May 2008
Watch for my studio in the new Sara Bareilles video for the song "Bottle It Up." Sara and the crew came through in Februrary (I think it was February!) to do some scenes for the new single. GREAT sounding record with catchy pop tunes! I did some engineering on the new Valencia record on Sony/BMG (out soon!). Deep End of the Pool sample tracks are up on the LISTEN page and they are currently promoting their new songs live. The Styles of Beyond (SOB) record is due out any day now. The Cortés Alexander record is being mastered and will be out in a couple weeks!!! For real!
I'm playing drums for Molly Zenobia live on June 8 in Hollyweird and mixed half of her live record in December last year. Sara Melson has a new video for the song "Feel It Coming. "
December 2007-January 2008
Congratulations to Sara Melson for getting signed to Nettwerk records and for having her song "Feel It Coming" featured on the show "Grey's Anatomy." This is the single from her new record and I mixed the song :-) Nice, Sara!! This month (Jan. 2008) I will be doing presentations on music production for Ableton, the makers of the amazing LIVE 7 software at the NAMM show in Anaheim, Ca. This is going to be GREAT FUN!! Drop by if you are there and say "Hello!" I will be featuring tracks from Velocity, Elyzium, and America's Next Top ModeL among others.
October 2007-
Been doing some Pro Tooling on the upcoming Flogging Molly record (great traditional Irish folk influenced music mixed with Rock) engineered and co-produced by Ryan Hewitt. Mixing the song "I Don't Work" by Deep End of the Pool (Rock) which was featured at the annual AES show as the demo song for the new Toft Audio ATB consoles. I'm working on writing and producing a new song for an AMAZING singer named Velocity (R&B/ hip hop). She's GREAT! I've been asked to mix a few more new songs that will be going on the Styles of Beyond record. I've been writing and rehearsing with my new band and can't wait to release some of this new material! Having a great time :-)
July 2007-
One of the songs I mixed for Styles of Beyond is on the soundtrack for the movie The Transformers now in theaters. Cool! I can't wait to see the movie. Looks crazy! Congratulations goes to my friend Ryan Hewitt who I just found out won a Grammy for his work mixing the Red Hot Chili Peppers record! Dude, nice job! That record sounds really large on the radio :-) I just finished mixing another song for Life Like at the Movies, a rock band out of New York and am preparing the Cortés Alexander record for mastering. I have 2 Elyzium shows this month in San Diego so if you're gonna be down there, let me know and come take a looksee!
June 2007-
Well, the Styles of Beyond (S.O.B.) record is now mastered. I was at Bernie Gundman Mastering today finalizing the record. The mastering engineer was the renowned Brian "Big Bass" Gardner :-) I'm excited to see the record release very soon! I'll be working on some remixes for S.O.B. very shortly in various styles. I'm really looking forward to that and creating mash ups with Elyzium tunes!
Also, I am now a sponsored BFD (http:///www.fxpansion.com) artist and have completed an interview and photos for their artist page which will be up shortly! This software kills!. Additionally I signed an artist agreement with Ableton as an artist using their Live software of which I am a huge fan and longtime user(since version 1.0!). Love it!
More news soon...
April 2007-
This month I was hired to mix a record for Styles of Beyond on Machine Shop/ Warner Brothers Records soon to be released. These guys kill and were last heard on the Fort Minor record. Machine Shop was started by Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. Good times! I am currently working on vocal tracks by Michael Buble who is singing on a tune on the record.
I have also mixed one song for a new emo band called Life Like the Movies from New York and will be mixing the rest of their songs from their forthcoming record in May.
Jan. 2007
This month I was hired by Alesis to play drums at the NAMM show in Anaheim demonstrating their new electronic drum products. Great fun! I am also working with them on the development of their new drum trigger interface, the Trigger I/O and some other new e-drum products.
Nov. 2006-
This summer I played drums and guitar in the houseband on the NBC show "Master of Champions". Yeah, dude! That was cool. Since then I have been finishing up the Cortes Alexander record, doing some Pro Tooling for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, creating more tracks for "America's next Top Model", VH1's "White Rapper," "Cheerleader Nation," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and other tv and film releases. I have started a 3 song Master with the Orange County band Deep End of the Pool, just finished 2 songs from the amazing singer Danielle Gorre, and am finalizing a publishing/licensing deal with Could Be Entertainment for the 2 songs written with her. My band Elyzium has just inked a deal with Riptide Music. Riptide has placed music in some of the biggest blockbuster films in the world! In January I will be at the NAMM show (largest US music trade show where companies' new instruments and music products are revealed) as the drum guy demoing the new line of Alesis electronic percusion products. Should be great fun as well!
August. 2005-
We just signed Juxt, CC Honeycutt, and Uriah Cty with Could Be Entertainment Publishing. This is the company I signed with about a year ago and they have been placing my music left and right! I believe one of the best ways to break a new artist is via film and/or tv exposure. It has worked for so many artists lately and I'm pushing it as a venue for new artists.
Lately I have been creating lots and lots of music for the Tyra Banks show "America's Next Top Model" and my good friend Matt Kierscht (Paluka) and I wrote the theme song for the MTV show "Stankervision."
Also, I'm working with the unbelievably talented singer Cortes Alexander on his record. You can preview some of his tracks on the "listen" page.
I have to say I highly recommend the software "Live" by Ableton. It is the most innovative and easy to use music software I've ever come across. Try it out!
-McKay