Grammy's 007

Well, no Grammy nominations for me this year. I was kind of getting used to going :-) I guess after being a part of 15 nominations in 2 years, its a bit of a reality check to not get any this year. Reminds me how special it is to be nominated. Anyway, most of 2006 was spent producing Small Town Sleeper, so maybe they'll take me back to the awards in 008. If John Legend's album can keep enough momentum through this year, i think it deserves a "Best R&B Album" nomination for this upcoming year. Did anyone see his Grammy performance? It was one of the only ones i caught. Wow, his voice is amazing. I of course was mixing most of Grammy night. Not because i wanted to, but i've got some deadlines piling up and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. So i did. I have it on TiVo though, so eventually i'll get to see the Awards. I hear they were really good this year. Big congrats to Mary J Blige for finally winning on Grammy night. If anyone ever deserved it, she does. I've caught nominations on two of her other albums "Share My World" and "Mary", but this was her first win.

In other news, rumor has it that a white rapper might be coming thru today. And REMIX magazine included me in a really nice tech article about basic approaches to plugin chains for mixing, etc... and there will be a big online only section of the article thats all me, to compliment the print article. I think it comes out next month, I'll certainly mention it when it comes out. Also, I just finished production and mixing on Skidmore Fountain's album, and it went to mastering today! Very excited about that, the record came out great and Emily Lazar at the Lodge will now be playing mastering den mother to the album. She's gifted.

So, i havent done a tech post in a while. sorry bout that. i have a bunch kind of prepared. I'll blog a few soon, some really good stuff to share.

-Ken Lewis

"Epic Movie" and Song and Film

So, i've never talked about it here because it has nothing to do with what i'm doing with this website, but i co-own a company called "Song and Film, Inc." Here's a link to the website.... Song and Film

Song and Film, Inc. places music from indepedent artists into film and TV. Song & Film just had our 2 biggest successes to date, as we recently partnered with Cherry Lane Music Publishing (one of the biggest music publishers in the world), and as if that wasn't enough, we also just placed a song in the new box office hit "EPIC MOVIE", which debuted as the #1 movie in America. The song is also included on the EPIC MOVIE SOUNDTRACK (Dorian Childs "Bounce Dat Azz"). I've had my name in the liner notes of a whole lot of records, and it always feels good, but to see the name of a company i helped build from the ground up in the liner notes and on the big screen "PUBLISHED BY SONG AND FILM PUBLISHING (ASCAP)", well, i have to say that felt pretty darn good too. We've had some good placement success in the past, and several good placements coming up, but I think its a sign of arrival when you've placed a song in a movie thats #1 at the Box Office. Just goes to show if you can envision if, you can accomplish it. Just thought I'd share.

-Ken Lewis

201st Post! & Client Emails

I just happened to notice this is my 201st Blog post on my website. I hope to crank out a couple hundred more by end of year. We'll see how i do. Today has been a great day, I just finished mixing the first single on the new Skidmore Fountain album I'm producing. It'll be mastered by next week and maybe i'll post a link. I think the song came out GREAT! Emily Lazar at the Lodge will be mastering the album. She's an awesome mastering engineer and always does great work!!

.......So, I love my clients. I work very hard for my clients and i really enjoy making records with them. Lately i've gotten many exceptionally "feel good" emails back from my clients and I just wanted to share. I hope my clients don't mind, I'm not including their names, but these are excerpts from actual client emails...... I am flattered and inspired.


"Ken,
HOLY SH....! Its like Christmas morning. I love it.
>From start to finish its solid as a rock. The vocals are spot on. You were more than right. The tuning helped a lot.
The electric guitars are built up real nice in the chorus. Drums and Bass are slammin. I can listen to it from start to finish with out anything jumping out at me. I would like to live with this for a week but I honestly cant find anything wrong with it...........sounds pretty f'king amazing to me."

"Dude...forgive my French, but holy f'in' KILLER sh...t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"That sounds Amazing! I also listened a couple times in headphones and then took a break and came back and listened off
my ibook speakers and it sounds great. I've never heard anything sound so good through these speakers. I am not sure if you want me to email you every time you send a track and I have nothing to say except that it sounds amazing, but it sounds AMAZING!"

"yo!!!!!! Ken, I LOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!! YES.
AHAHAH NICE......The vocoder is really tight man."

"wow!!
first listen i'm already loving!!!
gonna pass around and collect notes!!
love love love"

"Hey ken, This is a straight hit man, its tight for sure. love it ...."

"Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its Like you were reading my mind man, ITS CRAZYYYYYYYYY.
Im speachless for real man thank you so much you made my day."

"I LOOOOOOVE IT,
dude, you just made my career and saved me from proverty"


Thats a good one to finish on i think. And on that note, I need to get back to mixing Skidmore Fountain

Showcase Results & Skidmore Fountain updates

So the New York City R&B showcase that i was a judge for was spectacular tonight. All three finalists were star quality, and the winner was a group of 4 sisters from NJ called "Famil". When i find their Myspace page i'll post a link. All 4 of these girls can sing amazing lead vocals (rare with any four girls let alone 4 sisters), and all four can harmonize beautifully and powerfully. I was most impressed. I thought what truly put them over the top was their song selection, which was mostly original, really catchy current songs.

In second place was "Chanj" pronounced "Change". I think also from NJ. Chanj might just be one of the best singers i've ever seen. Why this guy is not signed yet is a mystery. I think he needs better songs, but everything else is undeniable.

Third place should be renamed Winner C, because "Boyze" is a soul singer harkening back to Jodeci and Bobby Womack in vocal delivery. pure soul with a gravelly pitch perfect voice. All three artists tonight were truly gifted, and i'm really surprised at the amount of undeniable talent presented on one stage on one night and all unsigned (as of yet).

Man, i'm feeling great right now. Totally inspired by that showcase. Having a great day all around. I'm producing an album right now for NYC indie rockers "Skidmore Fountain" (another tech blog soon on them on Cello recording), I am mixing the record now. I have to have this delivered to mastering by Friday so i dont think i'll be sleeping from now til then, but the songs and the mixes are really coming out great. I cant wait for you all to hear them. If you'd like a taste, check out a song called "Break" on their Myspace page www.myspace.com/skidmorefountain

I have revised "Break" slightly since this posted version, and this is not mastered yet, but it'll give you a vibe for the band. The other three songs posted are older versions of songs that i did not produce. Once the album is mastered there will be a full page of great new Skidmore songs to listen to. And on that note, i'd better get back to mixing, these songs won't finish themselves.

enjoy!!
-Ken Lewis

Wednesday R&B Showcase in NYC

Wednesday evening in New York City i'll be a judge at this event...

R&B Showcase

Other judges include... Sylvia Rhone, Jimmy Henchman, Dedra Tate, and Ron Grant. If you don't know who these people are then trust me when i tell you, you need to be at this showcase. And if you do know who these people are, you've already made your plans.

Three artists will be showcasing and competing for a pretty sweet prize package. I'll be donating a mix to the winner as part of the prize package.

Hope to see you out at the event!

-Ken Lewis