Snowy May
Posted on | May 5, 2010 | No Comments
I spent the other weekend tracking beds for Puremud. I love intense weekend sessions when we setup and try to achieve as much as possible. I’m usually drained afterwards but it’s always a fun time. I’ll be in the studio with the band in May and June to finish off the full-length record.
Craig Schram and I just put the finishing touches on The Provincial Archive mixes. They sound great and have been shipped off to mastering. I’ll be attending the mastering session next week in Toronto at Joao Carvalho Mastering. It’s going to be a good time.
Heading to Toronto on Thursday for a bit.
Give Me Jasper! Give Me Jasper!
Posted on | April 20, 2010 | No Comments
Jessica Heine was commissioned by Tourism Jasper to write them a song about Jasper. The catchy beer-drinking anthem is called “Give Me Jasper” and we were at Damon Renaissance studios this past Sunday recording it. We had a stellar band for the session including Chad Melchert, Derek Stremel & Ryan Davidson. The results are awesome and there will be a video to follow.
What’s the good news?
Posted on | April 14, 2010 | No Comments
Tanyss Nixi’s record is done like dinner! We finished it a couple weeks ago and Joao Carvalho put the final mastering touch on it for us. We hope you like it.
I recently recorded a track for Pure Artist – Sean Sonego. The band has finished recording and we’ll be heading in the studio next month to record the vocals. The song is a duet by Sean Sonego (Global Country Star Search youth division winner) and Alex Hughes (Global Country Star Search open division winner). They wrote the song together while in Nashville for the North American Country Music Associations International competitions. The Younger Band (Matt Grier, Keith Rempel & Brennan Cameron) backed them up in the studio with the addition of Ryan Davidson on guitar.
I’ve mastered a handful of singles recently for Paper planes & Dragon boats, Letters To Elise, Mass Choir and a 7” for folk artists The Wildflowers.
Next up, I’m mixing an album for Edmonton band – The Provincial Archive. Very stoked!
Damon Recording Workshops
Posted on | April 9, 2010 | No Comments
I just want to take a minute and tell you about something new we’ve started over at Damon Renaissance Studios. Some of you may know that we’ve started a recording course at Damon. The course is 3 months long and runs a couple evenings a week. Now in addition to that course, we’re starting a series of recording workshops. These workshops generally run over the weekend for your convenience. So far we’ve setup a basic recording workshop. This workshop will be a weekend long of tracking instruments such as drums, bass, guitar and vocals with some basic editing a mixing. Next, our drum workshop will get more in depth with microphone placement and minimizing phase issues. There will be some minimalist concepts to crazy approaches. We have Nik Kozub teaching our remixing in Pro Tools workshop and he’ll be covering techniques on how to get your tracks dance club ready. Finally we have a weekend mixing workshop that will deal with analog and digital mixing. I’m excited to say that we’ll also be touching on a lot hybrid mixing stuff as well, which personally is how I like to do things. Nik Kozub and myself will be teaching these workshops. Check out the Damon website and contact us for more details. http://www.damonrenaissancestudios.com
Mix Mix Mix
Posted on | March 12, 2010 | No Comments
Well it’s a lot nicer outside now. The days are longer and that means I sacrifice sleep for work. Let’s hope some vacation time comes soon.
I’m in the middle of mixing Tanyss Nixi’s new record. It’s titled “Sell Your Clothes and Keep Your Thoughts” and was recorded by Lori Gawriluk at the Artery. I describe the music as dark, slightly heavy with some bright and beautiful melodies. Parts of it are rockin’ and shoegazey. Other parts are sparse acoustic. It’s been fun mixing so far.
Also was in the studio earlier this week tracking piano for Edmonton band – The Provincial Archive. They got some killer tunes! Nathan laid down some classical style piano over the folk/pop tracks. The definitely got a cool sound going on.
Damon Renaissance Studios offers new recording course
Posted on | February 1, 2010 | No Comments
Here’s some info for a recording course that I’ll be teaching at Damon.
Damon Renaissance Studios new recording course will teach you how to produce and record in both a professional studio environment and your home studio. We will cover the process of recording; mixing, mastering and editing techniques that will help you create a quality product. You’ll learn how to operate the industry standard software – Digidesign Pro Tools, learn how proper acoustics can aid in a recording and develop critical listening skills. By the end of the course, you will know the basics of how to set up your own studio and how to complete your own recording projects. This is a part-time evening course. For more information, contact Garry MacDonall 780-465-0133 damonproductionsltd(at)shaw.ca
Happy New Year!
Posted on | January 29, 2010 | No Comments
Kinda late, but Happy New Year!
I’ve been busy working on a bunch of new stuff. In the process of writing and preproduction for a bunch of brand new artists that I’m very excited about. Details as things unfold…
Was recently in the studio working on a song for Mieke Maligne with the Younger Band (Matt Grier, Keith Rempel & Brennan Cameron) backing her up. Track turned out great! Matt Grier bought a new drum kit an hour before the session and Mieke dubbed it the pineapple kit for it’s yellow color. Good times!
Also working on a track called “So Done With You” sung by R&B/Pop artist Mackenzie Dayle feat. Ryan McGale. Track was written & produced by the talented Ryan McGale.
This year’s focus is on Mastering and Songwriting. Lots on the go. Stay tuned…
Minus Frickin’ Cold!
Posted on | December 14, 2009 | No Comments
Apparently yesterday Edmonton was the coldest place in North America. I’m staying warm bundled up in the studio this season. My heaters are blowing the breakers. Must make sure I constantly save my work.
Just finished mastering the new Mass Choir album – Life On The Backbeat. The Matthew Skopyk produced non-stop album is a fusion of early 90’s house music with gospel style vocals. I had a great time working on it and can’t wait for it to get out there.
This past weekend I covered for Stew at Sound Extractor as he was out on his regular weekend December gig at the Jasper Park Lodge. We had Mike Roste in laying beds for a couple tunes. Chris and Cam from Five Years Further helped provide some beats and guitar licks while Moni Matthews laid down some bottom end.
Tracked some bass for Damien Heck produced tracks that he’s doing for the Pure Artists group. Steve Vincent from Tupelo Honey came in to play bass. The Pure Artists also had a Christmas concert this past weekend at the Premiere Entertainment Centre. These young artists are really amazing. Props to Wes Inaba for coaching the talent out of these kids.
Taking it easy this next week before Xmas hits. Just trying to stay warm. It’s suppose to be get warmer later this week.
November
Posted on | December 1, 2009 | No Comments
It’s been a busy season and I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with writing blogs. So here’s a catch up blog.
The Audio Department is having its busiest year ever. We’ve had the luxury of helping out a lot of stellar local bands by providing gear for the recording of their upcoming records. These bands include Whitsundays, Wet Secrets, Jay Sparrow, and The Provincial
Archive. Let’s hope next year is even crazier.
Busy times at different studios working on a variety of projects. I got to work on an African drumming group called Asante at Damon Renaissance Studio the other week. The session went quick with vocals, hand drums and percussion all-live off the floor. Even had one of the singers dancing in the room to provide energy for the performances. We’re currently in the mixing phase. Things should wrap up shortly. Also, completed a couple things at Sound Extractor. The first is an album for Chris Friesen and his family. We’ve been working on it for the past year. Sessions have been sporadic and these last couple months we’ve buckled down to get the last of the tracking down and mix. I believe Stew Kirkwood is mastering it as I write this. The second is a cool project with Ian and Laura of Instant Places. They’ve been trekking across the country for the past 3 months gathering photos and audio for an installation that is part of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. This was a cool project – I set up a bunch of mics on all the instruments and for over an hour they improvised and created their own soundscapes. They took the files and in a few weeks will set up a studio somewhere in BC to compile their ideas into an installation. Later this week I’m working with Splenderbog again. We’ve got some final tracking and will be rerecording a tune. Then it’s mix time.
At my Audio Department Mix & Master room, I’ve been working on a handful of Randor Lin produced stuff for Country artist Thea Neumann and Ponoka rock band, Neverfall. I’ve also been mixing my friend Darcy Golden’s untitled band (we’ll call them DRMCK). It’s been a busy November.
Early Xmas?
Posted on | November 2, 2009 | No Comments
Just picked up a used Manley Massive Passive for a great price. I was in need of a stereo EQ for mastering, since I’ve been doing so much of that lately. But I also wanted something I could use for vocal and bass duties. The MP is perfect for all of the above. Awesome!
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