Hakuna for the Holidays

Yesterday we received a seasonal "shot in the arm" and a real boost in holiday spirit as Ernie Sabella, the voice of "Pumbaa" in The Lion King, brought his infectious energy and cheer to the studio.  
  
Ernie was recording voiceovers for "Wishes," the newest original show for Disney Cruise Lines.  The show will be performed on DCL cruises, and features a trio of teen characters visiting Disneyland to celebrate their high school graduation.


Along the way, they run into some real-life Disney characters who help make their experience a memorable one -- enter Ernie's performance as Pumbaa, along with his old pal Timon.


From the sound of things, it should be a really fun show... now who left all of these bugs lying around the studio??  

Once upon a time, in a LEGO set far, far away...

Amongst the various signs of holiday spirit, none have contributed more to the festive mood 'round these parts than the Star Wars Holiday specials we recently made with our friends from LEGO.  As part of a campaign that is helping raise awareness for a great charity, the folks from LEGO worked with Tapeworks engineers to score and sound-design both Darth Vader- and Yoda-themed Youtube holiday season videos.  

You can take a look at the videos by clicking the links above, or by copy/pasting these URLs into your web browser:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFKqAhIlcHI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFpDa5e4lpo&feature=related

These videos are raising awareness for the Toys-for-Tots donation program that LEGO is running this winter; click here to find out how you can help make a child's holiday season much merrier with a couple clicks of the mouse. 


More to report in the upcoming days - including a visit from our favorite animated warthog and a trip to the snowy slopes of New Hampshire...

...Now, in the words of a very wise little Jedi: "Back to work, we must get!"



   

It's Doc Season at Tapeworks!

It's always exciting when you get a chance to host Hollywood talent - this week we were pleased to work with highly-regarded film actor and international stage performer, Marton Csokas.  


Mr. Csokas (from the films Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring; Kingdom of Heaven; Alice in Wonderland (2010), and The Debt, among others) was in our studio to perform voiceovers for the upcoming feature-length documentary, Follow Me: The Jonathan Netanyahu Story.  


This film depicts the story of a young Israeli soldier who was killed during the 1976 rescue of 246 passengers who were taken hostage by terrorists on a flight from the Ben-Gurion Airport (in Israel) to Paris, France.  The narrative is of a combination of historical accounts from the highjacking to the eventual rescue, as well as personal letters and correspondences involving Jonathan from the time of his military training up until the time of his death.  Mr. Csokas' role in the project is the vocalization of Netanyahu's written letters - the voice of the principle character for the film.

Despite coming from a variety of backgrounds (born in New Zealand, dual-citizenship and ancestry in Hungary, and permanent residence in the US), none of which include a Hebrew dialect, Marton expertly delivered his lines with an Israeli accent; no small task, when we regularly see just how hard it is to read lines the right way in our regular voices! 

Marton even found some time to demonstrate his didjeridoo chops during a short break - don't you just love working with those multi-talented performers! 

"Rush"-ing to An Xbox Near You

Now that the power is back and we find ourselves caught up enough to take just a tiny breath, it's as good a time as any to write about what we've been up to since last time....

This week we were thrilled to work with an old friend of the studio (also an internationally-acclaimed film, stage and voiceover actor), Mr. Brian Dennehy.  Brian was in the studio working on a couple of projects, including a new Xbox Kinect game code-named "Rush" based on various Pixar films.  Brian was lending his voice to the project as a reprisal of his character "Django" from the original 2007 Pixar film, Ratatouille.  His other project was a narrative voiceover for an upcoming historical film titled Ice Bound, which deals with both the physical and psychological hardships that settlers in Nome, AK were forced to overcome during the early 20th century.  As always, it was a pleasure watching a true professional of the craft hard at work.

We would also like to take a moment to recognize and congratulate another friend of the studio, Orice Jenkins, on his wonderful write-up in the Hartford Courant this past Sunday.  This young, talented jazz artist is drawing widespread praise for both his songwriting and piano playing, performing for (and with) some heavy hitters in both the regional and national jazz communities.  Of course, this came as little surprise to us, since we have been fortunate enough to record and mix both of Orice's last two album projects here at Tapeworks.  The growth in his playing and writing between the two albums recorded here ("Just One of Those Things" from Fall 2010, and "Journals of a Teenage Chromaticist" in Summer 2011) is huge, and the sky appears to be the limit for this strong local talent.

Congratulations, Orice!  We look forward to hearing about all your upcoming endeavors, and working with you again in the future.

Lastly: we hope that everybody out there has managed to come out of the horrible storm and ensuing power outage that ravaged CT a couple of weeks back in good health and moderate humor.  Hopefully the worst storm of the winter is already behind us, and we can all look forward to a prosperous (and dry!) November.  Stay tuned for much more in the coming weeks! 


- TW

         

Kicking off our October on the right "note"

While we've been knee-deep in voiceover recording and commercial production (see Tuesday's entry, below), we've also had the pleasure of working with some extremely talented musicians and artists over the last few weeks.

Local musician/songwriter Hattie Wilcox has just completed mixing and mastering her new album with our Chief Engineer Bill Ahearn, and we can't wait to hear the full project.  The mixes sound great; cool, catchy and complex all at once.  We also had the pleasure of recording guitar guru Jeff Pevar recently on a couple of tracks for Hattie's next album project.  As usual, Jeff sounded fantastic, and it's always exciting when he swings by the studio.

 This past Saturday afternoon, our friend Grayson Hugh stopped by the studio to record his inspirational arrangement of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," a classic Hank Williams standard.  After laying down the piano track in only two takes, Grayson and his wife, Polly Messer, recorded vocals that included some very moving, beautiful harmonies. 

Last (but definitely not least): we would like to congratulate Thomasina Levy and Joanie Spear for receiving the Native American Music Award (or "NAMMY," as it is commonly called) for Best Single/Song of the Year at the awards ceremony in Niagara Falls, NY last week.  We are proud of our studio's contribution to the completion of their song, "Out of Many, We Are One."

Well... it looks like we're finally caught up - for now.  Stand by, because we're looking forward to an even more eventful and productive fall!!

- From the TW Crew

So... a cartoon superhero, a linebacker and a sociology prof walk into a bar...

It's been awhile since we wrote, but rest assured - with some big projects for LEGO, NFL Films, NPR and a handful of very cool music projects and accolades - we've been keeping busy!

Last week, Chief Engineer Bill Ahearn recorded the infamous voice of "Space Ghost", Mr. George Lowe, for a project with LEGO.  George reminded us all - not that we needed it - why he's one of the best in the biz.  Along with nailing his voiceover part in only a couple of takes, he had both Tapeworks staff and the Lego crew alike in stitches with some poignant ad libs and observations that only Space Ghost himself could come up with.  You gotta love it when everybody's smiling after a session.  Keep your ears peeled for George's distinct baritone in the near future!

Keeping in theme with cool VO projects, we've also recorded several film voiceovers with actor Chris Lemmon for a series of NFL Films productions over the last couple of weeks.  Chris' voice was beamed out from our studio via ISDN, and will be appearing on documentary projects about Tom Brady, Greg Jennings and Ray Rice, amongst others.

We were also pleased to host Dr. Bradley Wright, associate Professor of Sociology at UConn, for his appearance on NPR yesterday afternoon.  Dr. Wright teleconferenced via ISDN with Jean Feraca, host of the radio show "Here on Earth", which is based in Madison, Wisconsin.  The topic of the day was Dr. Wright's new book, "Upside: Surprising Good News About the State of Our World" - as you might expect, it was a great way to end our Monday on a positive note!

All this and we've only covered our recent voiceover work - in the next entry (to be posted later this week), we'll talk about our recent music work.

A Little Goodbye to A Little Wednesday Night Music

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We're into the last few weeks of summer, which means it's almost time to say goodbye to another summer producing the "A Little Wednesday Night Music" concert series at Blue Back Square in West Hartford, CT. 

This year we were delighted to have (mostly) wonderful weather for our Wednesday-night live music series, and a fantastic lineup of performers from all around New England and beyond.

From old-school R&B, to Jug-Band Blues... 

... from infectious Gypsy-Jazz, to the premiere "The Band" tribute group...

 

... from youthful Jam-Band Funk, to an impromptu unplugged Latin Jazz set (performed during a "rainout" and under an overhang); our artists delighted the crowds and kept people dancing and smiling all summer. 

  The lighting for our concerts, provided by Rich Owen at Northern Lights, helped create the atmosphere for our shows.  You may not have noticed it at the start of each show, but as the sun set on Blue Back Square, Rich's setup certainly enhanced the concert experience for everyone involved!

The sound - provided spectacularly, once again, by SP3 - was the perfect compliment to our amazing artists and venue, and we couldn't have asked for a better-sounding season series!

A big thanks to all who participated in making this a summer to remember: Barbara Lerner and Ronus Properties, Jeff Simon and his sound crew at SP3, Rich Owen and Northern Lights, our wonderful bands and the most important part: everyone who came out to enjoy the music! 

If you are in the Hartford area, definitely drop by the pergola at Blue Back Square in West Hartford, CT for our final band this Wednesday night, from 7:00-9:00pm.  This summer's series will close with a performance by CT-based classic-country band Gunsmoke, in what promises to be a fitting finish to a wonderful season.

Hope you can all make it out this Wednesday - if not, we'll see you next year!

De-Cluttering from Summer

August is in full swing here at Tapeworks, and we are now feeling exceptionally organized, thanks to a visit by HGTV's "extreme home de-cluttering" expert, Jill Pollack. 

Jill is the host of HGTV Canada's reality series "Consumed," in which she helps families eliminate clutter and get back to the basics of living happily. In what is among our longest-distance phone patch sessions, we had Jill in the studio while she was being directed over the phone by  the show's production company, Paperny Films, from Vancouver, British Columbia. 


We can't decide if we passed her de-clutter test with flying colors, or if she decided that we were beyond helping - in any event, the kind of drama that will be present on "Consumed" was thankfully absent during her visit to the studio yesterday afternoon. 


Jill, who's a CT resident, will be back for more voiceover work for the show, which premieres August 30th on HGTV Canada.

Hmm think we'll clean that closet now!!

API Has Arrived at Tapeworks!

We recently introduced a piece of the legendary API sound to the Tapeworks studio, acquiring a 6-slot API lunch box with two full channel strips comprised of 6 brand-spankin'-new modules.  The new strips consist of BAE 312A Mic Pre/DIs, API 550A Discrete 3-Band Equalizers, and API 527 Compressor/Limiters that give us an added dimension of portability and 2-channel tracking through complete channel strips, outside of (or in addition to) our Status Console and SSL strip.  

For the non-"audio geeks" out there, you'll just have to come in and try them out to see what has us beaming about our new gear!


We can't wait to try out our new toys! Who wants to go first? 

Dreaming in LEGO

Whomever called these the "Dogs days of summer" clearly never spent a July observing the folks here at Tapeworks!
We have been swooshing, zapping, revving and soaring our way through several projects for LEGO over the last couple of weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, Chief Engineer Bill Ahearn put together the sound design for a couple of 2-minute LEGO animation videos involving the characters and sub-plots of the new Disney animated feature, Cars 2.  Featuring the voice of Larry the Cable Guy (reprising his role as Mater from the first Cars), these videos are to be featured in both web advertising for LEGO/Cars products as well as potentially on a future DVD release of the 2nd Cars installment.

Other recent projects have seen us sound-designing and composing scores for a promotional LEGO/Batman video, and sound designing a very special new project that will combine 30-second spots for LEGO's Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Alien Conquest, and Star Wars sets into a 2-minute, action-packed mini-saga.

While we've certainly had no shortage of work from our friends at LEGO, we are also delighted to be recording Alyssa Milano this evening -- Alyssa will be speaking her voiceover parts in a California studio, and via ISDN we will be recording her here at Tapeworks.  The voiceover is part of a new series of promotions for her Touch clothing line, and just further proof that really, if you want to rub shoulders with Hollywood, all you need is a good ISDN box.

Unholster That SM-7 - its a Shootout!

It's been a while since we brought everyone up to speed, but rest assured - the excitement scarcely stops at Tapeworks.  Tomorrow (June 7), we will be hosting the inimitable Gary Craig for an old-fashioned, no-holds-barred microphone shootout.  


Gary Craig has become a fixture in the CT radio scene as co-host of the morning program, "Craig & Company" on Hartford's 96.5-TIC FM.  He has also established himself as a voice/acting talent in multiple Hollywood films, as well as numerous appearances on well-known TV shows.  Mr. Craig will be testing out 3-4 of our studio microphones to see which one captures his voice most ideally.  


Stay tuned for the results, and possibly even a contest to see if you all can tell the difference between our different microphones as accurately - or even more so - than we can!

Up to our ears in ideas... and jobs!

It's been a long while between updates here, but certainly not for lack of activity.  The jobs have been pouring in and there's plenty to report about the last 1 1/2 months at Tapeworks, now that we have a chance to take a breath - albeit, a short one!

May the Fourth Be With You P.2
Chief Engineer Bill Ahearn was hard at work on producing some viral video magic for the second straight year: Star Wars, Lego, Tapeworks, and "the kid with the incredible Lego collection" joined forces earlier this month to sound-design and score the follow-up to last year's monster viral hit, "The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told".  Once again, we enlisted the guitar-shredding prowess of our friend Jimi Bell, and if you thought the first video was metal-tastic, you'll love the newest video, which you can watch here.  Thanks to Bill's son, Zack Ahearn, for lending his voice to the project!



Stony Brook Invades Hartford
On the weekend of April 10/11, Tapeworks was home to a couple of marathon recording sessions with the Stony Brook Vocalists, who were recording their debut album with engineer Chris Lennie.  Their energy and enthusiasm were contagious and we got some great results from their work.  Check out their website for details on album availability and release updates, as well as audio and video clips of the group's live performances in the meantime.



It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Golf Season....
Last week, famed Sportscaster and ESPN anchorman Chris Berman was in our studio recording promos for the upcoming 2011 PGA Travelers Championship.  The event will take place at the TPC Highlands golf course in Cromwell, CT during the week June 20-26, and feature a bevy of renowned PGA pros, including Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, John Daly, Hunter Mahan, and 2010 winner Bubba Watson.  We were honored to have Mr. Berman's "Boomer"-ing baritone filling our halls once again!


Whew!  We've already had a full-season's worth of excitement, and Spring is only half-over.  Can't wait to see what the next month will bring...

Just The Beginning..

My name is Haylee and I am the newest addition to the Tapeworks crew. I started working at the studio on Monday, March 21st. I wanted to work here because I have a passion for music and the entertainment world. I've wanted to be involved in this industry ever since I was a little girl. Naturally, when I had the opportunity to work at Tapeworks I jumped at the chance.

Things got off to a quick start when I was introduced to Ernie Sabella, the voice of Pumbaa, of the Lion King, who was a big part of my early childhood. Looking back, I must have watched the VHS tape a thousand times! I couldn't believe my ears as I listened to him going through a voice over session.

Also, in my first couple of days, the legendary actor Brian Dennehy stopped by our studio to do some session work. It was very exciting to be in the company of a respected Hollywood star.

I always knew that the Tapeworks had a great reputation, but I was so impressed when Jeanine Basinger, a noted film critic, graced our studio to do a live national NPR broadcast following the death of Elizabeth Taylor.

The thing I like most about Tapeworks is that every day is a new adventure. Given Doug's thirty plus years of experience, you never know what or who to expect next.

Renowned Film Scholar LIVE from Tapeworks

It was our pleasure this morning to host renowned film historian, Jeanine Basinger, as she took part in an NPR broadcast discussing the legacy of the late Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor, and void left by her recent passing. The show was a round-table interview featuring Ms. Basinger, and Chief Film Critic for the NY Times A. O. Scott. It was produced for the WBUR-Boston radio program On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

Lemmon Days at Tapeworks

The past couple of weeks, we have had the chance to work on a couple of projects with Connecticut's own, Chris Lemmon. He and his wife, Gina Raymond Lemmon, own Stone Manor Productions, and are working on two separate, yet connected projects: A documentary entitled, "Day By Day", in association with John Rosas Productions, and a piano album that Cathy Barlow is helping to produce.

The documentary, "Day By Day", based on the book written by Christine Frisbee, is about children living with a sick brother or sister and the impact it has on their lives. Chris, who will also serve as host, wrote both the script and soundtrack for the film.

The second project is an album of all original music, written and performed by Chris Lemmon. The classically trained pianist gained international acclaim during a performance with Shirley MacLaine of Gershwin's, "I've Got A Crush On You" at the 1988 AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Jack Lemmon. The album is a musical account of Chris' journey to adulthood and reliving the memories of his past through his music. The album will share the title of Chris' written tribute to his father, "A Twist Of Lemmon", and will contain 11 original pieces - including the title soundtrack for the documentary, "Day By Day."

We've had a lot of fun working with them - and the treats they always bring!

Music and Interviews

Over the weekend here at Tapeworks, the control room was the location site for Milling About - a blogtalkradio.com feature hosted by entertainment reporter, Robin Milling. This week's interviewee was a close friend of the studio - Grayson Hugh .

The 40 minute interview, which will air on Friday, February 25th, contains three songs performed by Grayson and his wife (Polly Messer, providing vocal harmonies), and showcases some of his newer piano/vocal work as well as an old favorite.

It will be a program you won't want to miss - included in the interview is a very uplifting story about Grayson's recent return to recording and performing his own music, and how he has never been in a better place in his life. It is surely one that anyone involved in the music business can learn from.

Remotes and Radio

So despite all the crazy weather we've been having, things are still bustling along - as are we - from one corner of the state to the other!

First Bill got to take a drive up to "UConn country" where he met with Women's Head Basketball Coach, Geno Auriemma, in snow-covered Gampel Pavilion to record him for a radio spot due out in March. (Can you imagine having to clear the snow off of that roof?)

Then Chris hit the road on the last weather-filled morning CT has seen so far, (which, if you can believe, was only a lengthy 4 days ago) to head down to Norwalk Hospital where he recorded one of the doctors and two very moving patient testimonials.

Now back to the studio (and connecting us back up to Storrs), high school student, Mike Casey, who attends E.O. Smith and The Greater Hartford Academy for the Arts recorded a jazz CD in which all of the proceeds will be donated to Horns For Kids - a charity which supports music education in CT.

Anxiously awaiting what should hopefully be just around the corner - Spring! I think we are all well-deserving of that!

A 2010 Wrap-up From the "B" Room

As we get ready for whatever excitement 2011 will bring us, this feels like as good a time as any for reflecting on my "rookie season" at Tapeworks.

In the eight short months since joining the crew here, I've seen many of the ways in which a pro studio earns the kind of reputation that this place has had for so many years. I've learned that a successful audio engineer needs to be constantly aware of many elements within a recording session. That means learning tendencies of clients and being able to anticipate their next requests. It also means constantly weighing the factors of fatigue, productivity and "finance efficiency" against each other when working with studio talent.

It also means multitasking. I was amazed to discover how much multitasking is required to run a successful session between multiple locations simultaneously. Let's just say that my "involuntary stopwatch reflex" has become finely tuned as a result of these sessions.

2010 also brought some very cool new developments to our "B" room, which made the leap this year from functional control room to a miniature version of our "A" room. The end of the year saw the introduction of our brand new Mackie Onyx 1620i Mixer, which combines the necessity of a 16-channel analog mixer with a Firewire digital output. With functional ISDN and phone patch lines running into Studio B, we can now do all kinds of multi-client (and multi-location) sessions from either room at Tapeworks (yes, the "B" room even has a snazzy stopwatch!).

It was a great 2010, and we're looking forward to an even better 2011!

Happy New Year!

From Control Room A:

Well 2010 ended with a bang for us! We had an exciting year. In November I had the opportunity to head out to San Fran to see what's hot in the new tech gear arena, and was able to bring home some toys for the new year. Ribbons seemed to be the hot item on our list. No, not holiday ribbons, but ribbon microphones (Audio-technica AT4080), and ribbon tweeter speaker systems (Adam A8X). So whats so great about ribbons? They provide a more controlled listening environment, and a new (or old) way to capture sound. We are also enjoying our mid 2010 purchase of the PLAY sample and sound design library, that we have used on all of our large scaled audio design jobs. Also with the help of our friends at Upscale Music we have been working hard refurbishing our main recording console to continue to deliver that sought after analogue sound. Happy New Year! And away we go!