Today we are recording two tracks with local, up-and-coming Indy rock group, “The Blank Slates.” (Troy Lawton is lead engineering, with Jonathon Wong as assistant engineer.  All of the interns have been helping out this week and rotating responsibilities.) Featuring Andrea Iacopini on guitar and vocals, they produce a high-intensity, earthy nuance with a forward drive. According to Andrea, “The Blank Slates” is a “concept of ever-changing sound, where each song has space to develop into its own without allowing the band itself to be easily categorized.”

Andrea was joined by drummer Cochrane McMillan in January of this year, with bassist Martin Fowler adding to the mix later that month. Not only are they solid musicians, but their tracks are chock full of well-blended harmonies and tight fills.

In “My Only Regret,” Cochrane takes the lead on drums and has been playing solid all day, with Turkish hand-hammered cymbals adding nice texture and shimmer.  Martin has a solid ear in this tune with dead-on rhythm and innovative fills. Andrea is a natural songwriter, and struck gold with his addictive opening guitar and bass lines.

www.myspace.com/theblankslates

The goal of today’s session is to create the majority of a demo for distribution to local radio stations.

Good energy, good times, good clean fun.

-Emily Hendricks

Christopher Willits was the featured artist in the studio today, and was accompanied on the Drums by Gabriel Coan, a very experienced and versatile drummer. Chris has released several albums through his labels 12K, and Ghostly International. After observing him in the studio and hearing his music I would categorize his style as Experimental Pop. Although Chris is mainly a guitarist, he incorporates other instruments and noise to create the perfect sound. He uses unique computer processing to disguise and color the sound of the guitar but still keeps the rhythmic structure. Some say Chris has truly redefined the sound a guitar can make!

Today Chris created 2 new tracks, on the 1st track, he played a single note for 7 minutes straight, and layered it at least 4 times to create a variety of harmonic tones. Gabriel Coan joined us for the afternoon to contribute to Chris’s second piece. Chris and Gabriel have collaborated several times in the past and today, continue share their musical ideas. When Gabriel arrived, he had no idea what the track sounded like, and basically free-styled his performance. It totally blew me away!

Until recently, Gabriel was part of a San Francisco based band by the name of Continental, that’s been around since 1998. According to U-Dot Music, “Continental has a reputation for making smart, cinematic music.” I look forward to some of the new projects that Gabriel is working on.

For more information about Christopher Willits and Gabriel Coan, checkout:

www.christopherwillits.com
www.myspace.com/christopherwillits

www.myspace.com/goodadvices

If you would like to hear some of the stuff we’ve created today, the 1st track - THE TONE MONSTER! will be added to our compilation CD of all the artists who recorded at Sound Arts during Sponsorship week and the 2nd track will be featured in his upcoming album through 12K and Ghostly international.

- Priscilla Fallas

Today, a local group called 60 Watt Kid came to the studio and layed down 2 tracks, complete with ill synthesizers, vocals, drums, and an eerie, futuristic echo. During the process of recording, I observed how 60 Watt Kid mixed together different sounds to create original music in the psychedelic pop field. This group is popular for their unique sound and, as an intern here at Sound Arts, I enjoyed watching the engineers and artists work together using ProTools, and adding the different layers to complete the first track. They are about to begin tracking their second song, which will be recorded live. These tracks will be included in the Sound Arts compilation and, if they are happy with the outcome, they will be included in their upcoming album through Absolutely Kosher Records.

- Roberto Flores

TAKING OVER

The first Sound Arts effect pedal workshop was amazing. Lots of fun and very productive. In two days we were able to make from scratch a 808 Tube Screamer replica, and if I do say so myself, sounds way better than the store bought version (more dynamic range in tone, plus two mods; one for saturation of low end, capacitor bypass and the second, for symmetrical or asymmetrical clipping). Matt Von Ohlen and Sarah Bernat built, painted, decaled, tested and rocked the pedals. From start to finish this was an amazing weekend. I’m looking forward to all of the up coming electronics workshops at Sound Arts.

808 Tube Screamer with modifications

soldering the pedals

Sarah mapping out the enclosure

Matt testing and tweaking his new pedal

Finished pedals Day two

Here are some of my homebrewed pedals, and a four channel mixer.
Theres a big muff, a fuzz face, a tube screamer, an old transistor radio effect, and two compressors. The roud compressor is a replica Dynacomp and the orange one is a replica orange squeezer.

The Bay Area Video Coalition website has been fully redesigned. The new site features better navigation and descriptive articles about the variety of programs and opportunities that BAVC offers. One of the featured youth programs that will be conducted over the next 3 months is Elements.

Elements is a digital media training program for at-risk young people and ex-offenders ages 18 – 23. Funded by the California Employment Training Panel, the program provides 150 hours of industry-standard training in one of three training tracks – Web and Video, Audio and Multimedia, and Drafting and Design - as well as an additional 150 hours of job skills development and career counseling. The program engages students full-time, Monday through Thursday, from 9am to 5pm for three months. Upon successful completion of the program, students are given job placement assistance.

In cycle 2, different from the first cycle, Artist/Musician, Zack Vieira will be the focus of the group portfolio. Zack has recorded with Sound Arts and will continue the development of his debut solo release. The talented and eager students will team up and use Zack as their “client” and with their new skill-sets create and package a portfolio of Zack’s work. This will include designs for CD packaging, flyers, a mini documentary, and a website design and build with sounds, flash, songs and videos. Shortly after the completion of the portfolio, Zack will be releasing an EP and will later be featured in the Sound Arts Breakup Compilation.

Interested in applying to participate in the Elements Program?
Download the application for cycle 3.

Saturday, July 19, 2008
Ex’pression College for Digital Arts
Emeryville, CA

The National Association of Record Industry Professionals, will be hosting a panel about how to promote and make money from songs. This session will include live song critiques and a special breakout section on legal aspects of song collaborations, licensing and self-publishing. This is a great opportunity to get a crash course in the music business and develop the tools you’ll need to market your songs to labels, businesses, online vendors and individuals.

“NARIP’s July 19 program on this topic will take an in-depth look at the A&R process and provide insight into how to commercially exploit songs, perform many functions of a publisher, and secure and capitalize on licensing opportunities.”

Check it out!