The 2010 NewSong contest was full of incredibly talented and dedicated artists, so it was no surprise to us to learn that the winner was someone as phenomenal as Amber Rubarth. To understand what sort of music she's writing, you need only understand what sort of person she is. She's soft spoken with a great sense of humor and genuinely cares about the people around her. She's not self-centered, but still manages to focus on the things that we all need as individuals; love, companionship, understanding, empathy, healing... To sum it all up, Amber is a wonderful person to be around and the songs she writes are a direct reflection of her.
It was announced months ago that the winner of the contest would get to work with famed producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Norah Jones, Tom Waits, etc.). No one could have predicted that he would have been such a perfect match for the winner, though. Amber's simple songs were treated with a degree of integrity and honesty that we've rarely seen here at our studio.
Together, Jacquire and Amber spent the first two days demoing and tweaking her material, changing only a few words and slightly altering the structures to make them flow easier but keeping as much of the original content as possible. The third day brought some incredible musicians to begin the bulk of the actual recording. Adam Levy (Norah Jones) came in for guitar duty, Marco Giovino (Robert Plant) filled the roll of drummer, and Frank Swart (Patty Griffin) held down the bass. For a band assembled in the studio, they sounded as though they'd been playing the material together for years. Amber's voice melted into the arrangements and everything was easily paired down to around 16 tracks on the console. Watching them work was a real lesson in choosing quality over quantity and emotional response over precise playing. In the end, everyone was so jazzed about playing the material that they wound up cutting two songs more than what they had set out to do. The rough mixes already show what an organic, honest collection of songs this is going to be. Everything went so smoothly that they were able to wrap up a couple of days earlier than they'd planed.
The session was a constant atmosphere of relaxed pace, tea, flowers, and candles. It's always a blessing to us to be given the chance to work with such talented and delightfully kind individuals. All of us here at Saint Claire want to wish Amber the very best in what lies ahead and we know that her EP will be an early highlight in her career.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
New Albums!
A couple of albums that were done here came out this week, so we wanted to make sure and let everyone know! Natalia Zukerman's newest, produced by our dear friend Willy Porter, just hit the stands. Links to her iTunes and Amazon.com stores are right on her website's homepage, which you'll find here: http://nataliazukerman.com/ Also out this week is the new project from Peter Kiesewalter, Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata. B.R.O. was mixed here by Neil Dorfsman.
Click on either of their album covers to be taken to their respective amazon.com pages.
Check out the new music from these amazingly talented artists and stay tuned for more from Saint Claire!
Click on either of their album covers to be taken to their respective amazon.com pages.
Check out the new music from these amazingly talented artists and stay tuned for more from Saint Claire!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Something New
The nature of our business is such that we find ourselves involved in projects of wide and varied degrees of talent, budgets, skills, notoriety, and complexity. The people who come through the doors of our studio range from full bands that leave here and play the Late Show the following week to self-funded solo acts with nothing more than great aspirations to their credit. The most recent project to come through our doors, however, brought with it something new that we hope and expect to see more of in the not too distant future.
Zach McNees, a great up and coming engineer who has brought many projects to us over the years, called to check in towards the end of 2010 to talk about a potential recording he was in the early stages of coordinating. We spoke at length about the usual particulars (how many memebers in the band, what type of music, how long the gig would be, travel plans, rates, etc.) and he revealed that this self-funded project had something very unique going on in the way that it was being financed. The relatively unknown musician, Seth Bible, was gathering the money for his project through a campaign at http://www.kickstarter.com
We've known of Kickstarter.com for some time now and we were aware that there were people out there trying to get funds together for various projects, but this was the first time that our studio actually came into direct contact. The choice to turn talent into a professional endeavor is difficult for anyone, especially when the funding for it has to be generated by the people taking the chance. Like so many other independent artists, Seth and his wife Sarah reached the stage where a critical decision had to be made regarding the level of commitment there were going to make to music. This is where Kickstarter entered the picture for them. Immediately after making the decision to commit to a career in music, Seth launched a campaign to raise money to help make an album, started a blog to chronicle the progress of the project, and sent messages to everyone he knew to let them know what he and Sarah were trying to accomplish. A few short months later, they had exceeded their goal of $11,000 and were in the studio making the dream a reality.
For Saint Claire and for Zach, this project was especially exciting to work on because Seth's material is downright exceptional. He's got great lyrics, catchy tunes that are really well put together, and he hired excellent musicians to play for the recording; a perfect storm in the world of music. It would be remiss of me to gloss over the quality of Seth's talent and ability in the course of this story as that is much more important than their road to financing the project. In fact, I believe that it is because of Seth's music and personality that he was able to make the Kickstarter.com attempt a success. In a time when labels are shrinking, budgets are disappearing, and independent artists are finding it harder to find stability, what Seth and Sarah have accomplished to make their dream a reality heralds a truth that everyone in the music industry is clinging to; the world is still thirsty for good music and there are still ways to make it happen.
Zach McNees, a great up and coming engineer who has brought many projects to us over the years, called to check in towards the end of 2010 to talk about a potential recording he was in the early stages of coordinating. We spoke at length about the usual particulars (how many memebers in the band, what type of music, how long the gig would be, travel plans, rates, etc.) and he revealed that this self-funded project had something very unique going on in the way that it was being financed. The relatively unknown musician, Seth Bible, was gathering the money for his project through a campaign at http://www.kickstarter.com
We've known of Kickstarter.com for some time now and we were aware that there were people out there trying to get funds together for various projects, but this was the first time that our studio actually came into direct contact. The choice to turn talent into a professional endeavor is difficult for anyone, especially when the funding for it has to be generated by the people taking the chance. Like so many other independent artists, Seth and his wife Sarah reached the stage where a critical decision had to be made regarding the level of commitment there were going to make to music. This is where Kickstarter entered the picture for them. Immediately after making the decision to commit to a career in music, Seth launched a campaign to raise money to help make an album, started a blog to chronicle the progress of the project, and sent messages to everyone he knew to let them know what he and Sarah were trying to accomplish. A few short months later, they had exceeded their goal of $11,000 and were in the studio making the dream a reality.
For Saint Claire and for Zach, this project was especially exciting to work on because Seth's material is downright exceptional. He's got great lyrics, catchy tunes that are really well put together, and he hired excellent musicians to play for the recording; a perfect storm in the world of music. It would be remiss of me to gloss over the quality of Seth's talent and ability in the course of this story as that is much more important than their road to financing the project. In fact, I believe that it is because of Seth's music and personality that he was able to make the Kickstarter.com attempt a success. In a time when labels are shrinking, budgets are disappearing, and independent artists are finding it harder to find stability, what Seth and Sarah have accomplished to make their dream a reality heralds a truth that everyone in the music industry is clinging to; the world is still thirsty for good music and there are still ways to make it happen.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata
We love hosting any session with Neil Dorfsman. It's no secret that he's one of our favorite engineers to work with. Not only that, but we can always count on him to bring projects to us that are anything but predictable. This time was no different.
Neil was here in 2008 with Peter Kiesewalter to mix the last East Village Opera Company album, "Olde School". That album was nominated for a Grammy and got plenty of critical acclaim, but the large numbered EVOC crew was in need of a break at the end of their touring schedule. When they went into hiatus, Peter shifted his focus to working on a rock opera version of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein work, "The Sound Of Music" and formed a new group called the Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata (or B.R.O. for short). As he told us, he never expected this project to gain momentum like it has. ...especially when he was served with a cease and desist order directly from the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization!
Initially, the one-off production was going to be a live show to be performed around the holidays. R & H have a vast and very astute team of watchdogs on the prowl for folks attempting to capitalize off the Sound Of Music material. When they found out about Peter's project, they took immediate action to have it shut down. Once Peter explained to them what he was doing with the arrangements, played them early versions of the songs, and told them what his intentions were, not only did R & H give him permission, but they fully endorsed his project! That endorsement marks the first time that they have ever allowed anyone to rework the original arrangements into a new musical arrangement. Once the tracking phase had been completed, Peter decided that the level of excitement around what B.R.O. was doing couldn't be wasted on a low-budget mix. That's when he called up Neil and the plan was hatched to come back to Saint Claire.
The guys came down in the midst of a stretch of perfect weather in late October and stayed with us for two weeks. Walking into the building to hear rocked-out versions of "Do-Re-Mi" and "The Hills Are Alive" made for interesting atmosphere for any given morning's first cup of coffee, but there was never a dull moment and the project wrapped up ahead of schedule. We had a blast hanging with Neil and Peter while they were here and can't wait to see the final product when it rolls out in February of 2011. Be sure to watch for it! It's epic.
Neil was here in 2008 with Peter Kiesewalter to mix the last East Village Opera Company album, "Olde School". That album was nominated for a Grammy and got plenty of critical acclaim, but the large numbered EVOC crew was in need of a break at the end of their touring schedule. When they went into hiatus, Peter shifted his focus to working on a rock opera version of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein work, "The Sound Of Music" and formed a new group called the Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata (or B.R.O. for short). As he told us, he never expected this project to gain momentum like it has. ...especially when he was served with a cease and desist order directly from the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization!
Initially, the one-off production was going to be a live show to be performed around the holidays. R & H have a vast and very astute team of watchdogs on the prowl for folks attempting to capitalize off the Sound Of Music material. When they found out about Peter's project, they took immediate action to have it shut down. Once Peter explained to them what he was doing with the arrangements, played them early versions of the songs, and told them what his intentions were, not only did R & H give him permission, but they fully endorsed his project! That endorsement marks the first time that they have ever allowed anyone to rework the original arrangements into a new musical arrangement. Once the tracking phase had been completed, Peter decided that the level of excitement around what B.R.O. was doing couldn't be wasted on a low-budget mix. That's when he called up Neil and the plan was hatched to come back to Saint Claire.
The guys came down in the midst of a stretch of perfect weather in late October and stayed with us for two weeks. Walking into the building to hear rocked-out versions of "Do-Re-Mi" and "The Hills Are Alive" made for interesting atmosphere for any given morning's first cup of coffee, but there was never a dull moment and the project wrapped up ahead of schedule. We had a blast hanging with Neil and Peter while they were here and can't wait to see the final product when it rolls out in February of 2011. Be sure to watch for it! It's epic.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Saint Claire teams with NewSong
We're proud to announce that Saint Claire has teamed up with the fine people who run the Mountain Stage Newsong Contest. This year's winner will accompany Grammy-winning producer/engineer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Norah Jones, etc.) to our studio to record an EP. They'll be staying on site and living it up while working on their project.
Here's Jacquire talking about the contest:
Regional winners have been announced and are moving on to the finals. We're eagerly watching to see who will be the lucky winner to come record with us! Good luck to all the talented finalists!
Here's Jacquire talking about the contest:
Regional winners have been announced and are moving on to the finals. We're eagerly watching to see who will be the lucky winner to come record with us! Good luck to all the talented finalists!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Loveland Music Academy returns!
Aaron O'keefe, director of the Loveland Music Academy, called up to tell us that they had such a great experience the first time, they wanted to come back for another round of recordings! This time around they tackled much deeper, more involved tunes, such as "Live and Let Die" and "Revolution Is My Name". I stated it here last time I wrote about the Loveland school, but it bears repeating; these kids can really play! Their collective level of skill is really amazing. Hopefully we'll be seeing some of them again later down the road when they've graduated to become working pros...
Our guys, Tim Price and Cailon Williams, handled the session, which lasted from 8 am until nearly midnight. It was a long day of recording and yielded some incredible results. Videos of the day should be up sometime in the near future. We'll be sure to post them when they're available.
Our guys, Tim Price and Cailon Williams, handled the session, which lasted from 8 am until nearly midnight. It was a long day of recording and yielded some incredible results. Videos of the day should be up sometime in the near future. We'll be sure to post them when they're available.
Friday, September 10, 2010
ABC WTVQ at Saint Claire Recording Company
Steve Broderson, a local musician and jingle writer who has worked countless times at Saint Claire, brought our local ABC affiliate to us to produce a new station promo. Steve wrote and recorded a large portion of the music at home, then brought his tracks to our studio to record drums, vocals, and a few other odds and ends. While he was here working on the music, a representative from ABC came out to capture footage of the session to be used in the piece. Tim Price recorded and mixed the music, assisted by Cailon Williams. The station promo should start running on WTVQ 36 in the upcoming weeks.
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