 Happy New Years my compadres, compatriots and assorted miscreants! And yeah, I know we're a month into this whole thing,
I've been "taking stock" as so many of us do this time of year and am happy to say that I got to know and work with a lot of cool people in 2007. I mastered over 150 projects ranging from classical to hardcore, jazz to hip hop and everything in between... Thanks to all of you for a great year.
I was able to sneak into NAMM '08 (National Association of Music Merchants), thanks to Dean Hovey at Elias Arts and was psyched to catch Grandmaster Flash scratching at the Native Instruments booth. That was probably the highlight to me but I also enjoyed meeting Eve Anna Manley and Ken Avant.
In case there was any shred of doubt remaining in your minds regarding my complete surrender to geekdom, I'm currently educating myself on
electrical engineering in the hopes to build a clone of the infamous Sontec MES-430c parametric mastering eq. I've already received a vote of non-support from Burgess Macneal, one of the original builders and designers (the other is George Massenburg). Apparently mastering and electrical engineering
are two very different disciplines and I should know my place (ha ha). This will be an ongoing,
year-long hobby of mine and I will give you running updates as to my
progress. How hard can it be, right?
Client news: Urban Prodigy has been nominated for a prestigious Momentum Award (it's like the grammy's of Christian Indpendent Music). Congrats to them.
Producer and songwriter extraordinaire, Jeffery David recently had another track featured on MTVs "The Hills." It's the closing scene and credits.
Occasional mastering asst Justin Bates just got back from Sundance for his sound editing, design and mixing work on the movie "A Relationship in 4 Days." Ask him to tell you about his run-in with Paris Hilton and her body guard.
Good stuff: Here's a great synopsis of the differences between analog and digital brought to you by Wired Science. Very interesting. I like Steve Albini, so don't
get me wrong, but why is the founder of Big Black and Rapeman, the
world's foremost authority on high quality recording? I missed that
meeting at the AES...
Also, check out this excellent article written by David Byrne in last month's Wired magazine regarding the current state of the music business. I can't recommend this enough... And no, it's not the usual bs.
R.I.P. Oscar Peterson, a canadian jazz pianist known for his work with Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Stan Getz and a few other unknowns (yeah, right). Pete Candoli, An American swing and jazz trumpeter who worked with Woody Herman's Herd as well as collaborated with Peggy Lee, Henry Mancini, and Frank Sinatra. John Stewart an American singer/songwriter and former member of the Kingston Trio. His album "California Bloodlines" was included in Rolling Stone's list of the best 200 albums of all time. He also wrote the hit "Daydream Believer" for The Monkees. Andy Palacio, a Belizean musician who brought Punta rock to the world. His album "Watina" is widely regarded as one of the best world music albums of 2007.
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