Session Buzz: Who’s Recording In & Around NYC – A Monthly Report
GREATER NYC AREA: It’s been a minute since our last Session Buzz, but things have been busy all over town. Sandy, of course, had her effect on business, leaving many in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn scrambling for weeks after the power came back on, but by and large…folks are back in action. Some, better than ever.
That is, Strange Weather Recording in Williamsburg opened their brand-new facility this week. The epic build-out – chronicled in Marc Alan Goodman’s Building Strange Weather blog – finished just in time for inaugural sessions this week with garage rockers Total Slacker tracking and mixing a new full-length over seven days with producer/engineer Daniel James Schlett. Goodman also noted that Ben Greenberg (Zs, Hubble) will be in next week to mix his band the Men.
Frank Ocean got together with Alicia Keys at Germano Studios
Meanwhile at Germano Studios in Manhattan…Lauryn Hill recorded basic tracks with Graham Marsh engineering, Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band recorded vocals with Sean Lennon and Yoko Ono producing, and Kenta Yonesaka engineering, Common recorded vocals with J.Period and No I.D. producing and Jason Agel engineering…John Legend recorded and mixed new material with Dave Tozer and Kanye West producing, Jason Agel and Noah Goldstein engineering…Alicia Keys was in for writing and recording sessions with Frank Ocean, with Malay producing and Ann Mincieli engineering…and James Brown mixed the new We Are Scientists record, produced by Chris Coady.
Also writing, recording and mixing new material at Germano were…Pharrell Williams with Andrew Coleman engineering…J.Cole with Curtis “Sauce” Wilson engineering…Meek Mill with Wayne Harelwood engineering … Justin Bieber with Josh Gudwin producing and engineering, AK-69 with Rimaji Kato engineering, and Pitbull with Danny Mercer producing and Dave Rowland engineering…
Over at Flux Studios in the East Village…Fab Dupont has been busy making a record with South African pop duo The Arrows – producing, recording and mixing the album. Dupont is also mixing the new DJ Collette album.
Meanwhile, OK Go lead singer/guitarist Damian Kulash spent some time in Flux’s Revolution room, writing for the upcoming OK Go album. And Big Boi stopped by for a vocal session with producer Frans Mernick for this Decoded feature on Jay-Z’s Life and Times blog. Also at Flux…Teddy Geiger tracked drums for his upcoming album, Bebel Gilberto recorded vocals for the new UN Women anthem and Jukebox The Ghost tracked piano with producer Dan Romer for an upcoming film.
Also, coming up early next year, Flux’s Dangerous Room will be home to a vintage 1970s Neve console! Stay tuned for more on that!
In Midtown, MSR Studios hosted Edie Brickell tracking new music with producer Steve Gadd and engineer Andy Smith (assisted by Fred Sladkey). The team recorded rhythm section and vocals for an upcoming film soundtrack. And Robert Randolph has been recording, editing and mixing in all three rooms at MSR, working on various projects including the New York Knicks theme song for Madison Square Garden. Randolph produces on these sessions, working with engineer Alex Venguer.
Russ Elevado mixed Eric Krasno’s (of Soulive and Lettuce) new EP in MSR Studio C, assisted by Mike Layos. And producer/engineer Don Hunerberg worked with music director Milton DeLugg out of A to record and mix full orchestra and ensemble/lead vocals for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Click to win Rage Against The Machine vinyl via Masterdisk
Across town at Masterdisk…recent albums mastered include: Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange (up for “Album of the Year” Grammy) – mastered by Vlado Meller, produced by Frank Ocean, Malay, Om’mas Keith and Pharrell Williams for Def Jam; The Weeknd’s Trilogy (a three-CD set + vinyl) – mastered by Mark Santangelo, produced by The Weeknd, Doc McKinney and Illangelo, mixed by Illangelo for XO/Republic; and a Rage Against The Machine 20th Anniversary set (vinyl, CD and DVD) – mastered by Vlado Meller and executive produced by Rick Rubin for Sony Music, with lacquers cut by Mark Santangelo.
Also mastered at Masterdisk…Jay-Z Live In Brooklyn EP, mastered by Tony Dawsey and mixed by Young Guru; Rod Stewart’s Merry Christmas Baby – mastered by Meller, produced by David Foster, and mixed by Jochem van der Saag for Verve; Tom Wopat‘s new album and a Debby Boone EP – both mastered by Randy Merrill and mixed by Roy Hendrickson; and the four-LP set, Dave Matthews Band Live Trax Vol 1 – mastered by Scott Hull.
Over in the Film Center Building, at John Kilgore Sound & Recording, composer Claire Van Kampen was recording her score for an as-yet-untitled feature film directed by Christian Camargo; Drew Gasparini was tracking a new album – produced by Charlie Rosen and engineered by John Kilgore; Halle Petro recorded vocals for a new album, produced by Michael Gomez, and recorded/mixed by Kilgore; and tracking and mixing sessions were held for Annie Kozuch’s new album, with producer Frank Ponzio.
Kilgore also mixed Brian Landrus‘ new self-produced album, tracked at Sear Sound by Chris Allen, and mastered by Alan Silverman of ARF Digital; and worked on float music for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, produced by Bill Schermerhorn and Wesley Whatley.
Speaking of Sear Sound…Andrew Wyatt (of Miike Snow) mixed his new album at Sear, with Ted Tuthill engineering, and Yoko Ono continued sessions there for her upcoming record with Chris Allen engineering, Sean Lennon, Yuka Honda and Yoko Ono producing. Spanish chanteuse Buika also tracked new music for Warner Bros/Spain with Eli Wolf producing and Tuthill engineering.
And jazz artists James Maddock, Dave Holland and Etienne Charles all worked on new music at Sear recently. Maddock recorded in Studio A with Matt Pierson producing and James Farber engineering; Charles tracked with Chris Allen engineering; and Holland mixed his new album with Farber at the controls.
Click to hear the first track off Beach Fossils’ upcoming album
Across the river at Joe Lambert Mastering in DUMBO… Lambert recently mastered the new solo album by the aforementioned Andrew Wyatt (Miike Snow) – called Descender (recently covered in Rolling Stone), as well as Youth Lagoon’s upcoming album on Fat Possum – produced by Ben Allen; Eleanor Friedberger’s latest for Merge – produced/engineered by Eric Broucek; and Beach Fossils new album for Captured Tracks – engineered by Ben Greenberg.
Additonally at JLM, Roman Vail mastered the new album by singer/songwriter and composer LiLi Roquelin, Beautiful Sun. It features Askold Buk on guitars and bass, strings by the Wandering Cellist and Christopher Marion, and was mixed by Marc Urselli.
Down the block to Saltlands…Engineer Jim Smith recently finished tracking a new EP with Warp artists My Best Fiend, recording live in the studio to tape and using Saltlands Ampeg B-15 on bass with their own vintage Music Man amps on guitars for ample vintage-rock sonics. Click for more details. And coming up this weekend, Smith will be tracking Sharon Van Etten vocals, with Jonathan Meiburg producing.
In other recent Saltland sessions…musician/comedian Reggie Watts was in Studio A recording with singer-songwriter and engineer Dawn Landes; PT Walkley and Eli Janney were in working on a new project; Producer Doveman was with the perennials, and Hannah Cohen before that; And engineer/producer Ted Young tracked with rock band Morningside Lane.
At Grand Street Recording in Williamsburg…Zach Jones recorded a Ron Sexsmith cover song for a Hurricane Sandy benefit (download/donate here); Chris Kuffner (Regina Spektor), Elliot Jacobson (Ingrid Michaelson) and Lelia Broussard (The Voice) tracked for an upcoming project with Broussard and Kuffner – engineered by Ken Rich; and Amy Lennard completed her latest album with Andy Stack on guitars, Tony Tino (Gavin DeGraw) on bass, Dan Vonneget on drums, Keith Cotton (Joan Osborne) on keys, Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel) on drums and percussion, and John Graboff (Willie Nelson) on pedal steel. Rich recorded and mixed Lennard’s album, which was mastered at Sterling Sound by Greg Calbi and is due out in early Spring.
Michelle Citrin and band recording at Grand Street Recording
Also at Grand Street…Adam Levy worked on his new record with producer Aaron Lee Tasjen and Tomek Miernowski engineering; and Michelle Citrin recorded and filmed a music video for a Hanukkah song. (pictured) Players include Dan Rieser on drums, Chris Morissey on bass, Itaal Shur on keys, Debra Kreisberg on sax, Tomek Miernowski on guitar, and Jared Saltiel on vibraphone. The song was tracked, filmed, mixed and mastered all in one day by Ken Rich.
At Blackler Mastering in Bushwick…Kevin Blacker mastered a couple notable jazz records for High Note, including a duet album with bassist Harvie S. and pianist Kenny Barron, and an upcoming album for Miles Davis’ protege Wallace Roney. Blackler also mastered an Afro-Cuban / electronic album for artist Chico Mann (aka Marcos Garcis of Antibalas) for SoundWay Records out of London; and an album by Kendra Morris for Wax Poetics, which hit #2 on the iTunes R&B charts. He also mastered a Kendra Morris B-side featuring a Pink Floyd cover which is to-be the title track of an upcoming film, starring Collin Farrell.
Out at The Barber Shop Studios in Lake Hopatcong, NJ….Dream Theater’s Mike Mangini recorded for Hudson Music’s Drum Guru App – with Zak Rizvi engineering; Oh No Fiasco! worked on their upcoming record with producer Kato Khanwala and engineer John D’Uva. And Khanwala and D’Uva also worked with The Pretty Reckless whose new single, “Kill Me” was also mixed at the Barber Shop – check it out here. Prroducer/engineer Kevin Kumetz has been in the studio with up-and-coming artist Lacey Caroline – their collaboration recently produced her first single, “Can You Feel It”.
And we’ll leave you with Paul McCartney recording a Christmas classic at Avatar Studios…
And we know there’s so much more going on out there! If you’d like to be featured in “Session Buzz,” please submit your studio news to submissions@sonicscoop.com.
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