SOCAPA takes over Dubway's Main Floor

Guitar tracking in Sound Room 3.

As was yearly tradition before last year’s shutdown forced a pause, the talented kids of the School of Creative and Performing Arts–SOCAPA for short–took over our Main Floor studios for a couple summer weeks, churning out original tunes alongside Dubway engineers and their instructors. You can see previous years highlighted on the music section of their camp’s website; until the projects are finished and streamable, check out some photos from this year’s camp below!

Engineers included Darnell Burns, Violette Furton, Sydney Fuqua, and Chad Henderson, all of whom worked quickly and efficiently with students to produce finished pieces in a creative, team-effort-style race against the clock.

Congratulations to all the campers–see you next year!

Mayor's House releases video for "Dream Dancer" recording

A video for Mayor’s House’s song “Dream Dancer”–recorded in our Mezzanine studio last week–is now live on the band’s YouTube. The track was recorded and mixed by Dubway’s Violette Furton; the video was captured and edited by the band.

Mayor’s House recorded an EP’s worth of songs during their session, so stay tuned for more to come! You can read our write up of the session here.

Mayor's House tracks new songs in the Mezzanine

Clockwise from top left: bassist Jeffrey Allen, drummer Eli Meyers, guitarist Emily Morris, guitarist River Glassberg, and Dubway engineer Violette Furton.

Last weekend, new local band Mayor’s House set up camp in our penthouse Mezzanine studio to track songs for an upcoming project. Staff engineer Violette Furton was there to guide the technical side of things, using the racks of outboard gear for added color and the SSL 4064 G+ as the central hub for the session. Together, the team recorded the classic ingredients of an indie rock band: drums, bass, acoustic and electric guitar, vocals, and more vocals.

Check out some pictures from the recording here, give the band a follow on IG link above, and stay tuned for new music from Mayor’s House!

Complex Media records six-episode exclusive podcast hosted by DJ PVNCH

DJ PVNCH.

Complex Media has just wrapped production on Complex Subject: Pop Smoke, a limited run, six-episode podcast series on the life and work of Pop Smoke, and Dubway was proud to have served as the host recording facility for the show’s production phase.

Episodes are produced by Complex producer Shiva Bayat and hosted by DJ PVNCH (who you may know as Tekashi 6ix9ine’s DJ), and have been recorded in our Main Floor Studios by Dubway engineer Louis Fisher.

This podcast is a wealth of information on Pop for those interested in the rapper’s life and context, and gives excellent insight into his music and impact on culture. You can find all episodes on Spotify (who partnered with Complex to produce the show) available now!

Miloco Studios listing platform recommends Dubway as premier NYC recording destination

Our Mezzanine recording room; staff photography from a recording session with Brian Russell Carey.

Miloco Studios, an international listing service for high-end professional studios all around the world, recently published a recommended list of recording studios in NYC, and we were delighted to see our Manhattan facility listed among the few selected institutions. From their featured listing of our studio:

““If you’re after a room with a view, look no further than Dubway Studios. Boasting the title of ‘highest studio in NYC’, Dubway is a beautifully designed state-of-the-art studio that has over 30 years of studio experience. With penthouse mezzanine live and SSL control rooms, this sits atop the main floor housing three control rooms and three sound rooms, all interlinked with audio and video channels for complete and fluid control over all rooms.”

It’s always nice to see appreciation for your efforts, and we’re proud to be among the best the city has to offer. Give us a call or an email to book today!

Dubway West tracks Naïka at Winston House

Miami-based singer & songwriter Naïka performed a set of expansive R&B at Winston House this week–following on the heels of Sinéad Harnett’s show the day before–with Dubway West on-site to make sure the recording stayed crystal-clear.

Naika just released a new project, Lost In Paradïse Pt.2, and while she hasn’t announced a tour yet, she’s clearly excited to get the songs in front of a live audience. The set included new material and songs from previous albums, including a sultry version of “African Sun”, which you can hear a clip of her performing below.

Dubway West’s technical team included engineers Patrick Pak and Maja Sazdic.

Listen to Naïka’s full releases here, or follow her Instagram (linked at top) for more!

Sinead Harnett performs at Winston House with Dubway West

Dubway West’s engineers recorded the show of English R&B artist Sinéad Harnett this week, as she performed a set at Winston House in front of a live audience (for the first time in nearly 18 months!).

With vaccinations on the rise, live music and events are finally starting to be safe enough to resume–something we’ve all been waiting for, especially performing artists! Harnett is gearing up to tour Europe in 2022 in support of her newest album, Ready Is Always Too Late, which was released a month ago on her label, Thairish.

Dubway West has enjoyed an ongoing relationship with the performance space Winston House, often serving as in-house recording techs for the varied performances that grace its stage. You can find out about more of those past events on our blog, or check out a clip from Sinéad Harnett’s show to the right. Her album can be streamed at the Spotify link above or on all other major streaming platforms.

Jonathan Reid Gealt records keyboards, organ, and more in the Mezzanine

Pictured left to right: Jonathan Reid Gealt, Joseph Joubert, Stephen Oremus, and Brian Usifer; photo courtesy of the artist (@jonathanreidgealt).

Jonathan Reid Gealt returned to our NYC headquarters last week with a stellar crew to record keyboard instruments for his upcoming album Archetype! The session was engineered by staff engineer Zach Grappone and featured a group of producers and orchestrators that we were thrilled to have in-studio–as we’ve only previously collaborated with them all remotely–including Stephen Oremus, Joseph Joubert, Michael McElroy, Matt Hinkley, Justin Goldner, and Brian Usifer.

Recording tackled both group vocals and several keyboard instruments, including our Hammond B3 (with an original Leslie amp cabinet) and Wurlitzer, both pictured below, and our Yamaha Grand Piano.

These songs are sounding more and more full and beautiful with each day they approach their finished state. Keep posted for more news about Archetype and an upcoming release date!

Stephen Oremus conducts the chorus while engineer Zach Grappone sets a mic in the background.

Robert Nath dubs vocals with producer Jonathan Comisar

Composer Robert Nath and his producer Jonathan Comisar joined us in the studio this weekend to record vocal overdubs on a collection of pieces previously recorded with us. With Dubway engineer Marc Frongillo behind the boards, Comisar and Nath directed the vocalists from both the live room and control room, adding group singing to the already rich mix of piano, cello, violin, and clarinet present in the recordings. Frongillo made ample use of the high ceilings in the Mezzanine studio live room for a natural room sound and clear stereo image, both central components of classical-style ensemble recordings.

These pieces will be continuing on to track primary vocals next, before preparing for release.

Jonathan Reid Gealt and Brooke Simpson record at Dubway West

Brooke Simpson in the booth at Dubway West, with Gealt and his producer on the line in the foreground.

Jonathan Reid Gealt’s album Archetype is heading into the home stretch after another all-star vocal session at Dubway West this past month. The guest vocalist in-studio for the recording was singer/songwriter/previous Voice contestant Brooke Simpson, who was a treat to hear behind the mic.

The session was recorded by Dubway West engineer Maja Sazdic, and comes just in advance of another session–this time at Dubway NYC–in which Gealt will be recording a large band for several of his tunes, as the project gets closer and closer to completion.

You can follow Gealt’s work on the album on his website, linked above, and find more recent news about previous collaborators further down in our blog.

"Master Of None" shoots promo "Moments in Love: A Music Experience" at Winston House with Dubway West

Dubway West joined the team at the Winston House to record a concert for Netflix’s Master of None, which recently released its third season. The concert, titled “Moments in Love: A Musical Experience” was a celebration of Black and queer R&B artists, with an amazing lineup of talent that included Tiffany Gouché, Durand Bernarr, Destin Conrad, Avery Wilson, Asiahnn, and a conversation with Maxwell. The Dubway team included engineers Maja Sazdic and Patrick Pak, who worked alongside a creative team lead by director Malakai Johnson.

You can read more about the shoot here, and find behind-the-scenes clips from the show on the artists’ Instagrams (linked above).

John Luther Adams' "Arctic Dreams": out now!

Acclaimed composer John Luther Adams’ newest work, Arctic Dreams, releases today on Cold Blue Music. The album has been in the works for some time, with Dubway lead engineer Nathaniel Reichman producing and mixing its entirety. As with all of Adams’ works, the performers are top notch. From the label:

The composer, photography courtesy Donald Lee.

Performed by the incredible Synergy Vocals, a critically acclaimed vocal ensemble that has during the past 25 years recorded music by Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, David Lang, Luciano Berio, James MacMillian, Steven Mackey, John Adams, Arvo Pärt, and many other composers and performed with the Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco Symphonies, the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, as well as other major orchestras and many chamber ensembles. Their performances and recordings have been deemed “amazing” (New York Times); “beautiful, haunting” and “wonderfully transparent” (Gramophone); “superb” (The Guardian); “dazzling” (The Observer); “exquisite” (Financial Times); and “blazing and stunning” (The Herald, Scotland). With Synergy Vocals is a quartet of notable string players, all specialists in new music: violinist Robin Lorentz, violist Ron Lawrence, cellist Michael Finckel, and bassist Robert Black.

Coinciding with Apple Music’s new support for Dolby Atmos® Music, the album is available in the Atmos® format and can be streamed with immersive sound here, or purchased at the Cold Blue link at the top.

TikTok fuels "Castaways" rise to the top of Spotify's Viral 50 chart

“Castaways”, a song from the Backyardigans series on Nick Jr., has seen a huge rise in streams in the past month, thanks to a section of the song going viral on the video platform TikTok. Sounds often go viral on the platform when used for a dance, or as a soundtrack for a specific topic or meme, and in this case both appear to be true. Users deploy the audio just as often to dance the show’s choreography as they do as a backdrop for skits, instructional videos, and commentaries.

The song was composed and recorded under the auspices of Dubway–back when the studio was in it’s Chelsea location–with noted composer Evan Lurie writing the tune. Dubway produced or engineered the audio for Backyardigans for years, including the sound design, foley, ADR, mixing, and music. It’s been a treat to see this song (and the show) enjoy such broad appeal on TikTok; streams of the song have risen so much that through the weekend, “Castaways” was in the #1 position on Spotify’s Viral 50 chart, before being unseated today by Eurovision entry Go_A’s song, “SHUM”.

Apple Music announces support for Dolby Atmos format

The Dolby Atmos format has been a major player in film and television sound for years, and has recently made significant inroads as a format for music releases. In a press release this week, Apple Music announced that it will add support for the format to it’s streaming services! The service will come included in an Apple Music subscription, starting on June 21st.

Dubway has been proud to offer Dolby Atmos Home Entertainment mixing to our post-production clients, and can also offer Dolby Atmos Music mixing for our music clients. We’ve been lucky to work on several excellent immersive albums in the Atmos Music format, including the highly acclaimed John Luther Adams album Become Desert, and are excited to continue to work in immersive music formats. Check out or services page or give us a call to learn more!

Spill Tab records at Winston House with Dubway West!

NYC artist Spill Tab joined our West-coast crew from Dubway West at the Winston House (LA) late last month for a livestream concert and recording of some of her latest music. We’ve been honored to work a series of these performances, with the venue playing an excellent and safe host for both audio and visual crews as well as the band–no easy feat during the pandemic.

Check out some behind-the-scenes pictures of the show above, and find the video for recent track “PISTOLWHIP” below.

#TBT: Jake Shimabukuro with Crossover Media

This Thursday, we’re giving a shout-out to one of our favorite production companies, Crossover Media, and looking back to a session in 2020 in which they brought famed ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro into the studio for a series of interviews with radio stations all over the country. We frequently work with Crossover on similar sessions, in which top musical talent–often but not exclusively Classical musicians and composers–conducts interviews all over the country or world from one of our booths.

If you’ve never heard Jake Shimabukuro play, you can start below with the video that first propelled him to international recognition, a cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps“.

#TBT: Beecher's Fault - Matchstick Kings

This week, we want to share a lovely video from Brooklyn indie band Beecher’s Fault recording their single "Matchstick Kings” in our Mezzanine Studio space, all the way back in 2013! It’s amazing to see how, while equipment and techniques are always coming and going, some things remain the same–like our mic locker, natural live room acoustics, and sense of fun in the studio.

This song was picked up by indie film The Outfield (2015) for use in it’s trailer, which you can catch here, pun intended; the session was recorded by studio engineer Chris Abel, and mixed by Dubway West head honcho Chris Montgomery.

Brian Russell Carey and singers track in the Mezzanine

Local multitalented musician Brian Russell Carey brought a group of beautiful voices through our Mezzanine studio last month, tracking multipart harmonies as part of his newest project.

The session was engineered by Dubway’s Zach Grappone, and made judicious use of the Mezzanine’s 40-foot high ceilings and professionally designed acoustics. With baffles between singers, producers are able to get the best of both worlds in this room–individual spot mics for balancing in post, and a complete stereo image with the natural space of the room for a feeling of immersive accuracy.

Follow Carey’s work at the link above, and drop us a line for your next acoustic recording project!

Jerry Wonda archives vintage Fugees tapes with Dubway

Jerry “Wonda” Duplessis.

Grammy Award-winning producer and bassist Jerry Wonda Duplessis linked up with Dubway engineer Louis Fisher today for a transfer of a 2” tapes of the classic Fugees album, The Score. Jerry Wonda has had a long and illustrious career, working with artists like Miguel, Wyclef Jean, and many more, in addition for his work in the Fugees. This tape transfer gives Wonda total access to the multitrack recording of the album’s songs, which is an excellent way to preserve an album for longevity, or for addition re-mixes or masters down the line.

The Score contains some of the Fugees most famous songs, and is consistently ranked among the best albums of the 90’s. It was a real treat to hear it on the 2”!

We’d be remiss if we didn’t link to at least one of this albums many hits, so below we’ve got what may be the best Enya sample of all time. Keep up with Jerry Wonda at his Twitter, linked above, and give us a call if you too have a 2”–or any other tape format–that you’d like to preserve for the future.

Composer Robert Nath records with piano and strings in the Mezzanine.

Pianist Jonathan Comisar buried in the piano amidst a heap of microphones. Foreground: Robert Nath’s score for the piece “V’shamru”, part of the larger work being recorded. Photo taken in the Mezzanine room.

Composer Robert Nath is working on an ambitious musical setting of Jewish songs, and has been recording at Dubway over the course of the past few months to bring this vision to life. Along with producer, arranger, and pianist Jonathan Comisar, an all-star crew of musicians, and Dubway engineer Keenan DuBois, Nath is building a lush musical world for these songs to inhabit.

Recordings have taken place in the Mezzanine studio, with DuBois and the musicians forced to get creative in recording a classical ensemble in traditional stereo during the distancing-era of COVID (as you can see from the array of stereo techniques in the photo above!). In another hallmark of the current times, Nath produces and monitors the recordings remotely via an internet link to the studio’s control room, allowing him to make performance calls just as if he were in the room with the engineer.

The pieces currently have their musical parts recorded, and are heading into vocal recording and mixing next. Stay tuned!