Life In A Blender: new album "Happy Enough"

Life In A Blender just finished mixing their ninth studio album titled Happy Enough, produced by Al Houghton. Its CD release show will be on Saturday August 26th at Joe's Pub in Manhattan. 

With a David Byrne bravado, Life In A Blender paints a detailed lyric landscape of the bits and pieces of our lives. There’s a feeling of pure joy and devilishly playful aplomb evident in everything from their robust vocals to the gorgeously melodic and energetic arrangements. Per their last album, The New Yorker writes:

"Led by the singer and songwriter Don Ralph, the satirical chamber-pop group Life in a Blender plays literate songs featuring tasteful string arrangements . . . where angular guitar parts and sardonic lyrics create a gritty ambience."
From left: Mark Lerner, Ken Meyer, Al Houghton, Don Rauf, Rebecca Weiner Tompkins, Dave Moody. Photo: David Barry

From left: Mark Lerner, Ken Meyer, Al Houghton, Don Rauf, Rebecca Weiner Tompkins, Dave Moody. Photo: David Barry

Live Recording for The Artists Den: Fleet Foxes

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This week, our engineers Russell Castiglione and Mariah Cruz went to Ridgewood, NY to multitrack a performance for another installment of the Live From the Artists Den series. Indie folk band Fleet Foxes performed at The Knockdown Center in Queens for the filming of the secret show. 

"The 19-song concert highlighted material from the new record—the influential band’s first release in six years—while also looking back to such favorites as “Helplessness Blues” and “Mykonos.” The century-old Knockdown Center, a former glass blowing facility and door factory, provided a perfect setting for the group’s atmospheric harmonies and expansive arrangements, offering an unforgettable night for the audience of invited guests."

Chip Taylor recording in the Mezzanine

Adrian Thorstensen worked with engineer Huck Bennert to record new songs by Chip Taylor. As is Chip's way, drums, bass, electric guitar, piano, B3, acoustic guitar, and vocals were all recorded live - old school!

Chip Taylor is an American songwriter, most notable for writing "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing" in the 1960s. In 2007, he launched his independent music label Train Wreck Records, which he is recording new original songs under.

Rhumba podcast - live music tracking

Tracking songs live, for Rhumba's podcast, Remy's Place, was a stellar band including Richard Julian (Norah Jones), Tony Scherr (Snarky Puppy), Kenny Wollesen (Tom Waits), and Roy Nathanson (Jazz Passengers), with Brad Jones producing and engineering. Michael Rubin and Richard wrote the songs. 

Currently in development, Remy's Place is a kid's podcast describing life as a child (Remy) growing up upstairs from and inside a Brooklyn music cafe. 

Recording Chinese Instruments with Mario Spinetti

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Mario Spinetti was back in the Mezzanine with engineer Sam Palumbo recording three Chinese instruments for a new original song. The session featured musicians Wei Wei on guzheng, FeiFei Yang on erhu, and Lu Liu on pipa.

Harvest Parker recording a Christian EP with The Brilliance

Christian singer and songwriter Harvest Parker came from Atlanta to record in our Mezzanine studio, tracking piano and vocals for five songs off her new Christian EP. The session was accompanied by producer David Gungor and pianist John Arndt (of The Brilliance), while her brother, Christian singer-songwriter Daniel Bashta, was also in attendance. Sam Palumbo engineered.

After the piano and vocals tracking was complete, Harvest had time to record a live performance of her new song, "Anchor" with piano and cello. See the video below:

A live one pass recording from DUBWAY Studios in New York City. A new song called ANCHOR from her upcoming project getting by with a little help from our friends from the band The Brilliance.

Film Score tracking for "Patricia: el Regreso del Sueño"

Last weekend, we hosted a 26-piece string and brass orchestra in our Mezzanine studio, tracking the score for the upcoming Spanish film, Patricia: el Regreso del Sueno. Composer Misael Mañón was on hand while Caonex Peguero conducted. Sam Palumbo engineered the session with Mariah Cruz assisting. See a clip from the tracking session below:

Alla Ray live band tracking

Singer-songwriter Alla Ray was back in the Mezzanine recording rhythm tracks for five new songs off her upcoming album.

Pictured from left to right are engineer Sam Palumbo, bassist Rob Jost, keyboardist Dominic Fallacaro, Alla Ray, vocal producer Ron Shetler, drummer Doug Yowell, producer Al Houghton, and assistant Hayden O'Leary.

Great session today tracking with @allarayofficial #dubwaystudios #recordingstudiolife #tracking

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Lincoln Schleifer conducting a string section for Alan Walker

Last Friday, musician Alan Walker (of indie rock band The Brilliant Mistakes) was in the Mezzanine recording strings for his upcoming solo album. Producer Lincoln Schleifer conducted his string quartet arrangement (Meg Okura and Joe Deninzon on violin, Chern Hwei Fung on viola, and Marika Hughes on cello) of two songs from the album. Dubway's Sam Palumbo engineered. 

Simone Dinnerstein and Mozart In Havana

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Simone Dinnerstein was in studio conducting interviews remotely with radio stations nationwide to promote her new classical album, Mozart In Havana. Dubway staff member Adrian Thorstensen engineered.

Simone Dinnerstein is a New York-based classical pianist, internationally renowned for her recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Classical Chart. Notably, she funded that album independently. On her newest Sony Classical release, Mozart In Havana, Dinnerstein collaborated with Havana Lyceum Orchestra to perform Mozart's Piano Concerto Nos. 21 and 23.

Peter Fish producing a Jazz ensemble in the Mezzanine

Six-time Emmy winning composer and keyboard player Peter Fish worked with Dubway engineer Sam Palumbo, producing compositions by Irv Shafer with a jazz ensemble in the Mezzanine studio. This live session (vocals, piano, drums, bass and saxophone) was dedicated to exhuming songs composed by a Irv Shafer, a contemporary of George and Ira Gershwin, and so introducing new inspiration into the current canon of jazz standards.

Dubway engineer Sam Palumbo and Producer Peter Fish recording an awesome #Jazz ensemble #recordingstudio #nyc #ssl

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Percussion and Piano tracking for Uner

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Spanish electronic music sensation Uner was in studio tracking percussion and piano for his new album. Working with him was Dubway engineer Mike Swells, who Uner has developed a friendship with after DJ'ing together for many years. His new album is set to release this summer of 2017.

Eugene Marlow produces a composition for Baruch College video

Composer Eugene Marlow produced a live band with CUNY Baruch College students this March.

His original composition, "The Rhythm of My Future," features a combination of sample hip-hop drum tracks and improvised world music instruments, including electric guitar, sitar, clarinet, pan flute, saxophone, koto, steel drum, and Rhodes. 

The recording is part of a music video commissioned by the Dr. Aldemaro Romero, Jr., Dean of the Weissman School of Arts & Sciences, CUNY Baruch College.

Throwback Thursday: SongCraft Presents

Happy Thursday, Dubway family! For today's throwback, we're highlighting a project that Dubway owner Al Houghton and former co-owner Mike Crehore worked on a few years ago..

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SongCraft Presents is a "web series in which featured artists write and record a song in the course of a day with host Ben Arthur. Producers Al Houghton and Mike Crehore then take the song and shape it into a polished studio track.

There’s no cheating.  From concept and lyrics to arrangement and performance, the pressure is on to make not just a good song, but a great song.

Often filmed in NYC’s renowned Dubway Studios, the artists have access to the best recording resources available: vintage instruments, state-of-the-art recording software and hardware, and the best engineers in the business.

Here are the first and last parts from one of the episodes of the series featuring Kaleta and his band Zozo Afrobeat.