in the Rotterdam food market, also home to Nick van de Wall. His rise into the DJ and production world as Afrojack is cover story of Forbes Life this month.  At age 17, he went to Greece to work as a DJ for the summer, working six nights a week from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. His pay: 200 euros a week. Last year, Afrojack earned $22 million, more than all but five of his fellow DJs, thanks mostly to nightly fees in excess of $100,000

Not long after the birth of his 2-year-old daughter, he purchased a 15-acre spread in the woods between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Before he completed construction of his house, he built a full recording studio complete with a vocal booth, a six-figure speaker system and a sleeping loft so he can work on music nonstop (he says he sometimes does so for 16 hours on end).

"I have a whole team I have to work with that I have to make proud," he says ... So I have a lot of responsibilities," says Van De Wall. And he's got 7,330,254 likes on his facebook page. But who's counting?!  

Hear A Hollywood Doll

Former Pussycat Doll, Kaya Jones, has gone Hollywood Doll with new brands to include a new album, her signature Starlooks Cosmetics Line, chocolate and more.  
This doll is not just a pretty voice and face.  Jones is an advocate for human rights for young girls. Think of her as the modern-day female version of John Walsh. She wants to bring information on missing children to large arenas and media.  Subscribe to her Channel and Download "Runaway" from her new EDM album Phoenix Rising on HueMan Race Records available on iTunes. All proceeds from sales of this single "Runaway" go to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  She also has a pilot for a reality show in the works and just in time for the holidays, she'll be unveiling her new shades of RED lipstick coming to a store near you! 

She met with studioexpresso earlier this month to talk about her fascination with the cosmos. Let's just say there is more to this doll and her star is on the rise!  Phoenix Rising is produced by Aqua's main man Ren Dif (barbgirl fame). 

 

Say Hello to Dr Schmitt

Berklee honorary doctorate for Al Schmitt

  

 
Legendary engineer Al Schmitt received an honorary doctor of music degree as Berklee president Roger H. Brown and assistant vice president of artist and music industry relations Carl Beatty look on.

Music industry royalty gathered at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles in September for the awarding of a Berklee honorary doctorate to recording engineer Al Schmitt, and to mark the 25th anniversary of Berklee today magazine. The crowd of nearly 120 included John Mayer '98, Patti Austin, Monica Mancini, Steve Lawrence, Steve Lukather (Toto), and Christopher Guest. The list of prominent producers and engineers included Don Was, Elliot Scheiner, Tommy Vicari, Gregg Field, Michael Bearden, Niko Bolas, and Ed Cherney. Schmitt was chosen for Berklee's first honorary doctorate presentation in Los Angeles because of his outstanding work from the 1950s to the present as an engineer, producer, and label executive working on countless major albums that have won him 20 Grammys, two Latin Grammys, and the Grammy Trustees Award. Schmitt nabbed his first Grammy Award in 1962 for engineering Henry Mancini's score to the movie Hatari!, and his most recent in 2013 for Paul McCartney's Live Kisses. In between, Schmitt worked with Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Jefferson Airplane, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Norah Jones, Chick Corea, Madonna, Willie Nelson, and Herbie Hancock, among many others.

 

 

 

Besides their pure analog signal paths, Bettermaker units have a full digital recall with 399 cells for your own presets, which you can recall with one touch.

You can save your settings in the internal memory of the EQ's as well as in your D.A.W....AND... in your project with your AUTOMATION. More info here  at Trans Audio Group. 

And yet it moves... This one courtesy of nonzero/architects, one of their completed projects features a shade screen by day, the aluminum panels allow filtered light to escape from the lounge and stairway at night  at Remote Control Productions
Take a look at the moveable part of this custom aluminum screen on the brand new ground-up building at Remote Control in Santa Monica. The hole pattern is derived from vintage synthesizers and complements an earlier glass screen next door which is based on a Mozart score. see if you can guess which Score?

6050 Sunset Is United Again!

Hudson Pacific Properties, the new owners of the iconic Hollywood studios (formerly known as Ocean Way and United Recording)
had its bright new sign posted on the door at 6050 Sunset during AES
Hudson Pacific has 12 sound stages on the Sunset Gower lot and another 11 on Sunset Bronson, along with production companies for ABC, NBC, HBO, Showtime including the local KTLA station.
The new name is actually taking the legendary studios back to its roots to Bill Putnam's (inventor of the UREI line of audio gear) United Recording. 
The announcement was made just in time for P&E Wing-sponsored party during AES that drew many from the production community, including former clients and employees of the studios I managed from 87'-99'.   I must have spend nearly 24,000 hours booking an astonishing number of artists to include: Dolly Parton, Jellyfish, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Cher, Lionel Richie, George Duke, Luis Miguel, to name a few.   Many of the former assistants and clients are award-winning studioexpresso members and/or clients. I remain grateful for the opportunity to serve this talented group. 

Here's to the next 24,000 hours together. Thank you!

"2014 is looking like the first year that there will be no platinum selling albums (1 million sold). So, out of 330 million people there wasn't an album that even
1 million wanted to buy. D'oh!"

-- Matt Wallace 

 BOO! A record company executive was talking to me about his frustrations for not selling albums like he used to. Let's face it, the old days are not coming back. Yes, quality matters, and anytime you go in the studio, you want to produce the best recording you can. However, the fact remains that everything's available. For free!  Artists who have learned to monetzie their brand - selling shows, products, licensing their music and keeping their publishing are those who will come on top. How about finding sponsors who will commission your work? Bach and Mozart did it! In the end, good music always wins and lasts for centuries. Find your niche and your fan base, and you can still sell albums (thanks to technology, cost of making albums is down considerably).
So, forget about the money you're making from albums or singles. Just create music that communicates to the human soul better than any language on earth.  Work on your performance and craft. Entertain!
Here's to artist development. Here's to Music that Lives and Moves. 

Safe & happy Halloween!

Calle 13

Label: El Abismo

Amazon 

Renown producer and 14-time Grammy-winner Rafa Sardina is listed among the producers: John Blais, Olimpia Calderón, Ryan Gilligan, Phil Joly, Adolfo Martínez, Ramón Martínez, Kevin Mills & Carlos Velázquez.  

Stepbrothers René Pérez Joglar and Eduardo José Cabra Martínez alongside their half-sister, Ileana Cabra Joglar, formed Calle 13.   

Calle 13's other nominations include best urban music album, performance and song.  Eduardo Cabra of the group is nominated for 10 awards, including producer of the year, while the band is up for nine.  

The 15th annual Latin Grammys will air on Telemundo.

Barbara Streisand

Partners

iTunes

Music legend, Barbara Streisand, has proven her tremendous talent once again with her newly released album, Partners. This number one album leads Streisand's number one albums in six consecutive decades with 51 gold, 30 platinum and 13 multi-platinum albums. If that does not say enough about her immense success, the artists featured on this album do. The fellow music legends Streisand partnered are: Michael Bublé, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Babyface, Billy Joel, Blake Shelton, Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli, John Legend, Josh Groban, Jason Gould, and Elvis Presley.

Produced by Kenneth Edmonds and Walter Afanasieff and engineered and mixed by Dave Reitzas, Partners is composed of a wide variety of song choices. The collaborations among the songs help enhance the diversity of the album. The positive connotation associated with Streisand name is proven in her effortless talent throughout the tracks.

Partners pay homage to a variety of musical styles dating back to the fifties. Streisand's collaboration with the king of pop showcases her ability to combine her unique sound to Elvis Presley's iconic song, "Love Me Tender".

"How Deep is the Ocean" features a collaboration between Streisand and Jason Gould. Both Streisand and Gould's flawless voices create a beautiful melody between mother and son.

Whether it is Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" or John Mayer's "Come Rain or Come Shine", Streisand's variations of partnerships featured on this album depict her extensive musical range.

By Carly Price

With the holidays just around the corner, vocalist Marilyn Scott's newly released album, Get Christmas Started, is the perfect way to get into a festive mood. Born on Dec 21, Scott released her live Christmas album on October 15th. Engineer and mixer, Erik Zobler (who also mixed Dianne Reeves "Beautiful Life" earlier this year), was a quintessential part in the team that created Scott's holiday party album.

From R&B to Broadway, Scott drew upon a number of influences when creating this album. The opening song, "This Christmas" features a Philly Soul sound as it is followed by a bluesy rendition of "Christmas in Chicago". These two tracks are a few depictions of the variety of musical genres Scott incorporates in her holiday album. Nevertheless, she still included a number of Christmas classics in order to truly make this a holiday party jumping. From "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" to "Christmas Time is Here" (from A Charlie Brown Christmas"), Scott features these light-hearted tunes just in time for the holidays.

Scott's release of this album seems to have come at the perfect time. This Christmas album was released just far enough in advance to distinguish Scott among the rush of Christmas albums to come; however, it was launched at the perfect time to get fans in the holiday spirit.

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Sept 2014 Release: Pacific Jazz   

Clavo Records I Amazon I iTunes 

Producer Brent Fischer (Usher, D'Angelo, Elvis Costello & The Roots, Michael Jackson)  credits
14x Grammy-winnner Rafa Sardina  for mixing Passion on Pacific Jazz.
Pacific Jazz is for those of us who love large ensemble or big band music! 

In the mood for something that's chamber music with a classical temperament, "colorful and captivating," (review in All About Jazz), consider the Clare Fischer Orchestra, Music For Strings, Percussion And The Rest...

Enjoy it here on iTunes or check it out on Spotify.

"Weekend in Stockholm" "Miniature" and "Retrograde Orbits for Vibraphone" uses the vibes (expertly played by Brent Fischer) for that cinematic effect. The music of Dr. Clare Fischer is a synthesis of influences across an unusually broad spectrum. From an early age, he was absorbing the works of Bach, Bartok, Ellington, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Strayhorn, Berg, Villa-Lobos and later Jobim and Dutilleaux. This one will stay on your playlist!

57th Annual GRAMMY Awards® The first-round of ballots were mailed  to nearly 12,000 voting members of The Recording Academy®. Completed ballots must be returned to the accounting firm Deloitte Consulting LLP by 5 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Nov. 5.  
 
Nominations for the 57th GRAMMY Awards will be announced the first week of December. Final ballots will go out on Dec. 17, 2014, and will be due to Deloitte on Jan. 16, 2015, 5 p.m. PT. After the final tabulation of votes, winners' names will remain confidential in sealed envelopes until the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards. The music industry's premier event will take place live on Sunday, Feb, 8, 2015, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on the CBS Television Network from 8 - 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
 
For the upcoming 57th GRAMMY Awards, the eligibility period is Oct. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30, 2014, and includes 83 Categories in 30 Fields. For a complete list of Categories, click here. 

Good luck everyone!