EMEFE Live At MetroSonic on February 7th

This month at MetroSonic we put on another fantastic Live At MetroSonic Event! The crowd came out for what was possibly the best mix of New York City Independent artist that we can dream up.

Comedian Myq Kaplan was the host for the night. Kaplan, who is well known from his time as a standout on the 7th season of the hit TV competition “Last Comic Standing” and his own “Comedy Central Presents” special, warmed up the crowd with some friendly interactions, personal “ghost stories”, and a free english lesson as he taught us all fun haikus.

Along with keeping the crowd happy in between sets we had 81Neutronz here playing his blend of Hip-Hop and Dance Music. Nick “81Neutronz” Low-Beer is based right here in New York City. As a composer, Nick has been credited for his contribution to the track that became “Cinderella Man” on Eminem’s Grammy Award winning album “Recovery”.

 

Our first musical artist for the night was Smoota, A singer/trombone player from Boston, MA that has drawn his inspiration from Sly Stone, Parliament/Funkadelic, and the treatment of sex that he has found in movies and books. His sensual presence on stage absolutely melted the crowd and got them ready for the Main Event.

 

Our Headliner for the night was an Afrobeat band from New York City named EMEFE. Lead by Miles Arntzen, a 22 year old drummer, singer, and composer, EMEFE who is comprised of 11 members tore the roof of the MetroSonic Show-Room with their dance worthy instrumentals backed by great gang vocals. Our audience were truly in love with their music, seeing to how not one person was still for their entire hour + long set.

Check out our blog here for the COMPLETE article AND OUR FIRST HD VIDEO from this night!

Live@MetroSonic Presents - DAMEHT - "I Love You Too"

Watch NYC Punk Rock band DAMEHT's 11/15/13 performance of "I Love You, Too" taken live from the MetroSonic Show-Room in Brooklyn NY! (presented in HD)

Making Waves in Electronic Music: Dan Berg Speaks On His Upcoming Compilation Album and More

Daniel Berg stopped by the studio to work on some new material this week!  I sat down with the “Fireberg” producer who, originally from Philadelphia, moved to Brooklyn in 2009. About a year later he started working under the pseudonym “Fireberg” in which he produces electronic music and loops for live performances.

Dan is putting the finishing touches on a compilation EP made up of plethora of songs recorded over the past three years. If you had to give the album a concept, Dan says,” The concept would be without a voice”, and for the simple fact that the album has no recorded vocals.  Where Dan lacks in vocals, he makes up for in varying samples of old school informational videos telling you things you should already know like not to do drugs or stay in school. Throw a couple vinyl samples, hip-hop influences, and an understanding of the different components of jazz into the mix and you have the self-proclaimed “Eclectronic” style of music Dan loves to make.

To read the full article click here!

DAMEHT - Make It Hurt - Live @ MetroSonic Nov 15, 2013

Marina Rosenfeld Makes Boomkat’s Top 100

Congratulations to Marina Rosenfeld for making it to the top 20 of Boomkat’s Top 100 albums of 2013 list with her album “P.A./Hard Love”!

Marina Rosenfeld is a talented composer from New York City, who blends Art and Music for a experimental blend. Marina Rosenfeld, along side of virtuoso cellist Okkyung Lee and Warrior Queen collaborate sounds that should not mix but find away to be a very surreal collision of sound that will entice the listener for more.

Boomkat describes the album as, “The inter-dimensional blend of Warrior Queen’s vocals and Okkyung Lee’s cello infused, electro-acoustic scapes draped by the intense frequency modulations of Rosenfeld really sounds unlike anything you’ll have heard before: it’s sort of like Rashad Becker, Kode 9, Ryoji Ikeda, The Bug and Laurie Anderson all playing at once, somehow sounding cohesive and startling all at once. Adapted from a series of quasi-sculptural sound system installations, ‘P.A. / Hard Love’ unfolds around morphing location recordings with unstable acoustic parameters in electronic sound fields strafed with eerie sci-fi tones and complex synthesizer patterns. Warrior Queen sounds like she was dialed in as a mischievous AI presence; something like a character in the latter chapters of Necromancer, singing and spitting amidst the laser zaps and gyroscopic diffusions.”

They continued, “Most crucial to the record’s appeal, though, is that constantly morphing patina of electro-acoustic flux; like the scramble suit in Philip K Dick’s ‘A Scanner Darkly’, perpetually shifting and realigning your ear’s focus between the peripheries and the foreground with something approaching a slow, controlled, cybernetic psychedelia. Quite simply, it’s a stunning and highly idiosyncratic record, one that sucks you in deeper with every repeated listen.”

Metrosonic Recording Studio had the pleasure of Mastering Marina Rosenfeld’s album and we are proud to see how far her work has come! Check out the track “Hard Love” below and for more of Boomkat’s Top 100 Albums of 2013 click here!

DAMEHT Live@MetroSonic 11/15/13

The entire DAMEHT performance from the Metrosonic Showroom – Video originally broadcast and recorded live on November 15th, 2013:

Here’s some pics from Live@MetroSonic music series!

All photos courtesy of  Clay Patrick McBride.

For more photos click this link

Pete’s November 15th article in Glide is out now!

Aziza & the Cure’s Debut Album Release Looms Near

As the AES (Audio Engineering Society) convention was just in NYC I had intended to offer a brief overview on some highlights.  I usually look forward to the event where I get to catch up with people only spoken with on the phone most of the year.  Walking into the show & learning the unfortunate news of Michael Spitz’s passing away on October 12^th understandably & unquestionably dampened my enthusiasm that day.  I decided to abandon my plans & just go home & be with my family.  Mike was one of the many “behind the scenes” people most never knew, but who’s technical work for Ampex & later ATR services touched upon countless creative projects.  If you ever recorded an album on tape, his work likely touched yours.   Mike was an invaluable source of knowledge, a true mentor.  He will be greatly missed.

Michael Spitz

In my last article we left off discussing how artists today have so many more options available to them for producing a music project.   The question is, can you be honest with yourself (or bandmates) about which activities you need to outsource and which ones you not only want to do yourself but are actually skilled to do on your own.   Here is some insight into what some of the musicians I’ve been working with lately have to say on the subject.

Aziza & the Cure is a Symphonic Soul Pop duo based in NYC & devoted to happiness, health, and good music. They compose and arrange all the music that their duo/band performs.  They outsourced the production and recording of their Kickstarter video to Artem Agafonov, an experienced and sought after videographer who’s work they enjoyed and were familiar with. Though the band has sample tracks and an EP that they recorded, mixed and mastered on their own, they decided to enlist the skills of MetroSonic for the recording, mixing, and mastering of their debut album. They also contracted additional musicians to perform and record in the studio. The design they wanted for their album artwork required a professional in the line of photography, Ben Zank, an up and coming photographer who’s work the group greatly admired. But when it comes to marketing and promoting their new album, the band is still weighing their options.

Aziza and the Cure

 Currently, we are debating whether we should outsource for the marketing and sales of the album. While we are willing to cultivate our marketing and sales experience, the Dec. 12th release deadline we have set for ourselves has forced us to consider combining our efforts with a publicist, promoter, and/or marketing team. We believe in the power of sound to soothe, empower, and enrich our lives. While we take pride in doing all we can ourselves, we realize that outsourcing for specific services and unique skill sets is at times the best choice.” -  Violinist Joelle Britt and guitarist Bradley Rouen

And this brings up an important factor for weighing whether or not to hire a professional. Beyond just knowing that they need a marketing campaign, Aziza & the Cure also feel that there isn’t enough time for them to learn how to properly manage their own marketing with a looming deadline. Given time, surely they would learn how to effectively launch a campaign and reach levels of success. And this isn’t to say that with future albums theywon’t decide to develop and manage all or a significant portion of their own marketing on their own.

A music campaign with tight timelines though is not the time for trial and error – especially if you are not experienced or don’t have the proper contacts to reach your target audience. Sometimes the window of opportunity for releasing new music is very small. Often enough, this is because the quantity of new music that is released each week happens so rapidly and on such a large scale that without the right marketing behind it, a new song can get lost against all the other music that’s either already on the market or better promoted for an upcoming release.

This would be a situation where an artist would be better served to outsource or hire a professional to manage specific tasks (i.e. PR blasts, radio outreach, etc.) especially if that person has strong contacts and can make a meaningful impact. Of course, the band can continue to market and promote directly through their existing social media outlets by themselves as this comes across as more authentic anyway. But for high priority outreach, it makes absolute sense for them to hire someone experienced in marketing and promoting music.

Aziza & the Cure seem to be very adept at understanding exactly which tasks are best managed in house and which ones should be outsourced to professionals. So, I’m very confident that we’ll be hearing more from this band as time goes on.

The Biz is a Glide column by guest columnist Pete Mignola, who is the owner and chief engineer of MetroSonic Studios which is located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  MetroSonic Studios is a world renowned fully analog & digital studio where major & independent labels have recorded & produced, ranging from EMI, Island/Def Jam, Chromeo, Flight of the Conchords and ABC TV. Mignolia opened the studio in 1991 and is still successfully managing & operating it. In addition to this, Pete is also an artist and has a full understanding of what’s necessary to take a music career to the next level..Originally published in Glide Magazine:
http://www.glidemagazine.com/41836/aziza-the-cures-debut-album-release-looms-nears/