Session Buzz: Who’s Recording In & Around NYC — A Monthly Report

GREATER NYC AREA: Zooming in on some studios around town…this month, we find New York super-group The Gaddabouts – Edie Brickell, Steve Gadd, Andy Fairweather Low and Pino Palladino – finishing up mixing on their new album at Germano Studios. Gadd is producing the album, with Andy Smith (Paul Simon, David Bowie, A Place To Bury Strangers) recording/mixing.

Meanwhile, will.i.am checked into Germano to record new material in Studio 2, and then to produce/engineer on sessions with Jennifer Lopez; Nas recorded with Vernon Mungo engineering in Studio 1; and Earth Wind & Fire recorded with Philip Bailey and Fulton Yard Unltd (Neil Pogue) producing. Germano also hosted writing and recording sessions with Cheryl Cole and producers Alex Da Kidd, Jim Beanz and Ann Yvette; Rhianna with songwriter-producers Sandy Vee and Cri$tyle; and Javier Colon with Ryan Tedder.

The new album by Passion Pit (Columbia Records) is underway at Gigantic Studios in Tribeca, with Chris Zane (The Walkmen, Asobi Seksu, Friendly Fires) producing and Alex Aldi engineering. Zane also recently mixed an album for synthy indie-pop band Geographer (Modern Art/Warner), and produced/recorded and mixed five new songs for pop singer Ruby Frost (Universal).

And noise-rockers The Big Sleep recorded a long-awaited new album for French Kiss Records at Saltlands Studio in DUMBO with engineer/producer Eli Janney (The Obits, The Soft Pack, Ursula 1000). Janney mixed the album at his own mix room, Blistering Sound, where he’s currently in the midst of mixing an album project for Peter Salett, the singer/songwriter known for his music writing for films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Role Models.

Janney also mixed the new album for Ursula 1000, recently released on Eighteenth Street Lounge Music, featuring vocals by Fred Schneider of the B-52s, French avant-jazz singer Isabelle Antena, Thievery Corporation chanteuse Natalia Clavier, and Big Mike Geier from Atlanta’s premier big band Kingsized.

Next, over at Fluxivity Recording in Williamsburg, HEM brought in a chorus and overdubbed vocals on tracks for a new album. HEM’s Gary Maurer engineered. Maurer also used Fluxivity’s new edit room, featuring a Neve 10-Channel Kelso console and ATC monitors. Engineer Brian Thorn also recently worked on a Japanese release for Blonde Redhead in this new suite.

In Fluxivity’s main studio: Thorn engineered a session for French artist Daran – remixing songs from the 5.1 surround film Monsieur Papa into the stereo format; Randy Wooten recorded vocals for his new album, engineered by David Schoenwetter, assisted by Ed McEntee; Brooklyn-based singer/composer Maria Neckam mixed her forthcoming album; Lily and The Parlour Tricks mixed for their new album – largely recorded at Daptone Records in Bushwick; and Brazillian-born television star Guto Bittencourt recorded vocals for an upcoming release.

Gary Maurer mixed the new HEM album in Sear Sound Studio A, mixing down to (½” RMGI 900) tape on the Studer C37 2-track machine. This machine and 3 more like it at Sear Sound – as well as a Studer J37 1″ 2 track machine – were all acquired from Abbey Road and converted to 2 track machines by Walter Sear.

Sear Sound also recently hosted Bob Dylan remixing sessions, with Steve Berkowitz producing and Tom Schick mixing on the Neve 8038. And Joss Stone recorded tracks for a new album for S-Curve Records, with Steven Greenwell engineering and co-producing with Steve Greenberg.

Over in Greenpoint at the Rare Book Room, Nicolas Vernhes (Dirty Projectors & Bjork, Deerhunter, Animal Collective) is mixing Matthew Dear’s new LP for Ghostly International. He also recently mixed the new Bowerbirds LP for Dead Oceans, and has been working on the new Palms record for his own label, Rare Book Room Records.

Over the summer, Vernhes co-produced/engineered/mixed Atlas Sound’s Parallax for 4AD, and he also recently mixed the new Light Pollution LP for Carpark, and co-produced/mixed Lia Ices’ cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” for Mojo. Bon Iver and Josh Ritter also recorded at the Rare Book Room, in separate live sessions with Tom Gloady.

Back in Manhattan, a 65-piece children’s choir recorded on the stage in Manhattan Center Studio’s Grand Ballroom in a session shot by Spike Lee for State Farm Insurance, and engineered by Jonathan Duckett.

Manhattan Center also recorded an 85-piece orchestra for the Universal Studios film Tower Heist, starring Eddie Murphy and Matthew Broderick, directed by Brett Ratner. The music was composed by Christophe Beck and engineered by Casey Stone. The facility also hosted a 24-hour shoot in the Grand Ballroom for “24 Hour Climate Change” featuring Al Gore, which was webcast all over the world – with feeds coming in from all over the world. The shoot was produced by Suite Spot.

And TV1 at Manhattan Center is now up and running – with its first show currently in production: “Would You Rather” with Graham Norton, produced by So TV.

Down at The Lodge Mastering…The Lodge’s Emily Lazar and Joe LaPorta have been busy working on several late summer/fall releases including: Neutral Milk Hotel‘s highly anticipated massive vinyl box set, Matt & Kim’s track “I’m A Goner” featuring Soulja Boy & Andrew WK for Converse, Icelandic folk artist Ólöf Arnalds cover album, “Ólöf Sings,” (One little Indian), power-pop songstress Katie Herzig’s new album “The Waking Sleep” (Downtown Records) – mixed by Justin Gerrish and produced by Cason Cooley – Tiësto’s latest Kanye West remix of “Lost in the World”, and The Raveonettes “Bsides & Rarities” album featuring 28 unreleased tracks.

Over on the West Side, at Stratosphere Sound, the Brooklyn-based indie rock band Folding Legs (whose members hail from Stockholm, New York, Vienna & São Paulo) spent two weeks tracking their new album with producers Craig Roseberry and Rudyard Lee Cullers. Cullers engineered, with Adam Tilzer assisting.

French actress/model/singer Emmanuelle Seigner was also at Stratosphere working on her upcoming album with songwriter/producer Adam Schlesinger, and Arjun Agerwala engineering.

In Times Square, the Broadway Cares Foundation checked into Premier Studios for multiple days of tracking with all the top casts from the major Broadway shows, including Jersey Boys, Addams Family, Sister Act, The Lion King, Godspell, Mamma Mia, Billy Elliot and more. For Premier, this means a diverse schedule of sessions, including everything from tracking large string and horn sections, to large choir and ensemble performance recordings.

The upcoming Broadway Cares release is being produced by Lynn Pinto for Rocket Science Records, with tracking and mixing engineered by Andros Rodriguez, and assisted by Sam Giannelli.

Also in-session recently at Premier: boy band Big Time Rush (Columbia) recorded vocals, with producer/engineer Chris Rojas; Trey Songz (Atlantic Records) produced music for his new album, with engineer Anthony Daniel, assisted by Colin Rivers; Bluey Robinson (Sony UK) recorded vocals with Pawel Szarejko engineering; The Roots tracked music for a series of Captain Morgan commercials, with Robert “L.B.” Dorsey engineering; and Estelle (Atlantic) tracked vocals, with engineer Anthony Daniel.

Meanwhile, at KMA Studios in The Brill Building: “rockjazz” pianist/songwriter ELEW (Eric Lewis) was producing and composing music for an upcoming ballet production, as well as an independent film with Harry Lennix called Mr. Sophistication; rapper/producer J. Cole dropped in for a session; rapper Wale rolled through for a listening session for his forthcoming album; and Akai hosted a preview/consultation with the next generation MPC with a pretty killer focus group that included Q-Tip, 88 Keys, Prince Paul, Sean C and LV, Salaam Remi, KG of Naughty by Nature, and DJ Marly Marl.

Across the river, at Big Blue Meenie in Jersey City – “indie rock manifestation” Suit of Lights tracked and mixed the follow-up to their last studio record, Bacteria, with producer Joe Darone (The Fiendz), recording engineer Chris “Noz” Marinaccio and mixers Tim “Rumblefish” Gilles & Matt “Dasher” Messenger.

According to a BBM insider, the new Suit of Lights album has a creepy carnival feel to it with Beatlesque vox and superb guitar playing from Dan McGowan (The Tea Club) and always amazing Roy Van Tassel (Ghost Orgy) on Drums. The album will also feature Trevor Dunn (Mr Bungle, John Zorn, Secret Chiefs III) on bass.

NYC punk band The Dead Tricks also recently recorded and mixed their debut EP at Big Blue Meenie with Mike Gallo (Agnostic Front and Stigma bassist) producing, Marinaccio engineering, and Messenger mixing. The album is currently being mastered at West West Side Music by Alan Douches.

NJ pop-rock band Catch Wild also finished their debut album at Big Blue Meenie.

Andy VanDette recently mastered the new live Rush album – Time Machine 2011 Live in Cleveland – at Masterdisk. The album was mixed by Richard Chycki and recorded by Chycki and Joel Singer (of Music Mix Mobile). Also at Masterdisk, Vlado Meller mastered the new Lou Reed / Metallica collaboration – Lulu. Producers on the project were Reed, Metallica, Hal Wilner and Greg Fidelman, who also mixed the record. As on the recent Red Hot Chili Peppers album Meller recently mastered, there was a unique iTunes-optimized master created for this album.

Meller also recently mastered Susan Boyle’s latest Someone To Watch Over Me for Syco/Sony – produced by Steve Mac, mixed by Ren Swann.

Back in Williamsburg, at Grand Street Recording…Charlene Kaye just started pre-production on her new project, Animal Love, with Tomek Miernowski producing and engineering. Grand Street’s Ken Rich has been mixing a new album for Nancy Magarill, produced by Daniel Mintseris. The album was tracked over the summer at Grand Street with Thad DeBrock on guitars, Yuvall Lion on drums, and Christopher Kuffner on bass, Dave Eggar on cello, and Rachel Gollub on violin.

Eben D’Amico (from Saves The Day) produced a new song for hip-hop artist XV at Grand Street featuring Charlie Z on drums and Jesse Fischer on keyboards. Miernowski played guitar and engineered. Noe Venable is in the process of tracking her new record with Ken Rich,Todd Sickafoose on bass and piano, Mathias Kunzli on percussion. And Ohio rocker JP Olsen is wrapping up tracking his record with fellow Ohio-ans Mark Stepro, and Aaron Lee Tasjan of the Madison Square Gardeners producing / Miernowski engineering.

And finally up North at The Wild Arctic, Dean Baltulonis is producing an EP for the band w/o (without), featuring members of The Hold Steady and Primitive Weapons, and co-writing/producing new songs for UK singer/songwriter Rosie Vanier with James Wells of The Gay Blades. And Tad Kubler, guitarist in The Hold Steady, has also worked out of The Wild Arctic on some original composition for advertising campaigns by The Martin Agency and McGarry Bowen.

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.

Session Buzz: Who’s Recording In & Around NYC — A Monthly Report

GREATER NYC AREA: It’s midsummer…the middle of a traditionally “slow season” for recording with so many bands out on the road. But this is the city that never sleeps, and slow is a relative term. The following is but a sampling of recent sessions, and works in progress…a snapshot of what’s going on around town:

Starting at Germano Studios downtown…50 Cent has been writing and recording new material with Araab Muzik producing and Ky Miller engineering, Ne-Yo was in writing and recording with Swizz Beatz producing and Moses Gallart engineering, and Justin Nozuka recorded basic tracks with Steve Jordan producing and Dave O’Donnell engineering – all in Studio 1.

In Studio 2, will.i.am continues to record new material which he’s self-producing and engineering, and Oriane recently recorded vocals with Walter Afanasieff producing and Jason Agel engineering.

Nearby at The Lodge, Mastering Engineers Emily Lazar, Joe LaPorta and Heba Kadry have been busy working on Björk‘s epic multimedia release, Biophilia, due out this Fall. The music for Biophilia – featuring a 10-song album and 10 musical iPad apps themed after each song’s scientific subject matter – was mastered at the Lodge in March by Lazar and LaPorta alongside Björk and her longtime engineer/producer Damian Taylor.

Other recent releases mastered at The Lodge include Chris Taylor’s CANT LP, Morgan Page’s new album, In The Air, Ronnie Vannuci’s (of the Killers) solo debut Big Talk – produced by Joe Chiccarelli and mixed by Alan Moulder – the new Boy & Bear album – also produced by Chiccarelli – and Large Professor’s latest for Fat Beats Records.

The Lodge also mastered Ronnie Spector’s tribute cover of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black – produced by Richard Gottehrer – Surfer Blood’s cover of Nirvana’s “Territorial Pissings” for SPIN’s Nevermind compilation, new releases by Zechs Marquise (band formed by Marcel Rodriguez Lopez from the Mars Volta), and Junior Mance, and the new Wooden Ships album – produced by Phil Manley of Trans Am.

Over in the East Village at Flux Studios, Todd Whitelock mixed an upcoming album by jazz saxophonist and flautist Kenny Garrett in the Revolution Room. Garrett – who was a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and Miles Davis’ band – will release his upcoming album via Mack Avenue Records.

And down in SoHo, The Magic Shop has been going steady…Shooter Jennings tracked for his upcoming album with engineer Brandon Mason, assisted by Brian Thorn, Burning Spear tracked and mixed for their upcoming album with Thorn engineering, assisted by Kabir Hermon, and Tom Schick was in mixing for She and Him’s upcoming Merge album.

Other recent sessions in the Magic Shop’s unique Studio A include: The American Secrets tracking and mixing songs for upcoming freecreditscore.com commercials with producer Neil McClellan (The Lodge Music creative director) and engineers Ted Young and Colin Thibadeau; The Gaslight Anthem tracking an iTunes exclusive live session with producer Jason Marcucci, and engineers Ted Young and Mike Judeh; and tracking sessions for new albums by Elliot Sharp (producer Joe Mardin/ engineer Ted Young), Lee Feldman (engineer Ted Young), Ben Carroll (producer Adam Levy / engineer Brian Thorn), The Virgins (engineer Emery Dobyns) and The Universal Thump (engineer Kabir Hermon).

Meanwhile in the Magic Shop’s Blue Room, Warren Russell-Smith has been doing restoration work for the second season of Boardwalk Empire. Recent mastering sessions at the Magic Shop include albums for Rockstar Games, Anna Volgelzang, Warpaint, Nightplane (mastered by Russel-Smith) and Nâ Hawa Doumbia, Vic Varney and Pretty Good Dance Moves (mastered by Jessica Thompson).

At another studio down in SoHo – Serious Business Music – producer/engineer Travis Harrison has had a steady stream of bands in to appear on his BreakThru Radio show. In the last month, “Serious Business on BTR” has featured performances and interviews (by Harrison) with A Million Years, Fort Lean, Les Sans Culottes, El Jezel and Quiet Loudly.

Harrison has also been working on a number of album projects, including an album with a new band called The Cosmos – formed by Dougy Payne and Andy Dunlop from Travis, and Cinjun Tate from Remy Zero – a solo 7” with Doug Gillard from Guided By Voices, and a record with Rocketship Park for Serious Business Records.

In Park Slope at Seaside Lounge Recording, engineer/producer/musician Josh Clark mixed a record by Nashville native Luke Roberts, The Iron Gates at Throop and Newport, to be released by Thrill Jockey Records in 2012. Initial tracking sessions for the record went down at The Beach House in Nashville and Atlantic Sound in Brooklyn (with “Seaside Lounge” rounding out the coastal recording theme.)

On the West Side at Stratosphere, Japanese electro-rock band The Telephones tracked their new album in Studio A with producer/engineer Alex Newport, recording everything to tape on the studio’s Studer 2″.

Also at Stratosphere…Ice T booked an afternoon of vocals and filming for upcoming documentary Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap. Stratosphere’s own Adam Tilzer engineered. Aaron Neville returned to record vocals with producer Matthew Ferraro and engineer Geoff Sanoff.

Daniel Merriweather was back for sessions with Dave McCracken, Amanda Ghost and engineer Chris Shaw, Florence + the Machine was in with engineer Andros Rodriguez, and Nathan Larson (A Camp, Shudder To Think) tracked and mixed music for an upcoming film, Tiger Eyes, with Geoff Sanoff engineering.

Up at Carriage House Recording in Stamford, cellist Dave Eggar (Evanescense, Coldplay) and his band Deoro finished mixes for their upcoming record in Studio A with engineer/mixer Brendan Muldowney, and art-pop songstress Rachael Sage tracked basics for her upcoming release with engineer John Shyloski.

Back in town, at Sear Sound, NYC denizen Donald Fagen tracked in Studio A on the 8038 Neve with Michael Leonhart producing and Charlie Martinez engineering for Warner Bros. Records. eONE Music was in Studio C, reportedly “classisizing” Frank Zappa songs for a new release. In this process, Zappa’s original songs were rescored for classical orchestral instruments and tracked on Sear Sound’s custom Avalon/Sear console in sessions produced by Susan Del Giorno with GRAMMY-winning engineer Silas Brown.

Producer/engineer Gary Maurer also checked into Sear to track an ensemble of 22 musicians for his upcoming HEM album in Studio C. He will reportedly return to Sear Sound shortly to mix a 24 song double album.

Further west at Masterdisk, Scott Hull mastered Sting’s three-CD box set, Sting 25 Years, featuring remixes and a previously unreleased live concert DVD with 10 tracks recorded live in NYC, produced by Rob Mathes. Also at Masterdisk, Vlado Meller mastered a Julio Iglesias two-disc “Greatest Hits” set, with songs re-recorded and re-mixed by Alberto Sanchez, the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album, I’m With You, and the Jane’s Addiction single “Irresistible Force,” and upcoming album, The Great Escape Artist.

Andy VanDette recently mastered the Spiderman Turn Off The Dark cast album and albums by Blessthefall, The Static Jacks and Barefoot Truth, and Ellen Fitton remastered Debbie Harry’s Koo Koo, and Jellybean’s Wotupski.

Premier Studios in Times Square hosted Demi Lovato working on a project for Disney Pictures – a song produced by Sandy Vee, with piano overdubs played by Mikkel Eriksen from Stargate. The session was engineered by Sam Giannelli. Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas produced tracks for Lil Wayne, working with engineer Mike Cadahia with Kevin Geigel assisting. DefJam artist Ace Hood, produced by DJ Khaled, was at Premier recording vocals and mixing an upcoming release with engineer Ben Diehl.

Atlantic artist Wiz Khalifa recorded vocals, with engineer Josiah Hendler, EMI Artist MoZella was in with producer Scyience, mixing with engineer Anthony Daniel, and Scyience was also in with Epic artist Alice Smith, mixing an upcoming release with an engineer by the name of Push Buttons.

Over at Avatar Studios, strings were recorded in Studio A for the upcoming Lou Reed/Metallica album with producer Hal Willner and engineer Greg Fidelman, assisted by Bob Mallory. NYC/Ireland rockers Suddyn recorded their single in Studio G on the SSL 4000G+ with producer David Kahne, engineer Roy Hendrickson and assistant Tyler Hartman. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus was in Studio A recording with producer Bryce Dessner, of The National and Clogs, and engineer Lawson White, assisted by Aki Nishimura.

Music for the upcoming film, A Late Quartet, was also recorded in Studio A with producer Alan Bise and engineer Bruce Egre. The cast albums for People in the Picture (producers Mike Stoller and Steven Epstein, engineer Todd Whitelock) and A Minister’s Wife (producer Tommy Krasker, engineer Bart Migal) were also recorded at Avatar.

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.

Matt Mays, Juan Son and Kurt Vile Recording, Mixing at Fluxivity

Recently at Fluxivity, Nat Priest’s Neve 8048-equipped Williamsburg studio…

Matt Mays and engineer/producer Ted Young overdubbed and mixed for Mays’ upcoming album. Young mixed down to Fluxivity’s Ampex ATR 100 analog tape machine.

Blonde Redhead drummer Simone Pace produced sessions for Grammy-nominated vocalist Juan Son, recording and mixing songs for a forthcoming album for the Guadalajara, Mexico-native / NYC-based artist. Brian Thorn engineered these sessions.

And portions of Kurt Vile’s new album, the Pitchfork “Best New Music”-certified Smoke Ring For My Halo, were recorded and mixed by producer/engineer John Agnello.

The album was produced by Agnello with “Kurt Vile and the Violators” — Mike Zanghi (drums), Adam Granduciel (guitar, mellotron, percussion) and Jesse Trbovich (guitars) — and recording and mixing sessions went down in four states and multiple studios, including Philadelphia (Miner Street and Uniform Recording), New York (Magic Shop, Headgear, Fluxivity, Vacation Island), New Jersey (Water Music), and Amherst, MA (J Mascis‘ Bisquiteen Studios).

For more on Fluxivity, visit www.fluxivity.com.

M. Ward, Moby, Smith Westerns & More Record/Mix at The Magic Shop

It’s been a minute since we checked in with The Magic Shop, one of NYC’s favorite, longest-standing recording studios. Here’s what’s been happening:

Legendary engineer Ken Thomas (David Bowie, Public Image Ltd., Sigur Ros) mixed Moby’s new, largely acoustic/orchestral album, with Ted Young assisting. (Click for some words from Thomas on the Moby record.)

M. Ward tracked material for his new record with Tom Schick engineering, assisted by Brian Thorn.

Smith Westerns were in with Chris Coady tracking and mixing their new record, Dye It Blonde for Fat Possum. The record was mastered by Joe LaPorta at The Lodge.

Earlier last year, producer Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Editors) brought The Kooks in to track at The Magic Shop.

Lenny Kravitz was in this past fall tracking for his upcoming album with engineer Tom “T-Bone” Edmonds, assisted by Ted Young.

Singer/songwriter Leslie Mendelson mixed her new record as Melody Kills at The Magic Shop with Steve McEwan producing and Kabir Hermon engineering.

Producer Jimi Zhivago and engineer Brian Thorn mixed Jenna Nicholls’ latest record.

Rock legends Alice Cooper and producer Bob Ezrin stopped by to track for a couple of days. Ted Young assisted on the session.

A few Grammy-nominated records were also recorded at The Magic Shop last year, including Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs and Norah Jones’ song “Chasing Pirates,” and the “Best Historical Album” nominated “Alan Lomax in Haiti” 10 CD box set was mastered in the Blue Room — an audio restoration, archiving and mastering suite — by Warren Russell Smith and Magic Shop owner Steve Rosenthal.

Also in the Blue Room, Russell-Smith continued audio restoration work for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, and mastered albums for Melody Kills, On The Brink Recordings, Oh Whitney, Glass Rifle and These People. He also worked on mastering Rockstar Games’ “Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmares Original Soundtrack,” and continued his work mastering and restoration of the 1973 Newport Jazz Festival.

In the “Red Room,” also dedicated to restoration and mastering, engineer Jessica Thompson mastered Ryat‘s Avant Gold, Jenna Nicholls‘ In The Blooming Hours, The Nowherenauts‘ Delightfully Distracted, produced by Kevin March, Mitten‘s debut EP, John Holk and the Sequins‘ If You See Her, and continued working on concerts from the Newport Jazz and Folk Festival archive.

Visit The Magic Shop at www.magicshopny.com.

Chile’s Los Tres Mix With Joe Blaney at Fluxivity

This summer, Chilean rock band Los Tres traveled to New York to record, mix and master their new record. Working with producer/engineer Joe Blaney, Los Tres tracked the record up at Dreamland Recording, outside of Woodstock, and then mixed and recorded overdubs at Fluxivity in Williamsburg.

This is the fourth record Los Tres has made with Blaney, who brought the project to Fluxivity to mix on the automated Neve 8048 console with Flying Faders. Fluxivity owner Nathaniel Priest notes that this is the same console Blaney used to record Ron Woods, Bob Dylan and Steve Stevens on in the 80s!

The session was recorded and mixed on ATR analog tape, which Priest notes “sounded fabulous and performed flawlessly.”

“Joe brought in two of his own racks of outboard gear to Fluxivity that he had at his former studio in Greenwich Village,” Priest shares, adding, “We are set up here to interface with racks of users’ gear, either on DL connectors or XLR’s.

“Los Tres is a band that very much knows music, music history and appreciates the art of playing fine music and making a record that will endure as a notable example of artistic expression,” Priest adds.

“The record has 16 songs which expertly covers a range of styles, from rock to more traditional Andean tunes. It was made in the classic authentic style of record making with particular attention to sonic quality and detail, drawing on the many finely-honed skills of Joe Blaney.”

The group finished mixing the last song within the hour of the start of the mastering session at Sterling Sound, and Priest relays, “left here with a reel of warm tape!” The record was mastered by Sterling’s Dave McNair.

In other recent sessions at Fluxivity…Chris Brown visited the studio to wrap up mixing the upcoming Abrams Brothers album Northern Exposure with Grammy-winning engineer Brian Thorn. And for its 21st Anniversary release, Matador Records mixed a live 1999 Anniversary show from Irving Plaza. Jesper Eklow produced and Tom Gloady engineered.

Brooklyn’s Fluxivity Adds Tracking Room, Hosts The Abrams Brothers, Rob Wasserman

Williamsburg’s Fluxivity, the Neve 8048-equipped studio owned/operated by technician and custom tube equipment manufacturer Nat Priest, now has a tracking room. Check out the Fluxivity website for more information.

Recent sessions at Fluxivity have included The Abrams Brothers, a folk/bluegrass trio working on their new release, Northern Redemption. The album’s first single, “Mermaid Town,” was produced for video release by Chris Brown (Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, The Barenaked Ladies), with engineering at Fluxivity by Brian Thorn. The video can be viewed on CMT.com

Musician/composers Gordon Minette and Mark Grandfield were in the studio working on their project of standards, with a band that included Tony Garnier, Marc Ribot, and Danny Kortchmar. Engineer/producer Matt Shane mixed five songs for the upcoming release at Fluxivity.

And bass player Rob Wasserman (Lou Reed, Bob Weir) recorded a song for his next CD, “My Name Is New York,” to be released soon. A collaborative project with The Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archive, it features Rob in duet with an incredible cast of singers interpreting unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics. Rob was accompanied by Tony Trishka on banjo. The session was produced by Steve Rosenthal and engineered by Brian Thorn.