Producer Mark Siegal, at Dubway West

Jonas Jalhay leaned over Dubway West’s beautifully restored large-format Audient console.

Award winning record producer Mark Siegal recently brought a band of talented musicians through our LA outpost, Dubway West, to track instrumentals and overdubs for an upcoming project from singer/songwriter Taylor Grey. Dubway’s Jonas Jalhay engineered the recording, assisted by engineer Maja Sazdic.

Siegal has produced records for artists like MENNA, Liddy Clark (at Dubway West as well!), Jackie Castro, and many more. Taylor Grey has worked with Siegal previously, and the two felt at home in each other’s work, which always feels great to be a part of in the studio.

Check out Grey’s latest single below, and stay tuned for more on the horizon!

Dubway West records production audio for Sephora

Makeup giant Sephora recently released an involved piece of advertising featuring a slate of talented musicians & performers, and Dubway West was proud to be on-set to record the production audio. Engineering was headed by Luke Gerard Webb, with Maja Sazdic assisting.

Performances featured in the shoot included Jai'len Josey doing "She Got It", Symphani Soto performing "Energy", Kari Faux’s "Color Theory", and Leven Kali with "Smile". Check it out above, and see some behind-the-scenes shots below.

Charley Shealy mixes Rico Anderson in the Mezzanine

Shealy and Anderson deep in the mix.

Washington D.C / DMV musician, DJ, and composer Rico Anderson set up in our flagship Mezzanine Suite last month with engineer Charley Shealy to mix a selection of new tracks. Shealy and Anderson made judicious use of the Mezzanine’s banks of hardware outboard gear, as well as one of our studio’s main attractions: the SSL 4064 G+ mixing console at the center of our control room, and the onboard SSL G Bus Compressor that’s glued countless classic records together since the ‘80s (and more platinum records than any other console in history, if you believe SSL themselves!).

Check out a bit more about Anderson’s work, or give us a call to book the Mezzanine for a mixing session!

Dubway transfers unreleased sounds from the legendary SOB's

Sounds of Brazil (aka SOB’s), the celebrated Hudson Square venue that has long been a storied part of the history of hip-hop (among other genres and styles), has been at Dubway’s Manhattan studios recently to transfer tapes of recordings made at the venue and with associated artists. Dubway engineer Marc Frongillo assisted SOB’s rep Le’Roy Benros in carefully converting the tapes to digital files for safekeeping, future release, or any other purpose. The stash included unreleased music from many of SOB’s star performers, including artists like Kanye West.

Lead engineer Nathaniel Reichman's work nominated for a GRAMMY

Lead Dubway engineer and all-around expert Nathaniel Reichman has been nominated, along with the musicians and crew, for a 2022 Grammy Award® for the John Luther Adams album Lines Made By Walking. Reichman served as the producer and recording engineer for the album, which is performed by the JACK Quartet.

Lines Made By Walking is up for an award in the “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance” category–a fairly recent and exciting category that, over the years, has included the likes of Third Coast Percussion, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Kronos Quartet, Pierre Boulez, eighth blackbird, Devonté Hynes (aka Blood Orange) and Laurie Anderson–and is John Luther Adams’ first nomination in the category. The album is released through Adam’s regular label, Cold Blue Music.

Congratulations to all the players and crew, and best of luck with the Grammy voters!

You can find the album at the linked page to the label’s Bandcamp page, above, or from many online and physical retailers.

Jonathan Reid Gealt announces "Archetype" release date, presale

Jonathan Reid Gealt’s newest album, ARCHETYPE, is nearly out! The album has been a labor of love from Gealt and his team, and has included tons of collaborations between Dubway and Dubway West; the artist and his core team including Joseph Joubert, Stephen Oremus, and Brian Usifer; and the album’s star studded roster of guest vocalists. From the video alone, we can see the vocal talent includes Mackenzie Thomas, Amber Iman, Daniel J. Watts, Brooke Simpson, Kim Cruse, Anilee List, Lilli Cooper, David Simmons Jr., Sophia James, India Carney, Mario Jose, Ashley Jayy, and Sasha Allen.

Much of Dubway’s engineering staff contributed to parts of the project including engineers Keenan DuBois, Zach Grappone, Pascal McGilvray-Guard, and Sydney Fuqua.

Presale begins this Friday, 11/12, with the full release coming on 12/3. A quarter of the album’s proceeds will be donated as a fundraiser for the NAACP.

Dawn Derow's "My Ship: Songs From 1941" set for Spotify release

It’s been through several iterations over the course of its life as a song collection–first a cabaret performance, then a live video release, and now a studio record–so we couldn’t be more excited to announce that Dawn Derow’s project My Ship: Songs From 1941 is ready to hit streaming services and is fast approaching its release date, currently set for December 3rd. The album serves as both a crowdpleasing collection of classic showtune standards and a historical document of the year 1941 (in which a lot happened), and has gotten great reviews in each of its forms.

Dubway engineers Zach Grappone, Violette Furton, Keenan DuBois, and Nathaniel Reichman have all assisted with the project’s engineering at various stages; Grappone tracked much of the album this spring, working with producer Paul Rolnick and Derow’s ensemble.

Find My Ship on Spotify this December!

Carla Harris and Shawn Lucas in the Mezzanine

Our longtime friends Carla Harris and Shawn Lucas returned to our Manhattan facility this past month for a handful of sessions with engineer Violette Furton in our Mezzanine studio. Work is underway on an upcoming Carla Harris Christmas album, and these sessions captured big chunks of material for the record. The band included guitar, bass, drums, two trumpet players, and keyboards, with arranger/producer Shawn Lucas leading the band from behind the second keyboard.

Look for this album coming soon! Until then, you can listen to one of her previous gospel albums, Unceasing Praise, here.

Wally Seck records vocal arrangements in the Mezzanine

Producer Iqram Ismail conducting the chorus for Wally Seck in our Mezzanine live room.

Senegalese rising star Wally Seck brought a top-notch crew of musicians and personnel through our Mezzanine studio this month for a spirited vocal session with studio engineer Violette Furton. We had an absolute blast having Seck and his vocalists in our space, as they made the most of our Mezzanine’s live room’s high ceilings and professionally engineered acoustics.

Seck is the son of famed Dakar musician Thione Seck, part of the West African griot oral tradition and founder of the influential mbalax group Raam Daan. Wally is continuing and broadening the family tradition out–after an early career that found him pursuing an entirely different road from his family’s history–while also blowing up globally as the afrobeats movement, derailed in its international takeover by the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to expand its reach and influence around the world.

Check out some photos of the session above, and listen to Seck’s single “Natural Love” below.

#TBT: Q Lazzarus transfers archive of reel-to-reel tapes

This week, a fun piece of #TBT news we’ve been waiting to share for over a year–we were honored to host enigmatic NYC artist Q Lazzarus at our Manhattan facility in August of last year to transfer some of the band’s reel-to-reel 1/4” tapes to digital.

After being the subject of a small media frenzy in 2019 when a cryptic Twitter post resurfaced the long-quiet artist, Dazed reporters were able to confirm that she is still alive and well, but beyond that, weren’t able to initiate further contact with her, seemingly at her request for privacy.

As with all things Q Lazzarus, there was an air of mystery to the session, and we don’t know if the transfers are destined for a future re-release, for archival purposes, or for some other ends, but we do know that it was very special to have Q in studio. Dubway staff engineer Caleb Addy assisted with the transfer, ensuring no technical or physical issues with the tapes during the transfer process.

Check out Goodbye Horses below, and the rest of the (limited) Q Lazzarus discography here.

Dubway West records Adian Cota for GRLSWIRL

This summer, Dubway West provided sound reinforcement, mixing, and recording for an event at Venice’s Firestone Walker Brewing Company hosted by skate company GRLSWIRL. The event played host to LA-based percussionist Adrian Cota and his band, who played a spirited set of heavily jazz-inflected pop. Cota has had a long career for such a young musician, playing with greats including Herbie Hancock and at legendary performing arts venues all over the world such as ZOZO Marine Stadium in Japan, The Kennedy Center, and The Hollywood Bowl.

Adrian Cota, left, leads the band at Firestone Walker Brewing.

Dubway West engineer Luke Webb ran sound for the show, with Dubway West engineers Maja Sazdic and Dashael Nadler assisting.

Winston House Jazz Band, with sound by Dubway West

We’ve been enjoying (from the opposite coast) the partnership between Winston House and Dubway West – you can find a previous post about our work with the venue here – who have done a ton of shows together since the lifting of pandemic restrictions this summer.

Today, we want to highlight the Winston House Jazz Band, who regularly perform at the venue, and our engineering crew who mix their shows.

The Winston House Jazz Band consists of members Adrian Cota (vocals), Quinn Carson (trombone), Ray Marshal (drums), Zuri Appleby (bass), Taylor Mackall (keys), Alex Sill (guitar), Aaron Janik (trumpet), and Jacob Scesney (saxophone). While the specific instrumentation often changes song to song, the overall lineup remains consistent, as does the energy they bring to their performances.

Dubway West has been thrilled to provide on-site engineering, including FOH engineers Luke Webb and Mike Sassano, and assistant engineers Maja Sazdik, Patrick Pak, Dashael Nadler, and Alex Acosta.

"The Wayward Strangers" mix with Violette Furton

Photo of The Wayward Strangers’ rehearsal studio space, courtesy the band’s website.

Staten Island’s rock outfit The Wayward Strangers took over our Blue Room facility this month for a series of mix sessions with the group’s keyboard player Brian Raleigh, guitarist Anthony Aquino, and Dubway engineer Violette Furton. The group is prepping an upcoming release that is as-of-yet not publicly named–you’ll have to stay tuned for more info!

The Wayward Strangers have played venues in the greater tri-state area including The Studio at Webster Hall, The Delancey, The Westchester Preforming Arts Center, Hunter College and The Mermaid.

Scott Alan's "nothing more" set for release, opens presale

Songwriter Scott Alan has been hard at work at Dubway for the past few months with engineer Violette Furton, finalizing tracking and mixing on his newest album. Now that a release is scheduled, we’re thrilled to share that the project, titled nothing more, is up for presale!

From the artist’s website:

Acclaimed songwriter Scott Alan & musical director Ben Cohn (Dear Evan Hansen; Wicked) team up for a new album celebrating the first two years of Scott’s daughter, Alex Vivian’s, life. Filled with soaring orchestrations and harmonies arrangements by Cohn, “Nothing More” celebrates the unconditional relationship between parent and child. Featuring celebrated gay and trans dads from the entertainment industry, “Nothing More” marks a monumental collaboration between Alan and Cohn. The package also contains a second CD of all 11 song instrumentals not available on digital or streaming platforms.

Congratulations to Alan and the entire crew of these sessions!

Bi-coastal Dubway team records, mixes Cautious Clay for "Live From The Artists Den"

Dubway and Dubway West personnel recently completed work on a live performance of Cautious Clay for the regular live music show, Live From The Artists Den. We’ve been fortunate enough to partner with LFTAD on a number of their recordings in NYC, but rarely have we had the opportunity to loop our west coast outpost into the process.

The show was recorded at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan by Dubway engineers Chad Henderson and Charley Shealy, with Dubway West engineer Jones Jalhey mixing the final recordings for the show. Recording and mixing involves becoming a part of a large process with multiple other teams–the A/V install team for the live show, the production team for the stream, the LFTAD producers, and many more–and having one studio manage both the recording and mixing can be a helpful way for the producers to streamline part of the process.

Check out the show, which aired earlier this week, at the Variety stream above, and a few photos from behind the scenes below.

LA venue Winston House, with audio wiring & install by Dubway West, named “best new venue”

Winston House, the Venice venue at which Dubway West has set up a near-permanent shop as the audio production team, was just voted LA’s best new restaurant/venue by noted ranking site Eater. Dubway’s west coast team not only runs sound for much of the venue’s concerts, but also installed the wiring and sound system, mixes post-production recordings from the location, and tags in on collaborations like this summer’s Master of None special streaming concert. Artists performing at the venue run the gamut but as the article notes, are more than likely to be rising stars or early-career breakouts, making the venue a great place to catch intimate performances from artists on the rise.

Congratulations to the entire Dubway West and Winston House crews! Check out the blurb from Eater on the right, and read the entire list (although why would you when Winston House is #1?) here.

Jennifer Hall workshops new material with engineer Zach Grappone

Singer/songwriter Jennifer Hall is currently in the midst of a series of sessions at Dubway, working on new material for songs with staff engineer (and producer) Zach Grappone. Hall is both a solo artist and a songwriter for other artists.

The three originals Hall has been workshopping have so far involved piano, bass, vocals, and a variety of guitar parts. There’s no release date on these pieces, which are in the process of being developed, but with sessions ongoing, we’ll have updates when we know more!

Hall and Grappone working through guitar parts for one of her new songs, pictured in our Red Room recording suite.

Paul Rolnick and Karen Mason return to Dubway's Mezzanine

Paul Rolnick and Karen Mason (2017).

Emmy and CLIO award-winning producer Paul Rolnick and multipe-award-winning Broadway and cabaret singer Karen Mason made a return trip to Dubway’s Mezzanine Studio this month, following previous sessions together in 2015, and separate sessions from Rolnick and other artists as recently as a few months ago. The duo–who are also married– tracked a full band and vocals, returning for separate string sessions. Recordings were done by Dubway studio engineers Violette Furton and Chad Henderson, with Rolnick producing from the control room.

Find out more about Karen Mason’s work here, and Rolnick's here.

Ramsay Burgess's musical "Heartbreak County" records in the Mezzanine

Writer and director Ramsay Burgess brought the cast of his musical Heartbreak County into our Mezzanine Studio space last month to track the cast album with Dubway engineer Marc Frongillo.  The session was a careful process of tracking both instruments and ensemble vocals, with some additional MIDI recording at the end to round out the project, and made judicious use of the Mezzanine’s airy live room and multiple isolation booths.

Take a look at some photos from the session below, and follow the show at their Instagram.

BTS from "The Sounds of the Chi" streamed concert, presented by SHOWTIME

Season 4 of the coming-of-age drama The Chi, is out now on SHOWTIME, and to honor the occasion the network pulled together an amazing lineup of Chicago talent to perform some of the show’s soundtrack. Dubway West was on-set to record audio for the project. Engineering was led by Lucas Webb, with Maja Sazdic assistant engineering and All Worthy People overseeing the production.

Check out the complete show in it’s finished state above, and a few pics from set below! The Chi’s season finale aired in early August, but you can stream this season, and previous seasons, at the link above (with a SHOWTIME subscription).

Gorgeous, lush set production for Jai’len Josey’s set, from production house All Worthy People.