Ken Lewis - News, Thoughts and Advice for Musicians, Artists, and recording industry people
Monday, July 28, 2008
Best Ears In The World
I just thought this story was so inspirational and kind of reminded me of the show "Heroes" only in real life. I tend to think that we get a glimpse into our evolution 10,000 years into the future (if we make it that far) with people like Autistic Savants. The human brain and the human body are capable of doing the most unbelievable and extraordinary things, but almost always because they are highly crippled in some other way. Watch this kid (he is not autistic) who has developed echo location abilities, much like dolphins and bats have. He is also blind since the age of 2. This kid has the most incredibly tuned in pair of ears on the planet. If he ever wanted to be a mix engineer, the rest of us might just hang it up. Enjoy!!
here's a bonus. one of my favorites. Daniel Tammet, a savant, but amazingly not autistic. There's an hour long documentary on him, this is just a 4 minute excerpt. the full documentary is simply beyond belief. This 4 minute clip is also pretty astounding. Like i said, this seems to me that a handful of people on Earth have unlocked the evolution of the human brain and body and are giving us a glimpse of what our distant future as a species might hold. Imagine if everyone could do these things!!!!
For those of you who do not know you Randy Pausch is, you owe it to yourself to learn who he is and to watch his "Last Lecture". Randy Pausch was a researcher and lecturer at Carnegie Mellon. Several months ago, he was diagnosed with terminal Pancreatic cancer, and today, Friday, July 25, 2008, it claimed his life. I could give you 100 reasons why you should know and care who he was, but instead, you owe it to yourself to spend one hour of your life watching his "Last Lecture". He is one of the strongest, most inspirational people I've ever heard. If you dont have an hour to spend, I've included a ten minute version of his Lecture which he gave on the Oprah show, just as inspiring. I promise you, it will change you. Rest In Peace Randy.
Hey there! So i fired up my webcam Monday night and rattled off a new little video blog. Just a general update really, not much of a tech blog but thats coming in a day or so. So, if you're bored and have 7 minutes to kill, kick back and catch the update!
I just did a really nice interview with PMPWorldwide.com
They run a great website for producers (PMP= Producers Market Place), so if you are an aspiring urban producer, check out the site and while you are at it, check out my interview, its a pretty good read. Its on the main page at....
Last Tuesday i returned to Daddy's House Studios, the recording home of Bad Boy Records, to continue mixes on MTV Making The Band solo artist, Donnie Klang. I mixed 2 songs last week, and so far two more songs this week, and I'm about to begin another mix now (8pm Wednesday evening). I already mixed Donnie's fist single "Take U There", which Donnie recently shot a hot hot HOT video to. The single should be dropping early next month to coincide with the new season of Making The Band on MTV, which i think starts in early August. As Diddy has already announced, this coming season will be "Making the Tour", as the cameras have been following Danity Kane, Day 26, and Donnie Klang out on tour. No cameo's for me this season, my 15 seconds (literally) of airtime last season was all she wrote.
So, this is also the return of the incredibly high track count mixes. The one i just finished had over 192 tracks!!! The one i'm about to start is equally daunting. Donnie's got some really hot songs on this album, I'm really proud to be working on it. Its always fun making records you think will be hits. Hell, i get to make records for a living, its hard NOT to have a fun day :-)
And on that note, my next mix is ready, back to work for me.
This week on Wednesday i started production with a new artist named Arianna Grande. Arianna just turned 15 and what can i tell you about her except that she's got one of the best voices I've ever recorded and she's soon to be starring in an ensemble cast on Broadway for a highly anticipated new play called "13" making its Broadway debut in October! Yeah, I'd say she's got alot going for her. Not the least of which is charisma that just lights up a room.
So, I'll be producing 4 songs with her, and yesterday we started on the 1st of the 4. We did some songwriting on a new song and completely reworked it. Its coming along really well, but has a long ways to go, and it will get there. I co-wrote all 4 songs I'm producing with her and I'll be enlisting my two very talented staff guys, Brent Kolatalo, and Cooper Anderson to co-produce 3 of the 4 songs with me. I am REALLY excited about this project and I think Arianna is just going to bring magic to these songs.
Just for clarification, this project sounds NOTHING like a broadway singer. Its definitely pop, i guess leaning towards rhythmic pop, maybe along the lines of Rihanna or Natasia Bedingfield, in that general vein without sounding like either of those two artists. I'm sure i'll be blogging more about it as these songs develop and this project evolves, but we're off to a great start!
I just finished an all day mix session at my studio with the amazingly talented Jive Records artist Lee Carr. Lee and I just put the finishing touches on the final mix of Lee's next single. I'm not sure if i'm supposed to reveal the title of the song just yet, so I'll err on the side of caution and simply tell you that this song is a SMASH and you will most definitely be hearing it on the radio soon! We also recalled a mix for an artist Lee Carr is producing named Tezzy. Lee is also co-owner of Third Lane Records and Tezzy is Third Lane's newest signing. So, I mixed Tezzy's single last week, but tonight after Lee's single was finished, we pulled up Tezzy's single for about an hour and put some nice polish and shine on it and its ready to go! What a day! I think i am going to go out to my favorite diner, sit and have a nice meal and a tall glass of German beer and enjoy the rest of my night. Its 12:30am now. Oh, so i guess that means HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!! its the 4th of July!
