I mixed this parody song for Mat Kearney featuring PGA golfers. It's only been out one day and it already has 750,000 views on YouTube! Crazy.. Music and lyric written by Mat. Chris Athens mastered.
On a short two week tour with Michael W Smith. Matt Manix (monitor engineer) and I are recording all the shows for upcoming release. It's been insane travel-wise.. 30h of flights just to get here, but now that we are here it's amazing. In my hotel in Kuala Lumpur right now. Also.. Technology is incredible. I'm in the middle of mixing two albums and producing various things as well- I'm able to download sessions from my hotel room, and do my mix preps/editing on my laptop. This will save me so much time, allowing me to be ready to mix as soon as I'm back to the studio. I've been adding some photos to my Instagram as we go (gotta love data roaming) and I'll try to keep this updated as we go along.
Something I've wanted since junior high school - real technics 1200s! Found a deal I couldn't refuse (black ones, too!)
Now I'm having the existential Serato vs Traktor debate. I find it hard to believe there is even a debate - traktor seems so obviously superior, it can do everything Serato can do and more. But for some reason Serato is installed at every venue, so if you want to play somewhere chances are its already wired and you can just plug in your laptop.. OK.. Too much time spent looking at this stuff. Gotta get back to my real work!
I've finally moved into my new studio in DTLA. Part of the awesome Spring Arts Tower; there are lots of creative types (photographers, attorneys, composers, film editors, etc). I wanted to go for a really minimal feel - all I have for equipment in there are my monitors, control surfaces, and a rack full of my most regularly used outboard gear (including my trusty Retro Sta-Level compressor). The rack was actually made by Boeing originally for NASA. Also, my prize pieces of furniture are a DWR Case Study day bed, and a custom studio desk built from steel and reclaimed wood by Patch Davis Designs.
New Studio in DTLA
the union jpg
Mat & Nicole Crisp's project "The Union" released today. We had a great time working on this project, much of which was done at Kingsize Soundlabs in LA. Gordie Cochrane A&Red, I produced, engineered, and did programming/keys, and we had a ridiculously talented team, including Bryan Cook who engineered the band session and mixed the single "Creation Calls", Aaron Sterling on drums, Jonathan Ahrens on bass, Glenn Pearce and Nathan Spicer on guitars, and Glen Peters on piano, EP, and B3 - and of course Nicole on vocals and Mat on vocals and acoustics. We did pre-production together at Studio C, one day of band sessions at Studio A, finished up the vocals and acoustic overdubs in C, then I pieced it together and mixed in my new private studio in downtown LA. It really was a great blend of old (everyone playing beds in a room together) and new (laptop around the country programming and editing, 3 different studios). And we also are grateful that Brian Doerksen leant his iconic voice to the single, a duet between he and the band which Brian penned, called "Creation Calls".
Check it out on iTunes
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-- Update!! --
Congratulations to Mat & Nicole: the album went to #1 on the Canadian CCM chart!
itunes
The Union
My old friends Mat Crisp and Gordie Cochrane came down to LA to do an EP for Mat and Nicole's project "The Union". We spent the week at Kingsize Soundlabs in Echo Park.. a few days doing preproduction in studio C, and then (my favorite part) a day of beds in A. We enlisted the help of Glen Pearce, Jonathan Ahrens, and Aaron Sterling, with Bryan Cook engineering. Bryan also just mixed their first single "Creation Calls", which features guest vocalist (and writer!) Brian Doerksen. I'll post a clip when I can. Right now we continue on with the project.. I'm programming, and doing guitar overdubs with Nathan Spicer. The EP should be out late this year.
