The Elementary Choice -- Soundfield for Holmes

Christmas day 2009 is the planned release date for the latest filmed addition to the Sherlock Holmes canon, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in an almost irreverent take on the story of Baker Street's most famous detective. Downey Jr.'s clumsy, tousle-headed, slightly risqué version of Holmes is far removed from the calculating, ice-cool character portrayed by the likes of Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett in the past, and yet somehow, it all works brilliantly.

Exterior filming for the new Holmes film began in early 2009 in suitably old-fashioned locations in Liverpool, London, Chatham, and Manchester, with Second Unit sound recordings being overseen by freelance sound mixer John Casali. His recent credits read like a shopping list of UK-themed Hollywood blockbusters, with work on two Harry Potter films and on the recent James Bond film prior to Sherlock Holmes. Having borrowed a SoundField ST250 microphone as an experiment for the first Bond film, Casali bought a more up-to-date portable ST350 system to capture on-set surround ambience when he worked on his first Harry Potter two years ago, and has been using it ever since.

Like all of SoundField's other microphones, the ST350 captures audio in the four-channel SoundField B-Format, an output-independent format from which phase-coherent audio can be derived in mono, stereo, M&S or 5.1 surround sound can be derived using proprietary SoundField processing, and all from a single lightweight, portable microphone.


"I used the ST350 a lot on crowd scenes and in the Great Hall at Hogwarts on the Harry Potter films, and on Sherlock Holmes it's been great for capturing the sounds of the period horse-drawn carriages on the streets,"

"I use Altiverb a lot to capture the impulse response of acoustic spaces we're recording in, and the ST350 has been brilliant for that, too. Now, whenever we're working in a location with a recognizable acoustic, I take an impulse response, because you can use it to recreate the ambience later in post. It's very handy for realistic dialogue replacement in post-production."

With shooting complete on Sherlock Holmes, John Casali is already working on his next projects, together with his ST350. "When I first tried out the ST250, it was a bit of an experiment," he admits. "Then I purchased the ST350 and started using it more often and now I never leave for a job without it!"

Participating manufacturers of highly respected gear included: L.A. studio musician and pro audio developer PETER MONTESSI of A DESIGNS ; UK's Hi-end monitor manufacturer BEN LILLY of ATC LOUDSPEAKERS ; One of the brightest minds in handmade microphones of our dayDAVID BOCK of BOCK AUDIO; Blues Magoos drummer/engineer/pro audio designer GEOFF DAKING of DAKING; Creator of The new bridge between tape machines and DAWs CHRIS ESTES of ENDLESS ANALOG; Inventor/Producer GEORGE MASSENBURG (Lyle Lovett, Aaron Neville, Dixie Chicks) of GML, Lehmann Audio, Soundfield and boss man at Legendary all-tube recording equipment from Denmark, JESPER B. NIELSEN of TUBE-TECH Well done, James!

Superlitio
Califosound
Rafa Sardina (Producer, Mixer, engineer)

Superlitio has performed with artist such as Juanes, Café Tacuba, Molotov, to name a few. They won Colombia's biggest awards, THE SHOCK AWARDS, for RECORDING OF THE YEAR.

Sometimes, the best holiday albums, are actually not holiday albums! Take the Colombian band Superlitio for instance, who brings a masterful fusion of jazz, funky-rock, reggae, salsa, freestyle punk in its fourth album "CALIDOSOUND" produced by Rafa Sardina.
Call the six musicians whatever you want, but these Latin Grammy nominated band (best new artist) makes you groove to polyphonic rhythms with polished pop melodies reminiscent of Beatles (Te Lastime) to Prince like (Feeling Funky) or Bowie (Lo Fi). Romantic and danceable, the mood is happy go lucky. Just what the doctor ordered for this holiday season!

"As challenging as it might seem to record abroad, it was a blast to produce one of the most versatile bands I have been involved with.
They display an eclectic style but making it very cohesive and classic structured with a modern twist. This guys really shine live!" says the producer, Rafa Sardina. Watch this band - they truly cross the language barrier and though Superlithio is largely in Spanish, it's hard to label it Latin or world music. Rather it's music made for our world.

Avatar Studios reports a busy month. John Mayer mixed in C. The session was produced by John Mayer with engineer Joe Ferla assisted by Justin Gerrish Angelique Kidjo and John Legend recorded in B. The session was produced by Angelique Kidjo with engineer Justin Gerrish assisted by Aki Nishimura Aaron Neville recorded in G with producer / engineer Steve Ivy assisted by Rick Kwan -asst Bolden! film music recorded in A with producers Delfeayo Marsalis & Dan Pritzker, engineer Ed Cherney assisted by Justin Gerrish Chimene Badi recorded in Studio A with producer Scott Jacoby, engineer Neil Dorfsman assisted by Justin Gerrish. The Broadway Boys recorded in A with producer Jesse Nager, engineer Rob Killenberger assisted by Fernando Lodeiro. Afro-Peruvian Sextet recorded in Studio C with producer Gabriel Alegria, engineer Jim Anderson assisted by Fernando Lodeiro. Jessye Norman recorded in C with producer / engineer Adrian Von Ripka assisted by Rick Kwan

Add Some Sun To Your Chrismtas List....How would you like to wake up in the morning, have breakfast with your mates, and take a short walk across a Sonoma County ranch to your studio session? Prairie Sun's Studio C hosted band Everest who moved in for a couple weeks to track their next full length release for Vapor Records. Having built a buzzworthy rep touring with Neil Young and Wilco, Everest is made up of a group of veteran musicians, producers, and engineers (including Eli from the Delta Spirit sessions on bass). Everest brought along journeyman Fritz Michaud (Silversun Pickups) to manage the Neve/Studer/Pro Tools side of things, freeing the members to concentrate on their roles as players. Look for the results early next year.

For a limited time, Prairie Sun Recording is offering a holiday special for musicians. 10-hour lockout days in Studio B (30 years history with Pete Townshend's old Neve console and where Tom Waits' Mule Variations was recorded). $400/day (up to 5) without engineer. Rent a Prairie Sun guesthouse (up to 5 nights) for $50 a night with some Terms and Restrictions. "Want analog color and tone with the convenience of recording direct to Pro Tools? Track through this Neve, and hear the difference. Better yet, rent or buy a reel of 2-inch tape, we'll dump it to Pro Tools, and get ready to be awed when you pull the tracks up at home to overdub or mix," says owner Mooka Rennick.

Legendary rock duo Air Supply recently tracked their 2010 release entitled Mumbo Jumbo at Odds On Records & Studios A (which houses one of the largest consoles in the country, a 96-input SSL Duality console), and mixed it in Studio B’s SSL 9000K room. Air Supply The band also recorded three new tracks at the studio after it thought the album was completed. “I just keep writing so we recorded three more tracks from scratch ? the tracking rooms are just fantastic,” explains Russell. Air Supply also turned to the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the first string session to perform in Odds On’s live room, to contribute to the recording process. The Las Vegas Philharmonic was incorporated into four tracks on the new album. Award-winning independent and part-time staff engineer James ‘Bonzai’ Caruso mixed the entire record and also engineered several tracks. The album was produced by Air Supply with guidance from Bonzai.“We wanted continuity to the album and Bonzai just brought this beautiful sound to the record,” continues Russell. “We trusted him completely and he brought new life to the project.” As avid performers, Air Supply does about 130 shows a year. The band will be on the road touring for the remainder of 2009 – currently on a month-long Asian tour, and then heading to the Middle East, Canada and Mexico. When it returns to the states, the band will be gearing up for its new 2010 release.

Songwriter, singer, pianist, multi instrumentalist and Las Vegas resident Frankie Moreno recently turned to Odds On Records & Studios, the newest high-end recording facility in the area, to mix several tracks for his new full-length album “Unknown Artist,” expected to be released in 2010. With a musical style that mixes rock/funk with classical, Moreno’s newest album incorporates plenty of classical orchestrations, from flute solos to a 14-piece orchestra. While Moreno did record a few of his solos from home, Odds On’s 12,500 sq/ft acoustically-pristine live room, which is directly adjacent to Studio A, was the perfect fit for these larger orchestra sessions. Working with Odds On’s engineer and long-time friend, Matt Salveson throughout the mixing process, Moreno has tracked and mixed songs in the studio’s SSL Duality room (Studio A) as well as in the SSL Matrix room (Studio C). He will be playing at Las Vegas’ famous Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino for the remainder of 2009 and will be back in studio between performances to work with Salveson to finalize his 2010 release.

Congrats to Black Rock Studios who won the best new studio award in this years Audio Pro International excellence awards!! "We are very happy with the win, it is very nice to see all the hard work that went into building our dream studio being recognized on an international level," says owner, Kostas Kalimeris. You can check out the winners here

Renowned rapper/producer will.i.am booked Bernie Grundman Mastering for sessions with mastering engineer Chris Bellman for the Black Eyed Peas album from Interscope, The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies), which has been nominated for the Album of the Year by The Recording Academy.

Flutist/Saxophonist Najee will perform the National Anthem at the Orlando Magic’s home game on December 25th, Christmas Day. ESPN is airing a double header that day with the second game being the Boston Celtics versus the Orlando Magic. This should be a huge game because it will be nationally televised, and also because Boston is a conference rival and this will be their only trip to Orlando this season. Najee recently released “Mind Over Matter” on Heads Up International.

"The ST350 has been brilliant for capturing the basic 5.1 beds that the post-production guys use to build up the surround mix from scene to scene," explains Casali. "It creates very realistic soundscapes. Sometimes I still can't believe it's all from one mic."

John is currently working on both parts of the forthcoming 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'.

TransAudio Group, the U.S. distributor for ATC (Acoustic Transducer Company) audio reference speakers, will introduce the U.K. manufacturer's first ever compact active three-way studio control monitor, the ATC SCM25A Pro, at the 127th AES Convention in New York.
Designed for positioning on a meter bridge, or rack-mountable for broadcast applications, the ATC SCM25A Pro offers very high-performance in the most compact possible form factor.

The SCM25A Pro incorporates ATC's proprietary short coil seven-inch carbon-paper woofer, a three-inch soft dome midrange driver and a one-inch silk dome tweeter in a ported enclosure that measures 10.4 inches (264 mm)
(H) x 16.9 inches (430 mm) (W) x 16 inches (408 mm) (D). The integrated tri-amplifier generates 150 W RMS for the woofer, 50 W RMS for the midrange and 25 W RMS for the tweeter. The passively cooled amp pack also features FET limiting. The crossovers are all 4th order, critically damped with phase compensation.

For more information on Soundfield contact Brad Lunde or Phone (702) 307-2700 or visit www.transaudiogroup.com

LasVegasProAudio.com, LasVegasProAudio.com, a division of TransAudio Group, is the launch pad for the brands of tomorrow. The goal of LasVegasProAudio.com is to provide unique equipment, useful information and long-term support to their clients.LVPA product line includes: Accusound Cable, Economy 50mm Shockmount,Enhanced Audio (Ireland), PAULY Superscreens (Germany)Sonodore Microphones (Holland)

Mauricio Campo : Vox Lider
Pedro Rovetto : Bass
Alejandro Lozano : Guitar
Felipe Bravo : Vox, Key and Guitar
Dino Leandro : Turntable and Machines
Armando Gonzalez : Drums

Prairie Sun Recording Holiday Special in Studio B
Call the studio today (707) 795-7011

Pictured from left to right at Odds On Records & Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada is Mike Zerbe, Frankie Moreno, Matt Salveson and Tony Moreno.

Pictured (L-R) during mastering sessions at Bernie Grundman Mastering are Dante Santiago, A&R creative executive producer; will.i.am, artist/executive producer; Dylan "3D" Dresdow, mixer; Padraic "Padlock" Kerin, recording engineer; Chris Bellman, mastering engineer. Photo by David Goggin.

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Watch Video Interviews with Top producers from Legendary Studios
studioexpresso in alliance with Record Production & Babblefish is pleased to bring you these interviews. Watch the video interviews by clicking on the producer names below.
Get your FREE Real One Player download



Matt Wallace Interviewed At his Delux Studios in LA for Record Production
L-R: Producer Matt Wallace, studioexpresso's Claris Dodge
Photo: Johnny Jaskot

Ken Allardyce - Sarm West, UK
Lenise Bent - Village Studios. LA, CA
Niko Bolas - Watersound Studios, Studio CIty, CA
Pete Byrne - Glenwood Place, CA
Andre Fischer - Village Studios, Los Angels, CA
Chris Fogel - Fig, Glendale, CA
Brad Gilderman - Little Big Room, Burbank, CA
Greg Ladanyi - Maple Jam Productions, Studio City, CA
Joseph Magee - O'Henry Studios, Burbank, CA
Scott Mathews - Tiki Town Studios
Oscar Paul - Roundhouse Studios, London
Greg Penny - Sphere Studios, London
Steve Parr - Hear No Evil Studios
Michael C Ross - Royaltone Studios, North Hollywood, CA
Rafa Sardina - Abbey Road, UK
Elliot Scheiner - Presense studios, CT NEW!
Al Schmitt Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA
Toby Scott -- coming soon!
Robert Shahnazarian Jr.-- Sony Music Studios, Santa Monica
Tolbert & Sutton - Studio Atlantis, Hollywood, CA
Matt Wallace - Delux Studios, Van Nuys, CA
John Wooler - Village Studios, Los Angels, CA

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Expresso Walk And Talk... .

Tupac On Pop's Playlist The seat of the Catholic Church released a list of 12 songs onto the social networking Web site's streaming music service when the site launched in the United Kingdom. Among selections from Mozart, Muse and Dame Shirley Bassey is Tupac Shakur, the slain rapper's song "Changes," which was released two years after his shooting death on a greatest hits album in 1998. "The genres are very different from each other, but all these artists share the aim to reach the heart of good-minded people," the Vatican wrote on its official MySpace Music page. "Changes" had been played more than 4.6 million times on the Web site. The list was compiled by Father Giulio Neroni, artistic director of church publisher St Paul's Multimedia. The lyrics of "Changes" describe Shakur's desire to change a grim life of drugs, crime and violence on the streets. Lyrics of the song, which is labeled as "explicit," include 'Is life worth living, should I blast myself?" "Give the crack to the kids, who the hell cares, one less hungry mouth on the welfare," and "My stomach hurts, so I'm looking for a purse to snatch." At another point, Tupac sings: "Cause both black and white are smokin' crack tonight."
In contrast, the playlist also contains selections from the album "Music of the Vatican" such as "Advocata Nostra" and "Causa Nostrae Laetitiae." Other contemporary tracks on the mix include Muse's "Uprising" from their new album "The Resistance" and "He Doesn't Know Why" by the folk group Fleet Foxes

Tax Trouble for Turned reality TV star, Flavor Flav is the latest name added to the list of celebs failing to pay taxes. The New York native owes more than $183,000 to the state of California. According to reports a lien for $183,800 was filed against Flav in Sacramento County Court on Sept. 17. His manager explained that he had forwarded an email to his client, but that he could not be reached for comment. Since hitting the music scene as a member of the politically charged hip-hop group Public Enemy in the 80s, Flav has gone on to find considerable success in reality television. He first appeared on the VH1 show 'The Surreal Life,' spawning two spin-off shows 'Strange Love' and the popular 'Flavor of Love' series. The 50-year-old will head back to school in a new reality series coming soon. "I'm working on a reality show and a talk show, going back to high school," Flav revealed in an interview. "I got a talk show coming, ya'll ain't going to be mad at ya' boy." Flav joins the likes of Nas, DMX, Foxy Brown, and Lil Kim who have also run into to tax trouble.

50 Cents is a busy man these days. With new album and accompanying movie, both titled 'Before I Self Destruct,' out Nov. 16, and his new beef with Jay-Z, who he called a "Pass the Grey Poupon' a-- n----," 50 is adding a new lawsuit to the mix. The rapper is suing WorldStarHiphop.com, a popular hip-hop site, for using his likeness without authorized permission. He claims that they plastered his image so thoroughly across the site that visitors thought he was the owner. For World Star, the suit doesn't seem to be heading in an encouraging direction. "A lot of people felt like that was my site because they saw my face on the cover of [the website] for a long time," 50 said in an interview with hip-hop magazine SixShot. "I have lawyers on retainers and I have to pay them so much money anyway, so we'll go back and forth to court until [they] can't afford a Subway sandwich. It's already too late for [them]." Another one of 50's issues with the site surrounds payola practices. The rapper accuses World Star of selling packages to whack artists and consequently making their videos more popular on the site. "If you an artist talking about they hot right now because they on World Star and got a bunch of hits, it's because they could've bought a package," he claimed. "They could have just paid for it." But 50 isn't just making enemies these days. He recently rekindled his friendship with actress Vivica Fox with whom he had a brief 2003 fling. "We were cool, we had good relationship for a short period but we weren't ready for it. I wasn't ready for it," 50 admitted. Fox will reportedly appear in the video for 50's next single, 'Do You Think About Me?'

Michael Jackson’s signature moves are being revived in The Ultimate Thriller’s world tour choreographed by one of Jackson’s principle dancers, Mic Thompson. The tour is currently booked in 50+ European venues from December 2009 through March 2010, complete with an uncanny Jackson look-alike. . As the Ultimate Thriller plans the US leg of their 2010 tour, fans are invited to go to their official website www.theultimatethriller.com and “Demand It” to come to their town. Show producer Robert Hyman was working on bringing tribute bands to the forefront in Florida when Michael Jackson died. It was at that moment when he realized they needed to pursue a fitting tribute to pay respect to the artist genius. “There is a great demand for tribute shows,” says Hyman, The Ultimate Thriller show producer. “Once we received the news of Michael Jackson’s passing, we felt we should put this show to the forefront. Michael’s music spans so many generations. His passion, spirit and love are something that we gravitate toward. I could think of nothing better than to pay respect by playing his music to the world so we can keep his spirit alive.” For more info contact [email protected] or 650.464.5708.

Enjoy Crème au caramel with an espresso this holiday- Make it Sweet!

Ingredients:
•1 cup granulated sugar, divided
•2 cups whole milk
•2 cups heavy cream
•8 large eggs, beaten
•1/4 teaspoon salt
•1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•Boiling water

Preparation: In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt and caramelize 1/2 cup of the sugar. Shake the pan occasionally to stir the sugar and evenly distribute the color. The sugar is caramelized when it has turned a uniform light tan color. Evenly divide the caramel between 8 ovenproof ramekins. Swirl the caramel inside each ramekin to coat the sides and bottoms completely. Arrange the ramekins in a 1 1/2-inch to 2-inch deep baking pan. Preheat and oven to 325F. In a clean saucepan over medium heat, stir together the milk and cream just until it begins to scald, about 5 to 7 minutes. Do not allow the liquid to simmer or boil at any time. Remove the pan from the heat.Stir together the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the eggs. Allow the sugar-egg mixture to rest for 5 minutes. Slowly add 2/3 cup of the hot cream mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. Stirring constantly, add the tempered eggs and cream back into the hot cream in the saucepan. Stir in the salt and vanilla extract. Carefully pour the hot cream mixture into the ramekins. Pour boiling water into the pan holding the ramekins until the water level reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake the custard for 30 to 35 minutes, until the custard is just set. (Overcooking will remove the silky texture for which crème au caramel is famous.) Remove from the oven and allow the ramekins to cool in the water bath for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and cool the custard at room temperature for 20 minutes. Run an offset spatula or butter knife around the edges of each ramekin and invert the custards onto serving plates. Serve them at room temperature or chill for up to a day before serving. This crème caramel recipe makes 8 servings.

Love & Happiness!
EveAnna Manley & DaveCollins Tie The Knott -- Congrats!

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