MasterSuite News


	News November 2010 Well, another year has passed and the news updates have unfortunately been neglected. Here's a sampling of what we've been up to: Early in the year the Black Eyed Peas sent 4 live tracks in with video. Jay mixed Let's Get It Started in the SSL room, and then came back to the mastering suite to put the finishing touches on that one plus the other three. Former MCA and Atlantic rock/metal band and repeat client, Nonpoint sent their acoustic EP Cut The Chord in to Jay for mixing and mastering. Gibson signature artist and nationally acclaimed guitar wizard Johnny A came to Jay to mix and master his new DVD and CD combo, One Novemeber Night in stereo and 5.1 surround. Jay also tracked guitars for the new album from legendary songwriter, Jimmy Webb, whose countless hits include Wichita Lineman, By the Time I get to Phoenix, Gavelston, and MacArthur Park. Charlie Farren, former frontman/songwriter for Joe Perry Project and Farrenheit tapped Jay to master his live retrospective DVD. Proprietary technology from Akita Blue's Cielo process was also used to upmix the stereo audio to 5.1 surround. Charlie also brought a duet with Candy O'Terry entitled You Are the Only One for remixing, mastering, and recording new vocal tracks for a Christmas version. This song debuted at #34 on the mediabase radio charts and was in rotation on the Magic stations. Ernie and the Automatics were back, including former Boston members Barry Goudreau and Sib Hashian to mix and master their latest DVD from the Boston House of Blues in stereo and 5.1 surround. Guitar wunderkind and former Warner Bros. and Hollywood Records artist Gary Hoey was also back for drum tracking with Jay for an album he is producing for Madison Rose, whom he met while instructing at Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp. Two time Grammy winner, Bubba Hernandez returned with two mastering projects for Jay, one a solo album, and the other a collaboration with Polly Maynard for a children's album up for Grammy consideration this year. The Boston College 23 piece big band, B.C. Bop! returned for the 5th straight year to complete their annual concert DVD. Jay has mastered the past 5, and mixed the past 4, and also manned the remote truck for the recording one year. Greg Manning, keyboardist with Brian McKnight, Kirk Whalum, Gerald Albright, Mindi Abair, and former music director for Grammy Nominated Jonathan Butler also was back for mastering on his second solo album. Roots of Creation took time out of their busy touring schedule for their third trip to Mastersuite, this time to master their latest live CD. Derek Kerswill, drummer/songwriter for Unearth, and formerly Shadows Fall among others, was in for drum tracking with artist Patrick Welch, who completed mixing and mastering with Jay as well. Rounding out the year, the Ron Noyes Band, featuring Jon Popper of Blues Traveller also was in for mastering, as was Croation rock/metal outfit Quasarr, and Norwegian metal band, Claymords, French artist Jack Dupon, and classical clarinetist, Marcus Eley, who is from California, but recorded his album of duets in South Africa. Finally, we give a shout out to producers and engineers like Drew Mazurek, Scott Spelbring, Bob Beal, Brian Maes, Jon Nolan, and all the others who all brought in multiple projects this year. Thanks! Lastly, with Metronome Media Group, we've had multiple systems on the road recording and providing instantly available CDs for purchase with artists including Slash, The Pixies, Bad Company, and The Scorpions. February 2008 Jay worked on his 8th Grammy nominated project (including 1 winning project in 2004) this past year. It's for an eclectic record titled "Polka Freak Out" from a Tejano band with a European accordian player, but with a pop rock aesthetic. It is fronted by Bass player/singer Bubba Hernandez, himself a two time Grammy winner, formerly with Brave Combo on Rounder. The Metro remote truck went out with Ben and Pete to Buffalo NY where Ani DiFranco has restored a beautiful church to serve as a large music venue and as her main office for Righteous Babe Records. There was shot a multi-camera hi-def recording for her new DVD. She sent her engineer back to the SSL room to work with Pete on the mix, and Jay took care of 5.1 and stereo mastering of the concert and many extras. Original Boston singer Brad Delp had written and recorded a full set of vocal tracks for a new song entitled "Rockin' Away" shortly before his tragic death. Other original Boston members Barry Goudreau and Sib Hashian also joined him, and it's no surprise that it sounds like it could be another hit off the original landmark album. Many of the band tracks were re-recorded next door, mixing was handled in L.A. by wunderkind Chris Lord-Alge, and mastering came back to Jay here at Mastersuite. You can hear it currently on classic rock radio and buy it on iTunes. Jay also produced a live concert video DVD for Vancouver pop rock singing duo, Carmen and Camille. Their music can be heard featured on MTV, and they can be seen in Billboard.com feature video, and there's a possible VH-1 show in the works. We just shipped it off to replication and it should arrive in stores in a month or two. Jay took this one all the way from conception to finish, overseeing everything from renting a theater, specifying production, arranging with Ben (who served as production coordinator) to hire a director and crew, to all the audio and video post and DVD authoring. It was a big job. Pete manned the truck on recording night since Jay's hands were full, and Jay did the mix in the SSL room and later mastering next door. Pete did most of the video editing, and Mark Grassia handled motion menus, a cool credits animation, and final authoring. Other projects have included a continuing stream of projects from Scott Spelbring of Dragonfly recording, who sent artists including The Speaks, Fools and Horses, and others. Mixes also have arrived for mastering from Jeff Juliano (John Mayer, Lifehouse), Beau Hill (Roger Daltry, RATT) and Drew Mazurek (Linkin Park). The production and recording of the Called and Careless record continues with mixing scheduled to start in March and mastering planned for May. A recent string of great folk and Americana projects have come through for mastering including Lissa Schneckenburger, former Compass Records artists Jake Armerding, and additional projects sent from producers Neale Eckstein of Fox Run and Jon Nolan. On a similar note, a roots-rock record with folk overtones for AJ Edwards came through for tracking a couple months ago. Mixing and mastering is coming up in March and April. Neil Dorfsman was also up to visit the studio (do a google on him if you don't recognize the name), and we hope to see him back for some work in the near future. There's a bunch more we've missed considering how long it's been since the last update, but this will have to do for now. Sorry if we forgot to mention your project, but it's not because we didn't love working on it! Thank you, and keep them coming! February 2007 The Metro Remote truck was out on Halloween to capture the return of Alice in Chains at Lupos at the Strand Theater in Providence RI with a 13 camera hi-def shoot, including two jibs. The first six songs, including Would, Man in the Box, and an acoustic version of No Excuses were subsequently mixed by Jay on the SSL G+, and then brought next door for mastering. This material will be on a forthcoming DVD. You can see a data-compressed web preview of a couple tracks at www.studiometronome.com. Remember the platinum metal band Kix from the 80's? Well they're back! The members have been doing some reunion shows, and a few of them, including lead vocalist Steve Whiteman, have started a new band called Funny Money. They teamed up again with famed producer/engineer Beau Hill (Ratt, Warrant, and a bunch of other huge 80's metal acts) to record a new album which Jay was tapped to master. Gary Hoey's latest CD, American Made, has been released on Surf Dog Records. Gary burst on the scene in 1993 with his Warner Bros. debut, "Animal Instinct," scoring a hit with his cover of Hocus Pocus. Subsequent releases on Virgin and Hollywood Records, including his popular Ho, Ho, Hoey series of Christmas albums, solidified his reputation as a guitar hero. Gary, along with Drummer Matt Scurfield and bassist Erik Kondziolka, tracked the new album with Jay. Former MCA Nashville recording artist, The Roys, have finished their new album for Aspirion Records Nashville. This brother and sister act comprised of Lee and Elaine Roy tracked, mixed, and mastered their new 12 song album with Jay, who also co-produced. Jay manned the Metro Remote truck to record a live performence of Foriegner frontman, Lou Gramm, along with a 5 camera hi-def video shoot. Every song he plays is a hit that you've heard a million times. Jay also manned the truck last year along with Ben Chandler and Pete Peloquin to capture Killswitch Engage at the Worcester Palladium for their World Ablaze DVD for Roadrunner Records. Guitarist/singer/songrwriter and former Warner/Chapel writer/artist, Chris McDermott has finished mixing and mastering his new album with Jay. This amazingly musical album pays tribute to the classic 70's Philly soul sounds of The O'Jays and other Sigma Sound artists, while bringing plenty of fresh, modern perspective. Holding down the rhythm section is none other than Longtime James Brown drummer, Clyde Stubblefield. Clyde is the original Funky Drummer, and is the most sampled drummer of all time. Just cue up the classic 70's James Brown hit of the same name to see for yourself! A small sampling of other indie artists that have been through for mastering include The Screen, Oddway, The Nate Donnis trio, Mongrel, Roots of Creation, 3 start Karma, Saturn Down, Mike Martin, Headed for the Smoke, Edward Meradith, and a Celtic Harp Christmas album from Rosemary Reynolds. February 2006 The best part of the past year was adding a little baby girl to our family. We're finally settled into life outside of L.A. and it was definitely the right decision for starting our family. I'm still a little freaked out by the cold sometimes, however. Let me try to give you a sampling of a whole year's happenings. We've had a bunch of great live CD and concert video projects coming through the past year. We've seen work from Oasis (Sony/BMG), Shinedown (Atlantic), Killswitch Engage (Roadrunner), Monster Magnet (SPV), and Clutch (DRT), among others. We've also completed our new mastering studio in conjunction with Studio Metronome at the 100 acre hilltop arts complex an hour northwest of Boston. It's really a beautiful space with natural materials, including plenty of maple and large areas of ledgestone toward the rear of the side walls. We custom built a maple and steel mastering console in the wood & metal shop, and a custom monitor console in the electronics shop. Ben Chandler of Studio Metronome did all of the finish work in the space with the help of Jeffery, the lead carpenters in the shop. It sure is fun to have shops attached to the studio! In addition to the national acts above, just a few of the indie artists we have been working with include Liz Carlisle, Apathetiq, The Screen, Cherry S/T, Jon Nolan, The Lifted, The Foundation Movement, Somadrone, and jazz guitarist Nobuki Takamen. Producer Scott Spellbring has sent a few projects, including Field of Gray and Down To This, while mixer/producer Alex Gerst keeps us rockin' with bands like Advent, Faktion, System Overload, and Minority. I'd love to tell you a bit about some of these artists as many have been doing some really cool things, like getting signed to Roadrunner and getting songs into video games, but time for this news update is short, so I'll have to leave it there for the moment. February 2005 And the winner is... We're happy to report a Grammy win in the Latin field for Intocable's album, Intimamente. I guess we can now say, "Mastering Grammy-winning albums since 2004..." That and a couple bucks will get you a cup of coffee. But seriously, it's cool to get Grammy recognition for something you've worked on, no matter how much we all like to make fun of them sometimes. Also scored another gold record on this one. Now it's worth coffee AND a donut... In other news, we're scheduled to do remote recordings of many big names in coming months with the Metro Remote truck from Studio Metronome (www.studiometronome.com/Metroremote.html). We're also continuing work on indie projects including Jon Nolan, Cherry S/T, The Screen, and Somadrone. We're also completing a wonderful jazz album from Tenor Sax virtuoso Richard Gardzina, and also have a couple albums coming in from London this month. We also mastered another CD for Atlanta Prog band, Agent Cooper. More Locobazooka national acts have come across our desk including Clutch, Diecast, and Shadow's Fall. Things are hoppin'! Gotta get back to work... NEWS Continued...