We're ringing in 2008 with even more good news! The Annex is proud to announce that longtime Bay Area musician/engineer/producer John Greenham has recently joined our extended family and will begin running his operations out of our famed Studio C.
John has been an active participant in the Bay Area music community since leaping the pond from the UK in 1983. He soon found himself engineering with Paul Stubblebine at Rocket Lab and later as a member of the mastering team at Paul's facility in San Francisco. More recently, John is known for his work with Stephen Jarvis's Area 51 Mastering. He has applied his craft to countless projects for artists such as Kelly Rowland, John Vanderslice, Two Gallants, Queensryche, Bettye Lavette, Los Tigres del Norte and the current Grammy nominated Pamela Rodriguez.
In John's words...
"I recently moved to Studio C at the Annex building in Menlo Park. It's a great room with a solid reputation as one of the best mix rooms in the Bay Area. I'm really looking forward to completing many successful projects there. Why, you may ask, am I moving into a traditional recording studio setting at a time when recording studios in this area have taken such a financial beating that most of them have shut up shop? Why am I not just working from home on my Pro Tools rig just like seemingly everyone else? These are good questions.
I like the idea of supporting a facility that is trying to maintain certain standards of professionalism. I don't think there's any doubt that overall the quality of recordings have declined as a result of it not being done in a proper environment. At The Annex you can still come into Studio A and track your record to 2" 24 track and mix it through the Neve V3 to 1/2" tape. It'll sound REALLY GOOD. It takes dedication to the art of recording to maintain a situation like that. I'm going to do what I can to support it."
Since joining us at the end of 2007, John's work has already spilled into our other rooms with dates of tracking two bands, Carne Cruda and Maldita Vecindad, during the month of December in our Studio A. On tracking the new Carne Cruda album, John writes at his blog...
"just finished 2 days of basic tracks for an upcoming Latin/surf/funk flavored Carne Cruda album in Studio A at (Music) Annex...It's the first recording I've done in studio A at The Annex and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The Neve V3 is a great sounding board, and they've got a REALLY good sounding pair of 813s in the control room. Pretty comfortable in there as well. Big enough for working with a five piece band like Carne Cruda."
As you can see, we are more than thrilled to have John's unique vision and experience as an addition to The Annex Studios. For more on John and his philosophies on sound recording and life, please visit him here - johngreenham.com
Artist Focus
Pianist, Geoff Stradling has been leaving his mark on the music and entertainment industry for more than 20 years, composing and arranging scores for commercials, television and a few films you've probably heard of; Shrek 3, The Number 23, Flushed Away and the Simpson's movie to name a recent few. With all the extra time he has on his hands (Ha!) he found time to compose a collection of outstanding jazz tunes to put his own face on.
"Les is Mo" is the result and it is nothing short of brilliant...
"The compositions are nearly flawless. Stradling is an excellent player, with an excellent band, and some fine composing abilities. Absolutely worth a listen.
-Adam Greenberg (All Music Guide).
Mixed and mastered by Russell Bond, Geoff's long overdue debut release was immediately snatched up by Origin Records and has hit the ground running. Solid air play and accolades abound for Geoff's original approach to Jazz expression. JazzWeek says "Chartbound!"
"This is a great sounding room!" Said Geoff, of studio A, "Vintage Neve with ProTools and an excellent live room and great staff. What's not to love? Thank you all"
No! Thank you, Geoff. www.geoffstradling.com
Critic's Choice
Another project getting some well deserved attention is Rhoda Scott's "From C to Shining C"
engineered, mixed, mastered by Russell Bond in April of last year. This CD is garnering excellent reviews not only for the pure pleasure of its roster of legendary musicians but also notably for its quality of sound recording and engineering. Jazz/Blues expert, Bob Porter saw fit to include it in his list of the Top 10 CDs of 2006.
Here's an excerpt from one of several listener reviews - "... What also makes this CD so great is the production and recording quality... I'm serious... you've probably never heard a Hammond recorded so well, and may never again. Get this CD... buy it for your friends... and get the word out... All the best organ recordings weren't made 40 years ago... at least one was made this year!" - Eddie Landsberg/cdbaby
Check out our story of the Rhoada Scott session here at Rhoda Scott Archive.
Voice Over Clinics
with Dorothy Gallagher
After over 30 years of casting talent from both inside and outside of the Bay Area, The Annex is proud to announce that we are adding Voice Over Coaching to our long list of services.
For more info call The Annex at (650) 328-8338.
A visit from an old friend
Joan Baez has graced us with her presence twice this past summer and we couldn't be
happier here at The Annex. She first came to us to record vocals for her cover of
Malvina Reynolds classic "Little Boxes" for the Showtime original Series "Weeds".
The episode was finally aired on October 8th. Studio Owner Russell Bond helmed the sessions, which made for quite the intimate session as none other than Russell used to tend to Joan's mother's landscaping way back when, before his tenure as a top recording engineer and producer.
Joan dropped by to see us again a few weeks later. This time with the Annex's Forrest Lawrence at the Neve, she returned to lay down some backing vocals on a song entitled "Lower Road" by a UK Artist that has remained hush hush up until this point. We'll see if we can dig deeper this year and find that track for everyone when it does come out. - www.joanbaez.com
Bloody Drums
for Film School
Producer/Engineer Dan Long (Jealous Grilfriends, Pela) was recently in our Studio A to track drums for SF Indie outfit Film School's upcoming second release for Beggars Banquet.
My Bloody Valentine/Hope Sandoval drummer Colm O'Ciosoig is performing on two of the album's tracks that were recorded here that day after having been on a bit of a hiatus from the music scene since 2000's release of Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions' "Bavarian Fruit Bread".
Tango del Cielo
We are proud to announce our participation and collaboration with renowned concert harpist Anna Maria Mendieta in the multi-media production of Tango del Cielo.
Anna Maria's newest project is an innovative presentation of the passionate and sensuous music of the Argentine Tango. Bringing together for the first time in tango history: harp, string quartet, percussion and dance.
Special music arranged and composed by Grammy Award winner Pablo Ziegler, and world-renowned Piazolla expert Daniel Binelli. Musical contributions by Grammy nominees Jovino Santos Neto, and violinist and composer Jeremy Cohen of Quartet San Francisco (recent recipents of two 2007 Grammy nominations).
Stay tuned for the upcoming CD/DVD and documentary film.