Here is a special recording that I did with Gregory Moore and Suellen Cusack as a tribute to all of our fallen soldiers. This was mastered by Leon Zervos at 301 in Sydney.

I recently was asked by ABC Classics to produce a recording of the final performance of David Hobson and Teddy Tahu Rhodes’ successful 2011 national tour.  It is the first time I have recorded in the Melbourne recital center – alas I didn’t take any pictures.  It is such a beautiful venue both aesthetically and acoustically. All in all it  was a fantastic trip except for the weather.

Garry Smith at Jamhouse Productions has composed the new Gold Lotto Ad that has been on air during December 2011.  We recorded the strings at Ghostgum studios and I mixed it all in my studio.(Video: Watch this video on the post page) Lots of fun doing these ads!

There are also two other completely different ads for the new series which I will link to as they are released.

With its roots firmly in the Celtic tradition, As Night Falls features immortal tunes like Wild Mountain Thyme, The Unquiet Grave and Poor Wayfaring Stranger, alongside contemporary classics such as Annie Lennox’s Into the West and a particularly compelling version of Peter Gabriel’s Mercy Street. The album features the stunning folk singer Sarah Calderwood along with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Greene performing the traditional songs The Maid of the River, I Am Stretched On Your Grave, and The Blue Cockade, the latter featuring Mike Scott from the ex-Waterboys.

Also featured is internationally acclaimed accordion player Alan Kelly, Berlin-based Australian guitarist Bob Spencer, former Savage Garden bass player Lee Novak, and virtuoso Australian percussionist David Jones.

As Night Falls can be purchased from the ABC Store

Here is the press release from ABC Classics for the album that I am producing and engineering during September this year.  Very excited about this one!

SARAH CALDERWOOD ‘AS NIGHT FALLS’ A FIRST FOR ABC CLASSICS

Australia’s leading classical CD label ABC Classics today confirmed that it has signed folksinger Sarah Calderwood to make a solo album. The groundbreaking deal – the first in which a solo folksinger has been signed to a major classical label – follows the success of Celtic Road, the album by Sarah’s band Sunas, which spent six consecutive weeks in the ARIA Classical Top 10 and achieved high rotation on ABC Classic FM and Local Radio playlists when released in February this year.

The band went on to headline both the National Folk Festival in April and National Celtic Festival in June, to extraordinary acclaim.

But it was Sarah’s solo vocal on the traditional Bushes & Briars, accompanied by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, which drew audiences to the album from well beyond the folk community.

‘The response to Sarah’s haunting voice has been amazing,’ says Manager of ABC Classics Martin Buzacott, who discovered the 29-year-old singer performing with Scottish song-writing legend Dougie MacLean at a semi-private concert in the Wollemi National Park last year.

‘Although she sings in the distinctive folk style, Sarah is actually classically trained, has perfect pitch, and very sophisticated musical tastes, so her association with ABC Classics is more natural than it might first appear.’

‘I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to make this solo album,’ says Sarah, who is already in the studio working with Celtic Road’s producer Geoff McGahan, ambient music specialist Mirko Ruckels, and leading orchestral arranger Jessica Wells. ‘Having these trusted colleagues plus ABC Classics and its partners at Universal Music Australia behind the album is like a dream come true.’

With its roots firmly in the Celtic tradition, the album will feature immortal tunes like Wild Mountain Thyme, The Unquiet Grave and Poor Wayfaring Stranger, alongside contemporary classics such as Annie Lennox’s Into the West and a particularly compelling version of Peter Gabriel’s Mercy Street.

‘These are some of my favourite songs from the traditional Celtic and contemporary British repertoire,’ says Sarah, ‘and we have the luxury this time of a full symphony orchestra plus Jess and Mirko’s beautiful, ambient atmospherics, as well as – on a couple of tracks – the musical loves of my life in my band Sunas!’

Recording moved to Hobart last week where the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Greene played several of Wells’ arrangements including the traditional songs The Maid of the River, I Am Stretched On Your Grave, and The Blue Cockade, the latter featuring a high-profile male Australian singer as Sarah’s duet partner. ‘No names, no pack-drill just yet,’ Sarah laughs.

Also featured will be Irish-based Alan Kelly, acknowledged within the folk community as the world’s greatest accordion player, whose own new album Small Town and Famous Nights will be released on ABC Classics in October, plus Berlin-based Australian guitarist Bob Spencer, former Savage Garden bass player Lee Novak, and virtuoso Australian percussionist David Jones.

‘It’s like a who’s-who of the world’s great musicians,’ Sarah says. ‘I’m so inspired to be surrounded by this musical company.’

Sarah’s album, entitled As Night Falls, will be released on 4 November, with advance tracks being pre-released on iTunes from early October.

UPDATE: Also featuring duets with Mike Scott (from The Waterboys) and Shane Nicholson!  We are currently finished recording and are madly mixing to reach the deadline!

I was recently in the studio again with The Ten Tenors to complete their tenth studio album Double Platinum. It was great working with the guys again. albeit with a quite full on schedule.  A neat workflow allowed the whole 2 CD project to be completed within 4 weeks.  A typical day would start with Graham Foote and I reviewing, editing and comping the previous days’ recordings.  Once complete, we’d upload the session file to London.  We would then start recording the next songs parts, finishing with solos in the evening.  All the audio files would be collated and uploaded over night.  Following editing in London, the next day it was forwarded to be mixed.  3 days from start to finish for each song.  There was some time in there that Steven Baker was in Prague recording the orchestral parts for the project, so audio was flying left right and center around the world.  Quite an amazing feat by all involved.

The album debuted in New Zealand while the boys were on tour and hit number 4 on the charts, and debuted on the Australian charts at number 17.  Well done everyone!

www.thetentenors.com

Anyone that does audio/recording sessions and collaborations should check out Gobbler. It allows you to backup your sessions to the cloud automatically, while also allowing you to share your sessions and send audio files anywhere in the world regardless of size. Currently you receive 50Gb free at the moment. I have been using it lately to send sessions and files across the globe and it seems to work much better than alternatives like Dropbox having some great DAW specific functions. Plus did I mention it is free at the moment?? Sign up here (yes this is a referral link, but I do really think it’s cool… remove the end characters to not be associated with me!)

This allows an easy way for clients to send me files and sessions for Editting, Mixing or Mastering.

Just found out today that the Scotland the Brave DVD has gone Gold! That means 7500 units sold throughout Australia. A great achievement in the current economic climate! Congratulations to all the Cast and Crew that have contributed to the concert and consequently DVD as well as those involved at ABC and Universal Music Australia.

The final Sunas CD/DVD has been officially released today. The launch is tomorrow at Ferry Rd at 5pm – Come Along!

Here is the official ABC promo played on ABV Television

Hi All,

Just a quick update. I recently mastered Casey Barnes’s follow up second EP Casey Barnes. Mark Duckworth recorded and produced it. Anyway, Casey has released the single “Never Break You” as an independent artist, with all proceeds going to the Premier’s relief fund.

Mon 7th Feb

Just a short note to say a massive thank you for supporting ‘Never Break You’ and also a bit of an update with where things are at (see attached press release above). Last week the single entered the ARIA Australian Singles charts at #6 and the AIR Music Charts at #1 plus was the 7th most added track to radio across the country. This has all been done without the help of a record label or any marketing budget… everyone working on the single has done so free of charge.

ALL proceeds from the sale of Never Break You are going straight to the Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal which will not only cover those affected by the Qld Floods but also those in North Queensland that were hit by Cyclone Yasi last week so its great that the song can now help on a much larger scale.

Recent Links

Never Break You (Official Video)

Casey Barnes Interview on The Today Show

Performance on The Circle:

So once again a huge thank you for your support so far!!

Warm regards
Casey Barnes