A Booming Voice in the Tapeworks Studio

Legendary American sportscaster Chris Berman made a welcomed return to the Tapeworks studio recently. Berman, also known as Boomer, has one of the most recognizable voices in sports as he hosts many programs on ESPN and NBC Sports. In the session, Berman promoted one of the highest attended PGA tournaments, the Travelers Championship taking place this June. The Connecticut native worked under the direction of the Silverman Group to record 30-second and 60-second radio advertisements for the tournament. Tapeworks has worked with Berman and the Travelers Championship for decades and was delighted to have another opportunity to be involved. The session was engineered by Bill Ahearn.

Getting Sirius at Tapeworks

Production assistant Ben Bishop instructs Breuer on the studio's equipment.


Stand-up comic and actor Jim Breuer brewed up an episode of "Raw Dog", his radio show, recently at Tapeworks. Breuer was in the Hartford area this weekend performing at a comedy club in Manchester but stopped by the studio to patch in to his XM Sirius radio show. The set-up required a complex network of high-speed phone lines and internet connections which allowed Breuer to communicate with the New York City studio and callers from all over the United States. The engineers at Tapeworks also set up a production console that allowed Breuer to manage callers and connect with other producers of the show instantly. "Tapeworks was great to work with and made the process very easy!" stated the previous Saturday Night Live star. The session was engineered by Bill Ahearn and Ben Bishop.

Alyssa Milano Talks Touch at Tapeworks

We recently had the pleasure of working with celebrity actress Alyssa Milano on a project for her women's clothing brand Touch. Although the session was here at Tapeworks, Alyssa wasn't. In fact, she wasn't even on the east cost!

Best known for her work on the television program Charmed, Alyssa Milano recorded a voiceover via ISDN for an online boutique that carries her brand. She was able to record from a studio in the San Fernando Valley while the audio was digitally streamed into Tapeworks. We helped her produce a fun and informative voiceover which included information about the featured clothing as well as the Touch brand itself.

Alyssa was recorded by Bill Ahearn, the chief engineer at Tapeworks in Hartford.

Brass, bass and sonic boom

The studio was really flying high last week when the Screamin' Eagles, an 18 piece big band, recorded their third CD, Breaking the Sound Barrier, at Tapeworks, Inc.

Structures Engineer at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, band manager and bass player, Chuck Gendrich explained, "All our musicians have day jobs at United Technologies. We do this as stress relief and we do this because it's fun. The only pro in the group is our music director, Topher Logan who is also Director of the Community School of the Arts at the University of Connecticut."

Topher added, "The Tapeworks staff is super helpful. They anticipate the needs of a big ensemble making the process smooth and effective. And chief engineer, Bill Ahearn, has a great set of ears!"

Chuck went on to say that, "Recording forces us to get better and we are a not-for-profit so sales of the new album help underwrite our operating expenses. Tapeworks makes it all work for us."

The band plays at private functions and charity events. Recent gigs include; Veteran's Day at Pratt & Whitney, Bradley Family Day and the Hartford Hospital Cancer Center.

We're not above simple . . .

Perhaps the highest form of giving is to donate anonymously to those you will never know.

Last week Tapeworks, Inc. had the privilege of building a series of very simple, but powerful radio spots, directed by Eric Cavoli of Lang & Durham.

For the last three years the Dalio Family Foundation has been funding a campaign to raise our aspirations at holiday time. In this series of radio spots the compelling voice of Sam Mercurio encourages us to redefine the spirit of giving at Christmas. Rather than buying gifts that will soon be forgotten or discarded, we can make better use of our money by donating to worthy causes in the names of our friends and loved ones.

As Doug Kupper, owner of Tapeworks commented, "Sure, its fun to create a complex production but sometimes when you have such a powerful message, the simple route is the best. Tapeworks is privileged to contribute to such an honorable endeavor."

So check out www.redefinechristmas.org and redefine your Christmas.

Disney Makes Yet another Splash at Tapeworks

We had a lot of laughs and learning at Tapeworks recording studio today with Ernie Sabella, a Simsbury, CT resident and the voice of Pumba from the Disney feature film, The Lion King. We recorded a new episode in the Disney children’s Safety Smart series; "Safety Smart in the Water" by Douglas Segal.

Water Safety issues; including the importance of sun screen, the dangers of thunder and lightning and AFR (accidental fecal release – uhg!) were all covered sensitively, humorously and musically.

Ernie was directed via phone patch by the Disney team in Burbank, CA, while being recorded by Bill Ahearn, chief engineer, here at Tapeworks in Hartford.

Politics Just Won't Wait

The phone rang at 11:10 AM. "Hi! I am calling from the Hamburger Company, an agency in D.C. and we need to get the Connecticut Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal into a studio to record a radio spot on Question 1. Do you folks do that sort of thing?"

At Tapeworks the answer of course is yes.

"When do you want to do this?"

"Well the Attorney General is available for an hour this afternoon and we want it on the air tomorrow."

"Okay, let me call you back in 10 minutes."

We were able to juggle things and schedule AG Blumenthal's session for a few hours later, so the agency sent the script via email. Our engineer, Tony Thomas, set up a phone patch with the agency so they could direct the reading from D.C.. At 2 PM the AG drove the 5 minutes from the Capitol to our studio.

He spent half an hour recording and listening to a number of takes of the spot in both English and Spanish. We cleaned up the recording and delivered the final cut by FTP site before 3 PM the same day.

Responsive and professional. When the need is critical, Tapeworks delivers.