"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain" with Renee Elise Goldsberry

Actress and all-around talent Renee Elise Goldsberry.

Author George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo) has an excellent new book of literary criticism with a focus on Russian short stories, titled A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. Since the book contains several stories from other famous authors–written in a different voice to the rest of the text–producers at Penguin Random House are having a talented group of performers brought in to read the different works contained within the whole. This is where we come in!

Dubway engineer Zach Grappone linked with all-star performer Renee Elise Goldsberry (of the original cast of Hamilton) for a remote recording of a Tolstoy short story, which is used in Saunders’ book. The session utilized one of our Orbiter remote rigs (remotely-controlled recording packages, with a microphone, capable of being set up in the clients home or office) to get a great sounding read without ever having the engineer and talent in the same physical space.

Thanks as always to our friends at Penguin, especially producer and director Kelly Gildea, for organizing the session, and stay tuned for the audiobook! It should be a must-read (or must-listen) for fans of Saunders’ work, Russian literature, or aspiring short story writers.

Author George Saunders.

Dubway engineer mixes shorts for "OMNIBOAT: A Fast Boat Fantasia"

Early on in 2020, Dubway engineer Keenan DuBois contributed re-record mixing to two sections of a very strange project, Borscht Corp.’s OMNIBOAT: A Fast Boat Fantasia. The project united a disparate crew of loosely Miami-based filmmakers in an exquisite-corpse style enterprise, built entirely around a speedboat that the Borscht team talked their funders into buying for the project. DuBois mixed two of the shorts within the feature-length movie, before a re-record mix at Skywalker Sound glued the project together with a final layer of polish.

OMNIBOAT premiered at this past year’s Sundance Film Festival in the Next category, and may be slated for future release online or as part of a wider distribution. You can read more at the Sundance program page here, or find out more about the project’s production at its IMDB page.

Tanya Selvaratnam records at Dubway for "Assume Nothing"

Author Tanya Selvaratnam, photographed by Beatrice De Gea.

Writer, artist, and producer Tanya Selvaratnam is in the studio this week to record the audiobook for her recent book Assume Nothing, out earlier this year with Harper Collins. The work is, at various times, a memoir, a gripping true crime narrative, and a collection of resources for those experiencing intimate partner violence. Assume Nothing tells the personal story of pain and resilience behind the public scandals of ex-New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from Selvaratnam’s first-hand perspective.

Selvaratnam is working with Dubway staff engineer Violette Furton and director Cheryl Smith in the recording and editing of the book, and will be performing the reading herself.

Find a copy of the physical book at a local bookstore or any of the major online retailers, and stay tuned for the audiobook coming soon!

Ron Lieber's "The Price You Pay for College" records audiobook at Dubway

Author and New York Times columnist Ron Lieber joined us in the studio over the weekend to record the audiobook release of his newest book, The Price You Pay For College. Lieber has been working with his publisher, Harper Collins, and Dubway staff including engineer Louis Fisher, to complete the project.

The Price You Pay For College is a comprehensive review of what colleges actually cost, aimed at helping families and guardians of the college-aged navigate the maze of sticker prices, financial aid, and abstract values that make a cost-benefit analysis of higher education such a difficult prospect.

See a photo of Fisher and Lieber in the control room post-session below, and find a hardcopy of the book on Lieber’s site or from your favorite retailer. Audiobook available soon!

David James records ADR for Julio Uchôa-produced project, "Diaries of an Exchange Student"

David Sherod James

Actor David Sherod James (The Deuce, The Interview) was in-studio with us recently to record dubbing ADR for the Brazilian film Diaries of an Exchange Student (Diários de Intercâmbio), directed by Bruno Garotti. James worked alongside producer Julio Uchôa (Captain America: Civil War) via Zoom, and coach Sandro Isaack (Mozart In The Jungle) in-studio. Dubway engineer Louis Fisher managed the recording in our Sand control room, one of several of the linked studio rooms in our Main Floor Studios.

We had a great time recording for this project, which shot much of its’ footage in and around the NYC-Hudson Valley regions. So far it’s only been released in Brazil, but stay tuned for possible upcoming international releases!

Richard Kogan's "The Mind and Music of Mozart" edits, mixes at Dubway

Richard Kogan at Rockefeller University.

Work on speaker, pianist, and physician Richard Kogan’s newest lecture-recital on psychology and music has wrapped up at Dubway, and we’re excited to share it here! The piece focuses on Mozart, and was produced by Dr. Kogan’s longtime collaborator, the Grammy-Award winner and ex-Deutsche Grammophon producer Thomas Mowrey.

Producer Thomas Mowrey.

Video editing and mix engineering was done by Dubway engineers Pascal McGilvray-Guard and Keenan DuBois, respectively.

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.

For more of Dr. Kogan’s lectures, click here.

Sean Ellis's "Eight For Silver" dubs ADR at Dubway

Eight For Silver lead actress Kelly Reilly

Director Sean Ellis’s (Metro Manila, Anthropoid) newest project Eight For Silver is nearing completion as it moves into audio post-production, and recorded ADR at Dubway this week with the film’s star Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes, True Detective). Recording was conducted semi-remotely, with directing coming from Ellis in Europe as Reilly performed in our Manhattan studio facilities. Dubway engineer Louis Fisher led the engineering effort.

Eight For Silver is a historical period-horror piece set in the 19th-century French countryside. It may or may not be a werewolf movie–you’ll have to see it this spring to find out! For those who like to follow the production notes as they push into the final stretch, you can find additional production information at the IMDB link above.

Dubway-assisted horror film "Sleepaway Slasher" premieres on Prime

Didn’t get enough Halloween-energy during the spooky season? Sleepaway Slasher–in which a group of young filmmakers find themselves in a real life horror movie–is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Dubway engineer Rashid Ramkissoon served as the production audio engineer (A1) for the project’s principle shooting, which took place in upstate New York.

Catch a trailer below and stream the full length on Prime, and if you like it, head to @sleepawayslasherfilm on IG and let them know!

Audiobook "The Restructuring" records with author JL Stafford

Author JL Stafford teamed up with Dubway engineer Keenan DuBois last month to record the audiobook edition of Stafford’s recent book of poetry, The Restructuring. The book will be available in this format from Amazon, Audible, and iTunes, and is described by its author as inviting you, “…on a journey to free yourself from your emotional wounds…[to provide] you with the tools to authentically see yourself.” Stafford is a practicing psychotherapist and brings her experience to bear on the subject of the self. The session was tracked and edited at Dubway’s Manhattan facility with producer/director Gordon Rothman running the session from the control room.

Find hardcopies available at major retailers like Amazon, Goodreads, and BookBaby, and listen to the audiobook on the earlier mentioned platforms–coming soon!

Dubway hosts WBUR-produced children's content "Little Frog's Big Voice" for Circle Round

In a series of sessions late last month, Dubway’s Manhattan facilities hosted Boston radio station WBUR’s production team and talent, as they worked on the Circle Round podcast episode “Little Frog’s Big Voice”. The episode was produced by Sheir & Shim co-founders Rebecca Sheir and Eric Shimelonis, and featured some amazing talent including Dyllón Burnside (POSE, pictured second from the right, above) and Alex Brightman (School of Rock, pictured above left), both performing as characters on the show.

Recordings for the show were engineered in a hybrid remote-local workflow, with producers directing remotely and talent onsite. Studio engineers Zach Grappone (second from left, above) and Keenan DuBois (pictured above right) managed the technical sides of each session. We’re proud to be one of the few audio houses in the city with up-to-code safety standards that allow us to safely host our talent in-studio for sessions such as these!

Find the episode here, and if you like what you hear, you can subscribe to the podcast by following the link on the page.

Merter Yildirim transfers O'Keeffe estate recordings

Our tape transfer wizard Merter Yildirim’s latest digitization and restoration project came from the estate of renowned artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Merter’s work on the batch of tapes helped to preserve a large collection of taped interviews and conversations, some in a pretty serious state.

The process of restoration and digitization is not strictly limited to processing the sound with your usual analog and digital equipment. In cases such as this one, it can be significantly more conservatorial in nature, with the engineer having to first carefully mend any broken tape and untangle cracked cassette cases before the tapes are prepared to run again. Gentle handling of the medium, along with careful de-noising and processing techniques once the tapes have been re-recorded, can pull some of the most badly damaged tapes back from the brink, and breath new life into the memories on the recordings.

Alfred Stieglitz’s portrait of the artist, “Georgia O'Keeffe at "291", 1917”

Michelle Rodriguez narrates "The Real Toltec Prophecies" with Hay House

Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious, Lost, Girlfight)

Fast & Furious star Michelle Rodriguez was in the studio recently, alongside Hay House Publishing producer Steve Morris, to narrate the audiobook of Sergio Magaña’s The Real Toltec Prophecies. Rodriguez has had an interest in Magaña’s work for some time–you can see a great video of them both here, from ABC–and made a perfect choice to narrate the book. Studio engineer Pascal McGilvray Guard recorded the sessions in our Main Floor studios, which are SAG-AFTRA Safety Protocol certified alongside our full Manhattan facility.

You can preorder a hard copy of the book from the publisher, with the audiobook coming soon!

Dubway certified as compliant with all SAG-AFTRA Safety Protocols

Thanks to the efforts of studio management and all our staff, Dubway Studios is now officially listed by SAG-AFTRA as an approved audio house/studio for voiceover recording. Special thanks are due to our studio manager, Nina Moss, who now also holds a COVID-19 Safety Compliance Officer certification, and to all our staff, who have taken to tracking, testing, and reporting with the focused seriousness the situation demands.

For more on our protocols around the studio, check out our Pandemic Production page, give us a call at the studio office line during business hours, or read the SAG-AFTRA safety protocols here in full.

German public radio station Deutschlandfunk Nova records storytelling show with Dubway

Alice Hasters, host of Einhundert on DLF Nova.

Cologne-based public radio station Deutschlandfunk Nova recorded a new episode of their storytelling show Einhundert–Stories with Alice Hasters in our Main Floor studio facilities this past week. Dubway engineer Louis Fisher recorded in-studio with guest Vivien Schütz, connecting remotely to the German studio from which host Alice Hasters conducted the recording. The show covers stories of transformative decision making, or “the moment when you have to take your life into your own hands,” says Schütz.

For those of us who speak German, the episode drops on November 6th and will be streamable at the above link to the show’s homepage.

Dubway contributes recording to upcoming Michael Mankowski project "The Beast"

Jack Rabbit, voiced by Gordon Pinsent.

Animator, director, producer, and Toronto Film Festival-winner Michael Mankowski is hard at work on a new project, and we were lucky enough to get to contribute by remotely recording some of the film’s voice over. Mankowski’s animation projects are often environmentally-focused, and this one will be no exception. The Beast: Heroes of The Wildfire is a retelling of one of the largest forest fire evacuations in Canadian history, and features a star studded cast and a deeply considered production process, some details of which are available at this project writeup and on the IMDB page. Stay tuned!

To learn more about the Fort McMurray fire, which was the impetus for the film, click here.

Bang & Olufsen shoots documentary footage with Dubway A1

BeoLab 90 model speakers from B&O.

We recently paid a visit to renowned design-meets-audio company Bang & Olufsen for a recorded interview with B&O’s Brian Bjørn Hansen, conducted over Zoom, as is the current norm. Dubway engineer Zach Grappone served as the A1 for the interview shoot, which included a camera team and our mobile rig.

Bang & Olufsen design some of the most beautiful home speakers on the market, which is why they’ve partnered with Bosa Properties to outfit one of their new luxury buildings with built-in B&O acoustics. The interview we recorded with Hansen is part of a larger project of documentation of the design and architectural work going into the property in question, including contributions from other famed creative houses like Thomas Heatherwick, Gensler, Ole Scheeren, Dornbracht, and Miele.

Check out some photos from the office visit below; you can find B&O products at one of their many showrooms, or at the website linked above.

Roc Nation preserve archival Jay-Z tapes

Dubway engineer Merter Yildirim recently completed a series of transfers for hip-hop giant Roc Nation, taking a large collection of archival tapes and footage reels of concert and studio material (including reels from and including the agency’s owner, Jay-Z) and converting them to digital formats for archival purposes.

While individual collectors may often choose to digitize their physical media, it’s a near-necessity for labels. Recording labels of all sizes need to ensure a stable copy for reference and future license, reproduction, or re-release; otherwise, you run the risk of a catastrophe like the 2008 Universal fire, in which irreplaceable master tapes and records burned without leaving a digital legacy behind.

We’re proud to have contributed to Roc Nation’s effort to preserve their historic catalogue for future listeners. Find everything Roc Nation at the link at the top of the article, and give us a call if you’d like your collection to be digitized next!

Young MA live with Tito's Made To Order series

Dubway was honored to be involved in production for Brooklyn rapper Young MA’s set for the Tito’s Made To Order series of streaming events. Our engineers worked alongside a talented team of creatives from Panopticon NYC, Hook Studio BK, and First Tube Media, plus Young MA’s team and everyone at World Central Kitchen. Tito’s Made To Order shows are benefits for World Central Kitchen and feature sharp lineups with artists like Bun B, A-Trak, Kali Uchis, Portugal. The Man, and Claude VonStroke. Dubway engineer Louis Fisher and assistant engineer Jake Zacharia recorded the set, with Pascal McGilvray-Guard mixing and editing the recordings for post-production documentation.

Catch a recording of the set below on the Tito’s Made To Order YouTube channel, or revisit the record that put Young MA undeniably on the map here.

The McKinsey Podcast continues remote work with Dubway

Global management and consulting firm McKinsey & Company continue to work with Dubway to remotely record their show, The Mckinsey Podcast. Episodes have released without an interrupted schedule during the pandemic; Dubway engineers Louis Fisher and Zach Grappone, and studio head Al Houghton, all contributed to the production planning and design of the remote recording packages that go to the podcast participants. Engineering has primarily been conducted by Grappone, who has the task of remotely managing the recording of both the host and any local or remote guests.

You can find The McKinsey Podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher, all of which can be accessed at the link above. If you’re interested in business and management, don’t miss these episodes!

Sarah M. Sala records audiobook version of "Devil's Lake"

Poet and educator Sarah M. Sala joined us in the studios last week to record an audiobook version of Devil’s Lake, her debut poetry collection, available through Tolsun Books. Sala’s poetry has featured on NPR’s Radiolab and BOMB, and she lectures at NYU’s Expository Writing Program. Recordings for the book were tracked and edited by Dubway engineer Keenan DuBois.

You can pick up a copy of this excellent collection at the above link to Tolsun Books’ site; the audiobook will be arriving soon, available everywhere you find your audiobooks.