VideoHelper (NYC) Releases Modules 5 Sound Design Collection

VideoHelper, the NYC-based creator and provider of original licensed production music, announced it has released the latest collection in its popular “Modules” series, Modules 5.

“Modules 5 Narrative Sound Design” features 181 new tracks of editable modular hits, rises, transitions and beds that can be used interchangeably to create entirely unique, multi-layered soundscapes.

Each Modules cut immediately invokes a mood, builds to emotional/sonic extremes and suggests visuals, providing a creative catalyst for producers and editors.

Modules has been featured in movie trailers like Hugo, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and John Carter, video game trailers like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and television programming like the “American Horror Story” launch campaign.

 

 

See convincing evidence that Modules works! Courtesy of VideoHelper:

MuseIQ (NYC) Launches “Recordshop” Music Licensing Catalog, Featuring Indie Artists

Brooklyn-based music licensing specialists MuseIQ  have expanded their MuseIQ Library of production music by adding a new companion module, the “Recordshop”, to the MuseIQ website.

Recordshop is stocked with pre-cleared original songs for synch licensing by indie bands and artists, and is similar to the MuseIQ Library with its streamlined graphic interface and sophisticated search functionality.

The collection was created to give music supervisors for advertising, TV, film and other content fast access to independent artists and bands.

MuseIQ founders Augustus Skinner and Ronan Coleman recruited former Morrissey co-writer and drummer, Spencer Cobrin, to the position of Head of A&R to expedite the growth of the MuseIQ Recordshop. Artists currently available in the Recordshop collection include Neal Casal, Vyvienne Long and Lux Lisbon.

The MuseIQ Recordshop uses the same Borean Search Engine as the MuseIQ Library, which has a client list including Amazon.com, Disney, IBM, Charriol, and Estée Lauder. Mr. Skinner explains the Borean Matrix as a unified language of terms relating to music, with over 3000 terms comprising the sensory, physical and emotional characteristics of music. Basic terms like “dark, city, and happy,” to detailed nuances such as “forbidding, cosmopolitan, and euphoric” are included. Each library track is encoded with 100-150 descriptors by a team of musical experts, then double-checked for accuracy.

 

Ueberschall Releases Looptool 2, Multigenre Collection with 2100+ Loops

German sample and loop library developers Ueberschall have released the second volume of their “Looptool” series, Looptool 2, which provides loops and samples from 50 different Ueberschall soundbanks.

Priced at 49 Euro, or $63.98 at today’s exchange rate, the comprehensive 4GB compilation is Mac/PC compatible, working in AU/VST/RTAS/StandAlone formats. It contains 50 construction kits and 2188 loops from 30 different genres, creating an extremely useful sound collection for producers, musicians, and sound designers, working in music, TV, and film.

Looptool 2 includes sounds from House, Techno, Dubstep, Electro, Rock, Metal, Indie, Jazz, world music and many more genres. The result is an easy and fast crossover between genres, handy for creating finished compositions quickly or simply finding fresh inspiration.

Looptool 2 also comes with the Elastik 2 sample, equipped with a browser that allows users to find samples within seconds. It’s “loopeye” engine allows users to easily synch up material with their projects.

The Looptool 2 library is an enhancement to Looptool 1, with no repeat samples between locations.

Looptool 2 contains Constructions Kits from the following Ueberschall soundbanks:

60s Psychedelic Rock, 80s Punk & New Wave, Ambient Lines, Ambient Works, Analog FX, Antigravity Maneuvers, Balkan Lines, Bollywood Pop, Caribbean Flavors, Club Electro, Club Toolz, C.R.U.N.K., Crunkzilla, Dancehall Madness Vol 1, Dancehall Madness Vol 2, Deep House, Dubstep, Electro ID, Electro Pop, Finest RnB, Glam Rock, Groove Shadow Elastik, Hardtechno vs. Schranz, Hip Hop Underground, Indie Rock, Jazz Colors, Urbanic Producer Pack, Loungeorama, Metal, Minimal Electro Vibes, Minimal House, Minimal Techno, Nightshift, Oriental RnB, Planet Trance, Pop Ballads, Pop Charts, Pop Music, Reggae Fundamentals, Roots Reggae, Soulful Pop, Sounds Of Berlin, Soundscapes, Supreme Styles, Trance ID, Trance ID 2, Urban Ballads, Urbanic, Urbanic 2.

Juxtaposed Music (NYC) Launches JuxMusic.com — Online Music Licensing Platform

NYC-based Juxtaposed Music has announced the launch of their online music licensing platform at www.juxmusic.com.

The JuxMusic Licensing Agency was founded by NYC record producer/engineer and music supervisor Brandon Mason, and provides music supervisors and directors with the music of highly-acclaimed established and leading-edge independent artists, bands, composers and songwriters.

All tracks are pre-cleared and hand-picked Mason, whose album credits include David Bowie, Secret Machines, Shooter Jennings, and film soundtracks to Across The Universe (Grammy-nominated), The Runaways, and The Tempest.

The company had its soft launch in October 2011. In the process, it has acquired tracks by a number of artists including:

– Hazy Malaze, rock band alter-ego of Neal Casal (whose credits include Ryan Adams, Chris Robinson Brotherhood) and Jeff Hill (Rufus Wainwright, Shooter Jennings, Teddy Thompson),
– composer Jeff Mercel (Mercury Rev),
– composer/songwriter/guitarist Jason Crigler (Goats In Trees, Teddy Thompson),
– James Brown’s original Funky Drummer Clyde Stubblefield,
– jazz great Ben Sidran,
– songwriter/guitarist Ann Klein (Natalie Imbruglia, Joan Osborne),
– drummer/percussionist Danny Frankel (k.d. lang, Lou Reed, John Cale),
–   guitarist/producer/songwriter Scrote (Daniel Johnston, The Stripminers),
–  Grammy-nominated children’s music band Milkshake,
–  composer/keyboardist Erik Deutsch (Charlie Hunter Trio, Shooter Jennings),
–  “antique garde” band Kill Henry Sugar,
–  pop singer/songwriter Emily Zuzik (Moby),
–  electronic dance music phenoms Trash Yourself,
–  Gosteffects,
–  Kids At The Bar,
– Glasnost
–  hometown heroes Loomis and The Lust,
–  Hilary Hawke,
– Joy Dragland,
–  101 Crustaceans, and
–  Dr. Snitch

“I decided to start this company when I realized that my independent-artist friends and clients were sitting on catalogs of great music. They owned the masters and publishing, yet had few means to put their copyrights to work,” Mason explains.  “Most artists find it difficult to make solid connections for synch placements, while music supervisors often struggle to discover independent music that is truly exceptional.  Our mission is to help production clients infuse their film, television and branding projects with the authentic emotional impact of great independent music while also propelling the careers of artists whose work deserves greater notoriety.”

All artists who visit the Website are invited to upload their tracks for consideration via the ‘Submit Music’ page at juxmusic.com, although Mason stresses that the company will continue to be very selective about who they take on.

JuxMusic also offers music production services: custom/original music composition (by many of the artists from the JuxMusic Collection), music supervision, editing, sound-alike production, and remixes.

The juxmusic online workflow is designed to offer a start-to-finish music licensing experience, 24/7, via the following features:

•    Production clients can mine through the juxmusic catalog in seconds by conducting an accurate Google-like track search, selecting criteria fields for genre, subgenre, tempo, mood, instrumentation, vocal type, and key, as well as artist, song title and open-ended keyword entry. Each artist has an informative public profile page where every song can be streamed in real time.
•    Clients can use JuxMusic’s online video compositor application, SynchStage, to produce video synchs of their own uploaded video content with any track from the JuxMusic Collection without ever leaving JuxMusic.com.
•    Clients can license their selected tracks with JuxMusic’s automated “click to pay” licensing modules and PayPal gateway. Clients receive 16bit .wav audiofiles and .pdf files of Master Use/Synch License Agreement documents via automatic download upon completion of their transactions.

Alternatively, clients are invited to phone/email Mason and his team with project briefs.

Indaba Music, Getty Images Music Partner to Crowdsource Music for Ads

NYC-based online music creation site Indaba Music has announced a music supervision-related partnership with Getty Images, a creator and distributor of digital media, to help independent musicians and producers get their songs featured in advertisements.

Getty Images Music specializes in commercial music licensing. The company will be regularly connecting with Indaba’s 600,000-member community, with the objective of curating a professional-quality catalog of tracks that fit the up-to-the-minute needs of Getty Images’ client base. Their clientele includes three major broadcast television networks, leading cable television networks, and the music supervisors at top brands in need of the right songs for synch licensing.

The first batch of content sourced through this partnership is entitled “The Hot Sound.” It asked Indaba’s musician community to create original pop songs based on several tracks that showcase current trending production styles – including LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (which is featured in a Kia commercial), as well as Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull’s “On the Floor” and David Guetta featuring Flo Rida & Nicki Minaj’s “Where Them Girls At.”

Getty Images Music will add the resulting tracks to its database and shop them to clients seeking music for advertisements, TV shows, films, web content, and other synch placements. More opportunities will be launching soon.

TuneCore Launches New Division: TuneCore Songwriter Service

The increasingly buzzing online music administration space just got a high-powered new entry.

NYC-based TuneCore today announced the launch of TuneCore Songwriter Service, a multifaceted songwriter publishing administration service. It is designed to allow songwriters to efficiently:

– globally register their copyrights
– collect owed royalties
– protect and police their copyrights and songs
– issue licenses on their behalf

According to TuneCore, their Songwriter Service brings heightened transparency to the collection of digital/mechanical royalties associated with song downloads and streams, along with a full suite of synch licensing services for film and TV music supervision-related activities.

The company explains the new division’s processes and scope in greater depth here.

Early adopters of the service include Trent Reznor for releases by Nine Inch Nails and his new project, How To Destroy Angels. Several hundred other songwriters have also signed up during the beta testing, adding up to over 10,000 songs already being represented.

TuneCore’s service joins a growing artist-oriented online rights management sector that includes companies such as SongTrust, which offers a wide array of music publishing royalty tracking/collection services. TuneSat’s new online portal gives independent artists access to the company’s fingerprinting technology for performance rights collection. Meanwhile, RightsFlow’s Limelight enables online cover song licensing, as does HFA’s SongFile service.

The seven-person TuneCore Songwriter Service division is headed up by president Jamie Purpora, who was Director of Royalties and Senior Vice President of Administration as part of his 17-year tenure with NYC-based publisher Bug Music. Bug was acquired by BMG Rights Management in September of this year.

TuneCore’s new service promises to:

1. Register songwriter’s songs with organizations that use and track their copyrights so they know they exist, what songs are theirs and what money belongs to them.

2. Issue any licenses needed and handle any requests for the use of a songwriter’s songs in TV shows, movies, commercials and other media, and negotiate any licenses with TuneCore’s in-house Film & Visual Media department to get them the best possible terms.

3. Represent the songwriter and aggressively pursue all of their songwriting earnings.

4. Get songwriter’s existing “found” money back before it is given to someone else.

5. Police the world on the songwriter’s behalf to find illegal usage or copyright violation and make it stop and/or get the songwriter paid.

TuneCore Songwriter Service costs a one-time payment of $49.99 for global registration, plus 10% of the money TuneCore collects, while the remaining 90% is distributed to the songwriter. Currently artists must be using TuneCore for distribution in order to sign up, but plans are in the works for any rights holder to be able to sign up in the near future.

Since being founded in 2005 by Jeff Price, the Brooklyn-based TuneCore’s customers have sold over 400 million units of music, with total earnings of over $250,000,000.

Heavyocity (NYC) Announces Damage — Percussion Virtual Instrument

NYC-based developer Heavyocity has announced the upcoming release of Damage, a new percussion virtual instrument. The company is now accepting pre-orders for the instrument, which sells for $339 USD and will be officially available on November 1st.

Heavyocity has previously released the highly successful virtual instruments Evolve, Evolve Mutations, and Evolve Mutations 2, which have proven to be essential tools for film, TV and multimedia composers and sound designers, as well as electronic music producers.

The company has this to say about their latest release:

“Dark, aggressive, thrilling and threatening — DAMAGE is breathtaking cinematic percussion with a tense, epic edge. It is a unique instrument combining orchestral percussion, incredible sampled sounds and edgy electronics. Designed to inspire, DAMAGE delivers jaw-dropping quality in a powerfully intuitive and easy to use interface. Create dramatic, wide-screen tension with the devastating impact of DAMAGE.

DAMAGE gives you 30 GB of drama, fusing industrial sounds and orchestral drums into a devastating electro-acoustic barrage. Percussive Kits provide more than 200 deeply sampled percussion sources, and over 500 single-shot elements, recorded in up to seven velocity layers and with up to nine round-robins per drum.

DAMAGE integrates seamlessly with your DAW, with a compelling workflow to hotwire your creativity. The spectacular user interface was specifically designed with the composer and sound designer in mind. Tempo sync is automatic, and exporting a loop’s MIDI data to your sequencer is simply drag-and-drop. Get results fast with integrated keyswitches for playing effects and remixing loops on the fly, and create instant trailers with the unique ‘Damage Hits’. Then, dial up the ‘Punish’ knob to pile on the pressure.

For DAMAGE, we recorded traditional percussion, premium snares and toms, and an assortment of wooden and metal objects. Then, we set out to capture more obscure sound sources, including exploding cars, cranes, a junkyard, a dumpster, and large objects dropped from great heights.

The sound of DAMAGE comes from loops, kits, and effects. All loops and kits are designed for seamless layering and maximum flexibility, and loosely classified in four styles: Epic Organic, Epic Tech, Industrial Electronic, and Mangled Pop.

LOOPS

DAMAGE provides Loop Menus and Single Loops. The Loop Menus are matched loops, mapped intelligently across the keyboard, for quickly creating tempo-synced grooves. Mix and match loops across different styles to create unique, layered rhythms.

Single Loop presets combine detailed control and intuitive playability – tweak level, pan, and tuning for each slice, and use key-triggers to randomize, freeze, drop or reverse slice playback in real-time.

KITS

DAMAGE offers 58 multi-sampled drum kits, constructed from more than 200 deeply sampled percussion sources and over 500 individual single shot elements. These hybrid kits combine percussion instruments and sampled objects to devastating effect, injecting power and personality into any production.The unique ‘Damage Hits’ consist of layered impacts and tails that can be controlled independently via the modwheel, perfect for stings and transitions.

EFFECTS

Three levels of effects are intrinsically bound to the loops and kits – apply effects globally, trigger performance effects, or tweak individual sounds.

– Master Effects control distortion, reverb, delay, drive, and more
– Trigger FX (pictured here) are switchable real-time effects with incredible scope for intuitive, creative sound-mangling.
– The EQ and Filters provide simple but effective fine-tuning per drum, and presiding over everything is the Punish Knob, for signature drive and character – just dial-in the heat as required.”

Be sure to visit the Damage page for more inside information on the creation of this new instrument.

Behind the Record: Mocean Worker’s “Candygram for Mowo!”

UPPER EAST SIDE/PHILADELPHIA/LOS ANGELES: Are you in the continuum? Moving musically through time? Next time you find yourself on a trip where vintage sounds and styles meld seamlessly with forward-thinking beats and production, you might just be with the MOWO.

Also known as Mocean Worker, also known as Adam Dorn, this is an artist too hyper to be defined, too diversified to sit still. MOWO first made a splash in 1998 as a Philly-to-Paris-to-NYC transplant with his imaginative drum & bass debut, Home Movies from the Brain Forest, which transfixed our ears with energetically beautiful revelations like “What’s Wrong”.

The evolution from there to Dorn’s latest release, Candygram for Mowo! (his sixth studio album), has been dramatic. Today, his sound identifies heavily with soul, circa 1930’s big band, jazz, ‘50’s hard bop, and yet even more styles, crystallizing in a charismatic collection that remains motivating after repeated listenings.

One source of MOWO’s rich internal collage is his bloodline, borne of the highly respected producer/A&R man Joel Dorn (Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, Leon Redbone, Don Mclean, The Neville Brothers). But another may be the multimedia explorer energy that drives him – his tracks are heavily licensed, and he successfully maintains a parallel path as TV/film composer. Connecting it all is a massive aptitude for audio software and a desire to merge it with the most organic of sounds in the studio.

Recently relocated to LA, Dorn let us in on the deep journey that was Candygram: From the devastating loss of his father, to a cross-country trek, and embracing the limitations of a Philadelphia studio’s ancient Pro Tools setup, this album’s story has it all.

You had some serious inspiration for Candygram for MoWo!, connected as it is to your father Joel Dorn. What is your personal journey and artistic statement with this record?

This album was started on a very sour note. Sadly — and very, very shortly after starting the writing for it — my father passed away. Many of you may know him as five-time GRAMMY-winning record producer Joel Dorn. I knew him simply as “dad.” I really checked out for a minute as his passing was incredibly disturbing and sudden. I knew I had to make another record and it had to be special.

The title for the album is a nod to Mel Brooks — I know that sounds insane. I just mentioned my father passing away, and yet the album is a cheeky wise-ass nod to Mel Brook’s movie Blazing Saddles — what gives? Well, my father and I shared a strong love and passion for all things comedy. While he was an editor of sorts throughout my entire writing career up to the point of his passing, he also was just my best friend. We would work on music together from time to time, but really he was just such a strong supporter of what I did and a cheerleader.

He never said “do this” or “do that,” he just gave me an incredible set of ears to play music for. This album represents the first time I didn’t get to use his filter as it were. It took me about 18 months to get back on track and get out of the pretty deep depression I had fallen into.

That’s a heavy backstory. How did all this emotion start to come out in the sound of the album?

I don’t normally write dark music — at least not since my debut albums which were actually darker, jazz-influenced Drum & Bass. I knew that this album was going to have to be a continuation of the last two MOWO! albums (2004′s Enter the Mowo! and 2007′s Cinco de Mowo!) and that means a few things.

1) fun, funky music with a nod to past eras 2) uplifting non-pretentious tunes that folks can listen to in many contexts — this is not electronic music strictly for a club setting, in fact, it really strives at being home listening and headphone-oriented music — 3) obey rules 1 and 2 HA!

Simply put I could not make a dark sad album. I just didn’t want to. I wanted to do something that celebrated my old man, was fun, and was an extension of my previous work. So, I took a little while, reflected and got myself to a good place. It’s really an album based on love for looking at the bright side of things. It’s a positive album top to bottom.

You moved out of Manhattan halfway into the production process. Was it difficult shifting gears, location-wise, in the middle of making a record?

I really didn’t have a hard time shifting gears at all. I had started to get on a roll and I just kept it going. I have to say the hardest part of keeping on a roll was that I had set up a new writing environment and I just could not get a handle on what the room sounded like.

The problem with most writing rooms, or at least all the rooms I’ve ever had, is that they pretty much sound terrible. I battle this by writing at low volumes and just trying to keep things simple. I try not to clutter the stereo field at all. This is really hard as I’m often mixing old samples with new beats and live instruments and, well, it’s nearly impossible not to run into some conflicts doing that.

Once I had a vague sense of what my room sounded like I just forged ahead. By the time I started mixing I knew what I was dealing with, and it was what it was. In a dream scenario I will eventually write and always record in a room where I know what I’m getting. I haven’t gotten there yet. Maybe someday I will?

You said you made some interesting observations about long-distance collaboration in the process. What were some of the advantages and disadvantages of that workflow that you discovered as the project went on?

Yeah, it was interesting going through an entire record where only one or two times did I find myself in the room with a musician playing on my stuff. It was surreal, as I’m really accustomed to being in the same room with someone overdubbing on my material, but I just didn’t have that luxury this time out.

The two musicians I happened to get to record with were Charlie Hunter (“Sho Nuff Now”) and Steven Bernstein ( “Shooby Shooby Do Yah! and “It Still Don’t Mean a Thing.”) I gotta be honest: I didn’t have much to say to them when I was in the room with them anyway. I knew why I had hired them, and I got EXACTLY what I wanted to get out of them and I got it. Those two sessions just ended up being incredible hangs where there was no need for notes. I have learned — and this album cemented this concept for me — that you know who you are hiring and what to expect, and 99% of the time you get what you need without much communication. It’s that situation where if you don’t know what you want, and you hire somebody you may run into a problem.

Nobody on this album was hired because I was just poking in the dark with a stick. Everyone on the album was a friend or someone I had worked with numerous times before, or lastly someone I had always wanted on a tune and knew their thing. An example of this is John Ellis’s solo on “Say Yeah Yeah”: I love his playing, have been wanting him for years to play on something but I just didn’t have the right song. This came up and he just nailed it. Bill Frisell is also an old friend and someone I’ve worked with on film scores, his records and my own recordings (ENTER THE MOWO!) so that was also a no-brainer. Seriously, once I had the tracks laid out it was so easy to just pick and choose who I wanted where. The table was set nicely. I can’t say enough about how everyone gave their time and creative energy to this record — just a really huge record for me.

I do have one posthumous collaboration, and that’s with (jazz multi-instrumentalist) Rahsaan Roland Kirk. This is a collab that’s happened on my last three records, and I have some Rah sitting around that my dad had recorded and I love working him into my tunes. He was my father’s favorite artist, and I really love having him in this context — I know my father loved hearing Rah this way, so I had to bring him back on a tune as a nod to my old man.

When I last interviewed you, you were really getting inspired by Reason. Is this still your main creative tool? How has your use of the program evolved along with updates?

OK, this is a very complicated question for me to answer. Sort of.

I have always and will always use Propellerheads software products to write. It’s ingrained in my soul. A little while into writing the album the props released Record and I fell in love instantly with its mindlessly simple interface. I love the software, but I can’t say that I really changed a ton in terms of how I use the products.

The MAIN way I changed everything is the use of the mixing console built into Record. It’s an incredible writing tool. I love the fact that I instantly had the ability to really EQ and write at the same time. The mixing desk, modeled after an SSL mixing console, really made me feel musical. Other sequencers offer you the ability to build a desk suited to your needs by adding plugins and building the signal path. Meanwhile, Record has a desk, its sounds amazing and it has that incredible master bus compressor just sitting there begging you to engage it. It’s just such a simple yet musical piece of software.

As of this moment Reason 6.0 is coming out and now Record is bundled into Reason. So I will see with the new devices how things change. I’m already LOVING the Alligator device like you cannot believe. I am a HUGE fan of the Rex file. It enables me to play samples and make music from records mine. I always find inspiration from it.

What are some cool Reason tips and tricks you can share – what’s a song or songs on “Candygram” where we can hear this in action?

I would say check out the tune “Out there In The Random” from the new album. There are some insanely tweaked-out samples in there – really, really odd things all put together and they make this weird electro lullaby odd little track. Its all Reason top-to-bottom, was mixed in Record, actually, and then touched in Pro Tools a bit.

It’s a vibe not often associated with my sound. I’m proud of it because it sounds simple, but its construction is not simple at all: It’s a bevy of sounds delayed to death and tuned to be in sympathetic keys. It’s a very sing-songy sounding thing with an ‘80′s bent but its based all on totally unrelated samples and the synths built into Reason. It’s a rare example of my actually using the synths in Reason which I do not do very often.

As it was coming together I kind of hated it and loved it at the same time. It’s a strange puzzle but it’s MY strange puzzle. Lots and lots of filtering, reverb and delay went into it. No real trick, just a lot of experimenting.

Why did you find yourself tracking/mixing on a really old version of Pro Tools in Philly? How did the limitations of that platform eventually benefit the final result?

Well, I was introduced to this amazing and insane character named Paul Atkinson, a Brit living in Philadelphia near my house at the time. A close friend named Clay Sears, who plays guitar with Janet Jackson, suggested I check him out. I went into his studio — a complex in the basement of an industrial building in a working class neighborhood. I was not sold at first, and he pushed me for the gig saying, “Just give me a tune and we can take it from there.”

I have a weakness for Brits. I think they are much better at sound than we are. My favorite records are mostly made in Britain, and I find far more influential movements in electronic music coming from there. So, he had at a tune and he kind of nailed it. Over the course of the next five weeks we tweaked and messed with every song multiple times and got things just sitting in such a nice tight funky way.

This was not material he was accustomed to dealing with and I wasn’t used to working in Pro Tools 5.1…..oh did I mention that? We were mixing in the box on an old Mac running OS 9. What was I thinking? It really freaked me out at first, since I hadn’t messed with OS 9 since the year 2002, I think. It felt so ancient but he just got great sound and I slowly over the course of a couple of weeks just trusted him to nail it down. He did! I think he did an amazing job.

That little piece of software time travel is fitting for Candygram, we think! Now, along with the album, you’re scoring for “Weight of the Nation” on HBO. Why is scoring a natural extension of what you do?

I mostly write instrumental music. I’ve always been told my music lends itself to picture. Over the years I have really been blessed to have many of my tunes licensed for films, TV show and commercials — NEVER with the intention of them showing up there. I guess I just write a certain style and it works.

I really have never had a design on it but Id be lying if I said at this point I didn’t expect some licensing here and there. The track record has been incredible with spots for Ford, Kia, Hyundai, Kraft, Marriott, Crayola, Honda, Miller Genuine Draft and Chicos to name a few. I just love that something about my music continues to resonate with music lovers, film makers, advertisers and hipsters and absolute non-hipsters. Just in general, I make my living having music end up in things, having it licensed. I don’t tour, I don’t show up on talk shows. My living and my artistry is funded by all of these things so I sincerely hope it continues.

The “Weight of the Nation Project” is a documentary series about the problems with eating disorders, and food in general in the United States. It’s a four-part series being produced in conjunction with the US Government, so it’s a huge honor to write music and lend music to that cause.

My goal in the next portion of my career is to do more scoring. I have been insanely lucky enough to score films along side Brian Eno, John Cale, Hal Willner and peripherally Danny Elfman — a Disney film called Meet the Robinsons where I scored a nice scene and Master Elfman, one of my heroes, did the rest of the amazing score. I just think that’s the direction things are headed in. Folks know me as MOWO! for sure, but I’ve also scored about five films and documentaries and have had my Mocean Worker music in about 25-30 feature films. I’d love to get the chance to continue doing this alongside my MOWO! career.

That’s a music-for-picture track record that just about any artist would want to achieve, no question. Back on the tech tip for a second: You’ve said you recently started incorporating Logic into your workflow. How has changing DAWs been helpful to you, and in what ways is it a difficult transition?

Man, Logic is a mixed bag. I love it for its stability while running many AU plug ins. I’m using Logic an enormous amount for the HBO ““Weight of the Nation” project. Inside of Logic I’m using Native Instruments’ Komplete Ultimate 8, and the full compliment of Spectrasonics plugs with an emphasis on Omnishpere and Trillian.

I’m also, as always, using Reason 6 for some tunes where a little something different is needed. I’m sure I could just easily run Reason inside of Logic but it’s just a pain in the ass. Id rather just get what I need out of Reason and print stems for importing. I’m lazy. If someone has a nice tutorial for me to watch , please….send it along!

Pro Tools is factoring in less and less. I just ran out of patience. The lack of stability with soft synths just wore thin on me. I have Pro Tools 9 and according to many producer and composer friends it’s far more stable now. I just kind of use it for mixing now when I need to and some other kinds of editing. I don’t feel quite comfortable enough yet in Logic yet to do MOWO! material, but I’m sure as time goes on I will find it to be second nature to do some stuff.

So there you have it. I use three DAWS. I know that sounds insane. It’s just each program offers a specific thing I love.

You’ve just moved to L.A. What are you seeing are the advantages/disadvantages of being based out of there as a musician/engineer/producer, as compared to NYC?

The weather. That’s the only advantage thus far. All of my work is still based in NYC and back on the East Coast. I’ve only been here about 10 weeks at this point, so I would check back in in a couple of years and I think that that will be a different story.

I’m finding things to be different out here so far. Everything is great, but I’m seeing some advantages to the brutal honesty of NYC. They both have upsides and downsides. I love both places but my heart is in NYC, not gonna lie about that. I did 25 years there and will come back as often as I can. That energy only exists in a few places on earth — London, Berlin, Tokyo as well — and I need to feed off it from time to time.

You’ve said that Candygram will “complete a thought” for you musically. Can you explain what you mean by that?

I’ve made three albums under the “MOWO!” moniker, or rather with the word MOWO! in the title. Its sort of a character MOCEAN WORKER turned into. These last three albums I can say without a doubt or reservation I have really feel like I’ve invented something that I can call my own.

Candygram for Mowo! is the last in this installment, I think. I think I said what I wanted to say with the old jazzy thing. I want to start exploring other things a little. Having said that I might find that, “HEY……this is what I do” and can continue to explore this sound. But I remember starting off making drum and bass music, and then taking a really insane hard turn into house/breaks which turned into what I’m doing now.

Enter the Mowo! was delivered to my former record label and handed back to me as a failure. It was discarded as a mistake and the end of my career. I knew that wasn’t the case, self-released it, and haven’t looked back now over the last three albums. It’s been insanely difficult and a make-it-up-as-I-go process. I was DIY when it was SO not cool to go your own way — now everyone is joining me because the business is falling apart.

However, I don’t think it’s falling apart. I think it’s settling in and back to a thing that sort of existed in the ‘50′s: I know that might sound weird, but its kind of a Wild Wild West again, and I think I’m gonna be OK. I think planning success is important, but some things have to also happen on their own and find their cracks and crevices.

So, I say it completes a thought on these types of titles because I might not have a ton more to say. Meanwhile, shit, I just took four years to make an album after losing my father and going through such tremendous change. Moving out of NYC, meeting a wife and becoming a step dad. I think the MOWO! train is still chugging along – it’s going to change, morph and become new and exciting things.

– David Weiss

Candygram for Mowo! is available digitally and physically now.

Audio Network (NYC) Launches $500 Filmmaker Annual License

NYC-based music library Audio Networkannounced that it has launched a $500 Filmmaker Annual License.

The annual license is intended to provide new and aspiring filmmakers with an easy path to score their films, with one year of unlimited access to Audio Network’s 45,000-track, pre-cleared, cross-genre library.

Audio Network synch licensing clients include HBO, MTV Networks and the BBC. Its extensive music library is pre-cleared and ideal for use in media content including film, advertising, reality shows and documentaries.

The company also supplies original scoring, audio branding, sound design services, and works as a creative partner alongside over 200 composers.

Avatar Action: Sugarland, the Michel Legrand Orchestra, State Farm Was There

Avatar Studios session action recently was fast and furious, as reported by the studio. Superstars returned, and multiple major label and indie artists tracked along with TV, film and Broadway cast recordings.

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush AKA Sugarland recorded in Studio C on the Neve VRP 72-input console with producer Byron Gallamore. Engineer Tom Tapley was assisted by Bob Mallory.

Tony Bennett returned to Studio A and the Neve 8088, with Lady Gaga and producer Phil Ramone. Engineer Dae Bennett was assisted by Fernando Lodeiro and Tim Marchiafava.

State Farm made a choral recording in Studio A for a 9/11 Spike Lee-directed commercial with producer Eric David Johnson. Engineer Jonathan Duckett was assisted by Charlie Kramsky.

Joe Jackson recorded in Studio C. Engineer Elliot Scheiner was assisted by Aki Nishimura.

Bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding recorded in Studio G with engineers Fernando Lodeiro and Brian Montgomery assisted by Tim Marchiafava.  The sessions are being produced by Esperanza Spalding and Q-Tip.

Studio B and the SSL 9000 J were on duty for Dar Williams, recording with producer/engineer Kevin Killen assisted by Fernando Lodeiro.

Horn specialist Mark Rivera recorded in Studio B with producer Jimmy Bralower, and engineer Roy Hendrickson assisted by Charlie Kramsky.

Rock singer/songwriter Danielia Cotton recorded in Studio A with engineer Dave Swanson assisted by Bob Mallory.

Producer John Oddo was on point for Broadway singer/actress Christine Ebersole, recording in Studio B with engineer Roy Hendrickson assisted by Tim Marchiafava.

Legendary jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette recorded in Studio A with producer Bob Sadin, engineer Dave Darlington assisted by Bob Mallory.

Continuing on the jazzzzzzzz tip, artists Claire Martin and Kenny Barron recorded in Studio B with producer Philip Hobbs, engineer Calum Malcolm assisted by Charlie Kramsky.

Also in Studio A, the 52-piece Michel Legrand Orchestra tracked with producer Sylvain Taillet. Engineer Lawrence Manchester was assisted by Bob Mallory and Tim Marchiafava.

Another ensemble, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra was in Studio A with producer Howard Cass, while engineer Paul Zinman was assisted by Tim Marchiafava.

The Birdland Big Band dug into their first studio album in Studio C. The team of producer Tommy Igoe, engineer Phil Magnotti, and assistant engineer Aki Nishimura oversaw the recording.

On the music-for-media front, score for the film Friends with Kids was recorded in Studio C with producer/composer Marcelo Zarvos, engineer Erlin Velberg assisted by Fernando Lodeiro.  The film stars Kristen Wiig, Megan Fox and Jon Hamm.

The cast album for Stage Door Canteen was recorded in Studio A with producer Hugh Fordin, and engineer Cynthia Daniels was assisted by Aki Nishimura. Meanwhile, a benefit project for Broadway Cares was recorded in Studio B with producer Lynn Pinto, engineer Andros Rodriguez assisted by Tim Marchiafava.

In Studio A, the cast album for Death Takes a Holiday tracked with producer Tommy Krasker. Engineer Bart Migal assisted by Bob Mallory and Charlie Kramsky.

« Previous Page — Next Page »