News Archives

NEWS — WINTER 2007/2008 EDITION

Hi All:

Hope you have been enjoying the holiday season! I am writing this during the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve, when the world seems to slow down, and there is a moment to reflect before plunging into the new year.

2007 has been a year of growth for us. We've been starting to use our neighboring studio, Shelter Island Sound, for tracking drums and rhythm sections on projects, an arrangement that has been working out very well indeed. Steve Addabbo and his staff can always be relied on to get great sounds. Singer/songwriter Allison Scola's upcoming CD, "A Braver Kind" is our flagship effort in this regard. We are almost done mixing and should be mastering shortly. Allison, and producer Janie Barnett have been a joy to work with throughout the project.

WHAT'S NEW IN THE NEW STUDIO

We recently upgraded our Pro Tools system to version 7.4, which has some great features, including greatly enhanced time stretching. We are expecting to do an overhaul of our Pro Tools system within the next year or so, at the same time that we install a PT mixing/editing suite at our upstate residence.

MORE JGMP NEWS

Recently we heard from Michelangelo Sosnowitz, leader of the group Rabbits Against Magic. The Rabbits' first CD "Daylight" was mixed, produced, mastered, and partially recorded here. It contains some great songs and truly ferocious performances. Mike reports the following: "Since completing the ?'Daylight' CD, we have signed a management deal with Nightlife Productions, a National distribution deal with C.E.D. Entertainment, and FREEPLAY Music has signed five of the songs off the album for publishing, as well as a publishing deal with Pump Audio." Way to go, Mike!

At this writing, Amy Lennard's new CD, largely recorded here, is taking shape at The Lodge, where it is being mastered by Emily Lazar.

Meg Flather's new CD "Passages" has been finalized with one brand new song in the lineup, and has just been remastered and sent to duplicating.

We recently received a production copy of "Songville" by Marco Joachim. This charming CD, recorded and mixed here, features Marco's luminous singing and playing, some well-placed banjo and fiddle from Pete Schwimmer, and a lot of my own playing as well. The music is a mixed bag, some of it bearing a more than passing resemblance to the Traveling Wilburys. I had a lot of fun working on this one!

Earlier in the year, I had the pleasure of recording and developing arrangements for Jennifer Marks and Jessica Hoffman, for an eco-friendly project currently under development: My Changing Planet.

Lately we've had the pleasure of working with some exciting new artists, notably Athena Adamopoulos, Karen Rodriguez, and Ellen Woloshin, who is working on her new CD.

Other sessions of note in 2007 include: The incomparable Ada Dyer recorded a riveting vocal for "If You Still See Me" for songwriter Belle Schneiderman. George Elliott and Page Wood mastered their posthumous Klaus Nomi CD "Za Bakdaz". Composer Ronnie Lawson has been a regular here for his industrial pre-records. Vivien Wolsk recorded a number of her songs, including a deliciously creepy version of "Separate Umbrellas". Composer Luce Amen came in to record songs for her show "The Amazing Journey of Juan Diego". Composer Dan Martin mastered songs from his show "HuMan Being". We also played host to those bon vivants George Sanders and Shawn Curran, working on their various, always madcap, projects. Caleb Jacobs and XBanders recorded a new song with the able assistance of local drummer Chris Benelli. Tenor Micheal Castaldo's multilingual CD "La Dolce Vita 'NAmerica" continues to make sales inroads and glean press in the international market. Also my old friend Barry "Kip" Kaplan, primarily an ADR recordist now, is dusting off his artist credentials and dropped by to record guitar overdubs on a new project.

Sadly, we must take a moment to note the passing of Norman Mershon, not only a great singer and songwriter, but a great spirit and personality in the New York music scene. Norman and I worked together, starting in the late '70's, in the band Tycoon, which made 2 albums for Arista, and scored a top 30 hit with "Such a Woman". Norman will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

We are always interested in new recording projects! We can provide a wide range of music production related services, both creative and technical, and can tailor our approach to your needs. Studio tours, consultations, budget estimates, etc. are available free, on request.

Hope to see you soon!

Jon
 

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