We had an amazing time working on Jared Saltiel’s latest album, The Light Within, and now we’re proud to say it’s wrapped up and ready for release. It’s an album of “magical realist” songs weaving layered instrumentals with “elaborate orchstrations and clever, Beatles-esque production” and features musical contributions from a talented lineup of players, including Max Moston, Rob Moose, Olivier Manchon, Clark Gayton and Rich Hinman. The album was engineered by Ken Rich and Tomek Miernowski, mixed by Rich, and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.
The release party will be held Tuesday, May 14th at Littlefield in Brooklyn where a 12-piece band and a world-class string quartet will play the album from start to finish.
Allison Miller’s quartet, Boom Tic Boom, has just released this latest album titled No Morphine, No Lilies. A handful of the drums and other overdubs were recorded at Grand Street by our very own Ken Rich and Tomek Miernowski. We feel really lucky and honored that Allison chose GSR to record, and we’re stoked about how everything turned out. The album features pianist Myra Melford, bassist Todd Sickafoose, violinist Jenny Scheinman and other guests.
You can check out the album on the web for a special presale here. And there’s also this ASCAP preview/interview with Allison Miller, playing some songs off the new album with Allison talking a little bit about the inspiration for the album here.
GSR | Recording Studios Brooklyn New York » Allison Miller
Amanda Brown (The Voice) asked fans what they would like to see her cover, and Heart’s “Alone” won the crowd-source competition. The music was tracked, mixed, and the video was shot at Grand Street all in one day. Below is the final result – and be sure to hit the HD resolution for the full effect!
GSR | Recording Studio Brooklyn New York » Amanda Brown Video
As everyone eases into the New Year, we’re thankful to say we’ve managed to stay busy at Grand Street Recording – and we’re very excited about some of our most recent projects!
With an already ambitious schedule, they ended up tracking 13 songs in a blistering day and a half! The band features explosive drums from Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls, Nine Inch Nails) and rock solid, crunching from Jason Binnick (Botanica) and in most instances, we kept the first take. By the end of 5 days we had completed basics, all percussion overdubs, lead vocals and most guitars – look out for this one – it’s a beast!
In gear related news, we’ve added a matched pair of Coles 4038 Ribbon Mics, a Placid Audio Copperphone, 1965 Ampeg Reverberocket II, and have an amazing Danelectro Series D amp from the 50′s on loan from our good friend and tech John Charette.We’ve also expanded our studio to include a “B Room” Pro Tools rig that can be used for light tracking/overdubs and editing. We’re running PT 10 with an Apogee Duet 2 and can offer clients last minute time slots at a significantly reduced rate (50% off!) while still offering access to our extensive mic and amp collection.Well, that’s it for now – stay warm!
Ryan Lott, aka Son Lux (member of S / S / S with Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti) brought in the Punch Brothers to record for his upcoming album. We’re thrilled to have such tremendously talented artists recording music with us. Record on.
Son Lux & Punch Bros.
A few of Grand Street’s older microphones rocking the low end on our vintage Rogers 1964 Holiday kit. Getting great sounds on some upcoming recordings for Toby Singer.
Chris Kuffner (Regina Spektor), Elliot Jacobson (Ingrid Michaelson) and Lelia Broussard (The Voice) stopped by to track drums, vibraphone and toy piano last week for an upcoming project with Broussard and Kuffner. Brilliant musicians and people all-round, and a really fun session to have come our way.
The fall season is officially here. Check out some of the sessions that have been going on here at Grand Street to ring in the new season…
Charlene Kaye’s video of Animal Love (acoustic style) in GSR’s live room is finished and up on YouTube. Produced and mixed by Tomek Miernowski. Tomek has also been working on Velta’s latest album which features TV On The Radio’sKyp Malone on backing vocals, as well as recording White Rabbit for their upcoming record and producing an new single with Theo Katzman.
Todd Carter came in to record songs out of the American songbook and rework them with a modern sound with Ken Rich at the helm. Features a killer rhythm section including Dan Rieser (Norah Jones), Chris Morissey (Ben Kweller), and John Andrews (Loudboy).
Amy Lennard just completed her latest album recorded and mixed by Ken Rich. It’s being mastered by Sterling Sound legend, Greg Calbi and will be out early next year. The musicians include…Andy Stack on guitars, Tony Tino (Gavin DeGraw) on Bass, Dan Vonneget on drums, Keith Cotton (Joan Osborne) on keys, Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel) on drums and percussion, and John Graboff (Willie Nelson) on pedal steel.
More to come from Bill Sims upcoming record of Bob Dylan tunes, which features a great lineup of New York players including…Ethan Eubanks (Teddy Thompson) on drums (who is also co-producing the album with Ken), Andy Hess (Gov’t Mule) on bass, and Brian Mitchell (Levon Helm) on keys.
Fall Sessions | GSR | Recording Studio Brooklyn New York
Check out Sonic Scoop’s monthly session buzz report with the latest of what’s been going on at Grand Street – bands, gear and what to keep an eye out for. This is a shot of the racks inside the control room here at Grand Street. In the center of the photo are the two newly acquired Mohog Audio MoFet76 Compressors, which are faithful reproductions of the classic vintage Urei 1176 compressors used in so many classic recordings.
The holy grail, vintage reverb Eventide SP-2016 has found its way into our racks. A predecessor of the H3000, its sonic footprint has made a lasting impression – a fine rarity.
Grand Street sessions going nicely, despite the heat. Here’s a few things that have been going on lately around the studio…
Bill Sims Sings Bob Dylan – Produced by Ken Rich & Ethan Eubanks, with Andy Hess on bass. Pictured on the left is Bill and Andy listening back in the control room.
Tomek Miernowski is producing Theo Katzman’s next EP (which features Dave Scalia on drums and Tomek on bass) along with Anna Krantz’s next EP featuring Adam Levy (guitar), Adam Christgau (drums) and Tomek laying down the bass and more guitars.
Grand Street’s latest session news posted in NY’s online recording studio blog. Check it out here, or read the blurb below that was posted to Sonic Scoop:
Also at Grand Street…Christian Gibbs’ (of Lucinda Black Bear) new band Motherwell Johnston recorded basics for their debut album with Ken Rich engineering and Jake Lummus assisting…Trumpet player Shareef Clayton (Stevie Wonder, The Roots, Wynton Marsalis) recorded basics for his upcoming album with Rich engineering and Bobby Mosier assisting…Rich is mixing the full-length debut by Sara Syms, which was recorded at Dreamland and features Andy Stack on electric guitar, Nick Africano on acoustic guitar, Brett Bass on bass, Spencer Cohen on drums, and Misty Boyce on keys…Williamsburg rockers, Velta completed a video for the song “Cheat On Me” which was recorded and mixed by Tomek Miernowski.”
Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY rockers Velta (Emily Long, Zach Jones and Derek Blauser) have been doing a bunch of work at GSR lately and have been creating some amazing videos. Definitely keep an eye on these guys!
Morley, who made her latest record, “Undivided,” at GSR, was featured on NPR this month. Ken Rich engineered and mixed, and Tomek Miernowski co-wrote “Love And Understanding,” the second track on the album.
Check out the feature here, or check out a snippet bel0w:
“I think in our culture [in America], it is not encouraged to stop and start again, and really start from the unknown,” Morley says. “I think we’re encouraged to buy something to feel better, or to fill ourselves with words or food or partnership, you know, that’s not serving us. It’s just — sometimes we just need to stop and actually grow again.”
Inspiring Change, Unity And Hope
“Women of Hope” For TEDwomen
Morley aims to inspire others through her song “Be the One.” The song is directly rooted in her work with teens from international conflict zones, including the Middle East, Northern Ireland and South Africa. The work is done through the program Face to Face/Faith to Faith, which flies participants to New York City for two weeklong workshops.
“We discuss issues of religious conflict, identity and their potential of being future peacemakers and present peacemakers in their community and in their countries,” says Morley. “And a lot of the kids are living in townships or in refugee camps. And then you also have very wealthy kids.”
She says the kids go from sitting in opposite ends of the lunchroom to having conversations and crushes, and then weeping when they must say goodbye.
“I got to really witness real courage, real humility. These kids have a willingness to open doors that have been boarded up long before they were born and look to see what’s possible behind those doors,” Morley says.
Hope is a strong theme in her new album. “The word ‘hope’ for me is always infused with action. My big inspiration for hope is the courage that I read about from people from all over the world, or that I see on a daily basis from the kids I get to work with. Hope is like compassion to me. It’s like possibility and living in possibility,” she says.
GSR | Recording Studio Brooklyn New York » NPR Features Morley
Allison Miller’s quartet, Boom Tic Boom, has just released this latest album titled No Morphine, No Lilies. A handful of the drums and other overdubs were recorded at Grand Street by our very own Ken Rich and Tomek Miernowski. We feel really lucky and honored that Allison chose GSR to record, and we’re stoked about how everything turned out. The album features pianist Myra Melford, bassist Todd Sickafoose, violinist Jenny Scheinman and other guests.
Bill Sims Sings Bob Dylan – Produced by Ken Rich & 
