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Heat Seakers - top 25
The Heat Seekers chart lists the best-selling titles by new and developing artists, defined
as those who have never appeared in the top 100 of The Billboard 200 chart.
production news & trends
studioexpresso music community worldwide
espresso break for The Beatles
The
Hollywood Cat's Pick This Month
Congratulations to Miss USO, Victoria Robertson
nominated "Best New Artist" at
2005 San Diego Music Awards (read more below)
6th Latin Grammy
Noms Are In...
Special Congrats To: Record of The Year "Tu No Tienes Alma"
nominee Alejandro
Sanz (Warner Intl) and his co-producer Lulo
Pérez and engineer/mixers Carlos Alvarez, Oscar Vinader and
Rafa
Sardina. Sanz scores a second nom for The Song Of The Year. Sardina
also engineered and mixed tracks from México En La Piel by superstar
and producer Luis Miguel (Warner Intl) who has a nom for Best Ranchero
Album. View Completd list of Nominees
at Grammy Web site here.
Get On expresso10! Each month, new releases (in no particular order) are reviewed and posted with expresso10 (see home page), when studioexpresso's community of producers or engineers email details of completed projects with their artists.
RSVP...expresso@8
1st
Wed of each month -- Wed Sept 7th
rsvp with expresso@8 (in subject line of your email)
to receive VIP invite and venue details info@studioexpresso.com
where
artists, managers, labels, producers...
come together!
Please check back with studioexpresso calendar for upcoming mixers & music events
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Cups 'N Strings
Expands Restoration and Archiving Division What do Steely
Dan, REM, and Nirvana have in common? Selections from their catalogues
were transferred to digital and audio archived by Cups' N Strings. Take an express tour of Cups' N Strings Studios with studioexpresso and learn more about Santa Monica's best multi-purpose recording center
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Bruce
Maddocks with (from L-R) an Otari MX-5050 2-track-1/4track recorder;
Otari MTR-12 4-track / 2-track recorder; Pro Tools HD-3 rig; Ampex
ATR-102 2-track recorder; Otari MTR-90 MK3 8-16-24-track recorder;
Otari MTR-90 MK 2 8-16-24-track recorder. Photo by David Goggin.
Drum Doctor
world's finest collection of drums & cures for common drum ailments
Mr Bonzai
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2004 Edition of the
Recording Industry Sourcebook is out
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Watch Video
Interviews with Top producers from Legendary Studios |
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top producers,mixers,
composer and studios
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toll free
Michael Schenker's
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your flowers today!
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The Entire
Woodstock Hendrix Performance
Nashville
Meets Las Vegas At Blackbird On Friday July 29th and Saturday, July 30th, the who's who of Nashville's elite recording studios, independent engineers and record label executives were treated to a first time bash at John and Martina McBride's Blackbird Studios in Berry Hill, Tennessee. On Friday night, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres were elegantly severed in both famed Studios A&B and the recently completed studios C&D in the rear section of the block-long facility. On Saturday, the staff at Blackbird switched the décor to red-checkered tablecloths for Nashville's famous, down-home "Jack's BBQ" lunch replete with mama's sweet ice tea. Visitors enjoyed Blackbird's incredible ambience and experienced the live performance of some of the world's top quality pro audio gear.
As a special sneak preview, guests were able to admire the almost completed, much talked about, new George Massenburg recording studio at Blackbird. If you were not among the three hundred or so guests, you'll just have to wait a bit longer to see what the Massenburg studio buzz is all about. On both days, one of Nashville's top vocalist, Carolyn Martin, and guitarist Andre Reiss performed in the Studio C recording booth, allowing all to evaluate various microphones and mixing selections. "Our hats are off to Carolyn Martin, not only for her incredible vocal style, but for her really incredible patience with studio engineers who asked her to sing the same song, over and over, through umpteen different mics - but hey! Is there a better way to showcase microphones!" says Lunde. TransAudio staff members Richard Bowman and Todd Peterson were on hand to discuss the problem-solving capabilities and performance properties of their product lines. A wide array of manufacturers were also on hand to answer questions and show off their wares. These included Peter Montessi (A-Designs ), Geoff Daking (Geoffrey Daking & Co), Bob Heil (Heil Sound Proline Microphones), Ben Lily (ATC Loudspeakers), and George Massenburg (George Massenburg Labs ). Products represented
at the event include A Designs (USA), ADT
Toolkit (Germany), ATC (UK), Brauner
microphones (Germany), Drawmer
(UK), Enhanced Audio (Ireland), Heil
Sound Mics (USA), GML (USA), PAULY
Superscreens(Germany), SABRA
SOM (Brazil), Soundelux
(USA), SoundField
Microphones(UK), Weiss
Engineering (Switzerland) and Z Systems (USA).
Gift Of Music In its ninth
season and under the helm of artististic director, Patrick
Williams, The Henri Mancini Institute featured Hollywood's top
composers' works during a week-long music festival -- David
Newsman, James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri and Justin
Freer, to name a few. The HMI currently boasts over 475 Summer Education Program alumni -from 41 states and 27 countries. HMI’s Professional Alumni Ensembles are hired regularly throughout the U.S. as part of HMI's continuing network of support for these musicians. Past appearances have included the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl performing with artists such as Diana Krall, Dianne Reeves, Shirley Horn, and Monica Mancini.
The
Young And The Restless At Studio City Sound Studio City Sound's Tom Weir is holding his GRAMMY AWARD, with singer/songwriter Lauren Woodland who is also a lead actress on "The Young and The Restless". Tom received this Grammy Award for mixing the "Toots and The Maytals Album" - "True Love," which received the Best REggae Album of The Year Award.
AES
Spotlights
The Heil
Proline Microphones From LVPA Building on Bob Heil's extensive history as a product innovator, the Heil Proline mics all feature large diaphragm dynamics and neodymium magnets. Expect incredible deep bass response, ultra smooth mid-range and an extended, but gentle, top end. These properties make the mics appropriate for a wider variety of applications than typical dynamics, including recording, live sound lead vocal and voiceover for broadcast. Joe Walsh, of the Eagles and James Gang fame, was one the prime beta tester for the Proline mics. The PR-40 incorporates
the Heil DM 6 large dynamic element, offering a flat response from
28Hz to 18kHz with an engineered midrange rise for enhanced vocal
articulation. The Heil PR-40 features a unique copper-wound voice
coil and neodymium magnet structure that creates a magnetic field
ten times stronger than the traditional microphone magnets. This
coupled with a low mass quilted aluminum diaphragm, produces tremendous
low-frequency response with very low distortion. Previewed at the
NAB 2005, Bob Heil's innovative PR-40 was honored with trade magazine
Radio World's "Cool Stuff" award. The PR-40 offers the
widest bandwidth of all the Heil Proline mics and ships with an
all-metal stand adaptor, a wooden storage box and Heil cleaning
cloth - a package suitable for microphones costing many thousands
of dollars. It comes is a cherry wood box with the Heil exclusive
Teflon-lined, all metal mic clip. Similar in appearance
to the PR-40 is the Heil Sound PR-30, the internally shock-mounted
version of the Heil end fire large diaphragm dynamic mic. This microphone
is designed primarily for broadcast voiceover, and has an innovative
sorbothane shock mount system to prevent low-frequency thumps or
bumps from traveling mechanically up the stand or boom arm. That
makes it an ideal live sound stand mounted mic. The PR-30 also produces
a wide frequency response, excellent transient response and low
intermodulation distortion (IMD), through the use of a special magnet
structure and a large (1 1/8-inch), low mass, aluminum voice coil
assembly. A special phasing plug assembly ensures a very linear
cardioid pattern and reduces the proximity effect while achieving
extreme articulation across the 40Hz - 18kHz frequency response.
The PR-30 ships with an Heil-exclusive Teflon-lined, all-metal stand
mount. Following a
20-year Heil Sound tradition, the new PR-20 was engineered for natural
speech articulation without the need for heavy electronic equalization.
With a similar wide frequency response, excellent transient response
and low IMD, as the other models in the line, the PR-20 also incorporates
a special phasing plug assembly that ensures a very linear cardioid
pattern and controlled proximity effect while achieving extreme
articulation across its 40Hz - 18kHz range. The superior low handling
noise of the rugged PR-20 is achieved by mounting the very wide
frequency response dynamic element into a special sorbothane shock
mount system. The low handling noise and exceptional lack of bass-boosting
proximity effect make the PR-20 ideal for professional live sound
applications. M600 Universal
Microphone Mount Available Through LVPA The Enhanced Audio M600 is increasing its high profile user base. Coldplay's producer and engineer Ken Nelson, who has also worked with Gomez, Badly Drawn Boy and Kings of Convenience, has recently purchased four M600s. The legendary Air Studios, Lyndhurst Hall, London has recently purchased three M600s and David Gilmour's Astoria studio has purchased ten Enhanced Audio M600s. Manufactured in Dublin, Ireland. The unique design of the revolutionary M600 offers increased musical headroom and greater dynamic transient capability through the reduction of low-level mechanical noise and increase in low-level information. And that in essence provides an enhanced reproduction of the overall performance. M600 has been designed to interface and complement a broad range of currently available microphones up to 65mm (2.56inches) in diameter and fits standard 5/8-27 American Unified thread microphone stands and, with the use of an insert, will fit 3/8-16 B.S.W. thread stands. The Enhanced Audio M600 is made up of two concentric, low-resonance aluminum rings. Three equally spaced, adjustable mounting screws hold the microphone centrally inside each ring. Each screw is tipped with a techno polymer plastic (Delrin) thrust pad to prevent the screws' rotational force from being transmitted to the mic, while also protecting it from external structural and ground-borne vibrations. The low resonant frequency of the M600 significantly reduces the transmission of infrasonic vibrations - such as traffic, heavy machinery and seismic energy. This results in an audibly tighter and extended bass response, cleaner treble and improved detail. Producer Ken Nelson's testimonial and other high profile user testimonials can be viewed at the Enhanced Audio website www.enhancedaudio.ie and also at the Las Vegas Pro Audio website The product
is now available. Introducing Soundfield's New ST350 Portable Surround Mic
The lightweight multi-capsule microphone featured compact mic-pre/control unit that generates surround and stereo simultaneously at balanced line levels. ST350 can be used in conjunction with the SoundField Surround Zone software to offer a complete recording and post-production package. Surround Zone is now available on the Digidesign Pro Tools, Steinberg Nuendo and SADiE platforms. Brad Lunde,
president of LasVegasProAudio comments, "We have listened to
the market requests for a more compact and portable SoundField
system. The new ST350 is less than half the size and weight
of the other competitive microphones." Drawmer's New Three-SUM
LVPA is also introducing the Drawmer Three-Sum Multi-Band Split & Sum Device at AES 2005, NYC (booth #850). It's a 1U device that enables individual processing of up to three bands prior to re-summing. The stereo signal is split into two or three frequency adjustable bands, which can be sent to external processors before returning to the Three-Sum where they are re-combined. The Three-Sum employs a high-quality signal path culminating in a variable threshold, brick wall limiter section with bypass facility. To ensure transparency the limiter design is 'two stage,' applying different processing to the H.F. content of the material. In applications where the dynamics of the material need to be retained to create an open sound, the limiter is essential for catching peaks. The Three-Sum has been designed for use in high-end mastering and general recording applications. Alternatively, it can transform a project studio, equipped only with 'single band' processors, into a serious multi-band facility. Each of the three bands has bypass and mute switches to allow independent band and effect monitoring. Commented Brad Lunde, president TransAudio Group, "The benefits of multi-band processing have been apparent to sound engineers for quite some time, however, 'locking in' your audio to just one specific multi-band unit can restrict your options. Low-frequency energy, the vocal midrange and high-frequency detail can benefit from different types of processing. The Three-Sum allows the engineer to apply his favored outboard to any particular 'slab' of the audio bandwidth." The product
is now available. Heil Proline
(booth 851) and M600 Mic Mounts (booth 859), ST350 Portable
Surround Mic, Drawmer
Three-SUM (850) are available
for review and are now shipping. Please stop by and visit
Brad Lunde
at AES, NYC or TransAudio Group's product lines include A-Designs (USA) AEA ribbon microphones (USA), ADT Toolkit, AEA, ATC Loudspeakers (UK), Brauner microphones(Germany), Drawmer (UK), Geoffrey Daking & Co. (USA), George Massenburg Labs (GML) (USA), Heil Sound (USA); Mercury Audio (USA) Mission Audio (UK) Phoenix Audio (UK), PAULY Superscreens, SABRA SOM, Soundelux (USA), SoundField Microphones (UK), Z-Systems (USA) and Weiss Engineering. The Good
Charamel Goo Goo Dolls' Robby Takac signed 3 bands via his Good Charamel Records. Takac also produced the albums for Last Conserative, Klear and The Juliet Dagger. to contact Robby contact Brian Gross 818-343-3673
Train Training
With Berklee Online
After completing
several Berleemusic.com
online courses, Train's drummer Scott Underwood and the band are
back in the studio working on their forthcoming album. Since their
1994 formation in San Francisco, the group has grown steadily as
a locomotive force in music. The band's Drops of Jupiter earned
Platinum status, with the single "Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me)"
spending 53 weeks on the Hot 100 and earning a Grammy® as the
Best Rock Song of the year. Train recently appeared on Good Morning
America performing "All I Ever Wanted," a sneak peak from
their upcoming album.
Berkleemusic.com
is Berklee's online music school, delivering online access to world-renowned
music faculty, educational concepts, and time-tested curriculum,
previously available only to on-campus students. nonzero\architecture
and studio bau:ton's expertise with audiovisual facilities and its
fresh approach to architectural challenges are key factors in the
successful designs for these complex and multifaceted projects.
Previous projects for the film music community include the Fox Newman
Stage, studios for Patrick Williams, Dieter Meier, David Newman,
and screening rooms for Disney and David Lynch among many others.
According to Christine Lloyd-Maddocks, Specialist Realtor to the Music Industry, inventory of Homes with Recording Studios are on the rise. "Today's Market offers a healthy mix of homes with recording and media rooms. Over 70 home listings with studios come up each month on Multiple Listing Service (MLS)," says Lloyd-Maddocks. "When you speak to the average agent, they often don't always understand the difference between a studio vs an office. Does the room come with a designer or acoustician attached, what are the studio's special features --booth, ceiling height, acoustics, etc. Christine is sensitive to our community's needs and lingo," says studioexpresso's Claris Sayadian-Dodge. As more and more musicians are choosing real estate as investment strategy, each month we'll discuss trends and resources that might be helpful to buyers and sellers. So, got a home with studio for sale or looking for that special home with a studio click on the links below which will lead you to Lloyd-Maddocks web site and she will do the rest of the work for you. Each month we'll
list two homes that are good value finds. For more info: please
contact Christine
Lloyd-Maddocks, Specialist Realtor to the Music IndustryFeaturing
Homes with Recording Studios Home Studio
in Woodland Hills sumptuous private
master suite with sun deck project/composer studio w/vocal booth
is perfect for musician 2,452 gorgeous sq feet of woodland hills
living private relaxing ack yard low maintenance-pool mature landscaping
close to Blvd.
Contemporary
Home Studio in Sherman Oaks
Separate & private recording studio w/2 rooms, full bath. Indoor basketball ct. Call to see this stunning home that doubles as studio.
Chinawhite co-founders, Fred Moss and Marc Merran, have joined forces with Samy Sass of Monaco's Sass Café fame, to launch London's most significant and exquisite nightlife venue, MO*VIDA. Built on the site of the former Break for the Border Tex-Mex restaurant - in the vaults of the famous London Palladium Theatre, this luxurious £2m conversion of the 400-capacity venue is poised to reinvigorate London's elite nightlife. For sound reinforcement,
Fred Moss has again returned to the high-fidelity of ATC's studio
reference loudspeakers, which he had earlier specified for his award-winning
venues, Chinawhite and Aura. These have been worked into the raw
brick arches of an interior scheme conceived by French designer,
Samy Chams of Prospect Design, whose portfolio includes the VIP
Room in St. Installed by Nick Whittaker, of Whittaker Electronics, no fewer than 17 of ATC's PA65 active three-way enclosures have been flown in the main room, with 20 single 15-inch active subs built into the furniture - a formula which has already found considerable success at Chinawhite. In the VIP/Champagne Room at the rear, with its cozy alcove beds, an additional three PA65s are complemented by a pair of active single 12-inch custom horn-loaded subs (which are concealed under these cubicles). The ATC active approach favors a different principle to conventional PA. The mid-highs incorporate a three-channel Class A/B amplifier (producing 200W bass, 100W mid, 50W HF), with active momentary gain on all channels. Drivers consist of a 15-inch SL bass, three-inch soft-dome mid and a one-inch fabric dome tweeter, producing a maximum SPL of 116dB with a dispersion pattern of ±80 degree horizontal (coherent) and ±10 degree vertical. States Fred Moss, "We have now standardized on ATC. We had a hybrid system installed at Chinawhite, which didn't sound very good, and we had to have an engineer in nearly every week. "I needed something more reliable. From the days when I ran a record label, a couple of studios in which I would do my mastering ran ATC reference monitors. I was impressed with them. So initially I got the idea of putting a special system based on ATCs into AURA, although at MO*VIDA we have reverted to the system used at Chinawhite and where possible built the subs into the fittings. MO*VIDA's capacity
includes a 75 person lounge, plus a 50 capacity VIP room. ATC's drivers are manufactured in-house to exacting tolerances and are legendary for their many design innovations, such as the innovative SL magnet system and the company's renowned Soft Dome midrange driver, which achieves exceptionally broad and even dispersion to produce a flat response anywhere in the room. Situated in Aston Down in rural Gloucestershire, England, ATC was established in London in 1974 by acoustics engineer and musician Bill Woodman. ATC is distributed in the US by www.transaudiogroup.com
Back to School
Berkleemusic,
the online extension school of Boston's renowned Berklee College
of Music, has partnered with UCLA (University of California, Los
Angeles) Extension's Department of Entertainment Studies as the
newest member of its online Partnership Learning Program.
It is a fact of life that any artist thinking of a career in the recording industry, has to be able (in the very least) to put together a 3-5 song "demo" of their work. In point of fact, demo is now a misnomer, "master" is more the reality. As the saying goes, "you never get a second chance to make a first impression." Mastering and recording engineers will offer advice and tips on how to make a demo/master inexpensively -- but have it sound like you spent the big studio bucks making it. About The Guests:
Dream Works On The Market In an era when the business is controlled by fewer major studios (six when we wrote the article) and more than a decade after its launch, the Hollywood powerhouse, Dreamworks, founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen is valued for an estimated $1billion or more. NBC Universal, owner of the fifth- biggest Hollywood studio, may buy DreamWorks SKG, first reported by the New York Post. Talks between NBC Universal and DreamWorks are in early stages. NBC Universal, which distributes DreamWorks' films, would gain a library of about 60 movies including ``Saving Private Ryan.'' Acquiring DreamWorks would give Universal the opportunity to expand its profitable DVD operation.The sale would also return capital to investors, including billionaire Paul Allen (one of its biggest shareholders). Meanwhile, potential acquirer Univesal - together with Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures - is discussing a possible breakup of United International Pictures, the overseas movie distribution apparatus they jointly own. The sale would end DreamWorks' attempt to compete with the biggest studios such as Time Warner Inc. and Walt Disney Co. DreamWorks, which started in 1994 as a studio for film, music, television and animation, agreed in 2003 to sell its music unit and last year sold shares in its animated film business. The animation studio, maker of ``Shrek'' and ``Madagascar,'' is a public company run by Katzenberg. A sharp decline in movie attendance this year stung by disappointing box-office results are cited. Messrs. Spielberg and Geffen have at times appeared less involved in Dreamworks than initially planned. ``DreamWorks doesn't have the capital resources to become a big player in the entertainment world, so the only option is to be bought out,'' said Harold Vogel, a New York-based analyst with Vogel Capital and the author of ``Entertainment Industry Economics.'' DreamWorks spokesman Brian Edwards said yesterday the company doesn't comment on such matters. Universal spokeswoman Susan Fleishman declined to comment. DreamWorks Animation
shares added 82 cents to $23.80 at 9:32 a.m. today in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. Touted early on for its creative talent, the company was formed in October 1994 after Katzenberg left Disney when he was passed over by Michael Eisner for president. Spielberg, who directed films such as ``Schindler's List,'' ``Jaws'' and ``E.T.,'' was to help select films for the movie division and Geffen, who managed top acts such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and produced film hits such as ``Interview With the Vampire,'' would run the music business. DreamWorks SKG created Oscar winning films ``American Beauty,'' ``Gladiator'' and ``A Beautiful Mind.'' The studio, with $275.2 million in US and Canadian box office sales, ranks seventh this year among companies with Hollywood studios. News Corp. ranks first with $1.03 billion. Louise Setara BiCoastal With Solid State Logic
Grammy Award winning engineer Jay Newland, the engineering force behind the Nora Jones multi-platinum albums, recently mixed Louise Setara, a new English artist, on the Solid State Logic C200 Digital Production console at BiCoastal Music in Ossining, NY. For Newland, the console delivered the sterling audio quality that he expected and made his transition easy to an all-digital signal path. Lucinda Williams Records New Album
Three-time Grammy®-winning
rock-folk-country star Lucinda Williams dropped by recently at Memphis'
renowned Ardent Studios to sing a duet on "Hurry Up Sunrise"
with the Allstars' Luther Dickinson. The song is from Electric Blue
Watermelon, the new album by The North Mississippi Allstars. Due
in stores on September 6, the ATO Records release was produced by
Jim Dickinson and features performances by Williams, Robert Randolph,
and the Dirty Dozen Blues Band.
The Society
of Singers, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that helps professional
singers cope with financial, medical, family or other crises (substance
abuse rehab, psychotherapy and HIV/AIDS treatment), is celebrating
its 20th anniversary with the release of a benefit CD featuring
performances by such top singers as Tony Bennett, Celine Dion, Ella
Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. The organization was founded in 1984 by Ginny Mancini, singer/wife of late legendary movie composer Henry Mancini, and Gilda Maiken Anderson, lead singer of The Skylarks.
This year pop legend, Elton John will be honored with an Ella Award from Society Of Singers Assoc. Previous Recipients - Frank Sinatra, Tony Martin, Peggy Lee, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Lena Horne, Rosemary Clooney, Joe Williams, Tony Bennett, Julie Andrews, Plácido Domingo, Barry Manilow and Celine Dion. The pop singer is having a busy year indeed with musical Billy Elliot (music by Elton John and Lee Hall) which got launched in May of 2005 at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London' |
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