Portland by Todd Whilser, is a project I produced to favor the more organic sound of acoustic guitar, piano, cello, violin, saxophone, trumpet and the rarely used bass clarinet. Augmented by lush backing vocal arrangements with occasional symphonic flourishes, Portland leads the listener down a myriad of roads that collectively embrace the widest possible range of textures and emotions.
Mixing in surround is fun and creative. However, mixing is the easiest part. The encoding and formatting can really cause havoc on your audio. From hires DVD-A or Video DVD-V there is plenty of reasons behind each that will make you choose which to go with. And some are so hidden, even the makers of my Dolby Encoding software were not aware of certain constraints which forced me to change formats mid project and update them on the limitations.
Imaginary Love Ballads is the brain child of artist Todd Whisler. This is album number 7 that I have produced for Todd. We spent a whole year working on every aspect of the CD and DVD for a dual release. Check out this trailer.
Recently I got the chance to work with Barry Sparks in the studio. For those who do not know Barry, he is one of the world’s top bassists, with a career that includes work with legendary acts like Yngvie Malmsteem, MSG, Ted Nugent, Dokken, Scorpions, and more. I actually used to play in his band for a while and recorded drums for his full-length release Don’t Look Back. Since Barry is touring the world I never get to see him, so it’s always a special treat to be playing alongside him in the studio. The amount of energy and soul that he brings to recordings is like no other. It’s crazy how musical he is – most of the songs he tracked he had only heard a minute or two before, and the takes he laid down are definitely keepers! Check out this video: notice his left hand adds vibrato by bending certain notes and his right hand is blazing – all while sight reading!
Tales of the Road
This weekend (April 13th) for 2nd Saturdays in Tucson there will be a free show at the Fox Theater where I will be backing up one of my clients that I performed with in the studio. The album is call Tales of the Road and portrays a journey through different countries when you listen to it. Afterward the Domingo DeGrazia Band will play a set also.
 for 2nd Saturdays in Tucson there will be a free show at the Fox Theater where I will be backing up one of my clients that I performed with in the studio. The album is call ... )
