Recording Sweet Spot: KMA Music
July 25, 2010 by David Weiss
/* Filed under NYC Spotlight */
Facility Name: KMA Music
Studio A at KMA
Website: www.kmamusic.com
Location: The Brill Building, Midtown, Manhattan
Neighborhood Advantages: There are amazing views of Times Square here, a great selection of food, and our studio is located in a landmark building.
Date of Birth: 2007
Facility Focus: Tracking and mixing!
Mission Statement: “Bringing the music back to the Brill.”
Clients/Credits: 50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Birdman, Black Thought, Bow Wow, Bravo TV, Britney Spears, Cash Money Records, Claude Kelly, Clipse, DJ Clue, DJ Khaled, DJ Swivel, David Cook, David Foster, Demi Lovato, Duro, Eric Hudson, Estelle, Eve, Fabolous, Fantasia, Flo Rida, G-Unit, G-Unit Records, Geffen Records, George Clinton, Ghostface Killah, Gloria Gaynor, Gym Class Heroes, Honor Society, Ice Cube, Interscope Geffen A&M, Island Def Jam Music Group, J Records, J-Cole, J-Lo, Jamie Foxx, Jay Sean, Jay-Z, Jazmine Sullivan, Jennifer Hudson, Jeremih, John Legend, Jonas Brothers, Jordin Sparks, Joss Stone, Justin Bieber, Kelly Rowland, Kristin Chenoweth, LMFAO, Little Steven, Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Michael Jackson, Mos Def, Nas, Nelly, Nick Cannon, Paul Simon, Phil Ramone, Rihanna, Roc Nation, Sean Paul, Sesame Street, Shaggy, Snoop Dogg, Sony Music, Sting, Swizz Beatz, T.I., The Neptunes, Tiesto, Twista, Universal Motown, Universal Republic Records, Warner Bros. Records, Whitney Houston, Wyclef Jean, Yung Joc
Some of our recent credits include: Mixed: “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys from The Blueprint 3, “Do You Remember” by Jay Sean ft. Sean Paul & Lil Jon from All or Nothing, “Throw It In The Bag” & “My Time” by Fabolous from Loso’s Way,”Baby” by Ghostface Killah from Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City, “Bittersweet” by Fantasia, “Work Hard Play Hard” by DJ Tiesto, “Who Dat” by J. Cole, 12 out of 16 tracks on Fabolous’ Loso’s Ways, 11 out of 14 tracks on Jay Sean’s All or Nothing. Recorded and Produced “Worth It” by Whitney Houston from I Look To You.
Key Personnel: David “Roz” Rosner – Studio Manager , James M. Spano – Asst. Studio Manager, Casey R. Flynn – Chief of Operations
(l-r) David "Roz Rosner and Phil Ramone
System Highlights: We have a lot on hand, including AKG C12 VR, API 3124, Avalon 737, Digidesign Control 24, Digidesign Icon, Focusrite Red 7, Griffin G 1.5, Griffin LFE 18”, Lexicon 960L, Logic Pro 9, Neumann U87, Pro Tools HD 8.0, SSL XLogic E Signature Channel, SSL XLogic SuperAnalogue, Sony C-800G, Tube-Tech MP-1A, Teletronix LA-2A,, Universal Audio 1176, Yamaha Disclavier 6 Grand Piano
Distinguishing Characteristics: We are a boutique studio with a vibe like no other. Our entire facility has panoramic views of Times Square. KMA was designed by famed studio designer, Fran Manzella (The Palms Studio, The Barber Shop Studios, Sterling Sound) who built our flagship A room around his very own Griffin monitors. This is why clients such as Duro and DJ Swivel (Jay-Z, Jay Sean, Nas, Mariah Carey, Fabolous, Mary J. Blige, T.I., Britney Spears, The Neptunes, Ludacris, The Beastie Boys, Diddy, Ashanti and Will Smith, etc.) choose to record and mix their projects in our extremely quiet and sonically accurate rooms.
The building is on fire, you only have time to grab ONE thing to save, what is it? Our tech, Casey R Flynn haha… and the hard drives!
Rave Reviews: Our sound, our service, our staff, the views of Times Square, the vibe and the stripper pole (always a conversation piece!).
Most Memorable Session Ever: We’ve had many memorable sessions at KMA, but probably the most notable session was with the legendary Paul Simon and Phil Ramone while recording Paul’s single “Questions for the Angels.”
Session You’d Like to Forget: N/A!
Dream Session: We can’t narrow it down, so pick one for us: The Rat Pack, Michael Jackson,
Van Halen, U2, Johnny Cash. [SonicScoop selects ALL OF THE ABOVE laying down a slammin’ version of “We Want the Funk”.]
– David “Roz” Rosner, Studio Manager KMA Studios
From Avenue Q to Sesame Street: Michael Croiter + Yellow Sound Lab
April 14, 2010 by Janice Brown
/* Filed under NYC Spotlight */
East Village, Manhattan: It’s a “sunny day,” and I’m on my way to a Sesame Street session at Yellow Sound Lab in the East Village. The amazing basement studio belonging to drummer/producer Michael Croiter (Spencer Day, Avenue Q, Chita Rivera), Yellow Sound Lab is now the musical home of Sesame Street and The Electric Company. All of the original music — songs and underscore — is recorded and mixed here. And today, I get to catch the “Sesame Street band” in action.
In Yellow Sound Lab (l-r) Bill Sherman and Joe Fiedler
Led by Sesame Street composer and music director (and Tony-award winning orchestrator for In The Heights), Bill Sherman, and arranger/orchestrator and trombonist Joe Fiedler, the band consists of Croiter on drums/percussion, John Deley (Dido, Lizz Wright) and Randy Cohen on keys, Rob Jost on bass and Doug Derryberry (Bruce Hornsby, Vertical Horizon) on guitar.
They’re moving through cues for a classical music-themed episode, and while Elmo is on-screen in the control room, this is sophisticated stuff — complex progressions of marimba, upright bass, acoustic guitar and Rhodes, accented by vibraslap and glockenspiel.
After a series of cues, the band breaks for lunch and I steal a few minutes with Croiter. “This is ridiculous fun,” he says. “Because we get to work in so many different musical styles and everybody in the band is so talented that they can pull off all these styles. It’s actually quite challenging, musically. We’ve just finished this classical episode and we’re going to do an Iron Maiden inspired episode next!”
Michael Croiter during Sesame Street sessions
The group moves quickly through the underscore recording, one of the last steps in completing each of the season’s 26 episodes. “We recorded the actual songs for each episode months ago — the cast sings along to those when they’re shooting,” Croiter discerns. “Now, the picture is final and we record and mix the underscore, and deliver to Creative Bubble, where the SFX, ADR, Foley and post mixing is done.”
Croiter also mixes all the songs for each episode — sometimes 5 songs in an episode — and Jorge Muelle, the engineer for both Sesame Street and The Electric Company, mixes the underscore music.
“It’s a lot of music and mixing,” says Croiter, confirming that the music is almost all live instrumentation, with the occasional patch used here and there. “For Sesame Street, we’ll have 30-40 songs and then all of the underscore to mix. And The Electric Company is even more music. Last season we did 36 episodes of The Electric Company, and we’ll do 12 more in May. And those are totally front to back music.”
Doug Derryberry on guitar
Sesame Workshop, the non profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, also produces The Electric Company, Pinky Dinky Doo and several other acclaimed children’s television programs.
And Yellow Sound Lab, though it hosts all kinds of sessions, was actually designed — by WSDG’s John Storyk — and built to facilitate music for a children’s television production. Croiter broke the place in recording and mixing all the music for Disney’s Johnny and the Sprites a few years back.
So by the time Sesame came knocking, Yellow Sound Lab had not only the facilities, but also the experience and workflow the show’s producers were looking for going into Sesame Street’s 41st season.
The studio is a Pro Tools HD3 operation and mix-to-picture environment, with just the right amount of space to host the versatile band and all their instruments, as Sherman and Fiedler direct from behind the Audient ACS8024 console.
YELLOW SOUND LAB ENABLES LABEL
After several years in the Avenue Q pit, Croiter is currently on a break from musical theater as he delves deeper into production and mixing for television and records. In addition to taking on the music recording and mixing for Sesame Street and The Electric Company, he also co-founded Yellow Sound Label with Sesame Street music director Bill Sherman last year, putting more record projects on the schedule as well.
“I’d been producing records and shopping them to labels and was unhappy with what was being offered,” says Croiter. “Bill was in a similar position — he had a bunch of records he was going to be producing. So, we decided to partner up and find a distributor. We started Yellow Sound Label and settled on ADA for distribution, and it’s been working out really well.
“So far, we’ve put out records by Alan Cumming, Chita Rivera, Marcy & Zina. Next up, we’ll be putting out a records by Karen Olivo, who’s just won a Tony for West Side Story, and Jeremiah James, who’s in the vocal group, Teatro.”
John Deley during Sesame Street sessions
With the studio at the center of Yellow Sound Label, there are fewer costs involved in producing records with the artists they sign. “Basically, the only thing we spend money on are the musicians, the artwork, the mixers and mastering,” Croiter shares. “The duplication and manufacturing is all done by ADA and it’s pretty inexpensive because they do it, and they take those costs out of the profit.”
Now, between Sesame Street, The Electric Company and Yellow Sound Label, the studio is booked every day, even when Croiter is off on tour — he’s music director/percussionist for Chita Rivera and plays in Concord Jazz artist Spencer Day’s band. “Fortunately, the bench is deep here,” he notes. “Jorge is mixing for Sesame Street and The Electric Company, and can fill in for me, and I have two other engineers ready to step in when I’m on the road.”
And the regular television bookings help facilitate still other projects at Yellow Sound Lab. “I do tons of demos here for songwriters and musical theater composers,” Croiter shares. “And I’m able to work with these talented artists, many of which don’t have a lot of money to record, because of all the television and documentary work we do here. That goes along way towards supporting some great new artists.”
For more on Yellow Sound Lab, visit http://yellowsoundlab.com, and check out Yellow Sound Label at http://yellowsoundlabel.com.
