Song: “Rise“

Why I Luv It: Bloc Party‘s lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Kele Okereke has released (via Glassnote in the U.S.) arguably one of the strongest electro-rock-punk records of the year, and it’s called The Boxer.

Kele's "The Boxer," a music supervisor's dream...

If you’re a fan of Bloc Party’s uniquely aggressive yet soulful rock-punk meets electronica sound than you’re going to absolutely love this album through and through. The whole album is solid from start to finish, but in my opinion, the standout tracks are “Walk Tall,” “Tenderoni,” and “Rise.”

The Boxer as a complete work is a music supervisor’s dream, and in my opinion — from start to finish — it may be better than any of Bloc Party’s albums to date. The production on The Boxer is absolutely stellar, the choruses are massive, motivating, and catchy, and the blend of electronica and rock is so seamless throughout that this album nearly defines a new genre in itself.

In this installment of Music Seen, we’ll be focusing on the song “Rise.” A dynamic arrangement, accompanied by thought-provoking lyrics, genius synth and drum programming and beautiful vocal performances and production make “Rise” an undeniable force and a serious contender for a major TV or film licensing deal.

Kele is performing tomorrow night, 9/8, at NYC’s Webster Hall, and I’ll be there. If it isn’t sold out yet, and you’re in the area, you’re crazy not to buy a ticket now and check out this show. Kele is gonna’ tear the roof off the sucka’… for real.

Scene I Can See it In: “Rise” by Kele is a perfect fit for a story centered around an average person who has vastly above-average skills, strength, or talent that has gone untapped, unrecognized, or undiscovered for much of their life. At a crucial point in this person’s life when crisis has reached its absolute boiling point, our character somehow comes to the realization that he or she has super powers, and it’s time to tap into them.

Catch Kele at Webster Hall on 9/8/10.

As Kele soulfully and suggestively sing/chants “You are stronger than you think,” ass-kicking, over-driven snyths complimented by a kick drum pulse build in intensity. (Complete lyrics are listed at the end of this article.)  Eventually, the female singer in the band comes in as the build continues and she sing-chants “I’m taking over” until an absolute explosion of energy in synth programming happens in one of my favorite-ever techno/house breakdowns.

The lead-up / build to this explosion would sit very well under a series of shots of our main character slowly but surely discovering his or her untapped talents. When the exploding breakdown section of the song comes at 3:25, he or she has fully accepted their super hero abilities and has now gained the confidence to display them to the world and use them for good purpose.

An alternative usage for this song could be within a story about an underprivileged kid in a poor neighborhood who decides he or she will take it upon themselves to “Rise” above the strife and chaos of everyday reality and motivate those around him or her to be better, stronger, and more focused than ever on the goal of overcoming the bad and building on all that is good.

It’s Kele folks, and he’s playing in the Big Apple Wednesday (9/8) at Webster Hall.  Go see and hear for yourself how ridiculously good this band is. Enjoy the quality, and let me know if you agree or disagree with my assessment by posting your comments below!  Until next time…

Complete Lyrics:
Brothers sisters come with me
(into the light) x2
Brothers sisters can’t you see
(into the light) x2
Don’t lose sight of what you saw
You know you can better than you were before

Brothers sisters can’t you see
That you are stronger than you think
You are stronger than you think x2
You are strong
Raise those arms that once were broken
and put down the grief

Did you think your time was gone
(into the light) x2
Did you think your hard work rode
(into the light) x2
Don’t lose sight of what you saw
You know you can better than you were before

Brothers sisters can’t you see
That you are stronger than you feel
You are stronger than you feel x2
You are strong
Raise those arms that once were broken
and put down the greed

(I’m taking over) x13

But you are stronger than you think
You are stronger than you think x2
You are strong
Raise those arms that once were broken
and put down the green

(“Rise” in background over some choruses)

Dave Hnatiuk of Autonatic Entertainment is a Music Supervisor / Sound Designer for MTV On-Air Promotions, NYC. Visit him at Autonatic Entertainment, Music Supervision Central or The Song Hunters. To be considered for a “Music Seen,” submit your track or link to Hnatiuk at submissions@sonicscoop.com.

Pictured are the TELEFUNKEN 50th Anniversary editions of the ELA M 250/251/270 large diaphragm tube microphones.

The ELA M 250/251 models include the rare AC701 vacuum tube, while the E series and stereo model feature the 6072a tube.  Telefunken Elektroakustik president and founder Toni Fishman notes, “We are including extra NOS tubes for the 250E/251E and 270 systems so that these mics will be good for another 50 years.”

A press release issued by Telefunken Elektroakustik announced the following:

Due to the extremely rare nature of the AC701 tube, extras will not be provided for the ELA M 250/251 system. However, Telefunken Elektroakustik will keep a large private stock for its customers for future warranty service and repair needs.

50 years ago in 1960, Telefunken released one of the most sought-after microphones in history, the ELA M 251. It is thought that fewer than 2,000 total original ELA M systems were built before Telefunken GmbH discontinued sales of the microphone. Since that time, thousands of musicians have recorded countless records with this legendary mic, and its value and reputation is still unequaled.

Each of the Telefunken commemorative models features an edge-terminated, dual backplate CK-12 capsule hand built in Connecticut from parts that are constructed from the original AKG blueprints.  The amplifier in the ELA M 250E/251E/270 series features a GE 6072 tube and a Haufe T14/1 output transformer.

Originally designed to meet the technical specifications of German and Austrian broadcast during the period when these microphones were originally constructed, the ELA M 250/251 system boasts a different circuit utilizing the Telefunken AC-701 tube, known for its lower noise floor and better RF prevention.

Today, prime examples of vintage ELA M 250 / 251 microphones are extremely rare, commanding tens of thousands of dollars on the vintage market. The Telefunken Elektroakustik recreations exemplify the best qualities of these legendary microphones.

The ELA M 250 is the two-pattern (cardioid and omni) version of the three-pattern ELA M 251 (cardioid, omni, and figure 8). The stereo version ELA M 270, which features all 3 pickup patterns on both the top and bottom capsules, is one of the rarest of all microphones ever constructed. Only two original units were produced.

Telefunken Elektroakustik located and purchased one of the two original systems to use as a benchmark system for the recreation of this microphone system.

These 50th Anniversary editions are now shipping, and will run through the end of 2011. Each serial number of these  collectible microphones will be designated in Telefunken’s records as commemorative limited edition version and will include vintage style power supplies, 10-meter Gotham Audio cables, locking leather bound flight cases with custom 50th Anniversary logo stitching, wooden boxes, spare 6072 / ECC81 tube (for 250E/251E and 270 models only), owners’ manuals, and 5-year warranties.

To learn more about TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik, visit: www.t-funk.com

Nicolas Vernhes mixed the forthcoming debut LP by Brooklyn's Soft Black, "New Chain," at Rare Book Room Studio in Greenpoint.

Most recently, Vernhes produced/engineered the upcoming Lia Ices record, which will be released in early ’11 on Jagjaguwar, and a new record by Banjo or Freakout for release early next year on his own Rare Book Room Records. Also for Rare Book Room Records, Vernhes co-produced and mixed the new album by Sebastian Blanck, Alibi Coast. Check out Blanck performing album-opening track, “I Blame Baltimore” at Rare Book Room Studio HERE.

Vernhes also mixed Steve Wynn’s new record for Yep Rock, engineered/mixed the new Versus album On the Ones and Threes for Merge, mixed the new Small Black record, New Chain for Jagjaguwar, produced/engineered the new So So Glos EP for Green Owl and recorded/mixed Endless Boogie’s Full House Head.

Vernhes has also been engineering new material by Malian singer Khaira Arby and a new three-song EP for a new project featuring members of Junior Senior.

Check out Rare Book Room Records here, Rare Book Room Studios here and our ’09 feature on Vernhes and Rare Book Room HERE.

No detail of life in These United States escapes this shrewd songwriter, who has been training a scientifically artful eye on us all since his days leading Wall of Voodoo. But Ridgway’s ruminations go far beyond “Mexican Radio”, as his devoted followers know – his unmistakable voice and irreplaceable mind have been at work nonstop lo these last few decades, holding up harsh mirrors to reality and making it sound fascinatingly fine.

The just-released album Neon Mirage serves as proof that Ridgway is still sharpening his crafty craft. Increasingly complex with repeated listenings, the collection expands his eclectic musical pallet while being lyrically informed by the loss of both family members and bandmates during its making.

As enigmatic as he is upfront, the Los Angeles-based Ridgway arrives in NYC on the equally ambivalent date of 9/11 at the City Winery. Always ready to talk talk talk, he started to launch into da usual about his excellent new album, until we informed him in mid-sentence that this would be a different kind of interview, with just 2.5 questions for the Desert Wizard.

Stan, you’re the consummate L.A. artist. The desert and the Old West inform so much of your songwriting that we’re intensely curious: What do you think about NYC?
I love New York! [His wife] Pietra [Wexstun] and I thought of moving there years ago. It sounds like a cliché, it really does, but NYC has an energy. It’s got a wave, and you can get up and ride it. Over here, the only waves are on the ocean, and it takes a lot of effort to get on the sand and in the water.

There isn’t a wave here like there is in NYC – culturally, energy-wise, and artistically. I feel completely alive in NYC. Out here I’m like, “Wake up Stan!” The whole West Coast can lull you. It has something to do with the weather and the expanse of things. People in L.A. whine too much, like, “Oh God, where’s the Sun?” if it’s not out for a couple of days.

I enjoy NYC and its abrupt emotional discourse. I enjoy that kind of exchange. In L.A., people don’t necessarily communicate that directly. There’s a lot of shy behaviour that doesn’t want to cause a lot of discomforture. You get the shorthand, the Hollywood goodbye: “Buh-bye!” Which means, “Don’t call me anymore. Leave me alone, because I don’t smell any money around you.” But The other side of L.A. is very homely and friendly: Backyard BBQ’s, pull-out-the-old-mattress-by-the-tree-and-dig-a-hole-with-the-kids.

There’s a lot of opposites of NYC to L.A., almost opposite sides of the same coin. What you learn about human behavior in NYC gets turned upside down in L.A., where you have to look through the facades and behaviors and the masks people wear to find out what’s really going on. There’s a lot of disappointment here. People come in with a lot of expectations thinking it will be like what they saw in a movie. You see people coming to Sunset Boulevard, looking for limos. But it’s a prison camp there – it’s not the same.

I remember when we first moved out here, we were walking down an alleyway on Muscle Beach, and a kind of convertible car was on the street moving 5 mph. Someone threw something out of the car, and I said, “I’ll throw it out.” It was Dennis Wilson in the car so I said, “Thanks for the music.” He said, “You want a new album? What’s your address?” Three days later I had “Pacific Ocean Blue” with a note that said, “Hey Stan, thanks for throwing out that piece of paper.”

Here’s another Beach Boys story: At one point I was at Carneys, a hot dog place on La Brea, right before I got really popular. This weird car pulls up. Here’s Brian Wilson and he doesn’t look so good. He’s got a bathrobe, pants and slippers on, but no shirt. He gets one of those Yoo-hoo drinks, gulps it down. I couldn’t help it – I turned around and said, “Hey Brian!” He got surprised, halted, and jumped into the car and drove away.

In NYC, somehow everyone gets lost in the crowd and its no big deal. But here, things become a little more focused, isolated and pointed, I guess. There’s an isolation here, but in NYC I don’t think anybody feels very isolated, do they? I guess you can be alone in a crowd. In L.A., you don’t have hordes of people on the sidewalk, walking from one end to another. It’s the circus of life in NYC.

Here’s another thing we wanted to ask you about. Your studio work receives a fair amount of attention, but I don’t see as much written about your live shows. The last two Stan Ridgway concerts I saw were definitely memorable experiences. Why do you like playing live?

The who's who of "Neon Mirage"

Bob Dylan said it once, that sometimes being onstage was the only place where he could be what he wanted to be without something else in the way. I feel the same: very spontaneous, in the moment – you feel present. You’re not dealing with bills on the table, phone calls, flat tires, and just the whole utility of going from day to day.

There’s a purpose in playing live and being on the road. You feel good about it, because you say, “I’ve gotta be at this place at this time, and do this, so there’s nothing to do now but relax.” My whole joke always was, “I can’t wait to get on the road and relax.”

We travel very modestly. The four of us are tucked away, and we move quickly and efficiently that way. We can stop wherever we want, explore and see what’s happening.

I really do look at playing the music more like folk music, because it changes from the record to the live performance. There are certain things we’d like to be able to do live, but we can’t afford that many people, so we make what we can out of three or four players. But that’s challenging and rewarding, because you get something else out of it. Flubs are made, but the fun part of it is all in the recovery. So playing live is always an adventure. What else do we want from life but adventure?

When I play NYC it’s always really exciting, and this date we’ll be playing – 9/11 – is super-exciting. I asked my booking agent, “Honestly, do people go out on 9/11?” He said, “Stan, it’s America.” I said, “You’re right. It’s not the time to sit inside and say, ‘We can’t go out and exercise our freedoms.’”

So I called the Handsome Family and said, “Let’s sing songs from America.” That’s the footnote theme from the evening, and maybe we’ll play some covers. There’s so many different kinds of people that live in NYC, you’re kind of playing to the world, really.

Stan, it’s been an amazing privilege to finally talk to you. Anything else you want to add?
The record is actually out now and available on my Website – running my own Empire of the Ants here. I’m not beyond pitching myself into the world of purchasing products, so I’d encourage people to go to the Website where the album is streaming. Listen to a song, make up your mind, and if you like it, why not buy one? This helps us to get gas, food and whatever else we need.

It’s the Wild West in the music business. I’m not sure where it’s going, but it’s what we do. It’s no less a struggle than anyone else’s job, but we still make it ourselves. And if it doesn’t work out we’ll probably end up making our own clothes, in a shed by the Lincoln Tunnel.

Stan Ridgway and the Handsome Family play City Winery on Saturday, September 11th, at 8:30 PM. For more information visit www.citywinery.com.

– David Weiss

SonicScoop contributor Dave Hnatiuk will be a featured panelist at IMMMS in Milwaukee later this month.

IMMMS aims to educate, equip, and unify artists and music industry professionals to be greater contributors to the Midwest music scene.

Attendees will be face-to-face with successful music business, who will share their knowledge and expertise to provide attendees of every genre with the know-how to take their music careers to the next level.

With seminars and panels on new industry trends, marketing & social networking, successful tour management, and opportunities for one-on-one music critiques from label A&Rs and music supervisors, including Hnatiuk. (See video of Hnatiuk discussing his involvement in the IMMMS.)

“As a panelist, Dave will be leading the conversations on music supervision and how placing your music is a huge part of the new music industry,” said IMMMS co-chair Brent Hoffman. “Dave will lead conversations on the importance of getting your music placed in film, television, and video games, the role of music supervisors, the process to getting music placed, and share some success/failure stories based on his years of experience. IMMMS is extremely excited to have somebody of the caliber of Mr. Hnatiuk as a panelist for this year’s event.”

Other scheduled panelist include: Roy Elkins (CEO, Broadjam), Martin Atkins (author of Tour: Smart), Jycorri Robinson (Digital Marketing Director, UMG), Jay Warsinske (owner, Indiepower.com), Stuart Love (owner, Alice Enterprises), and music supervisors and label representatives from Atlantic, Jive, Sony, Universal, Def Jam and RCA.

For more information on the IMMMS, visit www.industrymeltdownsummit.com and check out the Summit’s Facebook fan page for more on the featured speakers.

615 Music as acquired the NYC-based Kingsize Music library.

Tracks from Kingsize Music are in use by major media outlets worldwide, including NBC, HBO, PBS, Food Network and many more.

615 Music, which currently offers over 40,000 tracks across 23 production music catalogs, 60 news music packages and a custom division that creates original themes for use by production professionals, represented Kingsize for a number of years leading up to this acquisition.

615 also has a record label, Song Street Records, which offers up and coming artists and tracks for film, TV and new media platforms. For more information on Song Street, visit: www.songstreetrecords.com. And for more on 615 Music, visit: www.615music.com

will.i.am has been producing a new Black Eyed Peas record at Germano Studios.

will.i.am has been producing The Black Eyed Peas sessions at Germano, recording and programming in both Studios 1 and 2 for the band’s new record. Cuomo was in writing and recording with producer and songwriter Claude Kelly, with engineering by Ben Chang.

Mary J. Blige has also been making a new album, moving between Germano 1 and 2, to record with producer Kendu Isaacs and Christian Baker engineering. And Kanye West has been working on his new album with engineer Ken Lewis.

Faith Hill has also been working with Claude Kelly, and she recorded vocals at Germano with Chang as engineer. Kelly worked with Chang again on writing/recording sessions with Rihanna and FeFe Dobson at Germano.

Solange Knowles was in to record vocals for a project with Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor producing and engineering. Jennifer Hudson continued working on her new album, recording with producer Rich Harrison and engineer Nell Brown.

Adele came through to lay down some tracks, produced by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, with Kevin Porter engineering.

Japanese pop band, Dreams Come True recorded and mixed their new album with producer Masa Nakamura and mixing engineer Ed Tuton in Germano Studio 1. Usher recorded and shot some scenes for an upcoming episode of THE X-FACTOR (Australia) and Kid Cudi recorded with producers Plain Pat & Emile — engineering by Ryan West, Kevin Porter and Andy Wright.

Germano's Studio One, featuring an SSL Duality SE 48 input analog console and Exigy S412G four-way custom stereo monitoring system.

And there’s more…Porter engineered a 5.1 surround mixing session for “Cirque du Soleil,” Asher Roth cut vocals with Christian Baker, T-Pain was in writing and recording with Javier Valverde engineering, Fabian Marasciullo mixed Pharrell Williams’ music for the film, Despicable Me, and Tim McGraw & Ne-Yo did some writing and recording together, with Baker at the controls.

Marasciullo also mixed upcoming releases by Fat Joe, Drumma Boy, Flo Rida, Kelly Rowland, The Game feat. Robin Thicke & T.I., and Lil’ Twist.

Other sessions went down with Jamie Squire, a new artist on I.M.Port Records, working with producer/engineer Ed Tuton; Young Jeezy – sequencing & recording with The Neptunes producing and Hart Gunther engineering;  Kelis – recording vocals for the Electronic Arts SIMS video game with will.i.am producing;  N.E.R.D. – recording with engineer Ramon Rivas; Jazmine Sullivan and StarShell, both recording new material with Baker at the controls.

For more on Germano Studios — which features two SSL Duality and Pro Tools HD5 rooms, both with corresponding tracking rooms and killer custom monitoring — visit www.germanostudios.com.

Armin van Buuren's crowd at Electric Zoo '09

This year’s Main Stage artists include The Chemical Brothers, Armin van Buuren, Benny Benassi, ATB, Major Lazer, Dirty South and Boris, while three other stages will feature electronic artists and DJs such as Richie Hawtin, Above & Beyond, Victor Calderone, Steve Aoki, Kaskade, A-Trak and more.

The fun begins at 11AM on both Saturday and Sunday (9/4 – 5). Tickets HERE.

And the party doesn’t end there — Pacha NYC will be hosting the after parties, featuring Dresden & Johnston, techno duo Italoboyz, Heartthrob, and Taimur & Fahad on Saturday and Guy Gerber with a surprise guest from the Electric Zoo Mainstage on Sunday.

Steve Aoki playing Electric Zoo '09

In its inaugural year (last year), 26,000 came out to Electric Zoo.

The festival is produced/promoted by Made Event, NYC-based promoters led by Mike Bindra and Laura De Palma. For more on Made, visit: www.MadeEvent.com.

For tickets, afterparty info and set times, go to: www.electriczoofestival.com. Follow Electric Zoo at twitter.com/electriczoony for all the up-to-the-date afterparty information.

Engine Room's new penthouse studio, located at 42 Broadway. Photo by Heather Smith-Prisco.

Now, with the opening of a brand-new, large-format tracking and mixing studio located in the penthouse of its year-old, 11,000-square-foot financial district facility, Engine Room again goes out on a limb and the result is again huge for the community.

At its core, Engine Room is a DIY-inspired enterprise, and this latest move sees Christensen, a Grammy-winning engineer, producer and songwriter, realizing a nascent vision.

“When I started the first Engine Room Audio, I was technically still signed [to a record deal] and owed the label another album, but I’d gotten so fed up with everyone telling me what to do; I really wanted to be able to do my own thing,” Christensen recalls.

“I wanted to build a facility where I could record, mix, master and even manufacture and release my own records without being forced to do anything I didn’t want to. And ultimately I wanted to be able to offer that to other artists.”

He started with a home studio, moving a Trident board and CD manufacturing facilities into his East Village apartment, and quickly found a lot of clients in like-minded NYC artists. Christensen built a name for himself as a mastering engineer and expanded his business with the WSDG-designed modular facility on Canal Street.

Entrance at The Engine Room, 42 Broadway. Photo by Heather Smith-Prisco.

Yet with all of his production rooms always leased out, and a new record label — Engine Room Recordings — beginning to get some traction, Christensen longed for a full-blown studio where he and his growing community could produce and mix albums at the highest level.

This spurred another move all the way downtown to 42 Broadway, where he took over the entire top floor and penthouse and began his most ambitious build-out to date. The new location is home to Engine Room Audio and Engine Room Recordings, encompassing eight production suites, Christensen’s mastering facility, and the big penthouse studio as the cherry on top.

“If we were going to have a nice space, then I wanted it to have all of those things that a really nice studio should have,” says Christensen of the penthouse, “including a tuned control room with nice big far-field monitors as well as the nearfields so you can tell what’s going on in the sub frequencies. I wanted to build as pro a studio as we could.”

A DELUXE STUDIO IN THE SKY

In all, EngineRoom’s sprawling facility incorporates nine control rooms, including seven in long-term lease situations housing the likes of producer/engineers Bill Racine, Paul Falcone, DJ Cassidy and J. Chris Griffin among others. The eighth studio houses some of Christensen’s gear — including Pro Tools HD and an Amek console — and is setup for tracking and mixing sessions. The rooms are all big enough to comfortably house a mid-sized console and everyone has their own booth.

The penthouse control room w/ SSL 4064 G+ console and Dynaudio M4 mains. Photo by Heather Smith-Prisco.

Every control room is also tie-lined into the new two-story live room up in the penthouse — a large, full-band tracking room with two large isolation booths. A third iso booth is located off the corresponding control room, which features an SSL 4064 G+ console, Dynaudio M4 main monitors, stacked producer’s desk and spacious listening area.

It’s the studio he’s always wanted to build — a deluxe A room with ample space maximized by sightlines and natural light. From the control room, Christensen points to the outdoor surface area, soon to be a roof deck. We’re on the 22nd Floor and it’s a sweet view.

“These rooms are all floated and it’s all triple-rock, ¾” plate glass everywhere,” says Christensen. “The isolation is hard-core. We wanted to have good sightlines and natural light everywhere, but we didn’t want to have too much glass, so that was a big challenge Chris Bowman solved in the design.”

A longtime friend and colleague of Christensen’s, Bowman and his CHBO, Inc. have contracted and built many a studio in the NYC area, including the Canal Street Engine Room and the Fran Manzella-designed Sterling Sound. “I’ve absorbed as much as I could from him over the years, so that now we can work together really well, with Chris focused on the layout and look and me on the acoustics from a mathematical perspective,” says Christensen of their collaboration on the penthouse studio.

“The construction of the control room relative to the live room is such that — in theory — we can do two sessions up here simultaneously. We’re going to add shutters to the windows between the two rooms, so if someone’s doing a mix in the control room, or vocals in the booth, someone else could be tracking out in the live room, recording down to one of the production rooms.

“Obviously we won’t do this with, say, John Williams and the Ramones, but if people are somewhat cooperative, it seems like it will really work. A drummer can be pounding away in the live room and you don’t hear it at all in here.”

The SSL 4000 Series console, which Christensen points out “is the model that’s historically, mixed more hits than all other consoles combined, ever,” comes to The Engine Room from The Franklin House in Nashville.

“We’re only the second owners,” Christensen notes. “Still, any vintage console needs work. My head tech Pawel Szarejko shares my insanity when it comes to electronics and — even though this console was in way better shape when it came through the door than other consoles I’ve worked on around town recently — we’ve begun recapping the entire thing. It already sounds great, but will be awesome when we’re done with it!”

ENGINE ROOM’S MANY MOVING PARTS

Engine Room is far from a build-it-and-they-will-come dream studio. Good thing, too, as the timing of all this building couldn’t have been much worse. “October ’08 practically put us out of business,” Christensen admits. “We lost all of our construction financing with the economy crashing, and then that was compounded by the typical problems you face building a facility like this — a lot of the construction estimates were miles off the mark.”

Every control room in the facility ties into the penthouse live room. Photo by Heather Smith-Prisco.

Built for an already ailing industry, however, the business plan for the space was solid. In addition to the tenant control rooms, Christensen also built out the rest of the floor, with his other company Space Initiatives, to eventually house additional tenants whose studios could also tie into (and therefore subsidize) the penthouse. NYC’s Dubway Studios took him up on this arrangement.

“Dubway will have their production facilities downstairs, including three decent size studios with booths, and they’ve effectively bought 25% of the monthly studio time in the penthouse,” Christensen explains. “I’ve known Mike [Crehore] and Al [Houghton] for a long time; it’s a great fit.”

When we visited Engine Room in August, Dubway had just begun renovations on their new facility in this space, and will be moving down from 26th Street. With Dubway moving in, the facility will be home to that many more of NYC’s top-level music production talent. This is just the kind of world Christensen’s been working to create all along.

“One of the coolest aspects of Engine Room is the huge community,” he acknowledges. “We all talk about bands, production techniques, we borrow microphones from each other, etc. It’s an amalgamation of all these cool people, creating this community where cool things are happening. It gets back to my original impetus for starting the Engine Room, it’s not like I was trying to escape the music industry and do everything myself, alone, it was more that I was trying to reinvent it, recreate it in some way.”

Engine Room Recordings band, Lowry, in session in the penthouse.

Engine Room Recordings, the record label Christensen founded with singer/songwriter Peter Block, is another sign that he’s no longer “trying,” he is reinventing, recreating.

Counted on the Engine Room Recordings roster are several NYC-based artists including Tracy Bonham, Jody Porter (of Fountains of Wayne), The Bloodsugars, Porter Block, Robbers On High Street and Luke Wesley.

On the day of our visit, the Brooklyn-based folk-rock band Lowry was in the studio working on a new album for Engine Room Recordings. “Lowry’s last record sounds good, but they’ve never had the opportunity to record in a facility like this,” says Christensen. “We’re doing this for the love of the music and since we can handle every aspect of it in-house, we’re able to take the time to make a really great record.”

THE PRODUCER’S PERSPECTIVE

Now that he has his proper studio, Christensen is also finding time to produce, as on dance-pop duo Hank and Cupcakes’ latest EP. Though he’s got golden ears and plenty of mastering clients, Christensen is still that rock-and-roll singer/songwriter looking to give a band what he was always looking for as an artist.

“When I produce, I’m all about the songs,” he assures. “If you have great songs and great singers, you can record a great album on a cassette player from Kmart. I am pretty specific about the sound as well — the fidelity — but not in some weird, audiophile kind of way. I just want the record to have a sound. Like Bon Iver’s [For Emma, Forever Ago] — that record sounded amazing even though it was clearly not recorded at some expensive studio. It’s not about having a million-dollar sound, the music just has to be present somehow.

Mark Christensen's new mastering studio within the Engine Room complex. Photo by Heather Smith-Prisco.

“I try to make all of that effortless to the band though — they should be concentrating on creating art and energy. When you have great gear and a great room, that stuff becomes a lot easier to capture.

“As a mastering engineer, I’ve really come to understand how important the sound of the room that you’re both listening and tracking in is — it’s just such a massive part of what you do. If I had the choice between the most expensive mics in the world in a crappy room or crappy mics in a great room, I’d definitely choose the room every time.

“So that was part of my motivation for making as good a studio as we could upstairs, so we could actually tell what’s happening in the kick drum, for example. I can’t tell you how many records I’ve mastered even for major labels where the whole thing was tracked and mixed on nearfields and they had no idea what was going on below 70 Hz. And there’s all kinds of stuff down there that’s really coloring it. To some extent you can save that in mastering, but it makes more sense to actually be able to hear what the kick drum is doing while you’re tracking.”

Engine Room’s new studio is open for business, and has already hosted OK Go, Ryan Leslie, Trey Songz, Raekwon and several others. Get in touch via http://engineroomaudio.com/contact.

A2IM, watchdog for independent music

For the times that this place feels more like a jungle, the national NYC-based organization American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is on hand to help independent labels and artists of every shape and size. When you add it up, that constituency isn’t small potatoes — indie labels represent 30% of the music industry’s market share in the U.S. (38% of digital sales).

The summer of 2010 marks five years for A2IM as a watchdog for independent music, keeping their members advocated, empowered and informed on a host of crucial components to doing business: fair trade, new technology and distribution, access to media, legislation, international, purchasing, new business development, and branding chief among them.

A2IM Vice President Jim Mahoney has a very first-hand understanding of his members. His nearly 20 years in the independent music sector include seven years as President of hip hop label/distributor Fat Beats, preceded by posts with senior posts with Roadrunner Records and Profile Records. For some major insights on what’s facing indies today, the words below are where to go.

You’ve had a diverse musical career. What attracted you to A2IM?

It was a couple of things. First off, I’ve always been interested in how things work, and I have a general distrust that they are as they appear to be when you’re busy doing your daily routine, that there are typically forces at work driving things that most of us aren’t aware of or don’t have time to spend thinking about.

A2IM Vice President, Jim Mahoney

Then I heard about A2IM, and how it’s all about how indies need fair access to markets and a voice in discussions about how the future of the music business would be defined. That spoke to my core: At indie labels I was always looking upward at the mountain, saying, “My God, how will I push this record to the top?” and concerned that despite appearances that digital outlets would create a level playing field for indies, it could easily turn out not to be that way leaving independents in the same bad shape we were back in the old days of big box retail and the tight playlists of FM radio.

So I was interested in the organization, but I’ve also always been skeptical about a “kumbaya-ism” that was more about platitudes and hot air and less about getting things done. Like a lot of people from an indie label background, I’m about a check list. Get things done, and check them off the list.

Then I met A2IM’s president, Rich Bengloff — if you spend two minutes with Rich you don’t imagine that he’s spent any time in a kumbaya circle. He’s a financial type who’s worked at Relativity, Red, Sony, & Elektra, and has a deep knowledge of the industry and, in particular, the financial challenges that indies have faced for 20 years. Everything we discussed was about hanging up real wins for indies, so they’d have a real say about how things progress. He got me fired up and I joined the A2IM staff in March of 2007.

That’s a good start. Why are the goals of A2IM particularly important now, in 2010?

I think we’re important because our members are important. We have over 250 labels members that are important, and about 120 service or solutions providers that are associate members. Indie music and indie labels are tremendously important to our culture, to our economy, to this industry and to music, but unrepresented they are also most likely the people to be left outside of the conversation or, be treated unfairly by people who rely upon music for their own businesses.

A2IM members include Beggars Group, Chrysalis, Concord, Curb, Domino, Epitaph, Ghostly International, Kill Rock Stars, Lookout, Matador and Sub Pop among many others.

According to SoundScan, at 2009 year-end indie music accounted for over 30% of physical sales, and over 38% of digital sales in the U.S. So taking that into account, indies are as big as Universal, but indies aren’t treated with the same care and respect as Universal by music services and would-be commerce partners.

Often that’s because the largest indies are still comparatively small when held up individually against the market share of the majors and, unfortunately, much is decided in our industry not by the quality of the music you can deliver but rather how many masters you can deliver. So indies need a central voice, and we provide that.

We don’t do collective licensing, and as governed by US antitrust laws we do not negotiate terms on behalf of our members, but we are able to engage services that work with music and promote the value and size of independent music and seek fair treatment for our community. Additionally, A2IM is an effective a communications hub. If a new on-demand streaming service enters the market to much hype and misinformation it is not uncommon for concern and paranoia to spread through the indie music industry. A2IM, operating on their behalf, can be seen as a fairly pure source of information – if a message needs to get out to the indie sector, A2IM becomes a fairly important portal.

For labels, I think we provide a voice to Congress, as well as to the RIAA, our major label cousins. So our members have access to that voice, and to any number of educational resources that help them run their businesses better.

Can you tell us a little more about what it means to “provide a voice” for your membership?

A2IM makes itself available to important services that want to work with independent music. So we’ll frequently hold meetings with the MySpaces, Pandoras, and Spotifys, as well as those who don’t necessarily treat independents fairly like YouTube. We’re constantly promoting how beneficial it would be for their businesses to do right by independents and not consider who owns music as the arbiter for what the value of the music is. Black Keys is on a major label and The National is on an independent – The National’s music shouldn’t be treated as less valuable in terms of revenues available to them by virtue of who owns their masters.

On the education side, we do any number of things to educate our members — no matter what the size of their company is, they have an agenda that over-matches their size. They’re overwhelmed, and there are too many people talking about too many things that aren’t making them money right now. They’ll say, “I have an artist on the road, my distributors need information, my staff needs to be motivated…How do I keep up?”

A2IM has a several-pronged strategy for keeping them up to date. There’s a password-protected member Website where members can communicate with one another, and keep up with industry news and happenings. We have volunteer members run chapters in the Pacific Northwest, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Nashville and NYC, and they’ll have events that can be as informal as a bar takeover to a presentation on new media, publishing, licensing, publishing, marketing, from the best and brightest in the industry.

It’s a good wide spectrum and they deal with the issues that are relevant at the time. A presentation about social media dives into the economic side of your plan: You have Facebook, but do you know what drives your friends there back to your Website? Everyone does eBlasts, but when you do it are you looking at the analytics and making it an effective tool?

Who should join up with A2IM that may be reading this and isn’t a member yet?

Our members range from self-releasing artists who are in effect serving as their own labels, to companies like Wind-Up Records, Roadrunner Records, and Curb in the country scene. Large or small, they all control their masters independently, and so they all have a stake in what A2IM is working on and can derive benefits from membership.

So I would say that all independents who are in business should consider joining A2IM. We’re a 100% member dues supported not-for-profit organization so we rely upon membership dues but if you’re not generating income from your music yet, you should still contact me — I want to put you on our mailing list, keep you up to date on issues that are or will be important to you, invite you to our open events where you can meet other independents or commerce partners, and also be able to contact you when we’re working on a legislative issue where your help may be needed in reaching your local congress person. There’s a full-time staff of four here, so call and we’ll answer the phones. Contact us. You should be in the loop as to what’s going on.

If you are in business already, an established indie with some stake in the game, and you want to remain independent, I think there’s a lot of benefits to joining A2IM.  For one, you have access to other members through A2IM. Too often indies are an island unto themselves, and A2IM alleviates that — we turn to members to help direct us and our members have the benefit of being able to learn from one another, share general problems and potential solutions…it’s a hazardous landscape out there, no one should have to face it entirely alone. A2IM in our five years has a fairly significant role voice representing indies – I would think you as an indie would want to join so that you have a say in what we’re talking about.

Why is New York City a natural home for A2IM?

There’s a concentration here of indie labels, like very few places. Our offices are here in Union Square, and six blocks North, South, East and West I can bump into 20 or 30 of our members — it seems the only thing I could do to top that would be to be located in DUMBO (laughs).

So there’s a big concentration of indie labels. Being that close and in personal contact, and literally having one to two hundred music executives that we can gather regularly — that’s valuable. When you’re talking face-to-face with somebody, you get a different perspective on an issue and you go back to work educated and thinking about something you just wouldn’t have come up with on your own. That’s the biggest benefit to those indies operating in NYC.

Good for us at SonicScoop to hear! Anything else you want to add?

I said it earlier, but my message whenever I talk to somebody is, “Please be in touch.” Let me add you to our mailing list. I know you’re busy, but read some of our material because it really is important. If you’re just trying to sell downloads and little round discs these days, you’re not going to stick around: You need to maximize your repertoire whether its performance royalties, building direct-to-fan businesses, or building up your artists and your audience. These are the things that we work on nonstop.

— David Weiss