Music Mixing Blog

AllHipHop.com Interview

2008-05-13T17:22:00.002-05:00

Right now i am the #1 featured story on www.AllHipHop.com on todays news (May 13). In case you are reading this at a later date, here's a link to the story. AllHipHop.com did a really nice interview of me, thanks to Dynasty at AllHipHop who i thought asked some great questions, which hopefully i answered with some decent answers. So, if you wanna know a little bit more about me, then click here....

Ken's All Hip Hop Interview

Enjoy! and a big thanks to All Hip Hop . com

-Ken Lewis

More Indie Success with Skidmore Fountain

2008-05-12T13:10:00.002-05:00

I produced and mixed 7 songs on the 2007 Skidmore Fountain album release "Break". My production partner, Brent Kolatalo, mixed the other 4 songs and everything was recorded here.
AirplayDirect.com recently put on a contest called "All Things Digital AAA / Alt Rock" Artist Contest. The contest offered some really sweet prizes. So, Skidmore Fountain entered their album "Break" into the competition and ended up beating out several hundred other bands to win the Grand Prize package worth $17,600!!!

Congratulations Skidmore Fountain!!!

Here's a press release from Skidmore Fountain about it.

Skidmore Press Release

This just goes to show once again that its possible for indie artists to do great things without the benefit of a record label. And you can also check out their music at MySpace.com/SkidmoreFountain

On their MySpace page, i produced and mixed the songs "Dance Political", "Break", "Lost n Lonely", "Blur"

Enjoy!

-Ken Lewis

Yves Jean - Indie Radio Success

2008-05-09T14:25:00.003-05:00

This is the beginnings of a real indie success story. Last year i mixed an album for Yves Jean titled "For Love and Desparation". Yves is one of the hardest working indie artists in the game right now, period. Last summer he toured Europe playing festivals in several countries, and he's played all over America (he's based in Pittsburgh, Pa).

Yves recently launched a radio play campaign for his new album and so far 137 stations nationwide are playing his music!!! ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SEVEN. Just absorb that number for a moment. These are mostly college radio stations, as well as mainstream AAA stations. Yves Jean is currently unsigned, which just goes to show how much you can do on your own as an artist. Step one was making a great album, which i am very happy i was a part of. Congrats Yves!!

Yves Jean Website

-Ken Lewis

Damaged Breaks the Top Ten!!

2008-05-08T23:57:00.003-05:00

Danity Kane's single "DAMAGED" has broken the Top Ten on Billboard! (I mixed it :-)

Pop 100 Airplay Chart = #9
Hot 100 Singles Chart = #11
Pop 100 = #10

The album is now Gold and still resides @ #42 on the Billboard Top 200 after seven weeks. It Debuted @ #1.

AWESOME!
-Ken Lewis

Philly Beat Battle Summary

2008-05-08T23:36:00.004-05:00

Well, last night was a BARN BURNER of a competition! All ten Producer Battlers were really throwing some heat last night, and i thought there were 5 different guys who could've easily been crowned Champion. The way it went down, 3rd place tie went to CardiaK & DJ Shihan, 2nd place went to Mindesign, and 1st place was stolen with the last beat of the night by PersuaZion. It was a photo finish. Club Fluid was bangin last night. that sound system is one of the best club systems i've heard. Congrats to all the producers last night, that was really some amazing display of talent from all of them. And a shout out to DJ ILL SKILL who was the previous Philly winner, who got to showcase several of his latest beats last night at the start of the competition. Crazy crazy stuff from him! Philly really represented last night!

And of course, a big shout out to Don Di Napoli and J Hatch, two of the finest hip hop promoters in the country, as well as my fellow judges, Skickmore, and Michael Trampe of HipHopDX.com

-Ken Lewis

What a Great day

2008-05-07T18:17:00.003-05:00

first off the weather is absolutely perfect!!! Not too hot. perfect top down weather so I've been driving the Lotus all day long soaking up the sun and fresh air. At 4pm i was driving around listening to Hot 97 FM and the Top 4 At 4 was just beginning. And what was song 4 you ask? "Got Me Going" by Day 26, which i mixed.

OK, let me just say there arent too many better feelings in the world than driving around with the top down listening to a song you mixed blasting on the radio. It felt great. Later i drove down to Philadelphia, where i am at my hotel right now blogging before i catch some good food. I dont think I've ever made it to Philly so fast :-) I'm judging an iStandard Beat Battle tonight here. These Beat Battles showcase the most amazingly talented producers trying to make a name for themselves, and many who've won these battles have gone on to much success. I hope tonight showcases another great night of talent, I'm sure it will. And my drinks are free, so one way or another, its definitely going to be a great night!

I hope yours is too!

-Ken Lewis

TheFlowLive.com Interview

2008-05-06T15:14:00.002-05:00

a very cool website / online magazine called www.TheFlowLive.com recently reached out for an interview. Lots of good questions and a couple very funny stories. Here it is.

The Flow Live Ken Lewis Interview

Enjoy!

-Ken Lewis

Danity Kane is GOLDEN

2008-05-05T15:25:00.003-05:00

Danity Kane's new album "Welcome to the Dollhouse" was just certified Gold (500,000 albums sold in the USA). this is my 46th Gold (or Platinum) album of my career. with some luck "Day 26" will be my 47th soon!

If you havent gotten the album yet, its a great pop record start to finish. I mixed 5 songs including the hit single DAMAGED.

-Ken Lewis

Iron Man Rocks!!!

2008-05-03T01:02:00.002-05:00

Just got back from dinner out and seeing the new "Iron Man" movie (yes sometimes i pretend to have a life). it ROCKED!!! It was amazing. i loved it. I never read comic books growing up, and somehow i think i really missed out.

One of my clients, a rapper from the Wu Tang Clan named Ghostface Killah (for those of you not up on hip hop, i'm not kidding, thats the names :-) is fairly obsessed with Iron Man comics. I wrote and produced a cut on his "Fishscale" album called "Iron Man Takeover". Really, i did. Ghostface refers to himself as Tony Stark alot.

Anyway, the movie rocked. possibly my favorite Marvel comic turned movie yet. go see it.

-Ken Lewis

Flyleaf - "Sorrow"

2008-05-01T23:54:00.002-05:00

FINALLY! OK, one of my favorite bands is "Flyleaf" on Octone Records. Their debut album has been out for about 2 years now and is still going strong. That is just incredible, even though i wish to God they would put out a new album, but I'm very happy for them that their music is still finding new audiences and new life after so long. The record went gold over a year ago, so its not like its just now catching.

Anyway, I was a big fan pretty early on, and my favorite song on the album has always been a song called "Sorrow". they FINALLY did a video for it, which hopefully means its going to be a single. I love this song, here's a link to the video. If you havent checked out Flyleaf yet, you should. They are amazing. I got to hang with them for an hour on their tour bus during the Family Values Tour and they were all the nicest folk.

Flyleaf - "Sorrow" Video

enjoy!

-Ken Lewis

Producers Point of View

2008-05-01T15:41:00.002-05:00

91.9FM JAMZ in NYC

I recently did a radio show at 91.9FM JAMZ in NYC. It was a Producers Round Table with DJ DWI, Don DiNapoli from iStandard / Prototype Ent, and three amazing up and coming producers, El Boogs da composer, Pyro, and Keyiv. All three are monthly winners of the iStandard Beat Battles in NYC, which, i should know from being a judge, are some very fierce beat battles. Canei Finch won the April competition, Canei is NASTY!

Anyway, if you are a young producer on the come up, this round table discussion might interest you. It takes a couple minutes to really start, but it flows well once it gets going. Its a live video stream from that day and runs about a half hour.

Producer Round Table

enjoy

-Ken Lewis

Hoodgrown in West Chester, Ohio

2008-05-01T02:31:00.002-05:00

So, the neighborhood i grew up in, West Chester, Ohio, was very far from anything that could be called "the hood". In fact, i led a very normal suburban middle class upbringing. My real education in urban music began in New York City in 1993. And what an education I got. A short list of producers, engineers, and artists who were my teachers, mentors, colleagues, etc... Double X Posse, T Ray, Troy Hightower, DJ Muggs, Malik Pendleton, MTUME, Just Blaze, Kanye West, Puffy, Mary J Blige, this could become a very long list.

Anyway, all of this to preface the fact that an online publication called Hoodgrownonline.com just interviewed me. They interviewed me even though I'm not hoodgrown, but i've still managed to make an impact on urban music, and hopefully a few other genre's as well. If you'd like to read the interview, here it is.....

HoodGrownOnline.com Interview

Happy reading

-Ken Lewis

"DAMAGED" @ #14

2008-04-29T23:25:00.003-05:00

Quick Billboard Charts update

Danity Kane "Damaged" is currently at #14 on the Hot 100 Singles Charts

Day 26 "Got Me Going" is currently #30 on the R&B Hot 100 Singles Charts

In its 5th week, Danity Kane's "Welcome to the Dollhouse" album is @ #14, down from #10 (formerly #1)

In its 4th week, Day 26 album "Day 26" is @ #21 down from #18. (Formerly #1)

It's always nice to have hits on the charts!!

-Ken Lewis

Obama and the Housing Crisis

2008-04-28T10:19:00.002-05:00

Hey, its my blog, its getting political today. I'm voting for Barack Obama. I don't think I've ever felt so strongly about a candidate, but only after i spent hour upon hour upon hour researching his views, positions, votes, earmarks, etc... Here is one more highly impressive piece of the puzzle.

Over one YEAR ago, Obama foresaw the impending mortgage crisis, and sent a letter to the two people best positioned to spur a government response. McCain didnt even think there was a crisis even after it all started, and Hillary was reactionary at best. Its actions, forethought, and decisions like this from Obama, time and time again, that have earned my vote for him. Just give him a closer look, and read this article. its not long.
Thanks!

Obama Action on Housing Crisis, March 22, 2007

Ken Lewis

Producer Page

2008-04-09T20:05:00.002-05:00

Hey you. Yes.... you. the one reading this. Don't look behind you, i'm talkin to you. OK, now that i have your attention, please divert your eyes slightly to the left of where you are reading now. You'll see several navigation choices. There's a new one!!!

OK, now click on "Producer". I'll wait.

Are you back? What did you think? I finally launched my long overdue Producer page. Everything you hear, I produced, or co-produced. Here's a little Key translation in case you didn't find it Pr = Producer, Wr = Writer, Mix = Mixer, Mus = Musician, Vox = Backing vocals.

Did you notice how diverse the music is? I'm a music producer. I'm not a "pop producer" or "hip hop producer" or "music style x producer". I produce music. Hopefully you like what you hear, i enjoyed producing all of it. I hope I'm lucky enough to make that much more great music in the coming years. I've got more cookin up right now.

Hey, did you also notice all of the new "LISTEN" clips on the Home Page? I put together a bunch of new samplers for anyone who cares to listen. "Pop & Rock Sampler" is a nice dichotomy of those two genre's, "David Byrne Sampler" is several songs from the album i recorded and mixed for him, "Bad Boy Sampler" is alot of the new Danity Kane, Day 26, & Donnie Klang stuff i've mixed, "Urban Sampler" all R&B and Hip Hop, "Small Town Sleeper" is a pop rock group from Urbana, Ohio that i developed, got signed, and produced the album, "Glass Intrepid" is a smattering of the 7 songs i produced for their In De Goot album, and well, i think you know who the other three are :-)

Enjoy all the new stuff on the site. I've been way overdue for an update and here it is.
-Ken Lewis

Day 26 is #1, 24th of my career

2008-04-02T19:03:00.002-05:00

The self titled debut from Bad Boy / Atlantic artists "Day 26" is unseating Danity Kane for the #1 spot atop the Billboard Top 200 Albums Charts! This is the first time in the history of Bad Boy Records that they've ever scored #1's in consecutive weeks from different artists. Kudo's to Bad Boy and Day 26 and all of the amazing people who worked on the album.

This is the 24th #1 album or single of my career. So far so good!

I mixed the first single "Got Me Going" as well as 4 more songs on the album. Here's a little mp3 sampler i put together of a few of my mixes on Danity Kane, Day 26, and Donnie Klang. Enjoy!

Bad Boy Sampler.mp3

-Ken Lewis

Site Updates

2008-03-29T01:35:00.002-05:00

So, if anyone has been poking around, you might notice that i made about a dozen site updates over the last couple days. It was long overdue so i finally did it. My credits are pretty much up to date, i revamped alot of the text, and I replaced half of my "LISTEN" section with new stuff. So, the LISTEN section now has an album sampler i put together for "Small Town Sleeper", a pop rock group from Urbana, Ohio that i developed, produced, and got a record deal for, then produced and mixed the album for Upper 11 / Fontana Records. The first single "Backseat" just went to radio. Hopefully you'll be hearing it soon. Small Town Sleeper also toured with Chris Daughtry last summer, which was a perfect pairing as far as musical styles and potential fan base. The album is called "Conversations" and is available on itunes, even though the album isnt officially released yet. Their single "Backseat" is also available for purchase on their website, smalltownsleeper.com.

I also put together a compilation of Houston, Texas modern rockers "Glass Intrepid" who's album i produced and mixed for In De Goot Records last summer. Glass Intrepid has been busy playing a ton of shows including the Warped Tour as well as opening slots for the likes of Fallout Boy, Finger Eleven and a bunch more.

and of course i put up the same urban sampler that was on my last blog post. I thought it was a good representative cross section of my work in that genre.

If you havent taken notice by now, I also bought an SSL mixing console recently and have been crankin out the hot mixes with it. that board sounds amazing! and on that note, i'm gonna walk back over to it and finish up my latest mix at 2:41am on a Friday night. take care.
-Ken Lewis

iStandard Beat Battle Judge

2008-03-27T13:32:00.002-05:00

A big congratulations goes out to producer "PYRO" for winning last night's iStandard Beat Battle at Don Hill's in New york City. Honorable Mention to producer "Clams Casino" who was actually my pick for winner by a point over Pyro. Both were unbelievable, and all ten producers really brought some heat. They should all be very proud. Once again iStandard put on a great event, thanks to iStandards's Don Di Napoli and J Hatch, two of the finest promoters and people i know. They gave me a little spotlight time last night because i was judging and asked me to put together a 5 minute reel of some of my work. Here's an MP3 of the reel if you care to listen. Enjoy!

Ken Lewis Urban Reel.mp3

-Ken Lewis

BMV Chart Update

2008-03-26T05:04:00.002-05:00

So, BMV (Icelandic pop rock artist I'm producing) is now charting his single "Endlessly" in Iceland, Bali, Kosovo, and Lithuania! While they are all small markets, i find it fascinating where this song takes hold. I mean talk about 4 completely different cross sections of listeners, it doesnt get more diverse than that! BMV's last single charted in 9 countries.
-Ken

Billboard #1 Spot!

2008-03-25T02:22:00.002-05:00

Danity Kane's new album "Welcome To The Dollhouse", released last Tuesday, will debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Charts this week! This is my 23rd #1 album of my career. I mixed 5 songs on the album including "Damaged", "Ecstasy", "Poetry", "Is Anybody Listening", "Picture This". Big congrats to Danity Kane, everyone at Bad Boy, and everyone involved in making this album. Thanks so much to you all for making me a part of it!

Today, the self titled debut album from "Day 26" hits stores. Maybe with some luck, I'll have another #1 under my belt in seven more days. I mixed 5 songs on the Day 26 album including "Got Me Going", "If It Wasn't For You", "Silly Love", "Come With Me", "What It Feels Like".

Also today, the debut first single "Take U There" from Bad Boy solo artist Donnie Klang hits itunes. I mixed it. What a week!!!

-Ken Lewis

Making the Band Season Finale - "TAKE U THERE"!

2008-03-23T23:17:00.002-05:00

So, the 2 hour Season finale of MTV's Making the Band was tonight. i think i got about 15 seconds total of camera time sitting on the couch in the background while Donnie Klang cut vocals to "Take U There". A couple weeks after that footage was shot, I mixed the song and it will be available on itunes on Tuesday, along with the debut album from "Day 26". I've heard the whole album, its amazing.

So, i seem to be on a nice roll right now. I just mixed Joe Budden's single yesterday (not Bad Boy related). I mixed all three first singles from Danity Kane, Day 26, and Donnie Klang, as well as 5 songs on each of the Danity Kane and Day 26 albums! I should be mixing some more of Donnie's record in the next week or two. Big huge thank you to super songwriter, super vocal producer Mary Brown. Mary and i have been good friends for over ten years, and she recommended to Bad Boy that they should bring me in as a mixer for MTB. Mary has been involved deeply with the MTB artists as a songwriter and vocal producer, having penned at least a half dozen songs for them and done a ton of great vocal production. My relationship with Bad Boy goes back to 1993 when i engineered many times for Puffy. I think the first time i ever engineered for Puffy was on Usher's first album. How's that for going back!!! I've also made a ton of records for Bad Boy over the years and also for Harve Pierre over the years, but i hadn't done anything for Bad Boy in a few years now. Out of sight, out of mind you know. When i walked thru the doors at Bad Boy for the mixes, it was like a reunion. Oh yeah, i used to work with Mario Winans all the time too. I swear, the stuff i've heard him producing lately i think puts him in league with Kanye, Just Blaze, Neptunes, etc... his musicality and sense of rhythm is amazing.

Let me reminisce for a moment on all of the Bad Boy artists I've worked with over the years as well as Bad Boy productions.... Faith Evans, Total, 112, Lil Cease, Lil Kim, Fuzzbubble, Mase, The Lox, Carl Thomas, Mario Winans, Shyne, Notorious BIG, Danity Kane, Day 26, Donnie Klang, Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Diddy, and many more i cant remember. Damn, thanks for the memories Bad Boy!

Anyway, sorry, i'm going on and on. Its just that the show finale is a culmination of ALOT of very hard work and very long hours and it feels good to sit and write about it all again after seeing it all come together. And on that note, I'm gonna go relax and enjoy the rest of my Easter Sunday. Goodnight.
-Ken Lewis

Big In Bali

2008-03-23T00:31:00.002-05:00

My production partner, Brent Kolatalo, and i are producing Icelandic Pop rock artist BMV right now, and his current single, "Endlessly" is charting, in of all places, the island of "Bali" (population 3.1 million). BMV is charting #26, just behind Madonna & Justin Timberlake, and just in front of One Republic, Jonas Brothers, and Rihanna. How's that for impact. Here's the chart. You never know where your work is going to take hold!
-Ken Lewis

Mixing Joe Budden tonight

2008-03-21T23:33:00.003-05:00

All Joe Budden fans, please raise your hand. Mine is held high right now. I had the privilege of mixing 3 songs on the first Joe Budden album that he put out several years ago on Def Jam. Joe and i have kept loosely in touch ever since then, working together on several things, and recently developing VH1 White Rapper "Sullee" from Boston. (Sullee is crazy talented).

Anyway, Joe called today and asked if i could mix a single for him. So, as Bad Boy Records has been quite for a minute i said "Get that song here ASAP and I'll get it done" (my apologies to any other clients i should be working on tonight, but at least you got bumped for Joe Budden). So i've been mixing a song called "Touch n Go" all evening. I think i'm about to wrap it up early and enjoy the waning moments of my Good Friday, and I'll come back fresh and finish this mix tomorrow on better Saturday. So far though, this mix is THUMPING! I think Joe is gonna love it.

This will be released independently from Joe on his WEBSITE

Stay tuned. I'll try to remember to let ya'll know when the song is available for sale and streaming. By the way, for the record, i think Joe Budden is one of the best lyricists walking the face of the Earth. If you dig into all of his stuff, the boy can put together words like few others. And he can do crazy club joints too, which is what i'm mixing tonight.

-Ken Lewis

Empty Shelves at Best Buy

2008-03-21T04:04:00.002-05:00

So, i was in Best Buy today, Thursday. (for you non-Americans, "Best Buy" is a BIG store here that sells almost everything, including CD's). The Danity Kane album "Welcome to the Dollhouse" hit the shelves on Tuesday, and today, there was not a single copy left in the store. I can't say i was shocked, but definitely pleasantly surprised! Even more surprising, was that the new "Flo Rida" CD out on Tuesday as well still had plenty of copies on the shelves. I kind of assumed that since Flo Rida has a HUGE hit single on the charts that his album would reign supreme on 1st week sales, but at this point, I'm kinda thinking that Danity Kane is going to bitch slap Flo Rida out of the #1 spot. :-) We'll see as the week shapes up how sales are doing. Keep your fingers crossed for me, I mixed 5 songs on the Sanity Kane album including thefirst single "Damaged" and a #1 debut would be HUGE for me! Hope your all doing well!

- Ken Lewis

Beautiful SSL Mixing console

2008-03-19T04:23:00.002-05:00

Right now I am printing final passes on a song called "All We Want" that i am producing for NYC indie rockers "Man On Earth". Right now i feel like Babe Ruth stepping to the plate and pointing towards the right field cheap seats, this one is a home run!! I'm sure it will be posted soon and I'll link it then so you can check it out if you'd like.

This is maybe the tenth or so mix I've done on my new SSL AWS 900+ mixing console, and this thing is a MONSTER! It sounds beautiful and powerful, open and defined, aggressive and easy to get what i want out of. Mixing feels effortless on this console. So, Manny Marroquin called me today, he might have some work for me (not mix work, he's the best, the dude mixed Kanye's "Jesus Walks" and "Stronger"!!! holy cow!!), anyway, Manny and i were catching up with each other and got to talking about the SSL AWS EQ's, which i've been thinking since i started mixing on this board that they are better than the SSL 9000 series consoles. I also figured i believed that because i own one now and i wanted it to be true, but Manny, who has mixed alot on both the AWS and the 9000 Series SSL, confirmed the same belief to me (and i REALLY trust his ears). The EQ's are so good, that i am barely using any of my amazing EQ's. My GML, Avalon, Neumann PEV's, Oram HD-EQ, Lang PEQ2 arent getting much action at all lately. On this mix in fact, the only outboard i am using is the Manley Vari-Mu limiter on the mix buss insert, followed by my Sontec Stereo EQ, which is unreal. I'm also using the SSL stereo buss compressor and lots of channel EQ's on the board. Anyway, DAMN i love this console. it really sounds great and makes mixing that much more fun for me.

I am so happy with the way this production came out. Its been a labor of love, a long time coming and its finally done. Cant wait to let you hear it.

-Ken Lewis