It’s June 21st, the summer solstice. It’s so uncharacteristically hot in the Bay Area that I have shut down all my gear and am sequestered in my shady living room with an iced coffee.
My current studio lacks proper HVAC and gets unbearably hot on these rare scorchers. But that is all about to change! Permits are on the horizon, which means I’ll break ground on building my mastering studio by the end of the summer. The construction industry is notoriously complicated and costly around here, and it’s taken me nearly two years to get to this point. I am absolutely dreading the process of tearing down, packing up, and moving my studio to my temporary digs (which I’m thrilled to share with vinyl cutting engineer Anne Marie Suenram and film and audio preservationist Peter Conheim), only to have to do it in reverse in less than a year. But, when it’s done, it’s going to be beautiful, it’s going to sound amazing, it’s going to have proper HVAC, and it’s going to be mine all mine. I will do my best to document the process on my Instagram.
I love my job. Love it! And one of my favorite things about being a mastering and restoration engineer is the sheer breadth of recordings and sounds and media types that come through my studio. In addition to digitizing open reel tapes and cassettes for the Arhoolie Foundation, for the 924 Gilman archives, and for radio producers the Kitchen Sisters, I’ve gotten to master so much amazing music lately. A few choice projects:
Lalin St. Juste’s Vertulie is a haunting sonic exploration of identity and memory, recorded and mixed at Women’s Audio Mission and mastered by me.
Lollise’s Unborn bridges Afro-Futurism and synth-pop and will for sure get you on your feet. Mixed by Morgan Greenstreet and mastered by me. I highly recommend you all watch her video for The Booty.
French double bassist and composer Florent Ghys released two albums of post-minimalist electro-chamber music (I really don’t know how else to describe it!) - Ritournelle and Mosaïques. Check out this gorgeous video for Lisboa.
The handsome and talented Davey Harris released a video for So Predictable and dropped a catchy single - Penguin Dance - in support of penguin conservation efforts. That song should really be a TikTok viral dance sensation.
Brooklyn-based indie pop singer songwriter Dru Cutler’s luscious single Vibrate also got the video treatment.
Nothing gives me greater joy than developing a long and fruitful working relationship with musicians. I first mastered Mylo Choy Sutton’s music back in 2017, and it was a total pleasure to work on their new music Summer Project (Part 1), which was released in June. This one was produced and recorded by Mylo and another longtime friend and colleague, Matt Werden, who also mixed it.
I have to wrap this up and get ready for a board meeting. After serving as President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Recording Academy for the past two years, I’m gratefully taking a step back and will continue to serve in the role of Governor. Lots of work to be done! Happy Summer, y’all!