Vocal recording with Natalie Weiss

Singer Natalie Weiss was in studio recently, featuring her voice for a new video mashup project by Jonathan Gealt, as well as tracking vocals for three Broadway covers on her own album.

Natalie Weiss is a vocalist, actress and teacher popular for her web series "Breaking Down The Riffs" on YouTube, which have collectively reached over 3 million views. She also appeared on American Idol as a finalist on season 4, the national tour for Les Miserables from 2013-2016, and tours internationally as a solo artist and as a vocal teacher.

Just add @drewgehling and you'll have an epic mashup with the six of us! @lilcoopz @jrgealt @mykalwitha_y @amberskyez #comingsoon

A video posted by Natalie Weiss (@natalie_weiss) on Jan 9, 2017 at 4:50pm PST

Music tracking for Tribattery Pops

The TriBattery Pops were back in our mezzanine studio with Adrian Thorstensen this past weekend tracking their latest collection: classical pieces by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.

Led by conductor Tom Goodkind, Tribattery Pops is an all-volunteer community band made up of NYC residents and friends, the first of its kind in Lower Manhattan in over a hundred years.

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Surround Mix for David Lang's "the public domain" at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival

Dubway's Nathaniel Reichman worked on the surround mix for the performance of David Lang's "the public domain" commissioned by Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival. 

"the public domain" is a performance piece written by Pulitzer-Prize winning composer David Lang, performed by the public on August 13, 2016 at Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza. Inspired by "the theme of the collective knowledge shared amongst us all," the event brought 3,000 volunteer amateur vocalists together on a hot summer day to perform this piece, conducted by Simon Halsey, Choral Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, The video of the Mostly Mozart Presentation went live on PBS on Friday, February 3rd as part of the network's Live From Lincoln Center program.

Luis Leguia Classical CD produced by Thomas Mowrey

Luis Leguia, a renowned cellist in the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops for several decades, has tasked Thomas Mowrey to produce a release of selected works by Zoltán Kodaly, Bohuslav Martinu, Beethoven, and J.S. Bach. Dubway's Nathaniel Reichman worked with Tom to create a seamless compendium of various recorded performances over the course of Luis's career.

Tom spent 20+ years as a producer and head of Artists and Repertory in America for Deutsche Grammophon, the eminent classical label. He was also one of the original developers of Surround Sound recording and introduced the concept to Deutsche Grammophon and Ray Dolby.

Christine Ebersole recording her new album

Actress and singer Christine Ebersole brought her sparkling voice to the Mezzanine with composer and pianist Larry Yurman. Ebersole and her band spent three days tracking live in our studio, with Chris Montgomery engineering, to record original songs for her new album.

Christine Ebersole has starred both on Broadway and film, most notable for her work on 42nd Street and Grey Gardens, both for which she won Tony Awards for "Best Leading Actress in a Musical." Her filmography includes Richie Rich, Black Sheep, 3 Men and a Baby, and most recently Wolf Of Wall Street in which she played Leah Belfort in 2013.

April Armstrong recording her new Storytelling CD

Dubway Engineer Chris Abell recorded singer April Armstrong in the mezzanine studio last weekend for her new follow-up storytelling CD, "Jazzy Twist 2: Birds of a Feather." The album consists of three original songs and stories read by Armstrong.

April Armstrong is an American actress and singer, known for her film and television roles in Four One Nine, Law and Order: SVU and Love Is Deaf. Her previous storytelling CD, "The Cat Came Back: Stories and Songs With A Jazzy Twist," won a Parents' Choice Award (Silver) in 2015.

Live Recording for John Legend's Artists Den performance

Last December, Dubway had the pleasure of providing the audio recording for another installment of the Live from Artists Den series. Engineer Sam Palumbo, assisted by intern Bea Go, went to the historic Riverside Church in Harlem, NY to record John Legend's performance and interview. Dubway engineer Chris Camilleri is mixing the music for the episode.

The Artists Den is a critically acclaimed television and digital music series best known for presenting small, secret concerts by extraordinary artists in non-traditional, often historic settings for the TV broadcast. Live from the Artists Den is broadcasted nationally on public television, and internationally in the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Latin America. Dubway has recorded audio for the series' previous episodes featuring Imagine Dragons, The Lumineers, The Killers, Marina and the Diamonds, and Sara Bareilles.

John Legend is a ten-time Grammy Award winning R&B and soul recording artist, Oscar and Golden Globe winner, and critically acclaimed concert performer, philanthropist/social activist, and was named one of Time Magazineʼs 100 Most Influential People. Legend has released four studio albums to date, and has been hailed as one of the industry’s most innovative artists. John Legend’s latest album "Darkness and Light" was released on Columbia Records on Friday, December 2nd.

Stay tuned for the premiere of the episode in 2017.

Vocal tracking for Tituss Burgess

Tituss Burgess with engineer Sam Palumbo at Dubway

We're off to a busy start this year! Earlier this month, Broadway singer and actor Tituss Burgess worked on his new album, tracking vocals on original songs composed by James Sampliner, accompanied by producer Daniel Weiner. Singer Cassondra Kellam was also in attendance recording back-up vocals.

Tituss Burgess, a Georgia native, has appeared in four Broadway musicals, incuding Good Vibrations, Jersey Boys, The Little Mermaid and Guys and Dolls. Most recently, he is starring on the Netflix original series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, for which he received Emmy nominations for in 2015 and 2016.

Soooooooooooooooooooooo I'm doing it! Coming soon! My album! #2017 @samps42 @danweinerdrums

A photo posted by Tituss Burgess (@titusssawthis) on Jan 5, 2017 at 5:48pm PST

Steven Santoro records his new album with co-producer Marc Ciprut

Songwriter and musician Steven Santoro spent two days in the mezz studio to record his new album (working title "Deep In August") with co-producer and guitarist Marc Ciprut. Engineer Sam Palumbo ran the live tracking session, recording some of NYC's most accomplished players: Ciprut on guitar, Jon Cowherd on piano, James Genus on bass, Clarence Penn on drums and Danny Sadownick on percussion.

Steven Santoro is a singer and songwriter whose ability to fuse Jazz and popular music helped his debut album, “Moods and Grooves” rise to #1 on Jazz FM Radio in the United Kingdom and #20 on Jazz radio in the US. An associate professor at Berklee College of Music, Santoro continues to create music with artists from all over the world, and is working on his next release "Deep In August."

Click through the gallery to view pictures below!

Berkshire Choral International Recording

Every year, Berkshire Choral International records at Dubway for their annual Berkshire Choral Festival. Last week, engineer Devon Emke and conductor Frank Nemhauser recorded an 8-piece choir for the upcoming festival.

Berkshire Choral International, based in Sheffield, Massachusetts, is a non-for-profit educational institution that provides amateur singers with professional-level choral experiences. In 30 US and 5 countries worldwide, BCI offers week-long choral singing immersion experiences under the direction of world-class conductors with professional symphony orchestras. This year's program included Mahler's Symphony No. 8.

Sofar Sounds New York: Secret Gigs at Dubway Studios

For the past few months, Dubway has had the pleasure of hosting Sofar Sounds in the mezzanine. In addition to providing the space for these shows, we are also facilitating the live sound and audio recording for the filmed performances.

Sofar Sounds is a global network of artists, hosts, and guests, all with a goal of bringing the magic back to live music. "Secret" intimate shows are curated with carefully selected up-and-coming artists throughout the city in unique spaces. Interested guests apply to attend a secret show and are not informed of the lineup until their arrival. During the music, there is full attention: no talking, texting, or filming. At a Sofar, the music comes first: people sit and listen, bringing back the magic to live music – a great way for artists to reach new, curious audiences and for music lovers to discover their next favorite acts.

Check out some photos from our past shows in the gallery below, and stay tuned for the release of the Sofar Sounds videos recorded at Dubway this winter.

Dyllan - "All Those Other Windows" EP

Brooklyn-based independent singer-songwriter Dyllan just released her latest EP, "All Those Other Windows", mixed and mastered by Dubway engineers Adrian Thorstensen and Mike Judeh.

Dyllan (Dylan Nichols) is an alternative pop artist and Los Angeles native that describes herself as "an honest, passionate lyricist with deep and original music." Her EP was released for purchase on iTunes or stream on Spotify.

Vocal recording for Paul Schrader's upcoming film 'First Reformed'

This week, Dubway engineer Zac Suskevich recorded singer Julia Murney for Paul Schrader's newest film First Reformed. 

Paul Schrader, Zac Suskevich, Julia Murney and Jake Falconer at Dubway Studios.

First Reformed is a new indie thriller by writer-director Paul Schrader produced by Arclight Films and Killer Films. It follows a former military chaplain (Ethan Hawke), who struggles with his faith after the loss of his son. He befriends a parishioner of his Church (Amanda Seyfried) whose husband is a radical environmentalist, and discovers "his church's complicity with unscrupulous corporations."

Paul Schrader, an American screenwriter, film director and film critic popularly known for writing and co-writing screenplays for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, attended the singing session for First Reformed.

Geek Out with Nathaniel - Episode 7: Control Surfaces (and their history)

A long time ago, Avid (then called Digidesign), allowed 3rd-party MIDI control surfaces to move the faders and the pans in Pro Tools. JL Cooper made a bunch of these surfaces. They were awful. Shortly after, Mackie and Digidesign collaborated on an improved system that used MIDI in a smarter way, called HUI. HUI is still in use today, and is the main way that 3rd-party companies make controllers for Pro Tools (SSL, Tascam, etc.). But MIDI is awful, and Digidesign then built their first serious control surface, ProControl. ProControl looked and felt like a real board, and used a proprietary language over ethernet called DigiNet. DigiNet powered ProControl, Control | 24, C24, and all the ICON boards like D-Command and D-Control. For the small-budget crowd, they made Command|8 , Digi 002 and 003 all of which use MIDI in a smart way like HUI. 

When Avid purchased Euphonix, they got something special, EuCon. EuCon was the only serious competitor to DigiNet at the time. Avid promptly ended development for DigiNet and put all their resources into EuCon. The Artist series (we have an Artist Mix and Artist Control), MC Pro, Pro Tools | Dock, S3 (picture below), S5, and S6 are all built on EuControl. And EuControl is compatible with Logic, Nuendo and Pro Tools (and many more apps, too).

With Pro Tools 12, Avid released a free iPad app, Pro Tools | Control. This uses EuCon over Wi-Fi (or via the Lightning port) and is incredibly useful.

So that’s history. Here’s the lesson: EuControl uses ethernet and/or Wi-Fi and looks on the network for all available EuCon devices. Go to “EuCon Settings” in the menubar and you can see a window where you can grab any available surfaces on the network. When you move the Artist Mix and Control from room to room, remember the following:

Artist Mix and Artist Control plug into the ethernet switch (small black box), and the third cable on the switch goes to the Mac. All of our Mac Pro’s have (2) ethernet ports, and they automatically recognize that our LAN and the internet is on one port, and EuControl is on the other port. Ports are interchangeable. If you have time, fire up the controllers and experiment. It’s easy to get stuck in the habit of using only the mouse with Pro Tools. As soon as you break that habit, you’ll discover all the fast and intuitive ways you can run a session and shape sounds with a surface.

Take a look at Avid’s current line-up. These surfaces range in price from almost free to over $100k (!).

Mario Spinetti produces a 25-piece Choir for "Amen To The People"

Composer and producer Mario Spinetti brought a choir of 25 singers to the mezzanine on an evening in December to record his composition, "Amen To The People" with Dubway engineer Adrian Thorstensen.

According to Spinetti, "'Amen to the People' is a song written for every man, woman, and child wanting to raise a voice in the name of oneness. And so at our session, the task was to offer a song – a singable song – to express the belief that separateness is an illusion: that we're all one, and that we're all love."

Watch a clip of these beautiful voices coming together below:

PREMIERE: "A Dubway Christmas" - Happy Holidays from Dubway Studios

This past month, our staff came together to write and record a song for this holiday season – our gift to you.

We present Holiday Nostalgia (A Dubway Christmas):

Happy Holidays from our Dubway family to yours! See you in 2017!

Credits: Written by Erica Rabner, Produced by Russell Castiglione, Engineered by Andrew Gualtieri, Mixed by Bea Go.
Vocals: Erica Rabner, Bea Go | Guitars: Al Houghton, Bailey Aldrich, Ben Lapidus, Hayden O'Leary | Piano: Russell Castiglione | Drums: Ben Lapidus | Bass: Zac Suskevich

Dyllan - Sea Anemones

This summer, independent singer-songwriter Dyllan stopped by Dubway Studios to mix and master her upcoming EP, "All Those Other Windows." The first single, Sea Anemones (mixed by Adrian Thorstensen and mastered by Mike Judeh) has just been released on SoundCloud here.

Dyllan (Dylan Nichols) is an alternative pop artist and Los Angeles native that describes herself as "an honest, passionate lyricist with deep and original music."

Trevor Bachman - "Blue River" EP

This summer, New York City based composer and musical director Trevor Bachman recorded his debut EP titled "Blue River" at Dubway Studios with staff engineer Sam Palumbo.

You can purchase and listen to the newly released EP "Blue River" via Bandcamp.

Dave Soldier Collaborates with Elena Mindlina

Composer and musician Dave Soldier is back in our studios working on the new classical album featuring opera singer Elena Mindlina.

Soldier, who leads a double life as a musician and neuroscientist and Columbia University, composes music in a variety of genres from experimental avant-garde to classical to jazz. Most of his work is collaborative, with projects including the Thai Elephant Orchestra consisting of 14 elephants in northern Thailand, the cult Delta-punk band the Kropotkins, the Soldier String Quartet, the Brainwave Music Project, and coaching children to compose their own music in Harlem, Brooklyn, and Guatemala.

Elena Mindlina is a Russian-born soprano singer whose recent endeavors include touring Russia earlier this Spring in collaboration with pianist and composer Ivan Alexandrov. Aside from opera singing, Mindlina teaches voice and violin at her private studio in New York, as well as giving masterclasses in vocal technique in various Russian observations.

D. D. Jackson producing Hunter College's Pop CD

Renowned composer and jazz pianist D.D. Jackson spent time with Sam Palumbo in the mezzanine recording for the CUNY Hunter College Popular Music Combo CD.

The session consisted of three student jazz bands, all of which are Jackson's students at Hunter, in live band tracking format. Each group had one hour to record their songs (both original compositions and covers of popular tunes) that will be compiled in the 2016-17 Hunter Pop CD. Dubway Studios also recorded last year's compilation CD which can be listened to here!

D.D. Jackson produced, directed and mixed the 2015-16 Hunter Pop Compilation CD.

D.D. Jackson is an Emmy-winning jazz pianist and composer who has recorded and performed with some of the most acclaimed names in jazz music, as well as having frequently collaborated with Questlove and The Roots. Jackson also composes music for film and TV, including music for The Wonder Pets, a children's show by our family at Nickelodeon. As an educator, Jackson has taught part-time at Hunter College for the past 7 years, teaching History of Jazz and was recently awarded the Hunter College 2016 Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching (part-time).