Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Studio West Works with Sprout/PBS and Pat Monahan of Train

You know him as the unmistakable voice of Train, and now your kids will know him as the voice of Driver Dan.  Monahan was picked to re-voice the lead character in Sprout's new kids show targeted at teaching preschoolers the values of sharing, listening, and singing. The show was originally produced in the UK, and the folks at Sprout decided they wanted to replace the British voice of Driver Dan with an American voice. When asked how he was picked for the lead, Pat replied that the producers really loved the connection between the train in the show and his band Train.

Train was playing shows in San Diego just prior to leaving the country for Spain and their current European tour. The folks from Sprout/PBS contacted us about arranging time for the weekend sessions but we were completely booked. It was critical that they get Pat into the studio while he was in in San Diego. To solve the problem, we actually ended up booking time at another studio in town and brought all the equipment needed for the two days of looping sessions. The hardware consisted of adding an Avid Mojo to the studios existing Pro Tools system. We setup viewing monitors for both Pat in the booth and the engineer & producer in the control room. The sessions were sent out from Philadelphia earlier in the week and prepped ahead of time at Studio West. In all, it was a very productive weekend for Pat and Driver Dan.

Click here for more on Pat and Driver Dan.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Matt Costa Records for Slacker Radio

Singer/songwriter Matt Costa was in Studio C recently, telling stories and talking about his musical influences.  We captured every word for Slacker Radio , so now Matt's fans can listen to his songs and hear about their origins, too!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

This Year's Primo Post Projects (so far!)

Olivia - Nickelodeon
RED  - DC Entertainment
MTV’s Made reality series
Driver Dan - Sprout, PBS TV
Dora the Explorer - Nickelodeon
Star Wars, The Clone Wars - Lucas Arts
Star Wars, The Old Republic - Lucas Arts 
Into the Wormhole - Science Channel
Terriers - FX Network
The Big C - Showtime TV
Iron Man 2 video game trailer
Richard Dreyfuss in Piranha 3D
Olympic Snowboarder Mason Aguirre for Nike  
NBA Hall of Fame Announcer, Eddie Doucette
Dettol commercial series for Angel Sound Studios, London
A Way With Words (75 Episodes!) for NPR Radio 
Straw Dogs – Screen Gems; pre-production for musical score with composer Larry Groupe’
Olivia
Richard Dreyfuss in Piranha 3D
RED

Artist Paula Prophet Hits #7 on the UK Soul Chart

Pop/R&B artist and songwriter Paula Prophet recently finished a six song EP "From Me to You" at Studio West. Paula's label, Pacific Coast Jazz, released the EP's songs via digital distribution. Last month, the title cut was #7 on the UK Soul Chart, a radio program airing in the UK and hosted by James Lewis. Paula was also a featured artist in Tunisia! Congrats to Paula, the soulful songstress. Marti Amado arranged and produced the EP with arranging/production assistance from Allan Phillips. Engineer Caleb Keiter recorded the project and Kellogg Boynton mixed at Studio West. Mastering was done by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab.  Listen to Paula's music here.

Radio Airplay for Emerging Artist Eva Alexander

Emerging artist Eva Alexander finished a three-song EP of originals at Studio West in late August and she's already generating a buzz with her music.  Two of the tunes, "Let's Roll" and "Make My Day" have received airplay on San Diego Radio stations Sophie 103.7 and KPRI 102.1.  Click here to listen to an audio take of "Let's Roll".  Marti Amado arranged and produced the project, Caleb Keiter was tracking engineer and Kellogg Boynton was mixing engineer.  Eva has recently been invited to perform in a ReverbNation showcase in Florida later this year.