Pigeon Hole & Stuey Kubrick Present:

New video from Pigeon Hole, directed by our friend Stuey Kubrick. This song was one of the most fun to make on the record – it’s a real trip. The build up at the end has literally dozens of layers of little percussion sounds building into a giant crescendo. This video features hidden treasure, space men, and…. bonfires.

Check out Pigeon Hole’s new album “Age Like Astronauts” on iTunes

Sara Brudner is an amazingly graceful singer/songwriter residing in Vancouver, Canada. I had the pleasure of working with her, engineering a 6 song EP which is set for release August 27th, 2010. The record has a very lush and organic vibe. Production was handled by Josh Parsons, who brought a very unique and effective sensibility to the boards.

Catch Sara Live

For a taste of what you can expect, you can check out Sara this Tuesday, July 13th at the Biltmore. Sara’s live performance is a very true and well crafted representation of her studio efforts. For more info on the event, click HERE.

Listen to Sara

Two singles have been leaked so far, including her latest single “Two Tequila Shots & A Black Hole”

Coming Soon: A Behind The Scenes Look

Josh Parsons & Jamie Kuse at work on Sara Brudner's debut EP.

I will be providing an in depth behind the scenes look into the creation of the EP closer to the release date. The album has a lot of organic elements, and features some contributions from some of Vancouver’s finest studio musicians.

Keep your eyes out for Sara… she’s got that “it” factor.

www.sarabrudner.com

It was a fun session recording this track. Noble was literally fresh off the plane from Australia, and arrived at the studio right from the airport. Hadn’t seen him in what was probably a couple years, so this was a great “first time back” type of occasion. Noble knew all his parts perfectly because a year or two prior, a rough demo of it had been cut back at the Ephin studios.

Watch video from the recording session:

The Recording Process:

After a couple rye and cokes and some catching up, we were all ready to get cas in the booth. If i remember correctly, his verses went down in just one or two takes each, with full double layers thrown on for an extra thick sound – something that I almost always do with Caspian. He also recorded his parts of the chorus, with the holes left in in for Noble to slide in his vocals.

When Noble got in the booth, the process was just as smooth, again because he had all his parts already worked out. I picked a suitable mic / preamp combination for his voice and we were right into it. We filled in the his chorus layers first to get the vibe going, then took it from there. His bridge leads were done in a few takes, with me slicing it up on the fly and choosing the best lines from each take. Everyone in the studio was excited about how it was coming together, and knew right away we had a great single on our hands. A few adlibs later and we were done the recording. After another couple drinks with the guys and some catching up, we called it a night.

After we wrapped it up, the track ended up sitting for a several months before we ended up mixing it (the video footage is from 2009). When cas gave the go-ahead, i spent an afternoon on it. Didn’t go overboard, just made sure the vocals were sitting right: crisp and clean, and that the beat banged. My main focus on the instrumental was to ensure the string loop floated along, anchored by a smacking snare right in the middle of the mix to create the “head nod” feel. A quick master with my favorite pieces to get it up to volume, and we had our selves the final product you here now.

The Final Product:

Special mentions to Caspian, Noble, Vision, Ephin, Heera, Janet & Wisers Wiskey.

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Me and Marmalade working with the MPC 2000, the source of all things pigeon hole.

It was a busy spring. Sweatshop Union was working diligently in the studio, recording three new albums that were released on Urbnet records June 15th. It was an interesting marketing plan, brought on by the necessities of factor deadlines. Two of them debuted in the Top 10 of the Canadian iTunes charts. All three were mixed here at Creativ Recording Studios, and while two of the albums were primarily recorded elsewhere, the Pigeon Hole album was recorded here with me.

It’s always a treat to work with such a diverse and talented bunch of people. I had the pleasure of first working with them on their third studio album, “Water Street”, as the mix engineer on the project.

The hiphop collective that is Sweatshop Union is comprised of 7 people, all with creative input and valid contributions. As one would assume, this allows some amazing creativity and melding of ideas. As an engineer, I am extremely appreciative of the freedom they grant me to experiment with sounds and textures. As many engineers can tell you, being stifled creatively during mix can be a problem, when dealing with an artist or a group that for whatever reason do not want to relinquish any form of creative control. I suppose the guys in Sweatshop Union have learned to work this way out of necessity, considering the number of independent minds in their group. Any way you look at it, their open-mindedness sets an example for anyone working in a group environment, and it’s a very positive thing for the music and their end result.

Pigeon Hole “Age Like Astronauts”

Debuted at #8 on the iTunes Hiphop Charts

The Pigeon Hole album was the project I was most hands-on with, seeing it through from recording until the mastering stage. I learned a lot working with Pigeon Hole’s two members, Dusty Melo & Marmalade. In their production, they have mastered the art of “shitty is pretty”, a low-fidelity type of perfection. For example, the drum sounds on the closing song “Bonfire” were all recorded by them on a children’s toy drumset in Dusty’s living room through a pro-sumer mic, then run through the MPC. The result is a crunchy, vintage tone that is completely one of a kind. Working with their great sounds made it fun and easy for me to get the most out of the record.

The songs on this record vary from hiphop bangers to prog-rock/psychedelic. They combine moody vinyl samples with tactful doses of live instrumentation. The live instruments often blend seamlessly with the samples, which is often the achilles heel of producers working with samples who want to add sounds, without taking away from the vintage vibe. We maintained dusty feel across the board with heavy use of ribbon mics, tape saturation and heavily driven 1970′s preamps.

The process on this record was the most “analog” of the three: the crunchy synths are analog sourced, tracked to heavily driven tape. The (in)famous cranky old DBX160 compressor played a key role in the clicky attack of drums and percussive instrumentation. The Roland RE201 space echo is all over this record, providing spooky delays and lofi tape crunch.

An interesting side bar: I often give myself small personal challenges or “missions” when mixing a project, a cue taken from a David Bowie interview I once read. For this album it was “I am going to use Plate Reverb on every single song on this record.” I stayed true to my goal, whether on vocals, synths, samples or all of the above, so special shout-outs to a certain company and their certain amazing EMT plate emulation.

All in all, a very fun mix project that allowed me to pull out a lot of “colour pieces” to add to their already amazing tones. Special mention to our friend Alex DeGrace over at Suite Sound Labs who did a great job on the mastering.

Click here to preview or buy “Age Like Astronauts” on iTunes.

Dirty Circus “Alive and Well”

Debuted at #9 on the iTunes Hiphop Charts.

This record was partially recorded elsewhere, with the remainder recorded up here at Creativ with me. It’s a true boom-bap project, produced primarily by Metty The Dertmerchant and Mos Eisley. There’s some guest production from Chin Injeti (Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Eminem, Nas), Rob The Viking (Swollen Members) and Slakah The BeatChild (Divine Brown).

Metty’s style of production is pretty straightforward: sample(s), drums, bass, percussion and sound effects. Though this format is simple in its approach, it can present its own challenges when it comes time to mix. In this situation, I’ve got to present a select amount of sounds that translate big and wide. Thankfully, Metty’s sound selection is great and the samples all sound good coming out of the MPC2000, so it all came together perfectly.

Mos Eisley & Chin Injeti produced one of my favorite tracks off the record, “Where I’m From”. Mos had the beat all laid out, with a basic synth part, the Rhodes and the drums, but knew he wanted to take it a step further. We laid Mo’s vocals down after tracking the beat out, and then he called up Chin, who always seems to know what to do to take a track to the next level. Within the next day or two, Chin laced the hypnotizing bass line and synth parts, as well as some skanky electric guitar stuff. He sent over the stem files and we loaded them up, and I was instantly like, “Ok… now this is a banger!”

Metty and Mos trade off verses extremely well throughout the record, so that in itself creates a great cohesion. I did the mastering on this record with a combination of my favorite analog and digital flavors, overall doing my best to get the most punch and bass while maintaining high end crispiness – straight 90′s hiphop mindstate.

Click here to preview or buy “By Hook Or By Crook” on iTunes.

Trillionaires “By Hook Or By Crook”

Debuted at #14 on the iTunes Hiphop Charts

The Trillionaires, comprised of Metty The Dert Merchant and Evil Ebeneezer, is perhaps the largest departure from the traditional Sweatshop Union sound. The large majority of this album was recorded in a few weeks at another studio, with any last-minute additions being recorded by me here at Creativ.

In this project, Metty and Evil have created what I would call a concept record. It’s a tongue in cheek satire on the state of affairs in our floundering music industry. The production was handled entirely by Metty, and again highlights his golden era approach – load the MPC with some hot samples and chop it up. The track count on the instruments on this record probably never exceeded 8, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t sound big.

Like I mentioned before, working with a single (and possibly mono) sample and some drums presents a challenge when it comes time to get some width out of the mix. The use of stereo delays, a vintage Roland chorus unit and big fat plate verbs were mainstays: creating ambiance and a sense of depth for the listener. My favorite example of how these techniques came together would be on the track “Looks So Good”, which is also probably my favorite cut on the record.

This record is especially cool because of the way it is sequenced and put together. Metty had planned out the form of the record well before we did the master disk sequence. It flows together in a very cinematic way, with songs bridged by amusing movie clips, skits and sound effects. The end result is a very listenable and amusing record from start to finish. During the mastering process, I took a lot of care to see Metty’s big picture vision come together just how he wanted it.

Click here to preview or buy “By Hook Or By Crook” on iTunes.

In the end…

The end result is something we are all proud of. The albums all debuted with strong numbers, and are continuing to do so during this crucial first week. A big thanks to all the guys: Colin, Lee, Metty, Mo & Evil, for including me in the creation of these great records. Shout-outs to Urbnet Records for their progressive approach to the releases, and making it work for everybody. To those reading this who haven’t heard the albums, go give them a listen, and if you like it, support hard-working Canadian artists and buy the records.

Stay in touch and follow me on twitter at @jamiekuse!

12 Albums Released in 2009 Sold More than One Million Units
Of the 97,751 albums released in 2009, only 12 of them sold more than one million units last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The number of titles to reach one million units in previous years was 35 in 2006, 27 in 2007 and 22 in 2008. Clearly it is getting more difficult for an album to sell one million units.

The new releases that do sell over one million units in the year of their release, however, are maintaining their average. Between 2006 and 2009, the average annual tally for titles reaching the one million mark has ranged from a low of 1.42 million in 2008 to a high of 1.61 million in 2009. In years past, there were far more titles in the one million to 1.4 million range. Now such titles would probably not reach the one million mark and as a result would not be included in these calculations. So, the average of the titles in this million-plus ground stays about the same even though there are fewer sales and less revenue from these million-plus sellers.

A side note: Albums routinely sell well after their year of release. In the case of Taylor Swift, her 2006 debut sold over one million units in both 2007 and 2008 after selling less than 300,000 units in the year it was released. Zac Brown Band’s The Foundation, released in 2008, sold over one million units in 2009. And Michael Jackson’s catalog sold millions in 2009 but was not counted in these figures.

CORRECTION:Only 2,050 of 2009’s New Albums Sold Over 5,000 Units
The numbers are enough to make you stop and think. Only 2.1% of the 97,751 albums released in 2009 – or about 2,050 unique titles – reached a threshold most people would assume is within reach of just about any artist.

The Number of New Albums Actually Dropped in 2009
If 97,751 new releases seems high, consider it’s actually a lower number than the 105,000 new releases that came out in 2008. Expect the number of new releases to hold steady or decline in the coming years. In recent years, digital distributors flooded online retail with foreign catalogs being licensed to new territories. In effect, these distributors are catching up to all the music that’s available from around the world. As with most games of catch up, this one won’t go on forever. As fewer and fewer old recordings find their way to U.S. retailers for the first time, the unique number of titles released in a given year will fall. There may be an increase in the number of domestic recordings, but it may not be enough to make up for the fall in new foreign catalogs.

Albums’ Second-Week Fade Are Getting Bigger
The median second-week fade was 62.8% in 2009 and had steadily dropped each year from 33.9% in 2000. Nielsen’s explanations are good ones: marketing budgets are more limited, pre-sales are more common, core fans are more aware of new releases, piracy may be eroding sales of casual fans.

These are the results of the last decade’s shift from physical to digital sales. Internet sales – both physical and digital – mean a greater percentage of total sales will come from pre-orders that SoundScan counts as first-week sales.

Here are a few other thoughts. Because radio plays less of a role in album sales, few albums get the lasting benefits of radio promotion that helps sales after the initial push. And because there are fewer marketing dollars being spent at physical retail, there are fewer titles enrolled in price-and-placement programs that used to position a sale-priced CD for the first two or four weeks of release.

These factors combine to create a retail environment in which it is easier to get core fans’ attention but difficult to market beyond those core fans.

From Glenn Peoples / Billboard.biz

To read some good insight on how to thrive in today’s industry, check out Bob Lefsetz’s article “The Long Haul“.

Have a listen to the first leaks below!

You can read more about the artists and their releases on the Urbnet website, and as usual, leave your thoughts and comments below.

Developed in the 1980s by Hugo Zuccarelli, Holophonic Sound uses the same “multiple exposure” premise as that used to create holographic images. The recorded sound produced is so realistic, some people claim they can smell sulphur when they listen to a holophonic recording of someone striking a match. It appears that Holophonic Sound waves stimulate our brains to reproduce very realistic and truly three dimensional sound within us, thereby stimulating other responses that our brains expect to accompany the sound. Even more interesting is the fact that researchers report that some hearing impaired people can “hear” Holophonic Sound – again because it stimulates their brains even though their audio receiver mechanisms are not working properly.

Listen To Holophonic Sound

You should listen on headphones, and close your eyes for best effect.

Food for thought: Why is this concept not used more in Film/TV and in music production? Share your comments and thoughts below.

The song illustrates Catrina in top form, backed by beautiful piano and a lush string arrangement. The song was engineered and produced by myself, and written by the talented Warren Dean.

Check it out below, and please feel free to leave feedback.