SoundWorks Collection

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Engineer/Producer Jay Messina May 15, 2015

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This week we spoke with our good friend Jay Messina who is a world-class engineer/producer based in New York city and has worked on such classic albums by Aerosmith, Kiss, Miles Davis, Supertramp, Patti Smith, Slash, Yoko Ono, and Cheap Trick, to name a few.

we met up with Jay in his upper west side home to talk about his early beginnings working at A&R Studios and the Record Plant where he served as chief engineer for 15 years. Jay was consistently busy recording albums and stayed with Record Plant until he left in 1987. He’s since embarked on a very successful freelance career and In 2005 Jay opened his own studio, West End Sound, where he mixes and masters national and international projects today.

House of Cards - Beau Willimon & Composer Jeff Beal May 07, 2015

Show notes

This week we spoke with show-runner and writer Beau Willimon and Composer Jeff Beal about their collaboration on the hit Netflix show House of Cards.

Set in present-day Washington, D.C., House of Cards is the story of Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), a Democrat from South Carolina's 5th congressional district and House Majority Whip who, after being passed over for appointment as Secretary of State, initiates an elaborate plan to get himself into a position of greater power, aided by his wife, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright). The series deals primarily with themes of ruthless pragmatism, manipulation and power.

In our conversation we discuss how Jeff and Beau work together to help support the tone and emotion of the show and break down some of their favorite scenes where music played an important role.

Composer Peter McConnell May 04, 2015

Show notes

Composer Peter McConnell has composed award-winning scores for a diverse range of video games including Broken Age, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, the Sly Cooper series, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Psychonauts, Brutal Legend and Grim Fandango. Before working independently, Peter composed in-house at LucasArts contributing to beloved franchises such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Monkey Island.

We also discussed one of the most acclaimed adventure games of all time, Grim Fandango which was recently Remastered by Double Fine Studios. The 1998 LucasArts classic was remastered to look, sound, and control even better than the award-winning original release.

Christopher Willitis Apr 09, 2015

Show notes

This week we spoke with Christopher Willitis, who is a bay are based electronic musician, teacher, composer, producer, photographer, filmmaker and guitar pioneer. His most recent album,Opening, was released on Ghostly International in September 2014.

Chris and a group of artists, coders, designers, musicians, thinkers, engineers, geeks, philanthropists, and entrepreneurs are opening a new intimate performance space housed within The Midway creative complex in San Francisco called Envelop., ENVELOP is a unique audio visual instrument for electronic artists, and a world-class venue for audiences to experience sound and light.

Michael Raphael and Rudy Trubbit - Lionel Train Recording Apr 06, 2015

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This week we spoke with sound recordist Michael Raphael from Rabbit Ears Audio and Rudy Trubbit who is the Director of Audio for Lionel Trains.

Rudy and Michael worked together on sourcing a new group of steam whistles for Lionel's new products. They traveled to North Carolina and recorded over 15 steam whistles which are incredibly challenging sounds to record because of the high amount of SPL, and lionel’s specific needs.

Although steam whistles emerged in the mid-19th century as a warning device, train whistles quickly became the rail industry’s iconic sound. Many railways even cast their own whistles, branding the sound of their particular train line.

Andy Summers - The Police Guitarist Mar 27, 2015

Show notes

This week we talk with Grammy Award® winning guitarist Andy Summers from The Police about his music documentary based on the memoir One Train Later, Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police tells of the rise of The Police.

During the band’s phenomenal rise and its dissolution at the height of their popularity in the mid-80s, Summers captured history with his candid photographs.

Utilizing rare archival footage and insights from the guitarist’s side of the stage, Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police brings together past and present as the band members reunite, more than two decades later, for a global reunion tour in 2007.

Composer Mac Quayle Mar 26, 2015

Show notes

This week we spoke with Composer Mac Quayle. Mac has written music for over 30 films and television shows and accumulated a long list of credits as a music producer, dance remixer and multi-instrumentalist.

As a composer his music was most recently heard in the hit FX series American Horror Story: Freak Show as well as in a diverse list of feature films and documentaries including Autism in Love which premieres at this years Tribeca Film Festival and is featured in this interview. Some of his collaborations as an additional composer with Composer Cliff Martinez appear in such movies as Drive, Contagion, Spring Breakers, The Normal Heart and in the television series Cold Case.

Production Sound Mixer Stephen Tibbo Mar 25, 2015

Show notes

This week we spoke with production sound mixer and re-recording mixer Stephen Tibbo.

Stephen is the winner of two Emmy Awards and three CAS awards for "Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing." through his association with the hit television series Modern Family. Stephen is also an accomplished sound re-recording mixer who has worked on dozens of webisodes, short and independent films such as The Quest, Fear Clinic, Contracted and many others.

We discussed what it has been like to work on more than 130 episodes of Modern Family and the creative and technical challenges to capturing clean tracks while keeping up with the large ensemble cast.

Composer Penka Kouneva Mar 17, 2015

Show notes

This week we spoke with Composer Penka Kouneva at this years Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Penka started her career working alongside Composer Steve Jablonsky, where she composed additional score for game titles such including Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Penka's music, which has been called "haunting and passionate," is a blend of her Eastern European heritage, classical training and media scoring.

Penka has also worked as an orchestrator and composer on titles grossing $15 billion worldwide: films - Matrix, Transformers, Pirates, Elysium, Ender's Game; and video games such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Gears of War 2 & 3, Sims 3, Diablo III, Need for Speed, and Dragon Age II.

Finishing Move Inc. Feb 26, 2015

Show notes

This week we spoke with Finishing Move Inc. who is Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White, two friends and collaborators who recently worked on some incredible video game music projects including Halo: Master Chief Collection for Microsoft, Massive Chalice for Double Fine games, Borderlands 1 and 2, and the Assassin Creed series.

We talk about the incredible success they have had since forming their company just over two years ago and how they continue to navigate the task of managing large budget video game scores and forming their own opinions and choices about their musical compositions. I hope you enjoy!

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