The newest album from Jonathan Reid Gealt is a geographically diverse affair, with talent located all over the world and no one traveling. For vocalist Mario Jose in Los Angeles, getting to Dubway to record with Gealt meant a quick trip to our L.A. branch, Dubway West. Check out some pictures from our bi-coastal session above and below, read previous coverage of Gealt’s sessions here and here, and stay tuned for release information on the record!
John Luther Adams preps new release, "Arctic Dreams"
Composer John Luther Adams; still taken from interview with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
John Luther Adams is preparing a new release, following the release of his memoir Silences So Deep in December–the thematically related Arctic Dreams, forthcoming on Cold Blue Music this spring. The album is beautifully performed by Synergy Vocals, and was recorded and mixed by Dubway lead engineer Nathaniel Reichman (a longtime collaborator of Adams’), with assistant vocal editing by studio engineer Keenan DuBois.
The composer writes,
This was the first music I composed in my ‘aeolian’ sound world, which grew out of my experiences listening to wind harps on the tundra. As in several of my later string quartets, all the sounds are produced by natural harmonics and open strings. . . . Extensive retuning of the strings is employed.
The sung text is a series of ‘Arctic Litanies,’ composed of the names of Arctic places, plants, birds, weather, and the seasons, in the languages of the Iñupiat (Alaska Inuit) and Gwich’in (Athabascan) peoples of Alaska.
Arctic Dreams is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Barry Lopez, and is titled after one of his greatest books.
The album will be available at Cold Blue Music (link above) as well as through digital stores this spring.
You can listen to or purchase Adams’ previous release, the towering, collected trilogy of Become albums (also mixed by Reichman)–Become River, Become Ocean, and Become Desert–at the artist’s Bandcamp page, in stereo, 5.1 surround, and Dolby Atmos surround formats.
Jonathan Reid Gealt continues album tracking with vocalist Sasha Allen
Sasha Allen and Jonathan Reid Gealt in the Dubway Studios lobby after tracking.
Singer/songwriter and Broadway composer Jonathan Reid Gealt is continuing work on his upcoming album at Dubway, and was back in the studio this past week with acclaimed vocalist Sasha Allen (The Rolling Stones, The Pussycat Dolls, Hair). The duo worked on recording Allen’s vocal parts for the project, which involves numerous superstar vocalists of the music and Broadway worlds. Dubway engineers Keenan DuBois and Sydney Fuqua supervised the recording process, with Gealt’s production team patched in remotely.
Stay tuned for the album release and additional details! In the meantime, check out this video of some of Gealt’s previous work below (recorded and shot in Dubway’s Mezzanine).
Violinist Leerone Hakami shoots performance video, audio, in the Mezzanine
Hakami is currently pursuing a Masters degree at The Juilliard School, where she also received her Bachelor’s. Below, you can find a recent performance from The Crypt Sessions, playing Mozart as part of a clarinet quintet featuring Sam Boutris, in one of New York’s truly unique concert venues.
Dubway recently hosted violinist Leerone Hakami in our flagship Mezzanine studio to record a performance of classical piano and violin music. In-house studio engineer Marc Frongillo tracked the session from behind our SSL 4064 G+ console, using our Mevo wireless video recording rig to capture takes without the need for a camera operator to share the physical space of the live room with the musicians.
The Mevo remote-recording camera rig, in operation in the live room of our Mezzanine studio.
Dan & Susan Seidman record musical album in the Main Floor complex
Production and performer duo Dan & Susan Seidman took over our entire Main Floor complex early this month to record a series of vocal piano songs from their musical 5th Avenue. The writers have brought in an excellent crew of musicians to create their pieces, including singers Justin Moniz & Laura Pavles, with pianist Clare Cooper as musical director & accompanist. All in separate rooms, the producers & performers were live, but COVID-safe throughout the recording.
The sessions were tracked by engineers Marc Frongillo and Pascal McGilvray Guard.
The artists have kindly allowed us to share a working clip from the project, which you can check out above!
Kat Liz Kramer: piano and vocals at Dubway NYC
Kat Liz Kramer, courtesy of the artist.
Local NYC songwriter, singer, and producer Kat Liz Kramer took to our Mezzanine and Red Room studio facilities last month to record a set of spirited piano and vocal pieces–all new, original tunes. Kramer and her pianist stayed separate, tracking in isolated rooms to help guarantee the safety of all participants during the session, with the piano getting the advantage of the large Live Room’s high ceilings, and Kat’s vocals favoring the dry, crisp acoustics of one of our Mezzanine’s isolation booths. In another session, Kat and the pianist again split to different rooms–this time in our highly modular & configurable Main Floor Studios, with our Red Room acting as the control for two of our Main Floor’s isolated sound rooms. Engineer Pascal McGilvray Guard sat behind the boards during both sessions, keeping quality and timbre consistent (where appropriate) across the different rooms and pieces of music.
Find more about Kramer, including photos, video, past releases, and biographical information, at her website (linked at the top).
Justin Moniz accompanied by Phil Kadet in the Mezzanine
NYU Steinhardt professor and all-around knockout vocalist Justin Moniz, accompanied by pianist Phil Kadet, recorded a number of musical pieces with us last week during a series of cozy sessions in our Mezzanine studio. All recording sessions were tracked by Dubway engineer Russell Castiglione through our SSL console, making judicious use of the high-ceilinged spaciousness of our live room to capture the active sound appropriate for a piano in this genre. Moniz and Kadet are both widely recognized musicians (Moniz is also an acclaimed pedagogist) and they brought an excellent energy and sound to our space. Follow each of their work at the websites linked above!
Phil Kadet, foreground, while Castiglione adjusts Moniz’s vocal mic upstage in one of our isolation booths.
Houghton & Crehore produce recordings for Down Neck Productions
Down Neck Productions was in our Mezzanine studio last week for a recording produced by the original Dubway partnership, Al Houghton and Mike Crehore. The session involved a lovely cast of musicians (Mike DeLorenzo, Chris Amelar, Saadi Zain, Jim Mussen) supporting songwriter and vocalist Robin DiLauri. Technical duties were handled by in-house engineer Russell Castiglione, with one of our favorite collaborators, PanopticonNYC, coming in to shoot footage of the artists.
Check back for more, as the project’s audio and video come together. Looking forward to the next!
In the Mezzanine with the Transport Group Theatre Company
This week we had the pleasure of working with a longtime friend-of-the-studio, the Transport Group Theatre Company. For those unfamiliar, Transport Group is a premier off-Broadway production company with a slew of Tony, OBIE, and Drama Desk awards and nominations to their name. We can’t say much about the specific project our sessions will be building toward, but we can share some photos from the session, in which Dubway engineer Zach Grappone tracked a beautiful drum kit in our spacious Mezzanine Studio’s live room.
You can follow the Transport Group’s goings-on at the above link–even during this time of closure and crisis for the performing arts, they’ve managed to stay alive, busy, and strong, which is no easy feat! For the real theatre fans, information on upcoming streams can be found here. If you’re feeling more in need of reflection than entertainment, they also release a weekly newsletter from performers and artists associated with the group.
Jonathan Reid Gealt tracks vocals with an all-star cast
Jonathan Reid Gealt (top left) and crew in our Main Floor Studios, via the artist’s Instagram.
Composer, singer, and performer Jonathan Reid Gealt is working on a new project at Dubway, featuring a who’s-who of vocal talent from Broadway and beyond… but we can’t say much more than that, for now. At the studios, Gealt and his cast have tracked vocals over several sessions with Dubway engineers Pascal McGilvray Guard and Keenan DuBois, including vocals from the composer himself. We’ll be sure to have more information later, but for now, check out these session photos (showing the telltale Zoom workflow of the current times) and one of Gealt’s previous pieces below.
Singer Natalia Bychkova records performance video at Dubway
Singer Natalia Bychkova joined us in our Mezzanine studio the past month to record an audiovisual document of her performance of a series of vocal pieces. The sessions were recorded–both sound and video–by Dubway engineer Pascal McGilvray-Guard, using our Yamaha C-5 Grand Piano and SSL 4064 G+ console, and our Mevo streaming-camera rig. We had an excellent time recording Bychkova and her lovely voice, and look forward to hearing more from her in the future!
Richard Kogan's "The Mind and Music of Mozart" edits, mixes at Dubway
Richard Kogan at Rockefeller University.
Work on speaker, pianist, and physician Richard Kogan’s newest lecture-recital on psychology and music has wrapped up at Dubway, and we’re excited to share it here! The piece focuses on Mozart, and was produced by Dr. Kogan’s longtime collaborator, the Grammy-Award winner and ex-Deutsche Grammophon producer Thomas Mowrey.
Producer Thomas Mowrey.
Video editing and mix engineering was done by Dubway engineers Pascal McGilvray-Guard and Keenan DuBois, respectively.
Dr. Kogan’s programs on the psychological origins of musical creativity in the great composers are presented at prestigious venues throughout the world, including the World Economic Forum in Davos and Rockefeller University, in New York.
For more of Dr. Kogan’s lectures, click here.
Devlin Miles and her Bloodhounds continue tracking
Singer/songwriter Devlin Miles and her band Sweet Little Bloodhounds continued work at Dubway last week after their earlier session this month (which we posted about here). Building on earlier tracking sessions, Miles and crew laid down vocals, violin, trumpet, and more, with studio engineer Keenan DuBois capturing sounds from behind our SSL 4064 G+ console. Check out some pictures from the session below!
Carla Harris and Shawn Lucas take the Mezz
Producer Shawn Lucas leading from behind the Motif 6.
Gospel singer and Wall Street-powerhouse Carla Harris brought an amazingly talented group of musicians to our Mezzanine studio last week for a recording with studio engineer Zach Grappone. The session was produced by Shawn Lucas (Mariah Carey, Idina Menzel, Bobby D’Ambrosio), Harris’ usual collaborator–both of whom we’ve had the pleasure of working with on a number of previous occasions. Unlike many of her previous sessions, this one also involved video, with a camera crew in attendance to capture the performers as well.
Take a peek at some pictures from the Mezzanine session below, and find more about Harris and her work at her website!
In the Mezzanine with Devlin Miles
Singer-songwriter Devlin Miles (who also fronts the band Sweet Little Bloodhound) is back at Dubway for a series of recordings in both our Mezzanine and Main Floor studios! The ongoing sessions have been recorded by Dubway engineer Violette Furton, and are produced by Miles. Thus far, the band have worked through the drums and lead vocals, with many more layers of instrumentation to come.
We’ll have more on this project as more and more of the parts come together. In the meantime, you can hear some of Miles’ previous work here. Stay tuned!
Broadway actor Kyle Banks & friends record benefit collection for diabetes patients
Triple-threat performer Kyle Banks (The Lion King) and a band of top-notch talent took over our Mezzanine studio last month for a multiday recording session with studio engineer Zach Grappone. The group included several of the performers from the original cast of the Broadway production of The Lion King, with Banks producing, singing, and acting as the central organizing force of the sessions.
Songs recorded during these sessions are destined for a fundraiser to provide access to diabetes medication to children in New Orleans with Type 1 diabetes. You can learn more about Banks’ work and story here and in the video below.
Gregory Omar Osborne records in the Mezzanine
Artist, performer, and Progressive Theatre founder Gregory Omar Osborne took to our Mezzanine studio earlier this month to record numbers from The Gospel at Colonus. Osborne brought in a crew of talented musicians for a selection of the musical’s songs, which feature choir, organ, and vocal arrangements. Dubway engineer Zach Grappone tracked the session, making judicious use of the Mezzanine’s bay of outboard gear and SSL 4064 G+ console.
The Gospel At Colonus is an African-American retelling of the Oedipal story. Created by Lee Breuer with music by composer Bob Telson, the show opened nearly forty years ago, just across the East River at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s first ever Next Wave Festival, in 1983.
There’s no release date currently set for Osborne’s rendition of these pieces, but check back here or at his website (linked above) for future release information! Until then watch an unbelievably star-studded 1985 staging of the play below.
Roc Nation preserve archival Jay-Z tapes
Dubway engineer Merter Yildirim recently completed a series of transfers for hip-hop giant Roc Nation, taking a large collection of archival tapes and footage reels of concert and studio material (including reels from and including the agency’s owner, Jay-Z) and converting them to digital formats for archival purposes.
While individual collectors may often choose to digitize their physical media, it’s a near-necessity for labels. Recording labels of all sizes need to ensure a stable copy for reference and future license, reproduction, or re-release; otherwise, you run the risk of a catastrophe like the 2008 Universal fire, in which irreplaceable master tapes and records burned without leaving a digital legacy behind.
We’re proud to have contributed to Roc Nation’s effort to preserve their historic catalogue for future listeners. Find everything Roc Nation at the link at the top of the article, and give us a call if you’d like your collection to be digitized next!
Young MA live with Tito's Made To Order series
Dubway was honored to be involved in production for Brooklyn rapper Young MA’s set for the Tito’s Made To Order series of streaming events. Our engineers worked alongside a talented team of creatives from Panopticon NYC, Hook Studio BK, and First Tube Media, plus Young MA’s team and everyone at World Central Kitchen. Tito’s Made To Order shows are benefits for World Central Kitchen and feature sharp lineups with artists like Bun B, A-Trak, Kali Uchis, Portugal. The Man, and Claude VonStroke. Dubway engineer Louis Fisher and assistant engineer Jake Zacharia recorded the set, with Pascal McGilvray-Guard mixing and editing the recordings for post-production documentation.
Catch a recording of the set below on the Tito’s Made To Order YouTube channel, or revisit the record that put Young MA undeniably on the map here.
Life In A Blender premiere "Soul Deliverer"
Glide Magazine just premiered a new video from friends-of-the-studio, Life In A Blender, “Soul Deliverer”. You can find the article here, which includes some comments from songwriter Don Rauf, and video co-creator Mark Lerner.
“Soul Deliverer” arrives as Life In A Blender gears up to release a new album, Satsuma, next month on November 20th. The song, and much of the album, was recorded throughout the Dubway facilities, with studio head Al Houghton (who plays guitar in the band) producing. Dubway engineers Russell Castiglione and Zach Grappone engineered tracking of the song.
Check out the video in Glide (above) or at the below link, and look for Satsuma in November!