Indaba Music: Remix Tracks from Daft Punk’s TRON Soundtrack to Win iPad2, KCRW Airplay, Disney Release

NYC-based Indaba Music is giving its community the chance to remix tracks from the TRON: Legacy original motion picture soundtrack, which was composed and produced by Daft Punk.

The TRON: Legacy soundtrack was the highest charting score soundtrack in over a decade when it was released last December. On April 5, Walt Disney Records will release the remix album TRON: Legacy RECONFIGURED, which features an eclectic mix of acclaimed DJs, remixers and producers including M83, Photek, Moby, Com Truise, and others.

In the Indaba contest, the grand prize winner’s track will be considered for airplay on the well-known radio station KCRW and featured on the KCRW Music Blog, and will have the chance for their winning remix to be released by Walt Disney Records.

The winner will also receive an iPad2 and the TRON: Legacy original motion picture soundtrack deluxe vinyl box set. Ten runners-up will receive the TRON: Legacy original motion picture soundtrack deluxe vinyl box set.

Remixers can work with any of the three songs on the Indaba Music site, “The Grid,” “Derezzed” or “End of Line,” but mashups will not be accepted. There is no limit to the number of entries per person.

Submissions are due by April 27, 2011 at 5:00 PM EDT, and the online voting for 20 finalists ends May 11, 2011 at 5:00 PM EDT. Jason Bentley, the music supervisor for TRON: Legacy and also KCRW’s Music Director and “Host of Morning Becomes Eclectic”, will listen to submissions to determine the Grand Prize Winner, and will select the 10 runners-up from the 20 finalists as chosen by the Indaba community.

MTV “Skins,” Diamondsnake, Chromeo Recording at Stratosphere

Catch MTV’s latest teen docu-drama-style show, Skins, this week? The chiptune theme song, by Brooklyn-based duo Starscream was tracked at NYC’s Stratosphere Studios, with producer/engineer Gabe Liberti. The cast of the show also joined Liberti in the studio to record vocals.

Stratosphere has also welcomed songwriter and former Epic Records president, Amanda Ghost (Beyonce, James Blunt, Shakira), producer Dave McCracken (Depeche Mode, John Legend, Ian Brown) and engineer Andros Rodriguez (Justin Timberlake, Ben Folds, Leona Lewis) as the new long-term clients in Studio B. They will reportedly be working on a variety of projects over the next few months. Stay tuned….

In other recent Stratosphere sessions, Diamondsnake — Moby’s metal band project with Dave Hill, Phil Costello and Chris “Tomato” Harfenist — tracked and mixed new material in Studio A with engineer Ruddy Cullers; Brooklyn trio Menage à Twang tracked and mixed an album with engineer Reed Black (formerly of Saves the Day) in Studio B; engineer Thom Leinbach recorded tracks by composer John Angier for the upcoming animated series Jolly Rabbit; Chromeo worked out of Studios A and B, tracking and mixing with producer Sonjay Prabhakar and engineer Michael Nesci; and producer Tony Visconti tracked backing vocals and strings for Welsh singer Debbie Clarke.

For more on Stratosphere, visit www.stratospheresound.com!

JLM Sound Expands: Roman Vail Promoted to Staff Engineer, Adds Studio Manager Diana Zinni

JLM Sound, the DUMBO mastering facility founded by Joe Lambert, continues to expand. This week, Lambert announced that he has promoted Roman Vail to the post of Staff Engineer.

“When I opened JLMSound in 2008 I asked Roman to join me — he was my studio manager the last three years I was at Trutone in midtown,” says Lambert. “I wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible, so keeping the team together was a big help. When you’re a small company everyone does a lot of different tasks and Roman has been doing everything I’ve asked of him over the years.  Since being at JLM Sound Roman has been doing more and more mastering sessions, so I’ve been wanting to transition him out of the management role to free him up to handle more session work.

“My workload has steadily increased and in the last year or so it’s really exploded, making it’s necessary to bring Roman along to handle the projects that I’m not able to do, as well as the clients that he has cultivated himself over the last couple of years. It also allows us to have different price options for people while still offering the quality of work and attention they expect.”

In addition, JLM Sound has brought on Diana Zinni as studio manager. “Diana is the perfect person to take over the operations of the studio for us,” Lambert notes. “She’s experienced in the New York studio environment, and is someone I can trust to handle the day to day needs of our clients. She’s capable of all the things I ask of the position –  which is a lot!”

The developments at JLM Sound seem to be a positive indicator for the overall health of NYC-based mastering in 2011. Recent sessions at the facility include new full-lengths by Moby, Panda Bear, Gang Gang Dance, Guillemots, Obits, The Papercuts, Milagres, Lia Ices, and Austra. “It’s a lot of work to create a successful studio,” says Lambert. “So when you see it grow and take off in new directions it’s a challenge, but also a lot of fun.”

– David Weiss

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.

The SonicScoop Year in Review: Top NYC Music Business News and Trends of 2010

THE FIVE BOROUGHS: 2010 has been busy all right. For anyone involved in New York City’s expansive business of music – producer, publisher, entrepreneur, engineer, artist, and many more – the environment remains fast-paced, ultra-competitive and constantly changing.

With 2011 looming, SonicScoop looked for the news, trends and topics that stood out to us over the past 365 days.

In audio post, it was grow or die in the uppermost echelon. The biggest facilities, including hsr|ny, Nutmeg, and Sound Lounge made serious expansions into audio and/or video:

Sound Lounge opened an ADR Stage and multiple studios.

Nutmeg Post added a strong team and facility when it soaked up Soundhound.

The big post house Mega Playground built out audio capabilities.

Northern Lights added a 5.1 audio mixing suite.

Video house Click3X reversed the trend and added their own audio suite.

Celebrating 35 years in business, hsr|ny continued to expand as a full-service video and audio post facility.

Large and mid-sized recording/tracking/mixing studios kept making capital improvements and expanding:

Premier Studios took over the 8th floor at 723 7th Avenue.

Engine Room opened up its penthouse studio.

Stadium Red expanded with a new studio for Just Blaze and a mastering suite.

Platinum Studios added Augspurgers to Studio K.

Sear Sound set up the Moog-centric Studio D.

Tainted Blue swapped out its SSL for a Euphonix (nee Avid) System 5.

And props to Electric Lady for marking its 40th Anniversary.

Converse (yes, the shoe company) has an interesting business plan for the Rubber Tracks studio it’s going to open in Williamsburg in 2011: no-cost recording.

Advanced smaller studios – independent and within larger facilities — and producer rooms also opened up at a peppy pace:

Chris Theberge’s Music Works arrived on the Upper West Side.

The former One Point Six in Williamsburg was reborn as Three Egg Studios.

Manhattan Center Studios launched The Fuse Box with Public Enemy’s Brian Hardgroove.

Avatar opened up its Studio W writing room.

Sisko’s Min-Max Studios opened up in midtown.

Marc Alan Goodman announced an ambitious new expansion for Brooklyn’s Strange Weather, then blogged about the buildout – step by step – for SonicScoop.

Guitarist Justin King moved his Vinegar Hill Sound from Portland, OR to DUMBO, Brooklyn.

Avid capped off a furious year of reinvention and new products with the release of Pro Tools 9.

Music houses and composers still had a ton of TV, film and video game work to go after and win:

Joel Beckerman of Man Made Music continued to make NYC a TV music powerhouse.

Composer Peter Nashel turned ears everywhere with his work for shows like Rubicon.

Outfits like Expansion Team scored for networks such as the Biography Channel.

Tom Salta understands how to get chosen to score for games like Prince of Persia and Red Steel 2.

Production music and synch licensing remained a solid business, especially for those who got in at the right time or had a smart approach.

NYC’s Kingsize Music was acquired by 615 Music.

And later on Warner-Chappell (NYC) bought up 615 Music.

NYC’s Videohelper released the “Scenarios” music search tool.

Jingle Punks continued to grow.

Mechanical licensing experts RightsFlow kept progressing.

One of NYC’s most controversial music business plays, peer-to-peer file sharing network Limewire, appeared to be finally finished.

Tracking, mixing and mastering at NYC’s established facilities did a relatively healthy volume of A-level and independent work throughout the year:

The Black Eyed Peas, Rivers Cuomo and Kanye West were at Germano Studios.

Neon Indian, Beach House, Matt and Kim, Bear Hands and more were mastered at The Lodge.

MSR Studios handled Kid Cudi, Evanescence and Broadway Cast recordings.

Lenny Kravitz, The Dirty Pearls, “Glee”, and Vampire Weekend were all at Avatar.

Joe Lambert Mastering worked with Moby and Ninjasonik.

New software and hardware happiness abounded:

We elected many items “Buzzworthy” at AES, from Universal Audio, Focal, SSL, Burl, Shadow Hills, Izotope, Sound Toys, Lavry Engineering, Telefunken and more.

Propellerhead released Reason 5.

NYC suffered losses when beloved people and places left us:

Recording icon Walter Sear passed away.

The great hip hop/jazz experimentalist Guru was gone before his time.

Clinton Recording Studios hosted its last session.

Brick and mortar music retail took another hit when Fat Beats shuttered its last stores.

Baseline Studios, home of Just Blaze and countless Jay-Z hits, closed.

Chung King Studios started off 2010 with a bang by suddenly vacating Varick Street.

NYC-based producers, mixers, engineers and artists became businesses in their own right:

Producer Chris Coady worked on some hugely acclaimed records this year, including Beach House Teen Dream and Delorean Subiza, as well as records with Hooray for Earth, Zola Jesus, Smith Westerns, Cold Cave.

People like Allen Farmelo developed their distinctive sound.

Choice songwriter Claude Kelly made a business of hits.

Shane Stoneback’s career took off via work with Sleigh Bells and Vampire Weekend.

Mixer Mark Saunders embraced multiple aspects of the biz from his studio at Beat 360.

Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess took his iPad/iPhone app MorphWiz all the way to #1.

Joel Hamilton continued down an immersive production path, working on records with Blakroc, Dub Trio, The Parkington Sisters and Blakroc.

And John Agnello brought his classic production and engineering technique to new records for Kurt Vile, J Mascis, Shayna Zaid And The Catch and Dead Confederate (among others).

The studio scene got a lot more socialicious and FUN:

Flux Studios was always hosting something in the East Village, like Alto and Dangerous converging for a schooling from Fab.

Digital Music NY was one of many popular business-based meetups.

Stadium Red partied down post-CMJ.

20dot20 mixed advertising and music.

And the Connectors connected a LOT of people.

What big stories would you include? And what do you see next in 2011? Don’t be shy – leave a comment and let us know!

– Janice Brown and David Weiss

Mute Announces New Structure Details: Label, Publishing, Management Now Combined

Following the recent announcement that Mute has reached an agreement with EMI Music which sees the company, led by Daniel Miller, return to being independent, Mute has announced details of the new structure. Under the new arrangement, the record label, publishing company and a new artist/producer management company have been brought together under the Mute name.

Angie Somerside returns to the company as Group Managing Director, overseeing the already established record label and publishing company, as well as launching and running the new Mute artist management company. Somerside started her career at Mute as a publicist, then was at UK independent and major labels, followed by the post of General Manager at QPrime Management UK before returning to Mute.

With the launch of the new company come a number of new singings, including London five-piece S.C.U.M, and Texan singer-songwriter Josh T. Pearson and Junip, featuring José González, as the first artists to sign to the invigorated company.

Alongside the new signings, Mute’s New York office is currently working with Moby, Liars, José González, M83, The Knife, Fever Ray, Erasure, Paul van Dyk, Andy Bell, Polly Scattergood, Recoil, Maps, and A Place To Bury Strangers.

A small number of artists will remain signed to and marketed by EMI Music, with Miller continuing to work with them in an A&R consultancy role with EMI.

Andrew King continues to head up the publishing company, representing Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Grinderman and Liars, Underworld, Juno Reactor, and Max Richter, and Sir Bob Geldof’s catalogue. Andrew King’s background was originally in management – he has managed Pink Floyd, The Clash and Ian Dury among others. Andrew will work with Angie Somerside in developing the management company within Mute. He is also Deputy Chairman of PRS for Music.

Mute’s New York office, headed by long term General Manager, Mark Fotiadis, will work closely alongside the UK company on both publishing and management deals. In addition, Mute has opened a new office in Germany led by Anne Haffmans, a long-time marketing director at Mute.

Avatar Studios Hosts Paul Simon, Moby, O.A.R. and More

Paul Simon recently spent time recording at NYC’s Avatar Studios, working with producer Phil Ramone, engineer Andy Smith and assistant engineer Justin Gerrish.

Moby‘s also recently recorded in Studio A, with engineer Scott Norton and assistant engineer Rick Kwan.

Meanwhile, roots rock quintet O.A.R. recorded in Studio C with producer Matt Wallace and engineer Mike Landolt. Other acts that recorded in March include Teddy Thompson, Proud Simon, and The Script.

From the jazz world, the Christian McBride Big Band recorded in Studio A with engineer Joe Ferla, while woodwind specialist James Carter recorded in Studio B with producer Michael Cuscuna and engineer Jim Anderson, assisted by Fernando Lodeiro. Other notables were Michel Portal and The Don Friedman Trio, both of whom recorded in Studio C with their producer/engineer teams.

Studio A recently hosted several TV and theater projects as well. Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks recorded music for the upcoming HBO series Boardwalk Empire with producer Jim Dunbar and engineer Stewart Lerman. Also, the cast of Broadway’s Million Dollar Quartet recorded with producer Hank Neuberger and engineer Chris Steinmetz.

And finally, the music for Life Begins At 8:40, a 1934 Harold Arlen / Ira Gershwin / Yip Harburg musical revue, was recorded in Studio A with producer Tommy Krasker and engineer Bart Migal.

For more information on Avatar Studios, visit their website at avatarstudios.net.

Avatar Hosts The Strokes, Mary J. Blige, Moby, The Dirty Pearls & David Kahne

Avatar Recording Studios hosted a number of sessions this past month, with high-profile artists, producers and engineers.

Studio A and its famed live room saw the likes of The Strokes, recording with producer/engineer Joe Chiccarelli, assisted by Justin Gerrish. Moby was recording there with engineer Scott Norton, assisted by Rick Kwan, while Vince Mendoza tracked in the room with engineer Jim Anderson, again assisted by Rick Kwan. A Latin version of “We Are The World” was recorded with Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas in Studio A with producer Emilio Estefan and engineer Roy Hendrickson, assisted by Fernando Lodeiro.

In Studio B, the Bill Charlap Trio recorded with producer Todd Barkan, along with engineer Katherine Miller assisted by Aki Nishimura. Oud player Joseph Tawadros was in B with engineer Jon Rosenberg, assisted by Bob Mallory.

Mary J. Blige was in Studio C overdubbing with producer Ron Fair, and engineer Anthony Ruotolo, who was assisted by Charlie Kramsky. Also in C were Nikki Yanofsky, working with producers Phil Ramone and Jesse Harris, along with engineer Tom Schick assisted by Bob Mallory. The Dirty Pearls were in C recording with producer David Kahne, engineer Roy Hendrickson, and assisted by Justin Gerrish. On the jazz tip, Mark Johnson was in Studio C recording with producer Eliane Elias, while engineer Joe Ferla was assisted by Rick Kwan.

Last but not least, indigenous Australian musician Gurrumul Yunupingu was in Studio G recording with producer Michael Hohnen, engineer Anthony Ruotolo, and assistant Aki Nishimura.