Spreading The Message of Love 
Nick & Benny in The Studio 

Nicholas James "Nick" Vujicic (born December 1982) is an Australian Christian evangelist and motivational speaker born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. Vujicic promotes his work through television shows and through his writing. His first book, Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life was published by Random House in 2010. He markets a motivational DVD, Life's Greater Purpose, a short documentary filmed in 2005 highlighting his home life and regular activities. The second part of the DVD was filmed at his local church in Brisbane - one of his first professional motivational speeches. He markets a DVD for young people titled No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!  In March 2008, he was interviewed by Bob Cummings for 20/20 He starred in the short film The Butterfly Circus, which won the Doorpost Film Project's top prize of 2009. Nick was recently in the studio with mixer/producer Benny Faccone (Julio Iglasias, Mana, Reba McEntire). Watch "Something More" Music Video here  Happy Birthday Nick!   

photo by David Goggin

Hewitt at HOB, Nashville
Studio empersario
Gary Belz announced this month that producer Ryan Hewitt (Chili Peppers, Avett Brothers, Flogging Molly) has a new place (below) at House of Blues, Nashville.

Hewitt is product of his modest start in the audio business first getting a job as a runner at Sony Studios in NY, making $5-an-hour.  

Hewitt who lists Jim Scott and Michael Brauer as mentors offers his best advise for new generation of producers:  Be humble and learn from every angle you can.       

 Eric Johnson Records Eclectic at his Austin-Based Studio  

"Legendary guitarist" is justifiably the most common two-word description given of Eric Johnson, whose six-string prowess has earned him a Grammy win, several Grammy nominations, a Platinum album, and residency on practically every "Top X Guitarists of All Time" list ever made. He's regularly played and recorded with fellow guitar greats Chet Atkins, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani, and Eric Clapton selected Johnson for his 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival. Most recently, Johnson collaborated with jazz guitar great Mike Stern on the album Eclectic, which the two recorded and mixed at Johnson's Austin-based studio with the help of Johnson's accomplished recording and mix engineer Kelly Donnelly. Although Johnson is known mainly for his prodigious talent as a guitarist, he is also comfortable playing numerous other instruments, including piano, lap steel, bass, and voice. He is an accomplished songwriter and, in more recent years, has plied his skills over the years as a producer and assisting his recording engineers. The common frustration of mixing a song to seeming perfection, only to find obvious mistakes when he played it on other systems, drove Johnson to find the perfect near-field monitors. He found them in a pair of ATC SCM25As, which deliver the undecorated truth so that Johnson's mixes sound beautiful and balanced on any system, from wee computer speakers to the biggest home theaters.

 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."  ,   

 

    

 

 

LA's Yacht  

Press hails Yacht as not just music, but as a way of life. Just read the Yacht mission statement.  This LA pop duo is packing venues like the newly remodeled Regent, downtown.  Yacht started as Jona's solo venture in 2002, only to double in size when Claire (writer and science-fiction editor) joined in 2008. They have made five full-length albums of music and a handful of singles, the bulk of which have been released by  DFA Records. The previous releases were on a label called Marriage Records and States Rights Records (an incubator for music by the likes of Lucky Dragons, White Rainbow, Jib Kidder). They have also made remixes for Snoop Dogg, Kings of Leon, Phoenix, Neon Indian, Stereolab, RATATAT, Classixx, and others. Oh yeah, they also have a line of sunglasses.
What else from this enterprising duo can one expect? "We built an app, called 5 Every Day, that tells you five interesting things to do in Los Angeles every day (spoiler: they're all things we love)!"  Just have a feeling Yacht will be docking in style at many new ports around the world.  

Bay Area's New Production duo SKULS

Skuls is made up of two 18 year old students from the Bay who started working together in 2010. After releasing there first EP 'Free Information' the two began experimenting with a new sound they like to call future bass. With there first release post EP of Childish Gamino's 3005 gaining over 1k plays and a #1 spot on hypem it's clear that SKULS have continued to build momentum with 2 more remix releases only months apart. 2014 has been a year of creating a fan base.  Our pick:Free Information 

 

A Swift Success: Taylor IS The Music Industry!  
 

She's on the cover of Time and Business week. Price of the second-row ticket for a Taylor Swift concert at the Staple center on August 25, 2015 was listed at $3,086 (the most expensive resale option in the market). She has been in the news a lot. Her withdrawal of her song catalog from Spotify over royalty payments made some people question the future of streaming music.  For some labels like Sony the  shift from ownership to access is a foregone conclusion.  In four years, streaming and subscriptions will account for 60 percent of the music industry's $8.2 billion in revenu. Spotify's Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek defended the company, saying enticing people with free offerings is the foundation of the business model that made possible a $2 billion payout to content creators since its inception. An artist like Swift could earn more than $6 million this year, he added. This may be true of Ms Swift. But, keep in mind that for every one of Spotify's 12.5 million paid customers, four pay nothing. And, those numbers add up if you're not selling millions! I would imagine if you're consumer of music, you dig Spotify's service.
Sony has yet to start its own streaming service. It does have a stake in Vevo, a video-hosting service which offers music videos from Sony Music and Universal Music Group. Scott Borchetta (former MCA, Dreamworks exec) is founder of Big Machine Records, Taylor Swift's Nashville-based label. The deluxe edition of 1989 (the ONLY album released this year that exceeded sales of 1 million), which fans can buy exclusively at Target (TGT) for $13.99  According to Nielsen SoundScan, Swift's total sales have reached 24 million.  Swift, who splits her time between homes in New York, Nashville, L.A., and Rhode Island (her estate there has eight fireplaces) has a net worth of $200 million, according to Forbes.

Those of you in Los Angeles, can look for the Taylor Swift Experience on display in the GRAMMY Museum's Special Exhibits Gallery - where temporary exhibits are showcased on a rotating basis - through May 10, 2015. The GRAMMY Museum is located at 800 West Olympic Boulevard, Suite A245, Los Angeles, CA 90015.    

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. 

Meet Hammond's Youngest New Artist  

 

The Nation has been introduced to the young and most gifted virtuoso, through the Ovation Network's "Young Marvels" series, which follows the developments of incredible children who are making landmark achievements in all areas of the arts. The episode airing on Wednesday September 17th shows Matthew playing with one of his Mentors, Jazz Legend and Hammond Organ Hall-Of-Fame member Dr. Lonnie Smith.   See Video Clip Here.

Dr. Smith formally inducted Matthew as an Official Hammond Organ Artist, on behalf of the company, where Matthew joins the ranks of Hammond Giants like Brian Auger, Keith Emerson, Rev. Moses Tyson, Ellis Hall and Bernie Worrell. At age 13, he becomes the youngest artist so honored in the company's 81-year history. Matthew's genius extends beyond the Hammond Organ, excelling on Piano and Drums as well. He has performed extensively, on an international scale, with concerts before the UN Youth Assembly at the United Nations HQ in New York, and Jazz at Lincoln Center among the highlights.

Matthew was a winning participant in the "Amateur Night at the Apollo Child Stars of Tomorrow"; which resulted in his being the opening performer for Stevie Wonder's induction into the Apollo's hall of fame. Matthew has written several original compositions. His artistic influences are composers/musicians Dr Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Smith,  Stevie Wonder, Thelonious Monk,  Chick Corea,  Prokofiev, Chopin, Bach, among others. Welcome to Hammond family Mathew! 

Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin...

by Glyn Johns

Amazon 

What do you need to have to be a producer? Well, if you ask legendary producer Glyn Johns, author of his new book, Sound Man, he'll say: "You just have to have an opinion and the ego to express it more convincingly than anyone else." More recently in 2011, after a couple of decades spent largely away from production, Johns worked with Ryan Adams on his album, Ashes & Fire.  In February 2012, Johns began work on the Band of Horses album, Mirage Rock.   Johns began his recording engineer career  in 1959, just before the demise of the 78. It was the beginning of the vinyl age. Mono was the thing and stereo was only for hi-fi freaks. The record industry as we know it now was in its infancy. Glyn's early memories of music takes him back to his local church where he sang in the choir. "..the sound that was belting out of the organ pipes, were completely enthralling. The sheer energy and emotion of it had a profound impact on me, as I realized that the performance of a piece of music could have such a dramatic effect not only on the listener but also on the performer," says Johns who was drawn to jazz as a teen. Then as he was finishing school, his sister got him an interview at a recording studio.   

"In those days, record producers were called A&R men.  They all worked for a label," says Johns according to whom, another major difference in the early days was that the maintenance department played a key role in the development of the studio and technology as in designing and building consoles, etc.  Glyn Johns was the producer or engineer of a number of rock's classic albums, including those by the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, the Eagles, the Who, the Beatles, the Clash, and such singular artists as Joan Armatrading and Ryan Adams. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.  "He is an artist himself of supreme talent and experience," says Pete Townshend of The Who (circa '67 Johns w/ Jagger at Olympic in London courtesy Daily Mirror).   

Johns developed a unique approach to the recording of drums, known as the "Glyn Johns Method", characterized by an unusual overhead mic arrangement. The key to the method is to keep both overhead mics equidistant from the center of the snare. This method has been used consistently in professional recording to this day. 

In 1967 in San Francisco, just a few weeks after the Summer of Love, a young Mexican guitarist took the stage at the Fillmore Auditorium and played a blistering solo that announced the arrival of a prodigious musical talent. Two years later -- after he played a historic set at Woodstock -- the world came to know the name Carlos Santana, his sensual and instantly recognizable guitar sound. he writes about his life with a raw honesty that is infused with dignity and grace. His writing truly reflects his music: passionate, soulful, gut wrenching, and ultimately transcendent and replete with hope. This is an incredibly inspirational book.
Musicians will not be disappointed. Carlos discusses the finer points of his music: his influences, his band members throughout the decades, his instruments and equipment, his recording history, his touring, and his process of creating  

The King's Men Sing After Hours

The King's Men are a close harmony group made up of fifteen choral scholars from the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. The group has previously released recordings for the Signum label focusing on folk and classical repertoire, but the more 'popular' side was not documented until now. The album includes arrangements of popular music tracks such as ''Call Me Maybe,'' ''Forget You'' and ''I Want you Back'' as well as classics like ''Old Man River'' and ''Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.'' It's a delight to hear the purity of the a cappella voices on this album, majority of which was recorded live in a semicircle and without digital systems to ensure purity of sound and intimacy. 
Enjoy I get Around (Arr. Keith Roberts)" on youTube. These lads were together in 2012-2013 academic year and most of these fellows have left the University.  Sound like another good band break up? Well, thanks to the recording, you can order the CD just in time for Christmas!
We're sure this holiday season you'll be getting around.  Until next year, expand your catalog and insist on quality, the only sound choice you get when you work with studioexrpesso community. 

Christmas Tree Lane, December 13 at 6 p.m.  

More LA Tree Lighting  

This month let's remember that we all matter far more than we typically have a clue about, and love is what is real.  

It's a mistake to be typically human and standoffish, because we don't know how much time we have with people who cross our paths.  

In the end, all we really need, as the song goes, is LOVE.  So, be good. Santa is coming! 

Irving Berlin's White Christmas sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with versions of the song, along with Bing Crosby's, have sales over 100 million. Our pick remains the classic duet: Crosby & David Bowie performing The Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth.    

Have a happy Christmas and enjoy the Holidays.
Until next year, music lives and moves. 

NEW!
studioexpresso

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 David Bock has now captured the sound of the vintage Neumann U47 tube microphone in the new Bock 407. As with Bock's other products, TransAudio Group will distribute the Bock 407 in the United States.  

MultiViral

DANIEL RODRIGUEZ: A Glorious Christmas

Amazon

Daniel Rodriguez chose to follow his passion and dreams after the tragedy of 9/11. The former NYPD officer is now an international recording artist. He helped bring the country an uplifting spirit of promise and hope with his stirring rendition of "God Bless America" after the September 11th terrorist attacks and became known to many as the "singing policeman. "

Daniel has released his first Christmas album. "A Glorious Christmas" co-produced with three time Grammy nominee David Rideau.

"A Glorious Christmas." Daniel's seventh album, offers more of the spectacular vocal performances that have earned the singer known as America' s Beloved Tenor fans all over the world.

The recording includes duets with

Daniel's wife, international recording artist Marla Kavanaugh who joins him on "I Believe." "Christmas Day" features rising star and Breath of Life Records recording artist Shelea Frazier. "Silent Night" is a bilingual duet with Grammy nominee, Karina Nuvo.

"A Glorious Christmas" is available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.

Sept 2014 Release: Pacific Jazz   

Clavo Records I Amazon I  

 iTunes or  Spotify.

57th Annual GRAMMY Awards® 

This Friday is officially the beginning of Grammys season, as the nominations for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards -- as well as a boatload of snubs, some expected and others shocking -- will be doled out beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET.

We don't dare speculating...but you can count on seeing Beyonce and Sam Smith taking a few spots. Our fave Best New Artist category, noms for Iggy Azalea, Sam Smith, Bastille and HAIM are a sure bet. No, Taylor Swift's blockbuster 1989 album isn't eligible this year!
 
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!

A Film Music Review by Nelson Dodge

You could count on one hand-sometimes one finger-the number of movies I see in a theater in a year. When I learned that an organ figured prominently in the score of Interstellar, opening this weekend in theaters, I was instantly curious to hear more. A quick review of several online trailers didn't reveal any hint of organ, so I magnanimously invited my wife out for (turn on the reverb) a night at the movies.

Interstellar is director Christopher Nolan's latest collaboration with favorite Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer. I generally find Zimmer's film scores musically interesting-his theme in Gladiator is one of my favorites-so I was particularly intrigued to see what he would do with an organ. According to the Film Music Society website, Zimmer credits Nolan with the idea of using organ in the score. From the website:

"By the 17th century," Zimmer points out, "the pipe organ was the most complex machine invented, and it held that number-one position until the telephone exchange. Think about the shape of it as well: those pipes are like the afterburners of space ships. And very little, other than Gothic horror movies, has recently been written for the pipe organ.

"All over the world you have these magnificent machines. You stand next to them and you can hear the giant that is breathing. It is the central voice of the score," he says.

The "central voice" is the IV/61-rank Harrison & Harrison organ in The Temple Church in London, built for and by the Knights Templar as their headquarters in the late 12th Century. The church's director of music, Roger Sayer, is the organist for the soundtrack. Harrison & Harrison has been building organs in the English tradition since 1861 in Durham, U.K. The organ at The Temple Church was originally built in 1924 for Glen Tanar. It was moved to The Temple Church in 1954 and updated in 2013. (The organ in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle is a IV/72 Harrison & Harrison from 1965).

The Interstellar story is epic: a trio of heroes must save the human race from extinction, due to a dying planet Earth and the failure of food crops, by attempting to reach one or more planets in distant galaxies explored on previous NASA missions. Problem is, with limited data, it isn't clear which planet is best suited for sustaining life. Thus the voyage begins.

Along the way, we encounter the requisite elements of classic film making: love and romance, good and evil, and some treachery. With a half dozen main characters, all the archetypes are there. There are two father-daughter "teams" that frame the backbone of the story and are exploited to their full dynamic potential. It's pure Hollywood, including hewing closely to the humanist theology at the core of the story.

Categorically, this is a science fiction space voyage, with all the advanced technology you would expect (and need) for easily navigating the universe-and not just the trip of a lifetime, but a trip that spans a lifetime. All manner of space hazards are encountered and survived: cosmic storms, time warps, gravitational and relativity anomalies, fifth dimensions...and more imaginary science that isn't really science at all...it is fiction after all (note to self: just relax and enjoy the ride...oh yeah, don't forget to listen for the organ).

Zimmer's score is primarily orchestral, anchored by masses of strings and woodwinds, and includes a 60-voice choir, the Harrison & Harrison organ and several pianos. Although the music was recorded live with acoustic instruments, these big budget film soundtracks go through so much processing and sound design that the distinction between recorded acoustic sound (the orchestra, choir and pipe organ) and engineered sound is lost much of the time: it all becomes one big morphing mass of sound. And it does get BIG at several points-those space storms are brutal-the sound is punishingly loud (earplugs recommended!).

But in the more musical moments, when the orchestra, choir, organ and piano are distinct, one can hear Zimmer at work. I would have liked to hear the choir more prominently: if you weren't listening attentively (easy to happen when Anne Hathaway's face was full screen) you could miss the choir altogether. A shame when you think of the efforts of so many live musicians compared to doing it digitally, which, dare I say, probably could have achieved the same effect when relegated to being part of the overall "texture."

As expected, the organ has a more central solo role. It debuts with a thunderous chord (what else?) à la the introductory climax in Strauss' tone poem Zarathustra, or as the average bear would know it, the opening theme of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Unlike in 2001 (well actually 1896 via 1968), Interstellar's "big organ" rumbles with amped up 16' and 32' pedals to the point it felt like we were actually in the spaceship hurtling through space, obviously the intended effect. In the world of sound design 2014, it's impossible to tell where the acoustic organ sound stops and the sound engineering starts: the distinction between music and sound is ambiguous. Truthfully, I prefer 1968...perhaps I'm just showing my age.

When the organ comes to the fore as the "central voice," it is truly beautiful and distinctive. A solo principal pipe voice (8' and 4' maybe?) methodically articulating a spare haunting theme, alternating between romantic and plaintive in the tonal space that is uniquely the organ's domain. I wondered: "does anyone in this theater besides me know they're hearing organ pipes?" Few, if any, would have the musical reference points to know, plus it wasn't the stereotypical context for organ: a wedding or funeral scene, or some sort of Frankensteinian reveal.

Ultimately, Zimmer has done an unconventional thing in focusing on the essence of the organ-the purity of a principal pipe-as the star solo instrument in his orchestra. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few within the film music and organist circles, such innovation will go largely unrecognized and uncelebrated. I suggest skipping the movie tickets-the best way to acknowledge what Zimmer has done is to buy the CD and enjoy the music at home at a level that won't damage your hearing...and spread the word.