Mix: Braving The Atlantic about to drop…

In June I mixed an EP for Dave Hedin and his new solo project Braving the Atlantic. The songs are some of the coolest, most interesting and rocking material I’ve heard from anyone in a long time. There are moments of influence from bands like The Killers, Bloc Party and Snow Patrol. It’s very much it’s own thing and I’m excited for it to be released.

During mixing Dave made a couple of videos that I’ll share below. Mostly us trying to get work done while tornado season is in full swing here in Colorado.

For those who have asked, Dave basically recorded and produced the whole thing himself. I helped track basics with drummer Brian McRae up at The Wrecking Room (aka: www.drumoverdubs.com). Then the ubiquitous Jimmy Stofer came in for bass tracks. After that Dave holed himself up and played all of the rest of the instruments himself. There are some humorous videos on his site chronicling the recording process which happened over the past year. I highly recommend you check them out!

In the meantime, “Ignition EP” officially releases on August 31st, 2010, but there’s a listening party at The Walnut Room in Denver on Monday August 30th at 8PM. See you there!

In The Studio: Mixing from Braving The Atlantic on Vimeo.

In The Studio: Tornado from Braving The Atlantic on Vimeo.

Olivia Rudeen EP “Until Now” Release!

I am excited to announce the release of a fantastic EP I recently produced for Denver-based singer-songwriter Olivia Rudeen! The 5-song EP “Until Now” is Olivia’s first solo effort. The songs are fantastic, well crafted acoustic-based tunes, kind of Americana, almost roots-rock in vibe.

Don’t let Olivia fool you: she’s only 19 but blew me away with her work ethic and attention to detail. We had a lot of fun on this project and Olivia did a more than admirable job putting up with my lame jokes.

About the Production

Preproduction began in early March and we started tracking later in the month. Drums were recorded at Monument Sound by engineer Chris Andrews with Colorado Springs-based drummer Kevin Garland at the kit.

Back up at The Hook Factory, we tracked great friend and amazing bassist Jimmy Stofer. Olivia tracked all of the acoustics, some electric guitars, and additional electrics were performed by Dave Hedin, Paul Murin and guest engineer Ted Swan (who spent a week with me in April and was kind enough to lay down some sweet tracks on Austin). Yours truly even made a guest appearance on ukulele!

At the end of April I mixed the EP and sent it off to none other than Brian Gardner for mastering.

The EP is available for order online now, but Olivia’s official release date on iTunes is June 29, 2010.

-Justin

Currently Mixing: Gary Johnson

Wow, time flies…

In November I had songwriter/guitarist Gary Johnson out from New York to record bass tracks with Jimmy Stofer. Gary then came back out for a week stint in December to track guitars for his upcoming full-length entitled “Tracing Starlines WIth Empty Hands”.

Now, come January/February 2010, it’s time to mix! I’m thrilled to be working on this project. The songs are fantastic and really have something for everyone. There are moments of pure guitar-driven pop, and moments of an honest singer-songwriter, all wrapped up in a really neat way. The record features Jimmy Stofer on bass and Kevin Soffera (formerly Breaking Benjamin and Seether) on drums. Rocking.

Mixing is nearly complete, with 6 tunes in the can and four more to go… Look Gary up on MySpace or Facebook and check out this record when it comes out late February!

Saints: November Rain

Hey everyone-

Here’s a quick video of Lewi from Saints playing November Rain on the piano. Keep an eye out for Jimmy Stofer joining in on vocals! We had an absolute blast working with these guys…

More videos from the sessions with Saints to come!

-Dave

More Tracking With Saints

Hey music fans-

We’re wrapping up the new EP with Saints right now, and everything looks to be on schedule for a release here shortly! We are currently getting ready to start the mix sometime this week, and are confident that this will be one of the best and most exciting projects that we’ve done to date.

Once again we’d like to give a shout out to our good friend and bass extraordinaire, Jimmy Stofer. We got exactly what we needed from him as always, and are excited to have him play on more projects in the future.

We’ll keep you posted once the project is finished and how you can get your hands on a copy. In the mean time – check out Saints myspace page for more info on upcoming shows in the Denver/Boulder area.

Until next time-

-Dave

EP Release: Kyle Galanaugh

We’re pleased to announce that The Bergen Park EP has finally been released!  Justin and I both co-produced the EP, and were able to bring out Kyle’s vision for these songs. We’re all very happy with how it turned out, and we’ve been receiving some amazing feedback so far.  There’s a growing buzz around town about Kyle – and he’s already starting to receive some radio airplay around town on KTCL 93.3 and currently is Alternative 101.5‘s “Artist of the Month”.  Make sure to call in and request Kyle’s songs – and be sure to click on the link to the left to purchase the Bergen Park EP from iTunes.  We worked very hard on this project – and we hope you like it!

To celebrate the release, KTCL 93.3 put on a show featuring Kyle headlining at The Soiled Dove here in Denver. Local artists Xiren and Almost Legends warmed up a packed crowd, and the reception was great.  We were lucky enough to be able to check out the show with guitarist Fernando Curiel, who played electric guitar on the EP.  Bassist Jimmy Stofer and drummer Christian Teele (who also played on the record) contributed to Kyle’s band, and did a bang-up job!

There were quite a few sales of the EP at the end of the night, and a few people were sporting the new t-shirts.  Overall, it was a great show that really rocked!  Make sure to keep an eye on Kyle’s website for more information on upcoming shows.

Until next time…

-Dave