Studio West of San Diego

Gregory Page and Studio West Go Old School

2011-12-27T11:22:00.000-08:00

Over the past few weeks we have had the good fortune to host Mr. Gregory Page as he creates his latest album. To date, Gregory has recorded 10 songs featuring some of San Diego's most talented musicians.

In addition to Gregory on guitar and vocals, we recorded Sky Ladd on piano, Bob Magnusson on upright bass, Duncan Moore on drums, the Art of Elan String Quartet and a host of amazing brass players.

The December 8 session was the most technically demanding as we recorded 26 players live in Studio A. Gregory's aim is to create a contemporary record that pays homage to some of the great jazz that was recorded in the 30s and 40s so we went with the spirit and tracked everything live, with most songs recorded in 3 or 4 takes with very few punches or after the fact solos. Kellogg Boynton was the lead engineer with Henrique Landim assisting. Numerous other Studio West Staff and Interns helped ensure the day went smoothly.

Gregory has been updating his blog with videos from each day. SoundDiego also aired a piece on the project - watch it here.

Jenni Barber Loops for NBC's SMASH!

2011-12-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

NBC's new musical drama, SMASH, premiers on Monday, February 6, starring Katherine McPhee (also featured in an earlier blog entry), and Debra Messing. While the premiere is still a little more than a month away, we got our own sneak-peak when actress Jenni Barber visited Studio West to loop lines for the show. It was an ISDN session with The Soundtrack Group in NYC. Pictured below with Jenni are Amy Ziegelman and Canon Smith of Studio West, who were on hand to assist with the session....

Jenni is currently starring in Some Lovers at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego's Balboa Park, and she had us rolling on the floor with her hilarious sing-along to McPfee's cover of Gretchen Wilson's Redneck Woman! We wish Jenni the best of luck on the show!

Read more about the series on NBC's official Smash site.

Reem Tamimi - Debut Single

2011-12-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

Singer/songwriter Reem Tamimi has just finished her debut single, Little Girl, at Studio West. Reem is a student at UCSD and a talented writer and artist. The tune, a retro tribute to Motown soul sessions, was produced and arranged by in-house producer Marti Amado and features a San Diego "who's who" of players on the track, including Duncan Moore on drums, Rick Nash on bass, Marc "Twang" Intravaia on guitars, Marti Amado on piano and keyboards, John Rekevics on saxes and Steve Dillard on trumpet. Caleb Keiter recorded the song and it was later mixed by Mike Harris, both at Studio West.

L-R: Engineer Mike Harris, Singer/Songwriter Reem Tamimi, Producer Marti Amado, Engineer Caleb Keiter

From Caleb: I knew from the start Marti and Reem were channeling a more vintage tone for this song. To achieve this type a\of sound I changed my normal mic selection, especially for the drums and bass. A pair of Royer R-121 ribbon mics were used as the drum overheads, which gave the drums a slightly darker tone instead of a modern, bright sound. Using a chair and a heavy-duty packing blanket, I built a tunnel for the kick drum in order to round out the tone and achieve a deeper boom. No EQ was added during the tracking. Rick's bass guitar was run through an Avalon U5 DI box and I miced his vintage Ampeg B-12 tube amp with a Shure SM7b for some added warmth. The main drums and bass tracks were routed through Studio West's vintage Neve BCM10 console to fatten and warm things up even more. Reem sang into a Neumann U87, which was patched into an API 512C mic preamp, and a few dB of compression from a LA-2A kept the peaks controlled. The song is super sassy and soulful. Reem did a fantastic job writing this tune, and Marti's arrangements really fit the tone of the song perfectly. It's always a joy to work with talented singers, songwriters and musicians. No amount of gear can make up for sub-par performances; luckily for this song we had the best of both worlds.

From Mike: This was a really fun song to mix. Reem and Marti did a great job. My basic approach was to keep the kick and bass driving the track, along with the horns. I didn't feel the need for a lot of effects. A few different reverbs and some slap on the vocal was about it. I kept all the drums panned a bit more to the center to leave room for things to spread out as more elements are added. The lead vocal starts out front and center, but we let her sink back into the band a bit on the bigger parts. I helps the song grow, I think. Overall, I went for a more pop-sounding mix rather than an obviously retro approach.

Click here to listen to a preview of the song!

Bill Walton and The Grateful Dead

2011-12-05T12:03:00.000-08:00

From the Speakeasy page of the Wall Street Journal:

The Grateful Dead is getting a videogame. Through a new deal with an independent games developer, the band hopes to turn young folks on to the music and culture of the late Jerry Garcia and company.

The surviving band members gave the project their blessing, but the agreement was brokered by Rhino Entertainment, the Warner Music Group subsidiary that has managed all of the band’s intellectual property since 2006.

“We can’t wait for everyone check out the fun new toys we are building,” said David Lemieux, the band’s longtime archivist, in a statement.

Long time San Diego resident and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton was in Studio C last week to record dialog for an upcoming Grateful Dead video game. Most people recognize Bill from his contribution to amateur and professional basketball, but few realize that he's also a serious Dead Head. Bill has an incredible collection of Dead memorabilia and is also very close friends with Dead drummer Mickey Hart. We're hoping that the game is a huge success and maybe we'll have the pleasure of more sessions with Bill. The session was a phone-patch with Somatone Interactive in the San Francisco Bay Area and was engineered by Studio West's Brandon Papsidero. As usual, everyone at the studio that day said Bill was fantastic to work with!

Studio West Provides Last-Minute Solutions for WDCW, Philip Rivers & Activate Water

2011-12-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

To keep one step ahead of the competition, you need to stay flexible. When Los Angels-based advertising agency Wong Doody Crandall Wiener contacted us to record voiceover with San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers for Activate Water, naturally we were excited. The radio spots would run in conjunction with a new photo/billboard campaign Activate is running with NFL quarterbacks Phillip Rivers and Josh Freeman as brand ambassadors.

The plan was to complete the photo shoot earlier in the morning, then have Philip drive to Studio West to do the recording for the radio spots. As things would turn out, scheduling conflicts arose that didn't allow time for both the photo shoot and the recording session in the same morning. The agency asked if the recording could be done at the photo studio. Never a dull moment in the world of high stakes audio for radio!

We arranged with our liaison at WDCW to bring the necessary recording equipment to the photographer's studio in Solana Beach where the shoot was taking place. With the help of Studio West intern extraordinaire Alfonso Wong, we turned an open-walled upstairs loft office with no AC into a usable booth for recording radio-ready v/o, all while Philip was being photographed downstairs.

Alfonso testing the gear

Equipment included a MacBook Pro with a new MBox 3 interface as our input to Pro Tools. On the front end, we used a Focusrite 430 Mic Preamp connected to a Sennheiser 416 shotgun microphone. The output of the Focusrite was connected to the line input of the Mbox. A six-channel Rane headphone amp provided audio confidence monitoring for the client, engineer and Philip. Pro Tools 9 software ran without any hitches. As it was a remote record and we didn't have a backup recorder running, we stopped record and saved after each set of lines. The recording took about 30 minutes, and we were able to sneak this picture with Phillip after the session. Go Chargers!

L-R: Mark Kirchner, Philip Rivers, Alfonso Wong

So, in the space of about 90 minutes, and with the help of 25 spring clamps holding 10 packing blankets from rafter beams above our loft, we turned an unlikely recording space into a workable v/o booth. The client was happy, Studio West was happy, and Alfonso was happy!

The Billy David Band Records at Studio West

2011-10-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

Studio Engineer Brandon Papsidero has just finished up work with The Billy David Band on their latest reggae/rock release.

"The live band was recorded in Studio A to get the groove of the songs," says Papsidero. "We recorded through outboard preamps and some outboard gear, straight into Pro Tools 9."

"We then worked on the arrangement and overdubbed keyboards, guitars and vocals from a variety of singers featured on different songs all in Studio C using Avid Eleven for guitar amp emulation and Avid Instruments for MIDI keyboards. All vocals were done with a u87."

"Finally, we brought the tracks back into Studio A and Dennis Thorbourn mixed using the SSL and outboard gear like Distressors, Avalon Compressors, and API Equalizers."

The album is being mastered in L.A. and will be released late 2011/early 2012.

The Billy David Band is:
Billy David - Vocals
Michael Hyde – Keys (from Ziggy Marley’s Band)
Chris Armes - Guitars/Bass
Wade Youman - Drums (from Unwritten Law)
Rex Costales – Bass
David Moxley – Backup Vocals
Vincent “Billy” Newman – Backup Vocals
Carlton Coffie – Guest Singer (from Bad Boys)
Bunny Rugs – Guest Singer (from Third World)

Scott Gordon's New Release Recorded and Produced at Studio West

2011-10-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

(L-R) Engineer Caleb Keiter, Scott Gordon, Producer Marti Amado

Singer-songwriter Scott Gordon is getting ready to release his 6 song EP, Believin' In Love, recorded and produced at Studio West. Marti Amado arranged and produced the CD, Caleb Keiter recorded and Kellogg Boynton IV and Caleb mixed at Studio West. Listen to Believin' in Love. Read more about Scott and his inspiration for the project in this article from the San Diego Union Tribune.

Juan Cardenas Records for The US Army

2011-09-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

New York Theater actor Juan Cardenas was in the studio last week to record voice over spots for the US Army. Produced by Bar1NYC, the session included an ISDN connection to NY. As usual, the session went off without a hitch. Juan recorded the spot in both English and Spanish and we used the regular mic/pre configuration for v/o in Studio C, a Neuman U87 fronted by a Focusrite Red 7 with slight compression. The nature of the spot was fairly laid-back, with little to no dynamic in the line read. Juan will be in San Diego for a few months as a cast member in an upcoming production at the Old Globe Theater in Balboa Park.

(Juan Cardenas pictured, above, and with Engineer Mark Kirchner)

Robin Leach Visits Studio West

2011-08-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

L-R: Intern Alfonso Wong, Engineer Mark Kirchner, Mr. Robin Leach, Studio Manager Jesse Maxson

He's unmistakably Mr. "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"!

Yesterday, Robin Leach stopped in from a La Jolla vacation to record VO pick-up lines for a set of commercials produced by Shiny Objects Marketing just up the road in Orange, California. Robin was on a tight schedule and we needed to be in and out to keep his day on track. We connected via phone patch with the producer in Orange County and the session went off without a hitch. Robin has obviously been doing this for years - he was an absolute delight to work with!

Studio West Strikes Hard with Captain America!

2011-08-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Studio West has completed the soundtrack and mix to Sega/Marvel's game trailer for Captain America!

by Mark Kirchner

Brought in again by our favorite San Diego-based animation studio, Pendulum Studios, our own Gary Miranda completed the audio for this 6-week game trailer project in both Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound.

Now that we've done a couple projects like this with Pendulum, we wanted give you a little idea of what goes on behind the scenes with them while working on a project of this caliber. We're only touching on a fraction of what really happens in the Pendulum workflow but it's such an interesting process, we thought we'd try and share a little of it with you.

Pendulum is a relatively small company for the amount and quality of work they produce (make sure you check out their site for other examples of their fantastic work!). When in production on the video game trailers for Captain America and Thor, Pendulum Studios had 16-17 people at a time working on the project in various stages of completion. Overall, there were about 25 animators and visual artists that worked on the two projects. With a team of this size, the visual elements for each trailer took about 70 days to complete, or about two and half months for each 2:30 spot.

Towards the beginning of the two and a half month project, Studio West would receive a rough 90% timed animatic of the trailer. Location dialog from the motion capture stage was usually included. Animators no longer draw every frame from scratch; they suit-up actors in those cool dotted suits we've all scene on the cover of computer magazines, and let computers connected to video cameras translate most of the actors movement captured in the Motion Capture (MoCap) Stage to computer based wireframe-type mannequins that eventually become the final animated characters.

From the rough animatics provided by Pendulum via FTP, we generally produce 70% of the sound design that is used in the trailers. The remaining 30% is produced in the last 3-4 days prior to delivery. Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America were all produced in 5.1 Surround Sound from the get-go, and there's a lot of information that needs to be kept track of when building sound design for surround. Gary and Brandon could probably write volumes on the intricacies of their routing and bussing schemes!

For the Iron Man 2 trailer, Gary produced all the music for the trailer from scratch. In the case of Thor and Captain America, we received pre-edited music beds directly from Pendulum created from actual in-game music cues. For Captain America, Pendulum timed much of the animation to the music, so it was important that they have the music bed completed very early on to support all the action in the spot. It's possible that the music bed was the first thing edited together for the Captain America project. Gary did fair amount of "tightening" of their edits, but in the end, the timing remained identical to the supplied bed, so losing sync was never an issue.

Once we got into a consistent workflow with Pendulum sending newly rendered movies every few days, we would send rough mixes over to them and receive audio notes back about once a week. In the days just prior to delivery, newly rendered footage and audio notes came to us every day, and sometimes several times in one day. Quite often, with newly rendered visuals, we'd want to take a completely different approach to the audio. This is not always easy to do when you're under the gun with less than 48-hours till delivery. Needless to say, things get a little stressful in those last two days.

L-R: Mike McCormick, Rob Taylor, Shay Goldenberg

Most of our daily interaction was with Pendulum Senior Producer Shay Goldenberg, however co-owners Mike McCormick and Rob Taylor were also very involved in providing on-going audio direction. Michael is Director of 3D Production and Co-Creative Director and Robert is Executive Director and Co-Creative Director. Shay was responsible for making sure our deliverables were received on time; he also interacted with Sega & Marvel funneling their feedback to us in regards to audio notes. Shay also provided much of his own direction to the project with detailed notes on how elements should sound, especially related to maintaining in-game continuity.

The gang at Pendulum is top-notch and we're glad they continue to call on us! Projects that Studio West has completed with Pendulum Studios include game trailers and in-game cinematic for Red Faction Guerilla, Singularity, Iron Man 2, Thor and now Captain America.

Gary Miranda in Studio B at Studio West

Below are some questions I asked Gary about his recent work on the Captain America game trailer.

MK: What was different about the experience between Thor and Captain America?
GM: Captain America is so high action - everything is there in your face, and it needed to feel like it was in-your-face-happening. Thor was very ambient and dramatic and it almost made it harder to make less into more.

MK: Which one did you enjoy more, and why?
GM: I think I liked working on Captain America a little better. I really enjoyed putting together sounds of the soldiers getting CRUSHED! The impacts were just fun.

MK: What would you do differently on either one?
GM: I would probably mix them a little more dynamically. A little more breathing room (with the music really) on both just to have certain elements stand out that I know are there but most people don't.

MK: What's your favorite section of the Captain America spot for sound design?
GM: Really? I have to choose which one of my kids is the favorite? I guess my two favorite spots are the ground pound and the scorcher beams.

The ground pound (shield being slammed into the ground) was one of the first things I did when we received our first animatic. I knew exactly what I wanted for that, even before we had a decent render. That was the only thing that stayed pretty much the same from the start to final delivery.

The scorcher beams were a whole different beast. We received so many different versions of those beams. For some reason I just couldn't get exactly what was in my head out of Pro Tools. The final sounds were the result of a lot of hours playing around with different elements. There are so many subtleties and layers going there: library sounds, virtual instruments, Foley created sounds, warped sounds...a lot of tracks!

On a side note, the sound that makes me laugh every time is Bucky's gun. That is the most powerful 9mm ever! I wish mine sounded like that.

MK: How long did this project take compared to Thor?
GM: I actually had a little extra time for Captain America. From the first video, I had about 3 1/2 weeks. There were some times where I was waiting for new versions so I wasn't working full time at first. The last 2 weeks were full days just like Thor.

MK: How many tracks did you end up using on Captain America?
GM: The track total for Captain America was 98! Almost broke the hundred barrier. It wasn't unmanageable, though. Proper setup, track organizing, color coding and routing were essential in keeping everything where I wanted it.

Celebrating Our 40th Anniversary!

2011-08-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Forty years ago this July, Lee Caroll opened Studio West of San Diego. A few weeks ago Lee stopped by the studio for a visit. Needless to say, we think he was impressed by the studio's longevity, and proud to see that it is still so well respected in the audio industry!

Pictured left to right: Hunter Levy, Kellogg Boynton, Darrell Harvey, Caleb Keiter, Jesse Maxson, Gary Miranda, Lee Carroll, Peter Dyson, Marti Amado, Amy Dyson, Mark Kirchner, Amy Ziegelman

Things have changed a lot since Lee opened the doors. The facility was originally located in the Kearney Mesa area and relocated in 1986 to Rancho Bernardo, where we're currently located. When Peter Dyson bought Studio West in 2004, he added an extra studio to the arsenal increasing the facility to three studios and two edit suites. In 2006 we added a couple of classrooms and opened TRAC - The Recording Arts Center, our Education and Training division, bringing Audio Engineering and Avid Pro Tools certifications to San Diego County. By January of 2012, we're expecting to offer a year-long Occupational Associates Degree in Recording Arts with over 30 different classes included in the program.

While Lee was visiting, George Varga from the San Diego Union Tribune dropped in to do a little interview about the milestone. Click here to read the article and find out a little more about the history of Studio West.

Celebration has continued and this past week Brad Perry of Good Morning San Diego stopped by to do a piece on the studio and listen in on a demo that was being recorded in Studio A. Click below to watch the video:

Acclaimed Studio West Turns 40 - Part 1

Acclaimed Studio West Turns 40 - Part 2

Thank you, San Diego - here's to the next 40 years!

Vive y Viva

2011-07-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

George Rivera, left, with Studio West engineer Mark Kirchner

Local San Diego radio personality George Rivera was in Studio C earlier this week cutting voice tracks for 5 Gum's "Vive Tu Musica" campaign. Bravo Agency, located in Chicago, was responsible for writing and producing the spots and they were connected into the sessions via phone-patch so they could interact with George on direction. We connected via ISDN to Sound Slave, also located in Chicago, for the voice record as they were responsible for compiling the final radio and television edits.

"The booth setup was pretty standard using a U87 and pop-filter on the front end, with the exception of a fairly heavy compression ratio on the Focusrite Red 7," reported session engineer Mark Kirchner. "In order to get the entire script read in the 25 seconds allocated, George had to hit the mic pretty hard resulting in lots of plosives. In all I think we did four individual sessions for the campaign. George was a blast to work with and we're already looking forward to next summer's contest!"

Meanwhile, over in Studio A, Viva Brother were recording voice-over cuts for Slacker Radio. They also performed a 3-song acoustic set to be included in their feature station on the internet radio service. (Watch Viva Brother's performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live here!)

Congratualtions!

2011-07-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

We'd like to congratulate the following artists (and Studio West clients) on their 2011 San Diego Music Awards nominations:

Jordan Reimer - Best Acoustic

Echo Revolution, "Counterfeit Sunshine" - Best Pop Album

Tori Roze and the Hot Mess, "From the Hip" - Best Blues Album

Wayne Riker Quintet, "Penumbral Sky" - Best Jazz Album

Tribal Seeds - Best World Music

B-Side Players - Best World Music

Endoxi - Best Alternative

Astra Kelly, "Time Bomb" - Best Rock Album

Hyena, "We See You" - Best Alternative Album

My Elysian, "My Elysian" - Best Hard Rock Album

Genius of Soul, "A Project for the New American Century" - Best Jazz Album

Gregory Page, "My True Love" - Best Jazz Album

Peter Sprague, "Calling Me Home" - Best Jazz Album

Berkley Hart, "Crow" - Best Americana Album

Shawn Rohlf & The Buskers, "Tiny Xs" - Best Americana Album

Ida Maria Performs and Records in Studio A

2011-07-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

Studio West Engineer and Intern Program Manager Hunter Levy was in A this week with Ida Maria as she recorded vocals and voiceover for Slacker Radio. Here's what he had to say about the gig:

(L - R): Hunter, Studio Manager Jesse Maxson, Ida Maria, Stefan Tornby

During Ida Maria's visit in Studio A she and her guitarist, Stefan Tornby, recorded voiceover clips to be used as introductions to 50 of their favorite songs, which will be played on the Ida Maria Radio Station on Slacker Radio. After the clips were recorded, Ida and Stefan were kind enough to play a 3 song acoustic set before heading out to her show at The Casbah. The performance was recorded using one 414 mic on the acoustic guitar, one SM57A on Ida's Vocals, and one SM58 on Stefan's vocals. I chose dynamic mics for the vocals to reduce guitar bleed into the vocal mics. I placed the 414 at the 12th fret of the guitar to get the guitar sound I wanted. I'm happy with the result of the recording and during the performance became a new fan of Ida's music!

Anoushka Shankar Mixes Latest Album in Studio A

2011-06-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

Anoushka Shankar recorded her newest album, Traveller, in recording studios around the world but chose Studio West and staff engineer Kellogg Boynton to mix the record! Her sixth full length album focuses on her stellar sitar work and features guest appearances by world renowned players Shubha Mudgal, Concha Buika and Pepe Habichuela. The flamenco inspired album was produced by Grammy Award winner Javier Limon. Traveller is scheduled for an autumn 2011 release on Deutsche Grammophon.

Anoushka and Javier came to Studio West earlier this year to mix the project. Below, Kellogg details some of the highlights from the sessions held in Studio A from January 19th through January 27th:

There were 11 songs total on the album. As far as work flow goes, Javier brought in a drive with all of the Pro Tools sessions recorded at 24/96. I then spread all of the instruments across the SSL and many of the songs had a full 64 faders up. Each song varied in track count but the average was about 80 tracks a song. Some instrument groups were submixed back through the console when it was needed in order to get all the tracks showing up at the desk. Anoushka's sitar mix chain was an API 5500 for EQ, a Manley Vari Mu for compression and a Bricasti M1 for reverb (the best sounding reverb ever in my opinion!) All vocals went through a Tube Tech PE-1C for EQ and an 1176 or Tube Tech CL-1B depending on the vocalist. There was also a bit of subtractive EQ and multiband compression for dynamic frequency control being done in Pro Tools with the Waves RenEQ and the Waves C4. Vocals also saw the Bricasti M1 for reverb. I used the 1272 line amps and the EQ on the BCM-10 for the piano to keep it dark and ominous which was one of their requests. Most of the other instruments saw onboard processing such as EQ and compression from the SSL. Across the mix buss on the SSL I inserted a pair of Pultec EQP-1As for a bit of added low frequency and a Focusrite Red 3 for compression with about 1-3 db of gain reduction for a bit of "sonic glue." It helps bring everything forward in the mix, which I love. As far as plug-ins go, it was pretty minimal. There were a few EQs and comps here and there but mainly what I would reach for were effects that I couldn't get in the analog domain like the Waves RBass. Anoushka really loved what it did to the low end of the tablas and cajon. The output of the console was then recorded through a Burl B2 A/D converter back into Pro Tools at 24/96. I think the input was lowered to around -14 so I could really hit the transformers hard on the way in, adding an extra bit of sonic character to the mix. We averaged mixing about one and a half songs a day. We would finish one in the afternoon, start another one and get it close to being done and come in the next day and finish it, and repeat the process. There were no overdubs during the mixing sessions.

The coolest part of the project was the project itself. Just being asked to mix the record was an honor. The style and genre was definitely different than I usually get here in San Diego, but it was an interesting challenge and I think the project turned out sounding fantastic!

On a side note, Anoushka and I went to the same high school! She was a senior when I was a freshman, but we didn't know each other at the time. Small world!

Erick Macek Wraps Up Third Full-Length Album

2011-06-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

Erick Macek has just finished up his third full length album at Studio West with staff engineer Kellogg Boynton. This is the second album that the artist and engineer have collaborated on together. The album consists of 15 songs that were recorded mostly in Studio A and a few overdubs recorded in Studios B and C. The foundation of the album was recorded in two days with drums, bass, guitars and scratch vocals all playing live together. Erick wanted a very natural and organic feel and the best way to get this was to have all of the musicians in one room playing together. The band would play a few takes until they were satisfied, play the minimal fixes needed to be done and move on to the next song. Dennis Caplinger, who has played with many outstanding artists including Eric Clapton, made a guest appearance on the album playing banjo and fiddle. After all the instruments were complete, Kellogg and Erick spent time perfecting the vocal performances in Studio A. The album was also mixed by Kellogg and mastered by Caleb Keiter.

Military Cadences...With Music?

2011-05-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

Documentary Recordings and Studio West collaborated recently to put together over 100 tracks that included real field recordings of soldiers calling out different cadences. Peter Dyson, Jeff Pekarek and Hunter Levy did much of the music creation, and additional music was provided by our talented studio interns! Since the music needed to be written to match the tempo of the march as well as the key used in the cadence, all agreed that this was a very challenging project that required them to use their imagination along with their music chops. All tracks were engineered, mixed and mastered by Kellogg Boynton and Hunter Levy, and will be available on iTunes in the near future.

Thor: God of Thunder Video Game Trailer

2011-05-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

Sega/Marvel Game Trailer
Produced by Pendulum Studios, San Diego
Thor: God of Thunder
Length: Two minutes and thirty seconds
Total tracks: 70
Thunder and lightning hits: 37
Sound Designer: Gary Miranda

Well, there certainly was no lack of thunder in this trailer! I used 37 thunderclaps in the spot and there's also a massive rumbling storm element that builds throughout. All the thunder added an interesting element when it came time to mix, given that this was supposed to be more of a music and dialog driven animatic. Overall we ended up with 70 tracks, most of which were sound effects. The workflow was pretty straightforward. I started with dialog, re-syncing the original studio voice recordings to the low-res dialog supplied in the first animatic, then it was on to sound design which took about two weeks of pretty intense work. The dialog was recorded at another studio, so we had to work with the files that were supplied. In general, they were in good shape. There were a few significant tweaks we had to make on a few of the lines. Loki's voice initially sounded really muddy (too much low mid) so I took a bit of time to make it sound normal. For reverbs I started with halls and tweaked them to make fit the scenery (which of course we didn't get to see till late in the project!).

About sound effects....This is always a tough area with fast-turn animation. Initially we are not seeing everything in the sequence. Early versions of the spot were not rendered when they were sent over - so we can only see the general idea of what's going to be happening, and what the basic environment is, but all the detailed visuals come much later in the process. Most of my information about the environments and characters were from emails and conference calls in regards to what it would look like, and from there I would have to imagine what it would sound like.

For example, toward the end, Thor raises Mjolnir (his hammer) and shouts, "For Asgard!" In the early movies supplied, there was no lightning visible around his hands, no beam of lighting coming down from above, no real energy at all. I placed in pretty generic "power up" sounds and a bolt that would strike the hammer. Pendulum then gave us a more detailed verbal description of what it was going to be like. From that I was able enhance the placeholder sounds further, adding in more bolts and rumble, etc. It wasn't until we received the final render for that scene, I think the day before the project was due, that we could finally could see the detail of the intense power that was happening there. That was the first thing I worked on that final day spending a good 2-3 hours creating the vortex of lightning and looking back, I think this ended up being my favorite designed sound effect for the spot.

You can see from the wide shot of Thor and his father standing on the steps, above, that if you didn't know there was going to be a beam of lightning there it would be hard to know what sounds to apply. It's actually part of what makes working on animation projects so interesting. Watching the scenes come together at the very last minute is a pretty neat process that not a lot of folks get see. We worked with the team over at Pendulum Studios, and their work is amazing! It gives us an extra shot in the arm, as the projects are nearing the due date, to deliver sound design as spectacular as their animation. For example, this is how we knew Thor for the first three weeks of the project:

Only towards the end did we get the rendered version - quite a difference!

Another effect that I liked a lot was the audio that we used on the line, "For Asgard!" Yeah, I know it's more on the dialog side, but hear me out. The client initially gave us 7 or 8 different "For Asgard!" lines. After hearing our preliminary mix they wanted it bigger - but not just bigger, more like ten times the amount of soldiers. Instead of just adding reverb or delays or doublers, we had some fun in Studio C. Mark, his buddy Rich Williams, and myself recorded about 30 takes of various shouts of "For Asgard!", complete with English and Scottish accents. I comp'd those takes and completed the new improved Legion throughout the surrounds. That surely thickened the original 8 soldiers up, and Pendulum got the battalion they requested.

Music cues were taken from several clips supplied from the game, and these were pieced together to provide the orchestral music bed. There are 4 different pieces spliced together. Twenty points to whoever can tell me where the edits are, and bonus points if you can tell me where I used elastic audio to slow the music down to match the picture edit!

On mix-down, we delivered both a Surround 5.1 and Stereo mix. Down-mixing to stereo was probably the biggest challenge for this project. There was a lot of low end energy from the sound effects competing with the music. We delivered both sets of mixes as full mixes, and as stems (Dialog, Effects and Music). The final mixes were version 16 of our Pro Tools session, so we built and checked lots of reference mixes before delivering the finals. In the end we delivered a killer mix, the folks at Pendulum were happy and ultimately, I'm pleased with the final product!
Gary Miranda

Deepak Chopra in Studio C

2011-05-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

Renowned doctor and author Deepak Chopra has been in the studio with us a number of times over the past month working on both a meditation CD project and an upcoming video game title to be released by Curious Pictures in conjunction with video game giant THQ. It looks to be a wonderful way to link kids and technology with positive messaging from one of today's more prolific writers on self awareness, kindness and emotional well-being.

Audio for the game was recorded using a Sennheiser 416 located about 6" from Mr. Chopra. Additional audio for the project was slated to be recorded in New York City at SkinnyMan Studios a couple of weeks later, so we needed a configuration that could be matched on both coasts. Studio West co-owner and engineer Mark Kirchner commented, "Mr. Chopra has an interesting voice to record; there's a bit of pronounced "s" that the de-esser doesn't catch - almost like a click. In working with Mr. Chopra, specific mic placement has been the best solution. He is very nice, and easy to work with, however he likes to get to work right away, so you don't have much time to test setups. It's part of what makes the job exciting and nerve-racking at the same time." We're all excited to see how the game turns out!

Around The Studios...

2011-05-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Kellogg has been busy in Studio A recording Erick Macek, Anoushka Shankar's 6th full-length album, Traveller, the traditional Irish sounds of Kick Up the Dust, and Johnny Clegg for NPR.

Over in Studio B, Gary has been working on the video game trailers for Thor: God of Thunder and Captain America.

Meanwhile, in Studio C, Mark has been recording Deepak Chopra, Joshua Dinnerman, Richard Dreyfuss' narration of a National Geographic program about parallel universes, spots for Lucas Arts and 5 Gum, and the 100th episode of A Way With Words for NPR.

Open Hearts Foundation Inaugural Event

2011-04-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

Four hundred people attended the event that was held at the private residence of award-winning actress, artist and philanthropist Jane Seymour and her husband, director, producer and writer, James Keach. The Open Hearts Foundation, founded by Jane Seymour, is a nonprofit charity established to raise funds to enrich the lives of children in the areas of health, arts, sports and education. The Foundation’s goal is to bring the Open Heart movement into communities worldwide by providing funds to children’s charitable organizations. The evening was hosted by CNN Anchor Christi Paul and included musical performances by William Joseph, Katharine McPhee and Jakob Dylan.

The 48 channel record was a last minute request to Studio West. We received the call for help two days before the event. Making things a little more interesting was the severe weather that was pounding the West Coast that weekend. Record low temperatures and thunderstorms didn't dampen the event turnout, but did knock out the main generator in the middle of the auction which was after dinner and held prior to the night's musical performances.

Fortunately, the power that went down temporarily was feeding lighting, so the sound-side of things was not affected. There were a few moments during Jakob Dylan's performance when we could hear the rain on the tent roof - it sounded like white noise and it threw us for a loop...momentarily. In the end, the event was a huge success raising money and awareness for children's charities. Our thanks and support go out to Jane, James and their foundation!

View a sample of the night's performances here:

Fallbrook Film Festival

2011-03-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Two film projects recorded at Studio West will be featured at the upcoming Fallbrook Film Festival, Well Done, a narrative short "modern fairytale involving a chef, a cake, a waitress and a steak" and We Must Remember, a short documentary about sixteen American high school filmmakers and their life-altering experiences discovering the Holocaust. Here's a little more info on each project:

Well Done trailer
Well Done blog (including pictures of the cast and crew at Studio West)
We Must Remember trailer

Even if you missed out on the Groupon, you can still get tickets to see these two great films and more here. Mark and Gary will be there, so make sure you say "hi" and let us know what you think!

Social Networking and ISDN

2011-02-26T11:02:00.000-08:00

I did an ISDN link yesterday connecting with WBUR in Boston for NPR's radio show On Point. In Studio C at Studio West was James Fowler, professor of Political Science at USCD. One of the cool perks of this job is that we do lots of ISDN connections with various NPR stations, so we get to hear lots of different interviews on all kinds of topics. It's like being back in college and having to go to sociology lectures, but getting paid for it too! Yesterday's session had an interesting twist. I'm using social media right now (this blog), to comment on a show that was discussing the underlying twists of social media.

Do your friends' friends' friends actions and opinions have an effect on everything you do? Is it possible that what you do today via your social media network may influence what your friends' friends' friends do tomorrow? For example, if you loose weight and blog about it, are your friends likely to loose weight, too? You'd be surprised at the findings; I was! It was a very interesting show; If you've got a free few minutes, check out the podcast.

A little about the studio setup. James was seated on a stool in the Studio C booth at a Neuman U87. I ran the 87 through a Focusrite Red 7 mic preamp with slight compression, 3:1, with a light threshold of a light threshold of straight up on the Red 7. We use Telos Zephyr ISDN interfaces in Studio B and Studio C. Our connection codecs were XMIT L2 128 and RCV L2 - a very standard configuration. I recorded the ISDN send to WBUR (James' voice) and the ISDN feed to us as a backup. It was a standard ISDN session configuration. Session setup was 44.1, 24 bit, WAV. The session consisted of a single audio track for James, a stereo aux track for the ISDN feed received from Boston, and a mono aux that we patch the DCommand's talk-back into - so we can easily send console talk-back both to the mix going to Boston and the cue mix going to the booth. It's a standard configuration we use in Studio B and Studio C for ISDN and phone patch sessions.

In case you're wondering, "What is ISDN?", think of it as a special, very high quality phone line. It uses compression technology to encode on the sending side and decode on the receiving side. Two phone lines are required. Both studios involved in the session need to have similar ISDN Interfaces installed and correctly configured. This way, we can have a voice talent in San Diego connected to an agency in New York and it sounds like they're right in the agency's booth. Very cool technology - kind of expensive, but still much cheaper than flying to New York for a three hour session!

Remember to support your local NPR station!

Mark Kirchner

POST Magazine Interview

2011-02-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

Gary Miranda and myself got a chance to chat with the folks at POST Magazine on Friday about what it's like to work on video game audio.

One of the questions asked was: "What are some of the hurtles you face in doing sound design and scoring for games?" In our case, one of the biggest challenges is the ever-changing duration. A few seconds added here, a few frames removed there, this phrase added here, and so on. These changes can happen right up to the moment the project is due - so you learn to expect that they're going to happen and you roll with it. It's actually part of what makes audio for games such a challenge.

Stay tuned for a link once the article has been published.

Mark Kirchner

Voiceover and Dialog Recording for Discovery's Kidnap + Rescue

2011-02-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Brad Barker, The Halo Corporation and the folks at Go Go Luckey for a successful launch of Kidnap + Rescue on January 29th. Over 1 million viewers for the pilot episode - way to go! Brad has been a frequent visitor recording all of the show's voiceover dialog at Studio West. The new series uses actual footage, first-hand accounts and dramatic re-creations to tell the stories of kidnap victims and their heroic rescuers (10 pm, Discovery ).

Kidnap + Rescue is a provocative new series about kidnapping and the rescuers with the courage to go where no one else can - risking violent reprisal to reclaim innocent victims, inside our borders and beyond. The first episode of Kidnap + Rescue features The Halo Corporation, a San Diego-based security firm founded by Brad Barker and his team of former Special Ops, National Security and Intelligence personnel. Together they work to provide security and humanitarian aid along the U.S./Mexico border. This episode tells the story of two kidnappings to which Halo responds.

The Latest...

2011-01-19T10:46:00.000-08:00

Studio A - SRH940 Pro Reference Headphones

Studio Owners Peter Dyson and Mark Kirchner were at NAMM this past weekend and spent some quality time with folks from Avid, Ex'pression and Shure among others. Shure distributed catalogs featuring their new headphone collection and beautiful photos of Studio A, Studio B and the Edit Suite that were taken here last October.

Studio West is pleased to continue working with Slacker Radio...this week's session was a phone patch in Studio C which allowed Mat Diablo to interview three athletes who will be participating in this winter's X Games in Aspen, CO. More info on our site.

Coming soon: Anoushka Shankar is scheduled to mix her new full-length album in Studio A, and the boys from Switchfoot will record a Slacker Radio spot, revealing their Top 25 Songs!

San Diego's Own Chanauk Records Their debut EP in Studio A

2010-12-20T11:52:00.000-08:00

San Diego-based heavy rock band Chanauk recorded their debut EP at Studio West across December 16-18, 2010. The band chose Kellogg Boynton IV as their recording engineer, based on his reputation and extensive Pro Tools expertise. Here’s what the band had to say about the recording process:

“While most engineers use a direct signal for recording, Kellogg utilized a collection of microphones that gave me a great sound - big, growly and thick, it really provides a solid foundation for our songs.” -Rob Jones, bassist

“The best equipment combined with Kellogg’s knowledge at the helm enabled me to really dial in great clean and overdriven tones. This was definitely the most comfortable and non-intrusive recording experience I’ve ever had.” -Tyler Alvord, guitarist

“Kellogg was a very compassionate and welcoming engineer. It really helped having an engineer that understands the difficulty of having to record first out of the whole band. I also didn’t expect to be able to get such a great sound from my kit, which is optimized more toward a live setting.” -Nic Gentilella, drummer

“I love recording guitars at Studio West because they always turn out professional, especially compared to recording at home. You know you’re at an awesome studio when the studio owner’s wife brings you pastries in the morning.” -Hunter Levy, singer/guitarist

Plain White T's Record in Studio A for Slacker Radio

2010-12-13T16:04:00.000-08:00

Plain White T's and Studio West Staff in Studio A

This past Friday Slacker Radio brought Plain White T's into Studio A to do some voiceover recording for their personalized radio station. The band performed a 3-song acoustic set for an intimate gathering of 40 fans, closing with their biggest hit "Hey There Delilah". The session was also streamed live over Slacker Radio and recorded for a potential future broadcast.

The five-member band brought in three acoustic guitars and a ukulele, and shakers and tambourines for the percussionist. All of the instruments and voices were recorded in to Pro Tools HD 8 at 24 bit/96Khz and returned to Studio A's SSL 4064E Console for mixdown. Each vocalist sang through an SM7b microphone except for lead singer Tom Higgenson, who sang through a U87 into a Teletronix LA-2A. Every microphone was routed through a Neve 1073 Preamp before being sent into Pro Tools.

Check our site for more photos, and stay tuned to Slacker Radio to hear music from the session!

(write up submitted by Kellogg Boynton, Studio West Staff Engineer)

We're Turning 40!

2010-12-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

Next year, Studio West will celebrate 40 years of recording in San Diego! A lot has changed since 1971, and original owner Lee Carroll put it all into perspective thusly:

"Let's see.. we opened in August 1971 on Ruffner Street. I was 27 years old. We started with 8 track 1 inch tape. I saw 16 and 24 track invented, and we had them all. Automation came in the 80s. Then digital changed everything. We were almost always doing commercials and movies. Before I left, I had 39 Clio nominations and 3 first place statues....Cool."

Here's looking forward to the next 40! Thanks, San Diego!

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

2010-11-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

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.

Matt Costa Records for Slacker Radio

2010-11-15T11:23:00.000-08:00

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!

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

2010-11-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

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.