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Doing Heavenly Work With the V-Studio 100

Dale Ramsey - Great GatheringDale “Rambro” Ramsey is one of the most respected producers and engineers in the business.  His RamTrax Entertainment studio in Atlanta has worked on projects for some of the biggest names in music, from Justin Timberlake to Stevie Wonder to P. Diddy.  His client list reads like a Who’s Who of musical talent, and it keeps Dale hopping.

But sometimes he has a client with a somewhat ‘higher calling.’

Early this month, Dale traveled to Columbia, SC with his V-Studio 100 to record a major religious event called “The Great Gathering.”  For the first time in more than 45 years, the three major Methodist denominations within the African-American community met collectively, holding a three-day conference to discuss and address some of the major issues currently plaguing our nation.

From March 1-3, congregations from the African Methodist Episcopal (AME), African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) and Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Churches met at the Carolina Coliseum with the goal of “Focusing on solutions. Change through the heart for the earth and humanity.”

“I was working in my studio with Dr. Greg McPherson, the music director for the opening day of the conference,” Dale explained, “and he mentioned a three-day event that might take place the following week up in Columbia.  He said he might be able to use my help in recording an orchestra on the first day.  I didn’t have a lot of details and it wasn’t set in stone at that point, but I said I’d help if he needed me.”

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Comic Book Heroes Set to Take Off in 2010

CBH Headshot-12010 is shaping up to be another huge year for the band Comic Book Heroes. In just the first two months alone, their music and visuals will be part of the soundtrack to the NASCAR 2010 Season as well as the Winter X-Games. They will also be included on the Warped Tour-sponsored “Wonka Music Factory” portal on MySpace.

Later this year they’ll resume touring the country, playing festivals, amusement parks and other major venues, and in between they’ll head into the studio to work on a new album.

They’ll also be graduating high school.

Yes, CBH as they’re known to their fans, are just teenagers, four lads from Wyomissing, PA. But they’ve already had a career many bands — with members twice their age — would envy. And by all accounts, they’re just getting started.

The guitar-driven rock quartet is manned by Steve Kowalski (bass, vocals), Collin MacGregor (drums), Ned Goldman (vocals, guitar), and Steve (Koz) Kosciusko (guitar, vocals). All are friends for years and come from musical families. They bonded over a love of music and formed the band when they were the ripe old age of 11, and have been steadily leaving their impression on the music business ever since. Now at 17 and 18 years old, the band members stand poised on the threshold of adulthood, with a career that belies their ages, and a host of impressive accomplishments under their belts including:

•  Their single “Catch Me If You Can” became a Top 15 single on Radio Disney and entered heavy rotation on AOL Pop Radio (with 2 million listeners weekly)

•  “Catch Me If You Can” was also downloaded over 160,000 times on iTunes as one of its “Discovery Downloads”

•  Being featured in video performance on the Nickelodeon channel Noggin’s hit show ‘Jack’s Big Music Show.’

•  Placing #1 for Best Rock Song on OurStage.com’s monthly fan poll voting (OurStage.com is the largest independent music Web site on the Internet, carrying the work of more than 80,000 independent musicians)

•  Scoring a major endorsement by legendary guitar manufacturer Gibson, which featured the band on its blogs and websites, and continues supporting the band today

•  Selection as a finalist for Taco Bell’s latest edition of its “Feed the Beat” promotion , which provides free food and marketing support to America’s up-and-coming rock acts

•  Playing high profile gigs nationwide, including the America Music Awards official afterparty, Radio Disney concerts, and festivals including SXSW, CMJ, and the Warped Tour

•  Sharing the stage with world renowned acts including REO Speedwagon, Steppenwolf, Smashmouth, and countless others

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Have Gig Bag, Will Travel or Where in the World is Carmen Rizzo?

hht back stage perm 1Carmen Rizzo checks his cell phone one last time as he boards the plane at LAX.  This is the first of several flights that will take him half way around the world over the next 24 hours – from Los Angeles to Perm, Russia .  He’s got a text message from the people he’ll be performing with in Perm; they want him to come back in 10 days for another show, and they need his commitment immediately.  He’s taken slightly aback – he’s not exactly sure what he’ll be doing onstage when he arrives this time – but he agrees to make the return trip, figuring that as long as he has the right assemblage of tools, he’ll be able to handle whatever situation is thrown at him.

This is typical for a road warrior like Rizzo.  The Los Angeles-based producer, DJ, record label owner, and radio show host is a rapidly-rising global brand, sought after for his wide range of skills that have earned him two GRAMMY nominations.   He’s worked with the likes of Seal, Coldplay, Paul Oakenfold, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alanis Morissette.  He’s a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).  He also DJs a radio set heard by 14 million listeners each month on the highly influential KEXP 90.3 FM in Seattle.  With so many irons in the fire, he’s become extraordinarily flexible, yet fastidious in his preparation, maintaining a strict work ethic that sees him keeping regular hours in his home studio during the week and, whenever possible, not working weekends to spend time with his children.  But this last-minute request is not unusual for Rizzo.  He’ll just roll with it.

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Stokes Audio Mixes Soundtrack for 'Why We Laugh'

StokesV-StudioOwner and Senior Engineer of Stokes Audio Recording & Post, Joe Stokes, is credited for his work in post-production and video editing for radio, gaming, TV and film. With SONAR and the V-Studio 700 sitting at the helm of his studio, Stokes mixed the soundtrack for his latest project, a documentary entitled ‘Why We Laugh’ for Showtime, the television network. Initially, Stokes mixed the film for launch at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival but remixed it for television airing. Earlier this year, we caught up with Joe in Tarzana, CA while he was working on the project in studio with the V-Studio 700. Click here to see our video!

Why We Laugh (produced by Robert Townsend and Quincy Newell) examines the history of African-American comedy featuring some of the most influential comics of all time – Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Eddie Griffin and Keenan Ivory Wayans. The film is airing on Showtime 2 and will be available On Demand, throughout the month of February.

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Cakewalk Pro User Spotlight: Hollywood Undead

Hollywood UndeadFresh off a sold-out tour in Europe, Hollywood Undead (A&M / Octone Records) is tearing up the music scene with their latest album, ‘Desperate Measures’. Charlie Scene, Da Kurlzz, Deuce, Funny Man, J-Dog and Johnny 3 Tears started performing in 2005. Their first album, Swan Songs, hit #22 on the Billboard 200 in it’s first week, selling 21,000 copies. Their songs can be heard in today’s hottest video games including Madden NFL 09, UFC 2009; Undisputed, Rock Band 2 and Velvet Assasin.

Cakewalk’s Jimmy Landry met up with group in Sacramento, California to talk about recording on the road with the V-Studio 100.

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Cakewalk Pro User Spotlight: Comic Book Heroes

CBH Photo PlainAfter starting a band at 11 years old, five years ago, and with hundreds of shows from coast to coast under their belts, Comic Book Heroes is finding national success on their own terms.

This hard working suburban rock band’s recent successes include: “Catch Me If You Can” their Top 15 single on Radio Disney and an iTunes Discovery Download (earning 161,500 downloads), selection for Taco Bell’s Feed The Beat tour (2010), featured music & videos for ESPN / NASCAR Season (2010), top ranking artist on Radio Disney for “Next Big Thing” (2008 / 2009), “Catch Me If You Can” in heavy rotation on AOL Pop Radio (2M weekly listeners), a music video in rotation on the Disney XD channel, and additionally a featured music video on FUSE TV.

Visit Comic Book Heroes MySpace page to their music!

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Where Work and Play Meet, SONAR Leads

When we say Cakewalk products are “created by musicians for musicians” we really mean it. Case in point, our CTO Noel Borthwick performs, records and produces music on the side. In November, Noel made an acoustic jazz album featuring Ramona Borthwick (piano, vocals) and a throng of amazing talent – Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Johannes Weidenmeuller (bass), Adam Cruz (drums) and Noel on Guitar.

    <a href="http://music.ramonaborthwick.com/album/one-of-us">Who&#8217;s Your Mama by Ramona Borthwick</a>

The album, One of Us, was entirely edited and mixed in SONAR. Although, Noel was working on an older under-powered computer throughout the entire production process, that didnt stop SONAR from performing seamlessly.

“I was typically working with 24-32 tracks at one time, all recorded in high definition audio format at 24/96 khz, mixed in SONAR at 64-bit resolution and mastered at 24/96 khz” says Noel, “For the first part of the project I started out running SONAR 8.3.1, where I set up the initial projects, did the bussing setup and initial editing. I soon moved to SONAR 8.5 (which was in beta at the time) for main editing and mixing.”

To learn more about the ‘One of Us’ project and get exclusive tips & tricks on using SONAR as the ‘brains’ of your music production, visit Noel’s Blog.

NOTE: If you’re in the Boston area, see the band play live on February 17, 2010 at 9:00pm at Ryles Jazz Club in Inman Square, Cambridge, MA.

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Tim Wynn Scores Inspirational Film, 'To Save A Life' (2010)

TSALPostersmComposer and dedicated SONAR user, Tim Wynn of Sonic Fuel Studios, scored the music for the new inspirational film, To Save A Life (New Song Pictures), set to release on January 22, 2010. The film promotes the importance of making sacrifices to help others in a time of need. In the movie, Jake Taylor’s life is turned upside down, after a childhood friend’s death, and he is forced to make a decision that could change his life forever.

Visit the To Save A Life official website to read the synopsis, listen to the music and sign up to make a difference.

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Chartjackers Take Over UK Billboard Charts to Benefit Charity

ChartJackersWith the development of social networking sites, the internet has made it easier than ever for musicians to create, promote and market their musical talents to the world.  Many use MySpace Music as an unofficial Electronic Press Kit, Twitter as their concert promoter and Youtube as their own personal MTV.

Four teenagers in the UK have pushed the envelope of the music industry, as their crowd-sourced single has reached #1 on the Billboard Indie charts. A BBC television program, Chartjackers, documents the teens quest to break into the UK music charts and benefit the “Children In Need” charity.

Beginning in September 2009, the “Chartjackers” – Charlie, Alex, Johnny and Jimmy – built the project from scratch asking for the goodwill and participation of those watching on the internet. With no previous experience in producing music videos, the group pieced together the entire project via the Chartjackers Youtube Channel, constructing the music video, step by step, with audience comments and video replies in under ten weeks.

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