Welcome Linda Spevacek

This afternoon Dan was on-location in Tempe recording a "Talent Day" performance by students of vocal coach Linda Spevacek.

This was the first test run of our new recording rig featuring our Millennia Media HV3D-8 Microphone Pre-Amplifiers, Mytek Digital 8x192 ADDA converters, Nuendo 3.2 and our new Tascam DV-RA1000HD. The new setup sounds amazing and will allow us to make even better recordings for our clientele.

Recording and WebCast with American Bach

Today Dan and the team were on-location at All Saints Episcopal Church in Phoenix, Arizona for American Bach's annual Good Friday performance. This year’s performance featured The Passion According to St. Matthew under the direction of Scott Youngs.

This year we took on the added roll of webcasting the entire performance. While this was mostly an experiment to see if anyone would watch, it was received with great success as we had a consistent audience of about 50 viewers, some from as far as England!!!!!! With any luck next year we will be able to expand the service and provide multiple cameras and a higer quality audio feed to the viewing audience.

www.americanback.com

The Sustainable Symphony at the Phoenix Zoo

This afternoon Dan was on-location at the Phoenix Zoo recording the primere performance of The Sustainable Symphony under the direction of Brian Viliunas.

The performances started off in the early afternoon with various musicians performing for Zoo patrons and animals all around the park. Then with a trailing audience the 40 musicians performed Beethovens Symohony N0. 1 in C Major, Op. 21 and Brahms Symohony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68.

The Sustainable Symphony's Preview Concert

Today Dan was in Tempe, Arizona recording the newly formed Sustainable Symphony under the direction of Mr. Brian Viliunas. While today’s performance was just a scaled down preview, it looks like there are great things to come from this ensemble.

The audience of about 25 enjoyed a performance of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring in its original version for 13 instrumentalists.

The Sustainable Symphony’s next performance will be Sunday March 29th at The Phoenix Zoo and will feature Beethoven’s 1st and Brahms 1st Symphonies.

www.sustainablesymphony.org

Jimmy Jones Organ performance for Arizona MusicFest

Today Dan and Michael Fisher were on-location at Pinnacle Peak Presbyterian Church capturing the wonderful organ sounds of Mr. Jones. While some works featured Jimmy on his own, other works were acompanied by voice, brass, violin, percussion and classical guitar.

This recording should be heard soon on Phoenix's own KBAQ.

Dobson Bands premieres a new work my Michael Markowski

This evening, Dan, Mike and Mike....were all at Dobson High School. Neither Dobson or Mike are strangers to our blog, both are regulars and contribute greatly to Mouse Recordings successes.

The evening featured performances by the Dobson Percussion Ensemble and Symphonic Band.

The evening featured a typicaly wonderful performance with a special twist. The Dobson Symphonic Band gave the World Premiere Recording of Michael Markowski's Memento a ghostly slow composition with dynamics to wake the dead.

Check out www.michaelmarkowski.com/blog for a video and sample.

Dobson Concert Bands Begin

This evening, Mike was on location at Dobson High School recording their first program of the season featureing, Persussion, Jazz and Concert Band ensembles.

Arizona School for the Arts

This afternoon Dan was on-location at the Arizona School for the Arts recording their girls choir for their end of year CD. Once again Craig Westendorf has out done himself and exceded our expectations for what a high school choir can acomplish.

Dobson Orchestras

This evening, Dan was on-location at Dobson High School with the Dobson Orchestras as they performed their last concert of the season.

Cinco with The Neoprimative at Tempe Marketplace

Today Dan was on location at the Tempe Market Place with the Neoprimative capturing the entire ensemble across 28 tracks as they performed for a festive Cinco de Mayo crowd.

This was a significant show in that it was the last performance with their Brazilian front man Jamie since he heads back to his home land later this month. Beyond this, the ensemble will take on a new form as the band continues to evolve.

New Composition and ASU

This afternoon Dan spent a couple hours on-location with ASU's Wind Band as they performed Michael Markowskis new work Turkey in the Straw.

It is easy to see why ASU's wind band is considered one of the best in the country. The first read was a little sketchy, but the second read was solid and within 30 minutes we had some great takes that we will edit together. This recording will be used by Manhattan Beach Publishing to demo the work so directors can hear the complete work.

Dobsons Sounds of Spring

This evening Dan was back at Dobson High School with their Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra and Full Symphony Orchestra capturing Sounds of Spring II. The ensembles performed amazingly as expected and we were able to capture some amazing audio.

First of two evenings with Dobson High School

This evening Dan was on-location at Dobson High School recording performances by the Percussion Ensemble, Concert orchestra, Concert Band and Wind Ensemble.

ASU and DHS share a stage

This evening Dan was on location at ASU’s Gammage Auditorium for a recording with The Dobson High School Symphonic Band and the ASU Wind Ensemble.

This was a memorable event from many perspectives. While we have made many recordings in the various facilities at ASU, this was the first time we have made a recording in Gammage. The room truly has a unique and desirable sound to it. At first we noticed the subtle sounds coming from the ensemble, the small details do not get lost as they do in most High School auditoriums. Also thanks to the acoustics, the room sounds very large and the ensemble can play at very high levels without driving the room too hard. It is a very nice balance.

Aside from our own experience, this made for a great experience for the Dobson Students to see what they have ahead of them at ASU, and for ASU students to see what a truly top notch High School Program is like. In fact Wayne Bailey was heard commenting on how he felt his ASU Wind Ensemble should open for Dobson……..

Bob Moody and Friends

Our old friend Bob Moody was the center of attention at this evening Music Fest Event. Tonight Bob along with a selection of friends entertained the Music Fest audience with a variety of musical numbers ranging from 70’s folk rock to Broadway cast numbers featuring as many as 8 performers at once.

DHS - A Fall Preview

This evening Dan was on-location at Dobson High School capturing the first performances of their concert band season. This season marks our 5th year working with the Dobson performing arts and as always we have come to expect great things.

This event is particularly exciting as Dobson introduces a Jazz program to their already acclaimed programs. Under the direction of Jon Gomez, the Jazz band gave an impressive opening show. Stay on the lookout; you will certainly hear more about this program in the future.

This evening’s performances also featured the Dobson Concert Band, Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Concert Bands.

Yet another exciting year awaits, if you have the opportunity, check them out:

http://www.dobsonmusic.com/

DHS Final Concert...part 1

This evening Dan was on-location at Dobson High School capturing the first part of their final concerts for the year.

This evening featured Dobsons Concert Band and Percussion Ensemble.

The evening was as any would come to expect from Dobson, simply wonderful. ASU professor J.B. Smith even stoped in as a guest performer

Chaton goes Mobile?

Today Dan was on-location at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, to provide Chaton Studio owner Otto with equipment and support for an acoustic piano project.

Pianist Pnina B. Becher tracked works by Chopin, Debussy, and others for her upcomming CD.

Amazingly, she was able to perform at a skill level not atainable by many.....and she did it for 4 hours. Not an easy or even heard of task. Most musicians tend to wear thin after a significant amount of playing, Pnina on the other hand, seemed as if she were just warming up.

http://www.aviv2.com/pnina/

All Saints Recording

This morning Dan was on-locationa at All Saints capturing a few short works for their upcomming CD project. Dan will meet with Scott youngs this next week to edit and get tracks ready for mastering.

Dobson Percussion, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensembles

This evening Dan was on location at Dobson High School for a life recording of three of their ensembles. Percussion Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble were featured as a prelude to the Band of America send off concert this coming Thursday.

This evening is also the first opportunity that Mouse recording has had to use our new Apogee analog to digital converters.

This evening’s setup uses our Royer SF-24 Stereo Ribbon Microphone and our True Systems P2 analog Microphone Pre-Amplifier. From there one set of analog out puts is taken to a Tascam CD-RW2000 CD Recorder. The Second analog output from the Pre-Amp was taken to our new Apogee AD-16x, and then the signal was sent digitally to another Tascam CD-RW2000.

The differences are simply amazing. The Tascam recorders do a wonderful job on their own, with the addition of the new converters; the sound they are recording is much more open and lively.

Once our new site is up, we will post some examples of the music recorded.

Craig Johnson Audition Material

Today Mike spent the morning recording with Dobson High School Tuba player Craig Johnson as he performed materail for his ASU audition.

Along with the video, Mike also edited and prepared a DVD video that demonstrated Craig teaching to younger Junior High Students.

Dobson Welcomes Jr High Schools

This evening Michael Markowski was on-location at Dobson High School to provide production support and recording services for the Annual Dobson High School Step-up concert.

The evening featured performances from the Rhodes Jr. High and Hendrix Jr. High Concert Bands as well as an ending performance by Dobson’s own Symphonic Concert Band.

The evening also included a 10 minute video we assembled showcasing moments from Dobson’s 2004 Bands of America performance and last years 25th Anniversary performances.

Dobson Orchestras take the stage

This evening, Dan was on-location at Dobson High School to capture the sounds of their Orchestras first performances of the season. Under the direction of Rob Nichols the ensembles are already demonstrating competence not seen my most ensembles until later in the performance season.

As posted earlier, the Dobson Symphonic Orchestra had accepted an invitation to perform at Music for All, also known as Orchestras of America. For this prestigious honor, the ensemble will travel in tandem with the Dobson Symphonic Band to perform in February 2007 at the National Concert Band Festival.

Great things are always happening….. in the words of Rob Nichols "I tuned them......"

www.dobsonmusic.com

Dobsons Concert Bands are off to a great start

This evening, Dan was at Dobson High School recording a live performance of the three concert bands.

Under the direction of Jon Gomez and Rob Lubbers, the ensembles performed many works that most ensembles do not attempt this early in the school year. Being that this is also the first performance of the year, it gives us a great preview of what is to come for the rest of the performance season.

While in some respects we feel like proud parents watching a child grow, they really do keep getting better with each new year, and they have the accomplishments and accolades to prove it.

Conan Over Dubs

http://www.conanmusical.com/

Today, Dan worked on overdubs with Mike, Ryan, Erik and Stephanie on the upcoming Conan Musical Project. As we continue on, the project is starting to sound better then I had expected. In any case it will defiantly be a-lot of fun to watch.

Stay tuned for more :)

Rhodes Choir Year in Review

For the past several years we have the great pleasure of working with the Rhodes Jr High School Orchestra. At the end of the performance season we spend a couple of hours recording music that the ensemble has performed through out the year.

This year, Michael Markowski took on the task of the recording project. It seemed only fitting, since he is an alum of the Rhodes Performing Atrs Department.

Every year I am amazed at how much the ensemble values this experience. It also gives me a great opportunity to hear what Dobson has coming it’s way.

Dobson Bands Celebrates 25 years of great music

On May 10th and 11th, Dobson Bands celebrated 25 years of historic music making.

For this event Dan and Mike brought a new level of production to the events. Not only did we capture the event in 5.1 surround, but we also captured it with 4 cameras and live video switching.

For the first time, the Dobson audience was able to watch the performances from a point of view not seen before. They were able to see the “behind the stage” laughter as the MC was making jokes. They were able to see the expressions on the director’s faces as they were conducting. This level of production created a much deeper experience for the audience and as the director of Orchestras, Rob Nichols put it, the audience was captivated. Even the younger audience that is normally….noisy was intrigued by the visual presentation.

The performance was mixed and edited and released on both CD and DVD.

Karl Schindler's Ghost Voices & Kendra D'Ercole's Wie Die Blatter des Herbstes Herabfallen

Tuesday Mike and Dan were at Paradise Community College to record works by composers Karl Schindler's & Kendra D'Ercole's.

The evening did have some interesting challenges to it, the first work, Schindler’s Ghost Voices: Songs from a Cemetery, used a choir in costume and a chamber ensemble in the orchestra pit. Unfortunately, the Paradise Community College Theater was not designed with me in mind so we had to get creative. Since there was a live audience, we were not able to place microphones in more traditional locations. Instead, we used the bi-directional ribbon microphones and had one side facing the choir, while the other was facing the chamber ensemble.

For D'Ercole's work, Wie Die Blatter des Herbstes Herabfallen, we had to reset, and accommodate a larger ensemble that was placed entirely on the stage.

Both works were enjoyable and received well by the audience.

A.B.O.D.A. Area Concert Band Festival Day Two

Today Dan and Mike were back at Mountin Point High School to capture the sounds from the ABODA Area Concert Festival. Here is the schedule of what should have happened:

Flowing Wells Wind Ensemble
Desert Vista Wind Ensemble
Mountain View - Marana Wind Ensemble
Sunnyside Wind Ensemble
Rio Rico Symphonic Band
Desert Vista Symphonic Band
Mesquite Wind Ensemble
Catalina Foothills Symphonic Band
Chandler Wind Ensemble
Flagstaff Concert Band
Coconino Symphonic Band
Catalina Foothills Wind Ensemble
Chandler Symphonic Band
Prescott Wind Ensemble
Barry Goldwater Wind Ensemble
Mountain Pointe Wind Ensemble

Now what actualy happened was rather different.











At about 11am or so the school went in to a lock down.....did you by any chance hear about the armed bank robery in Tempe.....well, the would be robbers made their way to the Awatukee neighborhoods and as a result all the schools in the area were locked down.....no one in or out....no lunch.....no even a bathroom.....

All in all the day had many successes, there were some wonderful ensembles and our host managed to keep things on track fairly well, with only about an hour overtime.

Following the event Mike and I met up for drinks with Jon Gomez Director of Bands for Dobson High School and Dan Schmidt, director of bands at NAU. It was a great enjoy some great conversation and laugh about the incidents from earlier in the day.

A.B.O.D.A. Area Concert Band Festival Day One

Today Dan and Mike were on site at Mountain Point High School in Awatukee recording for the A.B.O.D.A. area concert band festival.

The ensembles performing to day include:

Corona del Sol Symphonic Band I
Brophy/Xavier Honors Band
McClintock Symphonic Band
Corona del Sol Wind Ensemble
Maryvale Concert Band
Trevor G. Browne Concert Band
Sinagua Concert Band
Maryvale Wind Ensemble
Mountain Ridge Symphonic Winds
Mesquite Symphonic Winds
Mountain Pointe Symphonic Band
Mountain Ridge Wind Ensemble
Willow Canyon Concert Band
O'Connor Wind Ensemble
Shadow Mountain Symphonic Band
Red Mountain Honors Band
Gilbert Wind Ensemble

Despite an unschedule Fire Alarm the event went very smoothly. We started there about 7am and the last ensemble finished up at 7pm......18 Ensembles makes for a long day.

Musica Nova Returns......

Dan and Mike returned for another fix-up session with Musica Nova. After the project was mixed, mastered and submited, the desision was made to redo to sections of the 4th symphony, before it gets released.

Stay tuned....once we know of a release date, I will post it here.

Phoenix Symphony Performes Messiah, Part Two

This evening Dan and Mike were on-location at Camelback 7th Day Adventist Church in Scottsdale, Arizona capturing the second performance of The Phoenix Symphony’s Messiah performance. Through out December each year the ensemble under the direction of Robert Moody, takes their performance of Handel’s Messiah on the road for 10 performances around the entire valley. Performing to sold-out housed, night after night the ensemble receives well deserved standing accolades.

Now that we have two complete recordings from the ensembles favorite venues, we will now mix each individual performance for Mr. Moody to listen and evaluate. Once the best sections are selected we will takes the chosen selections from each performance and compile them to a final master recording.


Once the broadcast date has been determined, I will post it here.

Phoenix Symphony Performes Messiah, Part One

This evening Dan Malone and Michael Markowski were on-location at Velda Rose Church in Mesa recording a spectacular performance of Handel’s Messiah with The Phoenix Symphony Chamber Orchestra and Phoenix Symphony Choir. Under the direction of Bob Moody, the ensemble performed this legendary work in the baroque style. With a smaller ensemble, and a 65 voice choir, the work becomes more intimate, and passionate.

This was the first of 2 recordings. The second recording will take place tomorrow. Following the recordings, Bob Moody will select the best selections from each performance and we will mix them to a final master to be broadcast on KBAQ.

Dobson Orchestra's Holiday Concert

This evening, Dan was on-location at Dobson High Schools Auditorium capturing the sounds of the Dobson High School Orchestras. Under the direction of Rob Nichols and Rob Lubbers, the 3 ensembles played a great selection of music, including some holiday medleys. Most of their selections are not considered standard works for a High School, but rather college level ensembles. As a result, it is very common for Dobson students to receive scholarships to prestigious universities and conservatories to continue their musical studies. Without a doubt, the contributions the school makes to their students, last their entire lives.

Dobson Goes Pops?

In a rare change from tradition, Dobson's Bands put on an evening of Pops music to celebrate the wonderful music that has been created during the schools 25 years.
During the performance, Director of Bands, Jon Gomez, gave Mouse Recording a great salute in recognizing the services we do for their program and the community.
Also, Dan was very pleased to be greeted at the end of the concert by Andrea Snyder. Her daughter Lisa, who we met through the Phoenix Youth Symphony, is the reason we have such a good relationship with Dobson High School. Then Lisa was easily one of the best clarinet players in the state. During her high school days she earned numerous awards and opportunities including being selected as a soloist for the Presidents Marine Band in Virginia. Recently Lisa has just finished up a semester studying politics in Paris, France. She will be returning to Arizona for the holiday break and to make some recordings in preparation to continue her musical studies at North West where she is a sophomore.

Dobson band steps it up

Tonight Dan was on location at Dobson High School.

This evening The Dobson Symphonic Band hosted a concert designed to show appreciation for the feeder programs that have helped Dobson gain their successes. Rhodes Jr High and Hendrix Jr High School shared the stage with Dobson allowing each ensemble a showcase for their programs.

For the members of the Jr. High Schools, they are able to see where they are heading once they enter high school. Better yet, for the members of Dobson’s Band’s it gives them a great perspective on how far they have progressed.

Arnell Symphonies Tracking Sessions Completed

300+ Takes, 70+ Musicians + 52 hours of recording time = 49GB’s of Audio Data Captured during 13 Recording Sessions using 8 Microphones and 8 24bit/192kHz Digital Audio Tracks.

This evening Dan Malone and Mike Markowsi were on site at Holy Spirit Church in Tempe, Arizona for the last recording session of the Arnell Symphonies Project. This session was a fast paced plethora of music used to capture sections from the previous recordings needed for the editing process.

Project Producer Marc Parella (http://www.marcparella.com/) has been behind the driver’s seat of this project since the beginning. His work has been critical to the success of this entire project, even more now that this project is entering the post production phase.

Currently this project is on track to have the first of three CD’s released by Toccata Classics (http://www.toccatapress.com/) early 2006.

Michael Fan Project

Today Mike Markowski took the lead and was on-site at ASU's Katzin Hall for the second session with Dobson High School student, Michael Fan. This session allowed Fan the opportunity to finish laying down all his material for his upcoming competitions and auditions. Michael and Mike will work together later this week to decide what tracks to use and assemble the final CD's to be sent out.

Latin Jazz burns in Katzin Hall

Tonight was a great night for music, and under the direction of Dom Moio, how could it not be. At 7:30pm the match was lit and ASU’s Latin Jazz Ensemble cooked. Check out this line up:

Ioannis Goudelis, Piano
Esteban Estrada, Bass
Bob Powers, Guitar
Josh Carro, Drums
Joe Goglia, Percussion
Dan Mock, Percussion
Jesse Parker, Vibes, Percussion
Aaron Morales, Percussion, Steel Drum

Armed with Nuendo, 16 High Definition (24 bit, 192kHz) Tracks, and an amazing collection of Microphones, Dan Malone and Mike Markowski were on-site to capture this amazing evening of music.

Check back soon, for audio from the performance.

Dobson Orchestras Concert Season Begins

Dobson High School Orchestras have begun their season with their Debut concert in the Dobson high School Auditorium.

Under the direction of conductor Robert Nichols, the 3 ensembles performed some great works. If this evenings performance is any indication for the rest of the year (and it usually is) we are in for a real treat.

Mouse Recording Welcomes Sharleen Chen

Today Dan was at the Chen residence recording Chaparral High School Student Sharleen Chen. Sharleen sought to make a CD that demonstrated her range of talents in Singing, Piano and Erhu.


The Erhu, as described by Sharleen is “the most popular Chinese bowed-string instruments. It is a two stringed, vertical fiddle and has a history of more then 500 years.”

This CD will be sent off to accompany her college application to Penn State, where she will be studying communications.

Arnell Symphonies Project

Producer Marc Parella

Getting close.....

Today Dan and Mike worked on some sections from the live performance that was recorded last Saturday. Today’s session moved incredibly fast, and the ensemble tracked about 1 hour and 30 minutes of audio in a 3 hour period.

If all is well, we should be able to wrap up the tracking sessions for this project with one more session…

Dobson High School Concert's Begin

dobson percussion, lookin.....good?


This evening marked the first concert for Dobson High School's 2005/2006 concert season. If first concerts are any indication of what we can expect for the year to come, we are in for some amazing performances.

This year also marks the Schools Silver Anniversary. Looking back on the past 25 years, there have been many memorable performances as well as many who have taken their musical talents beyond their high school years. Through out the year, the school will be celebrating their past, while defining their future and paving the way for the next 25 years.

www.dobsonbands.net

Arnell Symphony Live

MThis evening Dan and Mike were back working with Marc Parella and Musica Nova as they recorded the 3rd Symphony in front of a live audience.

The session went well, the audience was suprisingly quiet, and the symphony gave a performance not yet captured durring any of the sessions.

Currently the first CD of this project is scheduled to be released Febuary of next year. Well keep you updated as this progresses.

Michael Fan Sessions

Today Dan and Mike spent the morning at ASU's Katzin Recital Hall working with Pianist Michael Fan on material for his upcoming college auditions.

The session went very well considering Michael has been studying piano for 14 years now. His piano teacher was at the session to help guide Mike through is performances. The interaction between Mike and his teacher is commendable; she was able to help Mike bring out the best performance that she knew he was capable of.

In many cases, I find it better for students to have their teachers present for their recording sessions. Many students tend to let the fact that they are recording effect their performance. With a familiar element, such as a teacher, the student is held to the best standards they can achieve.

We with get together for a second session at the end of the month to finish up Michaels recordings.

Arnell Symphony Project

Over the past several days Dan has been working in Mouse Recording's new offices sorting through and converting all the files for the Arnell Symphonies so that Marc Parella and Warren Cohen. So far we have a total of 49 Gigs covering 9 Sessions that the two will be going over to determine what sections need to be captured for the touch up sessions as well as for the up comming editing sessions.

Producer Marc Parella had indicated on his web site, www.marcparella.com that the first CD of this project is to be released early 2006 by Toccata Classics (www.toccatapress.com).

This Saturday the 8th, the Symphony will be performing a live concert, that we will be recording to acompany this CD collection.

ASU Composition Studio Student Recital

Dan Malone has just wrapped up recording a couple of live performance at ASU’s Katzin Recital Hall.

This evening featured a number of student performances, showcasing works that were composed by students of the ASU Composition Studio.

Composers included:
Bill Clay
Michael Markowski
Ryan Springler
Erica Glenn
Jason Gray

Markowski’s latest composition Dahl House featured 3 movements. The first and third featured the vocal skills of Jeff Jones with Mr. Michael Fan accompanying on piano. The second, and my personal favorite, featured Adrienne Turner singing a slightly seductive number titled Hot and Cold. I’m sure the audience was not expecting her to let her hair down.

Ryan Springler’s work entitled Gold Diggers of 1845, is a work composed for 2 pianists. This evening’s performance featured Sun Young and Abhishek Gorur performing side by side. Fortunately Katzin Hall has a nice piano collection including 2 Steinway’s and a Bosendorfer.

Yun-Ting's Fellowship Project

When people ask what I like about recording music, the best way to answer is simply to play one of Yun-Ting's performances.

For the past 2 years, Yun-Ting's Summer Fellowship concert has been one of my favorite projects to record. Its concept is simple, being friends together and play music. Granted, the friends come from the Cleveland Institute, ASU and study with some of the finest professors around. The result is great music by those who play because they love to perform.

This week, we have been duplicating copies of the past 2 years performances for limited sale. If this project continues with the same momentum, this next summers performance should be to a packed house. Once the date is set I will be sure to make everyone aware.

Arnell Symphony Project

Today we completed the tracking of the 4th and 6th symphonies for the Arnell Symphony Project. With a more contemporary composition, various musical elements from the ensemble came to life. The percussion section was filled out with two additional members to compliment Mark Sunkett. This evening’s session went much better, simply because the tympani heads remained intact. On a side note, most of the percussion instruments used for these sessions, including timpani are from Mark’s own private collection.



This evening’s recording session with Warren Cohen and Musica Nova marks the beginning of a short break for everyone. We will resume sessions in October to put the finishing touches on this project. This break should also give us a great opportunity to listen and recap what we have captured so far to date. Both Marc and Warren definitely have a lot of audio to listen to.

Arnell's Symphony Project

With Waren back from his trip to london we are back in session working on the Arnell Symphonies Project.

This evening the Arnell project took a slightly different turn with the introduction of a grand piano and celeste for the recording of the 6th symphony. This particular work was composed about 10 years ago and is more contemporary then the works we have been recording. Other then the additional instrumentation, the 6th symphony also offers more dynamic parts for the percussion section.

We will continue work on the 6th and 4th symphonies tomorrow.

Jennifer Yan Project

Today we were back at ASU for a second session with violinist Jennifer Yan. For todays session Jennifer was joined by a piano accompaniment student from ASU to perform works by Sibelius and even a movement from the Carmen suite. Both were brilliantly performed for us to capture.

Thanks to the assistance of Mike Markowski, we were able to capture some pictures as well as some great music.

Arnell Symphonies Project

As we enter September we finished up with the 8th session for the Arnell Symphonies project. Next week we will continue back with the Full Symphony and start in on a new work. The next few sessions will bring a few new instruments to the table. For the up coming 6th Symphony, a grand piano will be brought in to the performance hall. We will also have the introduction of a celesta.

Jennifer Yan Project

Today marked the first of many recordings that we will be recording this year at Arizona State University’s Katzin Hall.

In front of the microphone today was Dobson High School graduate Jennifer Yan. Today is the first of two days of recording. Today we focused on solo material, while tomorrow she will be joined by an accompanist to for the remainder of the material.

Last year, Ms. Yan was the Concert Master for the Dobson High School Orchestra as well as a member of the Phoenix Youth Symphony. Next week Jennifer will be heading off to her first year of college at Harvard University where she will be studying Biochemistry, as well as performing with their Symphony Orchestra.

Jennifer marks the second client that I have had in recent years to attend Harvard. Last year Harvard became home to one of our favorite clients Elisa Zhang.

Best wishes for both Jennifer and Elisa as they make their mark at Harvard.

Arnell Symphonies Project

Today we embarked on the 7th session of the Arnell Symphonies Project. This week’s session is a nice breath of air from the previous sessions. The sessions are focused around a smaller chamber symphony with single winds. With fewer members the recording was able to progress at a faster pace with less takes. Less takes=less editing in post=less time getting the final product out.

All in all this project is enjoyable. As our faces become more familiar, we are making more and more friends within the ensemble. It’s nice to be in a room with 70+ performers and be able to name many of them. It’s also interesting to learn who makes up the symphony. Many of the musicians are prominent local musicians with a rich history of performing with various ensembles thought the valley, country and even around the world.

As we move on we have a few date changes and possibly a few more tracking sessions to add. Well keep you posted as to the progress and with permission maybe even post some samples of the recording sessions.

Mary Simon's Bands of American Honor Band Audition

The new school season beings many fun adventures.

Today Dan spent a couple of hours working with Dobson High School's principle Oboe recording audition material for the Bands of American National Honor Band as well as some college audition material.

If you are unaware, the Bands of America Honor Band is an amazing acomplishment for high school students to participate in. Mary's submition will be reviewed, and critiqued by the Bands of America council, from there she has the opertunity to be selected for the 2006 performing ensemble. She will also recieve some valuable feedback about her submition. With this information she will be able to better prepare her future college audition material. Although, performing in the Honor Band looks rather well too...

Glories of the Strings

This evening Dan is putting together the CD masters for the Glories of the Strings, Chamber Music Workshop recordings.

The Glories of the Strings is a wonderful experience for children from the 7th grade thought college. It offers students a one or two week opportunity to study chamber music with 4 of the valleys prominent string musicians: Dr. Phyllis Skoldberg, Joy Pan, Dr. Carolyn Broe and Dr. Zheng.

Following the week of master classes, on June 10th and 17th, Dan was on-location to record the annual Glories of the Strings performances. These performances provide the students an opportunity to showcase what they have learned durring the week.

Dobson Marching Band Project

Today the finishing touches were put on a CD for the Dobson High School Marching Band. As the years have gone on, someone in the office misplaced the schools only audio copy of the school fight song.

Problem solved. Last week we met the marching band at in the Dobson Auditorium at 6:30 in the morning and not only captured several takes of the schools fight song, but may of this years stand tunes as well.

If you live close to Dobson you are sure to hear these tracks being played between class breaks.

www.dobsonbands.net

Arnell Project Update

Wednesday and Thursday we spent our evenings in session with the Arnell Symphony Project. This week we finished up the 2nd and began working on the 4th symphony. So far I think the 4th has been my favorite to capture. It contains some very powerfull sections and yeilds to some very nice brass sounds.

This project has some very interesting characteristics to it. English Composer Richard Arnell composed these 12 symphonies over the past 5+ decades. As we move from one symphony to another, it is facinating to hear the different influences the music carries with it.

If you would like to learn a little more about the people involved in this project, check out these links:

http://www.scoretrak.com/
http://www.marcparella.com/
http://www.musicanovaaz.org/

Arnell Symphonies Project

Dan Malone and Mouse Recording with the assistance of Mike Markowski (http://www.michaelmarkowski.com/) are currently working on a two and a half month project with producer Marc Parella and Musica Nova under the direction of Warren Cohen. We are recording 12 symphonies composed by Arnell to be released by Naxos, the worlds leading classical label (http://www.naxos.com/).

To date we have 4 sessions completed with 8, possibly more to go.

For these sessions we have a great line up of equipment:

Microphones:
Deca Tree
Royer SF-12
Royer R-122 (x2)

Microphone Pre-Amplifier
Millenia Media HV-3D-8DC (modified with DC coupled inputs)

Recorders:
Nuendo DAW @ 24bit and 192kHz
Motu 896HD interface (modified with Burr-Brown Digital converters)
Tascam DA-38 (backup) @ 16bit 44.1 kHz
Tascam CDRW-2000 for 2-Track reference mixes

Power Conditioning:
Monster Cable Pro 3500 Power Conditioner


After a rough start the ensemble is coming together in good form. While 80% of the ensemble is made up from Music Nova, about 20% of the ensemble is made up of new individuals to fill in the missing members. With a few sessions under their belts, everyone is finding their groove and things are moving along well.

Next session is Wednesday August 24th.