My Writings. My Thoughts.

VIDEO: Terell Safadi – New Video In Production

// September 2nd, 2010 // No Comments » // Audio, Blog Post

Terell Safadi, one of my favorite artists from Vancouver, is coming out with his first official video for his single “Tonight” (produced by Crooks N Kruscher). Its a big party athem that I had the pleasure of mixing & mastering here at Creativ Recording Studios. Check out the video teaser:

Check Terell out on Twitter at @TerellSafadi

Avid Unviels New Pro Tools|HD Interfaces

// August 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // Current Events

3 New Pro Tools HD Systems

Avid, the makers of Pro Tools, have unveiled a new line of their flagship interfaces. There are three new pieces of hardware available: the HD I/O, HD OMNI and HD MADI. Avid is claiming a ground up redesign of the platform, with features never before seen. Though not a Pro Tools HD user myself, i must admit that some of the new features sound remotely interesting (my best attempts to avoid being singled out as an endorser or band-wagoner).

New features include a new clocking and filtering system, and more interestingly, a proprietary new soft knee analog limiter (HD I/O and HD OMNI).

HD OMNI – Filling the “Mid Level” Void for Avid?

The HD Omni looks like it could be a great option for pro-sumer studios, or overdub/edit rooms at professional facilities. It includes HD conversion, 2 mic preamps, 4 Line In, surround monitoring and a 14×26 software mixer. Looking at it reminds me of a trusty old Edoril UA1000 card i had kicking around for ages. I’d love to hear what the Omni sounds like, especially when it comes to the preamps. Avid could be making a wise move to tackle that mid level market with this piece. If you are one of the thousands of people out there that doesn’t need loads of analog I/O, and you want to get into the PT|HD market, this could be worth checking out.

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Vancouver Province: “Age Like Astronauts” Review

// August 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog Post

The Review:

Taken from: http://communities.canada.com/theprovince/blogs/quickspins/archive/2010/07/29/pigeon-hole-age-like-astronaut-urbnet.aspx

The third of a trio of Sweatshop Union presents releases is absolutely essential for any hip hop fan looking for something that marries an Eminem-esque confounding about relationships, funked up club jams and some really hilarious beat loops to boot. To date, I haven’t heard a better party track from a Canadian hip hop artist this year than “Light Show.” With its ragga-ized vocal, the tune just bops along furiously and will have all but the paralyzed shaking what they got. Truly, an excellent disc and some of the titles, “Jercules” as a case in point, are witty and feature a telling social commentary. Grade: A-

Positive Feedback

I am pleased to report some more good feedback on the Sweatshop Union front: The Vancouver Province gave Pigeon Hole’s “Age Like Astronauts” an A- in the latest edition of Vancouver’s biggest newspaper. Also pleased to note that both the Pigeon Hole and the Dirty Circus records are still holding strong on the College Radio Charts, with Pigeon Hole’s “Light Show feat. D-Sisive” claiming top spot on the hiphop singles chart this week. Big ups to all the hiphop DJ’s out there giving theses records support.

I have also had some great feedback about the engineering on the records from many of you in the industry, and I’d like to thank you for the encouragement and taking the time to remind me that our countless hours in the studio focused on finite details are worth it.

- Jamie

In The Studio: Hilary Grist – My Valley Road

// July 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Audio, In The Studio

Stunning performance by Hilary Grist captured here at Creativ Recording Studios by Mike Southworth. Hillary co-wrote and preformed the song for soundtrack of David King’s “Every Other Tuesday”, in which she appears as well. Have a listen to one of my favorite voices:

MUSIC VIDEO: Pigeon Hole – Bonfire (Dir: Stuey Kubrick)

// July 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Audio, Blog Post

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: Self Titled EP Coming 08-22-2010

// July 11th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Audio, Blog Post

Who is Sara Brudner?

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”

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In The Studio: Caspian – If The Sky Fell feat. Noble

// June 27th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Audio, In The Studio

A hiphop track I recorded & mixed here at Creativ. Caspian kills it on both verses, and Noble brings his usual heavy yet smooth vibe to the chorus and his bridge. The instrumental is produced by Nikoh, and is based around a beautiful string loop… right up my alley.

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. Continue Reading

In The Studio: The Making Of 3 Sweatshop Union Records

// June 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog Post, In The Studio

Hard work pays off:

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. Continue Reading

Blog Post: Important Sales Trends You Need To Know

// June 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog Post, Current Events

Fewer new releases are reaching one million units in sales, a very small number of them even get to 5,000 units and maintaining early sales momentum is increasingly difficult. Those were the lessons learned from Nielsen’s presentation at last month’s NARM conference in Chicago. Some of the highlights from the presentation:

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.
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The Summer of Sweatshop Union

// May 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Audio

It was a busy spring for me. 3 great records coming out this summer from the Sweatshop Union camp. All three are coming out on URBNET, which is a perfect home for these albums. They are from separate crews Pigeon Hole, Dirty Circus and the Trillionaires. We are all very proud of the results.

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.

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