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September 2013

September 2013

WELCOME

September 2013 Editor’s Note: What’s in a Cover?

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Tom Kenny

This is the second time that Sony PlayStation Studios has appeared on the cover of Mix. The first time was seven years ago, when the company began its massive build-out across two campuses in California. At the time, there was nothing like it in games, nothing that rivaled Hollywood in terms of sheer production/post-production power and capability. …

ON THE COVER

Sony Playstation Recording Studios: Building the Future of Game Sound and Music

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Tom Kenny // Photos By Michael Coleman/Sean Donnelly

There really are no precedents for what Sony Computer Entertainment America has done over the past seven years in its ongoing commitment to raising the quality of game sound. Other developers and publishers have built world-class rooms and facilities, adapting to the sophistication and complexity of modern production chains and more powerful game engines. But nobody has done it like Sony….

FEATURES: GAME AUDIO

Nashville Scores! Ocean Way Lets the Game Industry in on Music City’s Best Kept Secret

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Tom Kenny

The first thing anybody in recording talks about when they talk about Nashville is the players. The pickers, the A-list session players, the speed and brilliance. Next comes the studios, with the tradition-rich rooms, the amazing gear, and the incredible engineering talent. But for all the talk over the past 50-plus years about Nashville being a major recording center (which it is), with some of the finest artists, musicians, engineers and facilities on the planet (which it has), it still has a hard time being taken seriously outside of country music. …

Ear Monsters: A New Breed of Audio (Video) Game

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Blair Jackson

When it comes to videogame audio, Brian Schmidt has pretty much done it all. Besides working on more than 130 titles for most of the major players in the industry (EA, Sony, Microsoft, Sega, et al), he was responsible for developing the original sound and music systems for the Xbox and the Xbox 360 (as well as the 360’s XACT interactive mixing tool); he started the GameSoundCon conference, devoted to videogame music and videogame sound education; and he has spoken often at industry events scattered across the globe. It’s no wonder he was honored with a prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from his peers in the Game Audio Network Guild (GANG). …

The Noise Arcade: Tools That Game Sound Designers Can’t Do Without

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Markkus Rovito

One of the things that is so amazing about modern video games is the voluminous amount of talented and dedicated people it takes just to help 13-year-olds fall short of their potential….

MUSIC

‘Sweet Relief III: Pennies From Heaven’: Benefit Album Is a Musical Gift

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz

The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund has been aiding artists with disabilities for 20 years. The organization’s concerts, events and record releases have featured performances by the likes of R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, Lucinda Williams and so many more. It’s one of the ways that the generous, talented music community takes care of its own members, like Sheldon Gomberg….

Classic Track: ‘Even Flow,’ Pearl Jam

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz

“Grunge” was still just a noun meaning “dirt” when the newly formed band Pearl Jam made their smash debut, Ten. But the vibrant Seattle scene that spawned them was already inspiring musicians and fans. …

Trombone Shorty, ‘Say That to Say This’

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz

When he wasn’t onstage or supporting young musicians through his Trombone Shorty Foundation, the magnetic musician/vocalist Troy Andrews—aka Trombone Shorty—was in the studio this year making Say That to Say This. Andrews and Raphael Saadiq co-produced, with much of the project coming together in Saadiq’s Blakeslee Studios (North Hollywood). This time out, Andrews and his band, Orleans Avenue, are all about classic funk and R&B….

Mixing The Julie Ruin

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz

Engineer/studio owner Eli Crews moved from Oakland, Calif., to Brooklyn about a year ago to become the chief engineer at musician/producer Shahzad Ismaily’s new Prospect Heights studio. Things didn’t go exactly as Crews had planned; the studio construction was held up by the permit process, with the grand opening now scheduled for the end of 2013. …

Newpoli: Italian Folk Revived

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Blair Jackson

Everything old is new again, and that includes traditional Italian folk music, which is being brilliantly revived by an octet called Newpoli, made up of former Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory students, most of them (but not all) Italians. The group’s third album, Tempo Antico, comes out September 26, and it’s a spirited and eclectic mix of southern Italian folk styles, some dating back several centuries, played entirely on acoustic instruments. …

Neko Case: Making Music Inside, and Outside, the Comfort Zone

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Barbara Schultz

Craig Schumacher describes the process of making Neko Case’s latest magnificent album as a process involving critical relationships and balance: “When she’s here, it’s all about the studio, and my dog and her dog, and feeling good, and going out to eat at the right time, and hanging out with the boys, and getting in the right headspace to come back and do vocal takes and have them feel right. We have a process that’s all about friendship and the comfort that allows her to feel confident that these basics we’re doing are good enough to push forward.”…

LIVE

John Mayer: Mixing It Up at Red Rocks

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Candace Horgan

It’s late in John Mayer’s set at his second consecutive sellout night at Red Rocks in Morrison, Colo. Mayer has had the crowd wrapped around his finger for most of the night, mixing in anecdotes about recovering from damage to his vocal cords that limited his ability to hit certain notes to making peace with the song “Your Body Is a Wonderland.” Mayer’s band, which includes guitarists Doug Pettibone and Zane Carney, is tight and has followed Mayer wherever he goes musically. …

All Access: Kid Rock ‘Best Night Ever’ Tour

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Photos and Text By Steve Jennings

Kid Rock, who made quite a splash at the start of his 2013 Best Night Ever Tour by working out a deal with ticketing agencies that guaranteed $20 tickets for regular fans, played at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Wheatland, Calif., in early August. …

Kid Rock 2013 Tour Gallery

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM

Check out Mix magazine’s exclusive photo gallery of Kid Rock’s 2013 Best Night Ever Tour from photographer Steve Jennings….

REGIONAL: NORTHWEST U.S.

Northwest U.S. News & Notes

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By The Mix Editors

Seattle’s legendary Robert Lang Studios and Brick Lane Records recently announced a strategic partnership to provide artists access to an SSL Duality SE V3 console. …

Northwest U.S. Session News

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By The Mix Editors

Singer-songwriter Neko Case worked on her latest album, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You , serving as producer along with Tucker Martine and Craig Schumacher. Martine and Chris Schultz engineered the album…

DJ Earworm: Mashup Pop’s Top Chef

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Alex Behr

DJ Earworm, the pseudonym of Jordan Roseman, is funny and relaxed, yet underneath, his computer-wiz intensity and composing skills have led to mashup fame. Earworm’s “United State of Pop: Blame It on the Pop” busted out on the Internet in 2009. The YouTube video, now with more than 43 million views, seamlessly blends beats and lyrics from Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and other top pop stars….

Producer Ryan Hadlock

Sep 1, 2013 9:00 AM, Mix, By Blair Jackson

It wasn’t a slam-dunk that Ryan Hadlock—owner of Bear Creek Studio outside of Seattle and producer of high-profile projects by the likes of The Lumineers (their Platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated 2012 debut), The Gossip, Blonde Redhead and Ra Ra Riot—would pursue a career in the music industry. Yes, his father, Joe, a recording engineer, had built Bear Creek in its lovely sylvan horse farm setting in the late ’70s, and young Ryan was a fixture at the place when he was growing up: “I have pictures of me soldering stuff when I was five,” he says with a laugh. “I used to get coffee for people and do various things around the place.”…

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