Merter Yildirim, tape transfer specialist, transfers vintage MLK speech recordings

National Park Service, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

We don’t get to highlight the work of Merter Yildirim, one of our best engineers, often enough. Unlike many of our other engineers, who may specialize in recording live audio from performers and voice actors, mixing music and television/movies, or recording on film sets and productions, Merter’s speciality is recording sounds that have already been recorded, but have outlasted the medium they were imprinted on. Merter is a transfer engineer, someone who can take your old damaged tape, vinyl, ADAT reels, or almost any other recording medium, and carefully restore and convert it into a high-quality digital transfer, able to stand the test of time.

That’s why, when cool, delicate projects like restoring and transferring a copy of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech comes around, we call Merter. This project was completed for Lisa Berman, who needed an old copy of the speech carefully transferred from a crumbling record to a fresh, digital file. These past few months alone, Merter has transferred recordings for Salman Rushdie, RZA of Wu-Tang, and Philippe Halsman’s son Oliver Halsman Rosenberg, who trust his careful ear and skilled use of processing units – noise reduction, compression, EQ, filtering – to bring out the best possible elements of the original recordings.

If you ever decide those old memories ought to be preserved forever and need a practiced, steady hand to get the job done, give us a call. We’ll call Merter!

Harper Collins records "John Maxwell Leadership Podcast" with Tom Golisano

We had the pleasure of recently recording a Harper Collins Publishing production, the excellent John Maxwell Leadership Podcast, featuring as a guest the noted entrepreneur and billionaire Tom Golisano. Golisano recently became an author, and his published guide to entrepreneurship, Built Not Born, was the topic of the day.

The book covers Golisano’s career in entrepreneurial businesses including Paychex, the payroll service which he founded and still chairs, and which rocketed him to billionaire status. Recording was helmed by Dubway’s Violette Furton with Harper Collins producers in attendance to help direct the conversation as needed.

Thanks to all participants, our engineer, and Harper Collins. You can find the podcast on the John Maxwell Leadership Podcast page, or anywhere quality podcasts are found.

Next week – audio marketing panel featuring lead engineer Nathaniel Reichman!

Interested in transforming your brand into sound, giving your company a trademark “voice”, or in how current trends work in these spaces? If you answered yes to any of these, you’d probably love the upcoming panel discussion at Overit in Albany, one week from today, featuring our very own lead engineer Nathaniel Reichman! We’re biased, but we couldn’t pick a better panelist.

The discussion will be held on February 25th at 5:30pm; event info and tickets can be found at the Eventbrite page. For those in marketing, branding, and PR production for A/V media, you won’t want to miss this.

John Krasinski, Brian Baumgartner, Matt Sohn in the Mezzanine

There’s not much yet we can say about a little Dunder-Mifflin reunion that took place in our Mezzanine studio suite recently, but what we can do is share this great photo (that ended up at People Magazine) of buds John Krasinski and Brian Baumgartner hugging it out in the live room. Engineer Zach Grappone presided over the visit.

Check out the People post and stay tuned for more announcements!

New podcast announced from Jigsaw Productions, "Lies We Tell"

Documentary powerhouse Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions has announced a new podcast, Lies We Tell, which we’re thrilled to be involved in! The episodic show deals with “character-driven” puzzles revolving around deception, and the team behind it couldn’t be better: in additional to Gibney, the production team includes former Radiolab executive producer Ellen Horne, Jigsaw producer Clare Sloane Vance, and a full team of reporters.

Interviews for the podcast have been conducted at Dubway, and have been primarily recorded by staff engineer Violette Furton. The show itself is slated for a fast-approaching release in March. Lies We Tell will be available through the boutique podcast network Luminary, a platform we’ve been proud to partner with on a variety of podcasts.

Check out the podcast in March – we can guarantee a deeply interesting listen!

"Hear To Slay" with featured guest Jenna Wortham

Jennydeluxeeee, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

One of our favorite regular podcasts, Hear To Slay, brought an amazing guest – Jenna Wortham, a New York Times staff writer and the co-host of the wonderful culture podcast Still Processing (alongside NYT writer Wesley Morris) – into our studios for a recent episode. The show, which aired on 1/21 (you can listen here with a Luminary subscription), covered technology, boundaries, and a ton within and without those bounds, as hosts Roxanne Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom tend to do.

We love everything about this show, and it’s always a treat when they come into the studios, usually with some of the best guests around in tow.

Hear To Slay interviews recorded at Dubway are engineered by staff engineer Violette Furton, whether that means in-studio, over Skype, or by phone from some far-flung location.

If you’d like to hear more from Jenna Wortham, you can read her columns in the NYTimes Magazine, or find her podcast here (or wherever you get your podcasts). And as always: if you don’t already know, go listen to Hear To Slay!

Mott Haven wins People's Choice Award at the Chandler International Film Festival

Michael Domino celebrating with the award at the CIFF red carpet.

We’re excited to announce that one of our absolute favorite projects of last year, Mott Haven, just received a well-deserved People’s Choice Award at the Chandler International Film Festival! Dubway engineers, including Al Houghton, Nathaniel Reichman, Louis Fisher, Violette Furton, Zac Suskevich, and Pascal McGilveray-Guard, managed and completed the audio post-production on the project from start to finish.

You can take a look at some of our previous posts on this project here and here.

Richard Kogan videos post produced at Dubway with producer Thomas Mowrey and Nathaniel Reichman

Dr. Richard Kogan presenting at Rockefeller University.

Following up on his extensive post-production work at Dubway with chief engineer Nathaniel Reichman for a CD of cellist Luis Leguia, Grammy Award winning classical producer Thomas Mowrey returned to Dubway in January. Their team, including Nathaniel and video engineer Zac Suskevich, has been hard at work on the audiovisual post-production of the renowned psychiatrist and concert pianist Richard Kogan’s lecture-recitals on Chopin and Scott Joplin.  

Nathaniel Reichman at the console.

Thomas Mowrey during playback.

Dr. Kogan’s programs on the psychological origins of musical creativity in the great composers are presented at prestigious venues throughout the world, including the World Economic Forum in Davos and Rockefeller University, in New York. 

Tom is planning to continue work with Nathaniel and Zac on a series of clips from Dr. Kogan’s performances.

Cam'ron feature film project, "Is It A Crime", in post-production at Dubway

Rapper, executive, and producer (does he need introducing?) Cam’ron and his team have been hard at work at Dubway’s New York studios recently, with several of our engineers assisting with post-production for the musician’s first feature-length film project, Is It A Crime. In the film, the Diplomats founder takes a turn in front of the camera as one of the leads, alongside actors Samantha Opitz (Welcome To New York) and Brian Stapf (The Walking Dead). Engineering on the Dubway side is being helmed by Louis Fisher.

This project is very much still in post and there’s not much else we can say about it currently, but while you wait, you can take a look at a trailer on Cam’s instagram or listen to one of his classic albums.

Dubway captures audience reactions to Guy Ritchie's newest film, "The Gentlemen", at Alamo Drafthouse

Dubway engineer Zac Suskevich took to the field recently with cameraman and documentarian Vwodek Wlodzimierz to capture audiences reactions as they left the theatera after viewing The Gentlemen, the newest feature from director/producer Guy Ritchie. The film screened at Alamo Drafthouse and stars Matthew McConaughey in the lead role. We won’t give anything else away – see the trailer below, and go see the movie in theaters!

Kelsey Lu records with Lauren Ford for Dazed Digital

True Panther Sounds and Columbia Records artist Kelsey Lu dropped in recently to record an interview with podcaster and producer Lauren Ford, for Dazed Digital’s podcasting wing. Dubway engineer Russell Castiglione captured the conversation in our Mezzanine studio (how many podcasts can say they’re recorded through an SSL 4064+ G Series console?).

Kelsey Lu is an exciting young artist with a super strong solo project and a bunch of credits to her name, including plenty of work alongside Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes. Check out her music video for Due West here, and the rest of her music and media on her website, linked above.

Keep an eye out for this conversation on Dazed and in the meantime, you can listen to a conversation here that the two of them had around the time Due West was released.

RZA transfers 2" tapes with Merter Yildirim

An A80 minding its own business.

Dubway recently had the honor of assessing & digitizing several classic recordings with the noted martial arts enthusiast and Wu-Tang Clan co-founder, RZA. Our transfer specialist, Merter Yildirim, did the honors. For projects like this we have (and maintain) our Studer A80, Mk IV 2” tape machine, a piece of equipment that’s becoming more and more of a relic these days.

Transfers like these can be extremely delicate processes, as the tape itself is often at risk for damage after long periods of storage, and needs to be brought back to life before the transfer can safely take place. Here’s what it sounds like when you transfer an old, crumbling tape. If you have a cherished recording whose value has outlived its format, give us a call.

We can handle nearly anything you can throw at us. Just please aim away from the Studer.

"Switched On Pop" with Vox Media

The team behind Vox Media’s hit podcast Switched On Pop recorded an interview in our studios for a recently aired episode, “Dolly Parton’s America”, which featured composer, podcast host, and resident Dolly Parton expert Jad Abumrad as the guest, along with hosts Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding, and producer Shima Oliaee.

The episode went live on Christmas Eve, and you can find it on the Vox page here (linked above as well) or wherever you get your podcasts – it’s a perfect listen for returning to the 9-to-5 grind after the holidays.

Shima Oliaee, Jad Abumrad, Charlie Harding, and Nate Sloan, in the Red Room after the session.

"Lets Talk About Cats" at Dubway

Steve Selvidge, Mary Philips, & Violette Furton.

One of our favorite podcasts, Let’s Talk About Cats, recently stopped into the studio to record an interview with engineer Violette Furton. Mary Phillips, the host of Let’s Talk About Cats (alongside producer Lizzie Jacobs), sat down with guitarist Steve Selvidge of The Hold Steady for one of the podcast’s trademark freewheeling conversations about feline companions. Violette Furton tracked the episode on the main floor of our facilities, in one of our pairs of linkable sound and control rooms.

Interviews on this show may start out as being all about cats, but inevitably swerve into related (and less related) territory. Let’s Talk About Cats episodes invariably include a lot about the interviewees that you just can’t get on a non-cat show – The A.V. Club featured a recent episode in their weekly best-of podcasts round up, claiming that Mary’s talent with guests has them, “revealing facets of themselves that would not surface in traditional formats”.

If you like cats and pop culture and haven’t heard this podcast yet, head to your nearest podcast platform to subscribe!

Brenock O'Connor records ADR for upcoming "Alex Rider" film.

Brenock O’Connor, in an updated look from the furs of his Thrones wardrobe.

Actor Brenock O’Connor (Game of Thrones) visited us just before the holidays to record some ADR for the upcoming Alex Rider series Stormbreaker, set for release in 2020. The recording was directed remotely in collaboration with SNK Studios in London, with Brenock in our booth tracking to picture in the traditional set up. Dubway’s Pascal McGilvray-Guard engineered the recording on the local side, with mixer Ben Darier engineering in London.

O’Connor rose to prominence playing character in HBO’s overwhelmingly successful Game of Thrones series and became surprisingly important in the later seasons, as well as acting in Dickensian and other projects. The Alex Rider series is a young-adult series of spy novels that have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, and revolve around the adventures of the titular character.

You can take a look at the trailer for the series below, and follow along with production progress at the IMDB page.

Alastair Macaulay conducts interviews for Voices Of The British Ballet

Notable dance critic Alastair Macaulay (The New York Times) has hosted a series of engrossing interviews with luminaries of the dance and ballet worlds for an upcoming project, Voices Of The British Ballet. Macaulay was the Times’ chief dance critic for eleven years, and just recently retired – although he’s clearly not finished with dance!

You’ll have to stay posted on this one as details about it are scarce, but if you’re a ballet fan, this is something you won’t want to miss. Sessions have been engineered by Violette Furton and Keenan DuBois, who can each attest to the always-interesting (and sometimes-scandalous) stories that Macaulay’s guests have to tell about the various dancers and companies that made waves in the recent history of British dance. Stay tuned!

John Meehan (right) and Alistair Macaulay (left).

Crossover Media produces interview with composer Derek Bermel

Noted composer Derek Bermel sat down in our studios last week for a day full of interviews with classical radio stations across the country, produced and organized by Crossover Media. Dubway’s Violette Furton engineered the interviews – no easy feat, as the day consists of back-to-back-to-back remote recordings with radio hosts, over different connections, generally with very tight timing windows.

Among a long list of accomplishments as a composer and noted ability as a clarinetist, Bermel is the Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra, curator of the Gamper Festival at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Director of Copland House's emerging composers institute Cultivate, and was recently artist-in-residence at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton.

We are always excited to host Crossover Media and the talented artists they bring into our studio. We’ll look forward to the next one! In the meantime, you can listen to Bermel’s recent album Migrations, which was recently nominated for a Grammy Award in the Classical Composition category and was largely the subject of the interviews. Order a copy here or with your preferred classical distribution company!

TransitCenter and Transportation For America record interview

We had the opportunity to sit down and get into the weeds with two figures from major public transportation foundations – Beth Osborne, the director of Transportation For America, and Kapish Singla, of TransitCenter. Both of these organizations do the important work of studying and implementing public transit solutions for urban and suburban cities and developments. They joined us at our Manhattan studios for an interview discussion, lead by Kapish and engineered by Dubway’s Violette Furton, on the future of mass transit and how transit solutions can make our cities more just and sustainable.

Keep an eye on TransitCenter’s media page if you’d like to hear the interview!

From left to right: Beth Osborne, Violette Furton, and Kapish Singla.

"Sound of Philadelphia" nears completion, records ADR at Dubway

SLM Media’s feature film The Sound of Philadelphia recently stopped by our studios to record ADR, as the project moves into its final push. Actor Antoni Corone recorded lines with Dubway’s Pascal McGilveray-Guard, with producer Nicolas Basetto directing the record. Lines were tracked in the classic ADR setup: synchronized with picture, capturing sound to match production audio recorded on set – but with higher fidelity, and a quiet studio noise floor.

You can find out more about this upcoming release, or follow its progress, at the IMDB page for production. We’re excited to see it in its finished form next year!

Dubway-produced Jono Freedrix piece "Nailbiter" selected by Film Shortage

Still from Sucklepump, another of Freedrix’s recent comedic works.

Frequent Dubway collaborator Jono Freedrix has just had a recent comedy short, Nailbiter, selected for a daily pick over at Film Shortage. We were heavily involved in this hilarious and grotesque project as the production (Burgess Carleton) and post-production (Andrew Holzberger, Louis Fisher, and Al Houghton) sound team, and couldn’t be happier to see it getting some shine.

Check out Jono’s “beautifully nasty” film (his words, not ours!) at this link.