BMV in NYC

I'm currently producing an album for Icelandic artist "BMV". BMV is short for a very long Icelandic name, we'll stick to BMV. He recently visited New York City, and of course, I have been shacked up here in the heart of Manhattan at Daddy's House studios now for 29 of the last 32 days. While BMV was in town, I dropped out of my session for a couple hours and had a bite to eat with him at Virgils BBQ, the best BBQ in the world, ok, the best BBQ in NYC hands down. We also hung out in Times Square for a bit, and i gave him the quick tour of Daddy's House Studios. I posted a couple pics below.

BMV has scored international success with his singles charting in 10 countries worldwide, and as high as #17 in Iceland. His current single "Endlessly" is climbing the charts there, and he also released an international single "On The Sly" which should be impacting soon. I've produced everything for his record so far, along with my very talented co-producer Brent Kolatalo. Brent and I are busy putting the finishing touches on songs 5 & 6 for the album, and are about to dig into a couple more. We hope to have a ten song album completed and released by summer time. BMV can be heard at

www.myspace.com/bmvofficial

enjoy!

Ken

BMV and Ken in Times Square


Ken and BMV sitting on the Neve Console at Daddy's House Studios

250 Track Mix!!!

Yes. Thats one hundred tracks, plus another one hundred tracks, plus another 50 tracks. I wish i was kidding.

I'm at Daddy's House Studios again, (been here 27 of the last 30 days!). I'm back making some minor adjustments to the 250 Track mix i did Friday and Saturday for "Day 26". Not gonna tell you the song title, but The Runners produced it, and i think its got an excellent shot at being a single on their album (I already mixed the first single). i LOVE this song. Anyway, yes 250 tracks. Maybe 50 or 60 tracks are music, the rest are stacks and stacks of vocals. The first nine hours of my mix was spent blending down groups of backing vocals into stereo pairs to reduce the track count to the point that Pro Tools would even play all of the tracks at once. During the mix i had to go back and reblend a few sections again. It was a very long, very tedious mix, but hopefully worth every minute of it. If i hear this on the radio or see the video on TV, i wont be thinking about the 40+ hours spent mixing this song, I will be smiling from ear to ear and turning up the volume to 11. If i get a Gold or Platinum plaque on my wall for this, i wont be thinking about how long the mix session was! I'll be poppin bottles and celebrating my hard work. Now i get to go back to my studio and put some finishing touches on another "Day 26" song. Wish me luck.
-Ken Lewis

Day 26 mixing "Day 26"

I'm still at Daddy's House Recording Studios in New york City mixing Diddy's new Making The Band Season 4 artists, now called "Day 26". And as eventual coincidence would have it, this is also the 26th day that i've been mixing on this and the Danity Kane Project. I've been here 26 of the last 28 days crankin away. At the end of today, I'll be really close to logging 100 hours in the last 6 days. If you count drive time, I'm definitely over 100 hours easily. Fortunately, i'm taking tomorrow off (I hope :-)

But actually a day off from Diddy only means a day returning to work on my own production projects and my independent mixing clients, so, no days off for me for the forseeable future. Good problems to have, I'll admit, but problems nonetheless, I'm not complaining.

I met Bad Boy/Atlantic artist "Cassie" tonight. You might remember her huge hit a couple years ago called "Me & U". I love that song. Anyway, I'm slated to mix a chunk of her album soon, so it was a real pleasure to meet her tonight. turns out, she's an absolute sweetheart, down to Earth, very talented artist with a great voice. I can't wait to get my ears on her new songs.

I'm in the studio right now tweeking vocals in the mix with super writer & vocal producer Mary Brown. Mary wrote the lyrics and produced the vocals to this song, and The Runners produced the track. This is the second time I've gotten to mix for The Runners. Last week i mixed a Danity Kane song that The Runners produced. Oh by the way, Mary just asked me what i'm doing, i told her i was blogging and she said to tell everyone she sends a big hello. So, Mary Brown officially just said hello to you, thanks for reading.

Anyway, I'm not gonna spill too many beans on this current song, but it is HOT!!!! i mean HOT!!! did i say its HOT? well, it is, i'm so glad i get to mix this song, just wait til you hear it. Its really weird who reads this stuff. I'm finding my blog posts on other bloggers websites, and fan sites for Danity Kane and the Making the Band stuff quoting stuff from my blog. Which is cool by me, just unexpected. Well, i need to get back to this mix and make sure every last little vocal note is sitting perfectly. Back to work!
-Ken Lewis

Day 22 for "Day 26"

Well, i actually got Friday and Sunday off from mixing at Daddy's House. Its now Tuesday night, the 22nd day (not including days off) of my mixing stint here. The last few days have been for the Making the Band Season 4 guys, now officially called "Day 26". Its crunch time for the album right now and everyone here is a bit frantic, making last minute adjustments and tweeks to songs, mixes, arrangements, interludes, etc.... There's one more song that needs to be mixed for the album, and i'm mixing it right now. Hopefully i'll finish it tonight.

Its also getting to be crunch time for the Danity Kane record. I dont know when the deadline to turn in the album is but its gotta be soon, as we are doing lots of small final touch ups on that project as well.

Anyway, not much else to tell. I had baked Eggplant with vegetables from "44 Southwest" for dinner. Delicious. Trying to eat healthy ya know. Fortunately there are ALOT of restaurants to choose from in this area. I'm right off of Times Square in Manhattan and every now and then i just take a walk around and look at the lights. The spectacle of this place never gets old to me, at least not yet. Has anybody been watching the Making The Band new season? I think its on Monday at 10pm Eastern, but i'm always working. Trying to remember to Tivo it so i can watch the episodes later when i have a life again. Its strangely interesting watching people ona reality show that you are around in real life all the time. Different perspective for sure. But as for now its nose to the grindstone, back to mixing for me.

-Ken Lewis

VOTE! - Super Tuesday - Yes We Can!

In 4 hours, the polls open in my state for the Super Tuesday Primaries. I will be casting my vote for Barack Obama.

I just found this song/video that amazing producer Will.i.am. put up on YouTube called "Yes We Can"

Please watch this video, its moving.

Yes We Can

Sincerely,

-Ken Lewis

NY GIANTS! Super Bowl Champs!

I would like to congratulate the NY GIANTS on becoming this years giant killers, knocking off the undefeated New England Patriots 17-14 to win the Super Bowl!!!! I doubt many people outside of New York believed the Giants had a chance of winning, but we believed and the Giants came thru! GO GIANTS!

-Ken Lewis

Lights, Camera, ACTION!

Tonight at Daddy's House the MTV cameras showed up for filming of the new Season 5 of Making The Band. This season focuses on making the albums of 3 of the Making The Band artists, Danity Kane, Donnie, and the new Season 4 band now called "Day 26", 5 male R&B singers.

So, most of the footage tonight was shot in Studio B while Diddy was producing Donnie's vocals. I was asked to be in the room for a while just in case i was needed, so i'm basically a fly on the wall, or couch in this case. Then everyone came over to my home away from home, Studio A, just for a little while. Diddy was listening to a new "Day 26" song, as well as talking with the guys about their album. Again, i was more observer than anything else, but at least i was at the console doing some mixing and some pro tools stuff. nothing to write home about, we'll see if i end up on the edit room floor. I really don't care either way, but you know, i'll take any exposure i can get. Thank God i got my first day off yesterday after 19 days STRAIGHT! So, i spent a part of it getting a very much needed hair cut, cause wow my locks were getting a little more than unsightly. Hey, just because i don't care whether there are cameras or not, doesnt mean i wanna look like a bum if the cameras are on, if for no other reason than people wondering why Diddy is hiring derelicts to mix his artists :-)

Anyway, I'll be mixing Donnie's first single next week. Tonight I'm starting a new mix for "Day 26", tomorrow is the Super Bowl. GO GIANTS!!!

-Ken Lewis