Along with the announcement that the James and Giant Peach cast album I produced is now available for free download HERE, a few behind the scenes videos were released… like this one
The show, based on the Roald Dahl book, was adapted for the stage by Timothy Allen McDonald with music and lyrics by Pasek and Paul (Dogfight, A Christmas Story, Dear Evan Hansen.) Get a copy!
Doing the right thing is rarely easy. But,”Am I doing the right thing?”… this was the question that plagued me as I broke the seal on my new Pro Tools HDX card. But let me back up a bit.
I’ve been running a Mac Pro 8 core with a PT HD3 system (48 ins 40 outs) since 2008 and it was a beast of a system. I do mostly audio production (most all of it being done at 96k,) but also do a fair amount of programming and composing so I run Vienna Ensemble Pro with a bunch of high quality (resource hogging) virtual instruments. The 8 core, running PT 8.1 on OS 10.6.8, did a great job keeping up, so I put off upgrading to PT10 as long as I felt I could.
Pro Tools 10 is sexy. I’ve been using it in other studios for quite a while now and while it didn’t blow me away running on an HD system, it is near unstoppable on a good HDX rig. Tracking an orchestra at Ocean Way Nashville recently, (more…)
Over the years, I’ve printed a few audio recording, midi and music business tutorials and “how to’s” that have received much positive response from readers. The other day I was having a difficult time locating one of the older posts for myself, so I decided to put together a short list of links to the favorites.
Thanks to those who’ve taken the time to email and continue discussions on these topics.
Midi and Tempo Mapping:
– Midi: Four Letter Word or Composer’s Best Friend?
– Are You Leading or Following
(more…)
How do you cut tight, rocking tracks with great tones? Simple… have KILLER players.
To record a few more tracks for Ecuadoran singer James Febris’ debut album, I returned to The Tracking Room studio with producer Rodolfo Castillo, executive producer Jaime Araque, Arranger/Contractor Chris McDonald and an amazing bunch of musicians. (more…)
2013 started off with three non-stop weeks of show production and recording – five different shows! I’ll try to re-capture some of the fun for you.
I recorded and mixed a score for Disney Land Tokyo’s Diamond Horseshoe Dinner Theatre. A Vaudeville show with a western flavor, composer/arranger Greg Smith wrote for a 10 piece band contracted by accordionist Jeff Taylor (The Time Jumpers, Elvis Costello) that featured a “western swing-horn band” with some killer players like guitarist Bryan Sutton, trombonist Barry Green and fiddler Matt Combs.
After recording the orchestra at The Tracking Room Studio, I mixed the project (more…)
The 13th Latin Grammy Awards were held in Las Vegas last week, and armed with a couple of nominations I joined in to witness the spectacle. And spectacle is the word! First, let me congratulate the Academy for another successful event, the scope and management of which boggles my mind. There were two big concert events, the main awards show telecast, and the Person of the Year event honoring Brazillian composer/artist Caetano Velsoso. The FOH mix at both concerts was great (not easy with so many different performers) (more…)
It’s always nice when a project you work on gets some well-deserved notice. In this case, Ricardo Arjona’s “Independiente”, which just grabbed 4 Latin Grammy nominations including “Record of the Year”, “Album of the Year”, and “Song of the Year”. Better still, I’m named in the first two along with my friends, Producers Dan Warner and Lee Levin and Mix Engineer David Thoener.
“Independiente” is full of great performances and beautiful songwriting. One of my favorite cuts is “Fuiste Tu,” nominated for Song of the Year, which is a duet with the incredible Gaby Moreno (her record “Postales” was released just last month.) My primary contribution to Ricardo’s album was recording the brilliant string arrangements by my long time colleague Chris McDonald.
The Latin Grammy Awards will be held in Las Vegas on November 15th and televised on Unvision.
Big Band Brass for Oscar
Famed Venezuelan Salsa singer and bassist, Oscar D’Leon, is recording a new album of American Big Band standards mixed with some latin favorites. Where else would he record than here in Nashville with me? Executive Producer Jaime Araque (de Venezuela) and Producer Rodolfo Castillo (de Guatemala) hired Chris McDonald to orchestrate and myself to record and co/produce the sessions why not try this out. So, back I went to the Tracking Room studio for a few days of smoking hot Big Band. (more…)
Each year, the GDC in San Francisco offers an incredible array of information, networking opportunities and chances to see friends old and new. GDC 2012 was certainly no different! Since the experience is so overwhelmingly broad, here are just a few highlights from my trip this year.
First off, there were a few stand-out presentations on Game Audio. The game audio community is comprised of some of the finest composers, engineers and sound designers working today and a few of those were on hand to share some experience in a presentation. (more…)
Here’s some bits from recent projects Tarzan, Equinox Jazz Orchestra, Disney’s Peter Pan Jr and SeaWorld’s Shamu’s Rockin’ Creepshow. Each project had it’s own set of challenges and each was uniquely gratifying.
