On the backend of the 2014 NAMM Show, we had an opportunity to take a spin around LA and drop in on a few SONAR users hard at work. From rock, to EDM and just about every genre in between, here are what some SONAR X3 users in the LA scene are up to:
Adventure Club
While we were making the rounds, we were lucky enough to find out that the Canadian duo Adventure Club was camping out in downtown LA for a while with their mobile SONAR rig. Adventure Club is defining a new wave of modern musicians and SONAR is at the forefront of their sonic assault. Originally hailing from Montreal, the duo has recently been all over the globe playing to more and more dedicated fans after seeing the success of over 1.3 million views with their single “Gold” feat. Luna. Their SONAR tracks have been streamed over a million times on Spotify, and they were noted in the 2013 Top 10 artists most consumed on SoundCloud.
AC has been touring across North America, as well as parts of Europe and Australia and has also played at various music festivals including the American Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, Nevada. They also made their first appearance at the Ultra Music Festival-2013 in Miami and additionally found themselves playing at the Ultra Music Festival in Seoul, South Korea in June 2013.
The duo’s remix of “Crave You” by the Flight Facilities was featured in the episode “Restraint” of the MTV television series Teen Wolf. We got a chance to sit down with Christian and listen to some of his productions in SONAR and found it interesting to see how he gets some of his unique sounds (perhaps he will dig into this more for us publicly in a future artist spotlight?).
We didn’t have a lot of time as the guys were leaving for the U.K. the next day, but I was able to get a few killer shots from my phone of their crazy downtown LA SONAR-loft overlooking the city. This place very much reminded me of some of the places we have visited in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We will absolutely be getting more exclusive music and reports from AC as they start to ramp up for new releases through their new deal with BMG.
For more information on Adventure Club please visit
www.facebook.com/adventureclub
www.soundcloud.com/adventureclub
Luigie Gonzalez
LA based producer/songwriter/mixer/musician Luigie Gonzalez has had quite a year for himself, especially on the international front. After signing a publishing deal with Pier Music, he has been working with many major label and independent artists around the world which included a Billboard Top Ten chart placement with the EMI/SONY artist Veronica Jensen. The track “Indestructible” was created completely in SONAR in Luigie’s Hollywood studio.
Most recently Luigie has just finished a track with RCA artist Kiana Brown and is waiting to hear if it will be included in her upcoming record. We were fortunate enough to hear the track on our visit to his studio, and I can tell you first hand that Luigie has a sonic style that is very unique. There’s no question about his pop-sensibility, but there’s also a tasteful rock and EDM element to his compositions that sets him apart. His tracks also have a very distinct top-end sheen to them, but yet still seem to have a vintage punch.
“I have been in situations in the past where I have been forced to try to use other DAWs, and it simply just kills my creativity,” Luigie told us in his studio. “The things I can do in SONAR X3 really allow me to get my own sound. My tracks have a lot going on in them but everything has its own place and purpose, and the flexibility and features in X3 allow me to get unique sounds. Getting around on the Skylight interface is a big deal for me too, because I’m almost mixing immediately when I am writing the tracks these days. I’m able to sculpt and shape sounds fast which then become the base of my next decisions. There’s just no way to work like that in any other DAW.”
Luigie has also been making trips down to the Miami scene recently where he has been collaborating with The Jackie Boyz, Traci Hale and Steve Diamond to name a few. He also wrote a song for international artist Me N Ma Girls which is getting international attention. Me N Ma Girls are the first pop girl group from conservative Myanmar and have been gaining international attention from their video on MTVIGGY. http://www.mtviggy.com/videos/me-n-ma-girls-girl-strong/
In the next month, Luigie will be keeping his international vibe going strong where he will fly to India with his SONAR rig to work with the iconic India artist Anaida. They will be working on the soundtrack for a new movie that will be on the big screen in India.
“When I walk into sessions with my SONAR machine I hear ‘what is THAT’ a lot from other producers and artists. And then like clockwork, I hear a lot of ‘whoa’ and ‘wow’ when they see what I can do beyond their limitations. I’ll never forget Jimmy Jam being blown away once in a studio when I started getting my sounds going in SONAR – that was a pretty cool feeling because he could see and hear what made my **** sound different from other producers on the scene at that time.” Luigie also went on to tell us that the new track colors were a life saver for him because most of his productions are up over 140 tracks now.
Joerg Kohring
Joerg Kohring is singer/songwriter/producer working out of LA who has been very busy as of late. Originally from Germany, Joerg found his current musical path originally playing guitar in the award winning band Lifehouse. Since then, he has found success with his own LA-based band Orbit Monkey as well as his production work with other artists. Orbit Monkey’s debut record “Are We Alive” came out in 2011 and the band gained many fans from the recordings. Since then, the band recently released a follow-up EP titled “Born to be Kings” and is about to release another single/video titled “On Fire” which was recorded and produced completely in SONAR X3. This video will be featured on the Cakewalk blog when it’s released soon.
Joerg has also been busy writing and recording music for television right from his X3 production studio in back of his house in LA. Most recently, he landed music (about 7 songs) in the Young and the Restless and has also been heard on the show Hollywood Heights. “The Young and the Restless placements were interesting and kind of shows how you never know where your fans will come from these days,” Joerg told us in his studio. “When our songs first played on the show, people were reaching out to the producers asking who we were and how they could get the songs; after connecting some dots we were able to gain a lot of new fans from our music being played on that show.”
Besides utilizing SONAR X3 for his productions, Joerg also uses his 1965 Gibson Les Paul reissue on a lot of his recordings. He prefers to keep his recording setup pretty simple in his production room, but relies heavily on an MXL Revelation tube mic for recording vocals, and also goes back and forth from a Bogner to a Vintage Fender Band Master for recording his guitars.
In addition to keeping busy with his band and writing music for television, Joerg has also been playing guitar live and recording with Lena Katina from t.A.T.u. Her solo career has been getting a lot of attention and Joerg is the supporting structure behind the scenes. “It’s been a really fun project working with Lena. We recorded a song that was placed in a Russian movie called Keep on Breathing and I have really enjoyed playing out live with her,” Joerg stated in passing conversation. Stay tuned to the Cakewalk blog for the debut of Orbit Monkey’s new single and video.
Yogi Lonich
When it comes to music diversity, there are very few folks anywhere who have the musical vocabulary of SONAR user Yogi Lonich. Listening to his SONAR sessions is like being flown around the world on a genre-bending rock jet. From sounds of the Orient, to dramatic scores, to Black Keys-ish type rock, Yogi has been very busy in SONAR X3 Producer composing, producing and mixing music for Network TV shows such as:
- A&E hit series: The Wahlbergers
- Fox’s hit series “New Girl”
- MSNBC’s “Lock up”
- Disney’s “Kickin’ It”
- National Geographic’s “Wicked Tuna”
- Yogi also recently placed a song for a Motel 6 commercial called “Paint The World” from his last solo album entitled “Hesitant Poet.”
“I’m really loving X3 [Producer],” Yogi told us in his studio in LA. “All the new features like the comping tool, Melodyne, Addictive Drums and all of the ProChannel options really put SONAR on another level when compared to other DAWs that are out there. And then you add all the time saving features like Track Templates, FX Chains and Project Templates – I am able to create way more music than most producers in a shorter period of time. The placement game really is about quality and quantity all on time constraints, and there’s no way I could output this caliber of music with any other system.”
Following up from his successful debut solo record “Hesitant Poet,” Yogi just released his latest single and accompanying video on Sound Assembly Music titled “Sitting On Top of the World” where he wrote, recorded, performed and mixed everything in SONAR X3 Producer.
In his spare time 😉 Yogi is also hired as a guitar-executionist (playing primarily Gibson guitars) and song-collaborator for artists such as Koshi Inaba, where he will be playing guitar on his upcoming solo album. Koshi is the lead singer for Japanese stadium band “Bz’s.” Other artists include Rita Wilson (Tom Hanks’ wife), Chinese superstar Leehom Wang, DJ Zedd and Shakira to name a few of recent.
R1CKONE and The 3013 Music Group
In the heart of Hollywood, we got a chance to drop in on “Lab 3013” which is held down by R1CKONE, Karl Garcia and Thomas Van Musser of the 3013 Music Group. This production team has been very busy this year working with some of the biggest moguls in the industry. On any given day they are constantly using SONAR to write, record and produce tracks for artists on their label as well as other labels around the world.
Some past works collectively include artist and corporate companies such as Black Eyed Peas, Macy Gray, KRS-One, Justin Timberlake, R. Kelly, will.i.am, Seth “Shifty” Binzer, Tino Coury, Flo-Rida, Disney, CBS, Nickelodeon, Pepsi, Bacardi, Heineken, Nike, GAP, Hummer H2-H3, and BMW.
Most recently, the name of the game for the 3013 crew has been artist development. R1CKONE says “someone has to do it – the labels sure aren’t.” They have been working hard in their SONAR studio developing 17 year old Aliah “Le’Le” Woodson, (daughter of the late Ali Woodson lead singer from the Temptations) who is an artist signed to 3013 Music Group, along with Vanessa Lynnae (vanessalynnae.com) who is a Southern California rapper with a ridiculously convincing and chilling flow. Expect new music out from those artists sometime this year.
Also in the studio has been 12 year old [yes 12 years old] Lauren Suthers who is known in the industry as “Lil’L” and singer/songwriter Angela Palermo. 3013 is also writing and producing for a more seasoned artist and actor signed to Tony Maserati’s Mirrorball Entertainment label known as Cody Longo. “We are just grinding and working hard with talented new artists at the moment,” said R1CKONE from Lab3013. “I love the fact that SONAR allows us to create music that has our stamp on it. The game today is all about being unique yet authentic while standing out from everyone else – all the gear we use including SONAR is aimed at that.”
Please keep an eye on the blog for more artist updates doing great things with SONAR X3.
Thanks for reading ~jl
Download the free trial version of SONAR X3 Producer today and find out how far your creativity can take you…