Sonic Arts Center Staff off to Paris to Record the Eiffel Tower

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For two weeks in late May and early June, SAC Director Paul Kozel and Technical Director Joe Popp will be in Paris as the production audio team responsible for recording the sounds of the Eiffel Tower for a musical composition entitled Tower Music by composer Joseph Bertolozzi. In an arrangement with SETE, the tower’s operating company, Kozel and Popp with Mr Bertolozzi will harvest the sounds of the Eiffel Tower with with various microphones placed on and around its surfaces to create samples for Tower Music.  The recordings of the Eiffel Tower will be cataloged and prepared for composition at the Sonic Arts Center by students at the Center along with Mr. Bertolozzi. Future plans for Tower Music will involve a series of live performances of the composition during the Tower’s 125th anniversary in 2014 whereby various percussionists stationed throughout the tower will play on it’s various surfaces to an audience around the tower in the Champ de Mars park.  Stay tuned to this blog for reports from the Tower.

Alumnus Chris Woll assisting on the sound design and underscore for a new PBS documentary

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Alumnus Chris Woll is presently assisting on the sound design and underscore for a new PBS documentary The Gettysburg Story along with the primary composer, Ravi Kittappa. The Gettysburg Story takes a unique look at America’s bloodiest battle by utilizing cutting edge technologies such as, stunning motion control time-lapse photography and video cameras mounted on remote controlled aerial drones. Chris has been responsible for assembling a sample library of Civil War era music played by reenactment bands on period instruments that will be used as sound sources in the underscore. In addition, Chris has been responsible for creating some of the original music for the film, particularly in the battle sequences. The Gettysburg Story will have it’s premiere on PBS in July to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle.

SAC Alumnus Album Debuts at Number Two on the iTunes Charts

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SAC alumni Andy Mineo’s latest album Heroes for Sale was released on iTunes on April 16 and by the end of the day had sold approximately 5,000 copies. This put him at #2 on the iTunes album chart and number #2 on the iTunes hip-hop chart, for the day, ahead of artist like Macklemore, Tyga and Lil Wayne. Sources are reporting that Andy Mineo’s Heroes For Sale sold over 27,000 units in it’s first week of release. This represents the biggest first week of sales for a debut album in Christian Hip Hop history. Heroes for Sale has just debuted at #11 on the Billboard 200. Congratulations Andy!

Remembering Richie Havens

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Yesterday, singer songwriter Richie Havens passed away at his home in Jersey City. As a seminal figure in the folk/rock scene in the 1960s and 70s, Richie will always be remembered as the opening act at Woodstock on August 15 of 1969. In the Spring of 2006 Richie spent time at the Sonic Arts Center recording a yet unreleased children’s album along with SAC student Pat Noth. We will always remember the moments he spent here at the Center and his gentle and congenial spirit.

Los Angeles County Art Museum Premieres the film “Everything Turns, Everything Revolves”

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The documentary film “Everything Turns, Everything Revolves”, on the life of artist and film maker Hans Richter, will have its US premiere at the Los Angeles County Art Museum (LACMA) on Sunday, May 5 in conjunction with a retrospective entitled “Hans Richter: Encounters“.    Audio post production for the film, by CCNY Film & Video Production faculty member Dave Davidson, was done at the Sonic Arts Center by Paul Kozel.  Kozel provided the dialog editing, sound design, audio restoration, and audio mix for the film.  Richter was the founder of the The Institute of Film Techniques at CCNY(1941-1957) the precursor to the present film and video programs.  Kozel, Davidson, and Eric Weitz, Dean of the Humanities and the Arts, will be on hand for the premier of the film and to meet with CCNY alums after the event.

 

“Off The Record with Scott Hull” Featuring Rob Mathes.

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The third installment of “Off the Record with Scott Hull” will take place here at City College on Thursday, April 25 at 7:00.  Join our host, Scott Hull (mastering engineer and owner of Masterdisk), and his guest arranger/composer/producer/artist  Rob Mathes.  Rob’s impressive client list includes  Sting, Panic at The Disco and The Young Veins, Sir Elton John, Tim McGraw, Jay Z, Eric Clapton, Beck, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, U2, and many more.  This event is sponsored by Masterdisk, The Sonic Arts Center, and Alto Music.  Attendees can enter to win a $250 gift  certificate to Alto Music, “The Most Complete Music Store In The World. Period.”  This event is FREE and open to the public!

Voice Over Artist Frank Simms in the Center

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Frank Simms voice over artist and background singer extraordinaire, was in the Center today working with the students in the Audio for the Moving Image class.  Frank talked about the voice over industry and then demonstrated concepts and techniques for voice over production.  During his visit Frank recorded voice overs for all of the underscore and sound design projects for the semester.  Frank has worked as a background singer with Madonna, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Carly Simon, Cyndi Lauper, Roberta Flack and many more.  Just recently Frank performed with Roger Waters in the 12/12/12 Sandy Relief concert.  His voice over credits are numerous and include recent Superbowl commercials for Gillette and Mennen as well as work for Cool Aid, Saturday Night Live, Nickelodeon, and JC Penny.

Sonic Arts students work on film selected for Tribeca Film Festival

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SAC alumni and students presently in the program comprised the entire post production audio team for the Japanese feature film ODAYAKA that will be receiving it’s United States premier at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2013. Jo Keita, a recent SAC alum, assembled the team and directed all of its activities. All audio post production work for the film was done at the Sonic Arts Center.  ODAYAKA will be presented as part of the Viewpoints section of the festival. Viewpoints is panorama of the freshest voices in independent film and contemporary documentary from around the world.  Below are the audio post production credits for the film.

Associate producer, sound designer, sound re-recording mixer, supervising sound editor
Jo Keita

Sound Editors
Edison Gan
Dan Cardillo
Miguel Angel Celis
Mike Levine
Gary O’Keefe

Assistant Sound Editors
Justin Best
Justin Adams-Pallais
Boris Palacios

Voiceover
Tsutomu Yamane

Additional Music
“Dan Dreams of Sushi”
Written by Dan Cardillo

“Gan Pan Man”
Written by Edison Gan

“Off The Record with Scott Hull” Featuring Travis Harrison and Jamie Siegel

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The second installment of “Off the Record with Scott Hull” will take place here at City College on Thursday, March 21 at 7:30.  Join our host, Scott Hull (mastering engineer and owner of Masterdisk), and his guests Travis Harrison (producer / recordist and owner of the Serious Business studio and record label) and Jamie Siegel (producer / engineer and owner of JRock Studios) for a lively discussion about what it means to be a producer in today’s music business.  These events are sponsored by Masterdisk, The Sonic Arts Center, and Alto Music.  Attendees can enter to win a $250 gift certificate to Alto Music, “The Most Complete Music Store In The World. Period.”  This event is FREE and open to the public!


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