Apr 1, 2006
George Marshall and his Audio Magick by Mike Ferrari
Okay, we mentioned this studio back in February but we didn't have time to really get into detail. There have been a few new studios and some veteran ones upgraded so in the next few issues we're going to give you local musicians a closer look at them.
George Marshall has 25 years of engineering and producing experience and has spent 30 years as a musician. He got his start in the business when the management/production company that was representing the band he was playing in at the time was looking for staff for their live sound company. George was always enthralled by audio manipulation in recording and live performances. He felt like he was watching a magician and had to know how the trick was done!
Over the years he has engineered at local venues such as Sundance, The Right Track Inn, and The Downtown, and worked with local musicians right on up to Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, Such as: The Ramones, Dave Mason, George Clinton P. Funk, Ace Frehley, John Entwistle, Tonnie Spector, Anthrax, The Misfits, Murphys Law, Dick Dale, Public Enemy, KRS-One, WuTang Clan, and My Chemical Romance. Television productions such as Dave Attel, Robert Schimmel, TV commercials for General Nutririon Centers, Pontiac, and broadcasts for MTV, Much Music, WBAB, WLIR, B103, Island 94.3, WNEW, and Radio X !
Audio Magick as a studio was concieved as an idea almost two years ago with associates Eric and Mary Nelson and Bill Devlin. They were seeing that the recording studios here on Long Island were rapidly dividing into two categories: on one hand you have the Pro Tools "Shed" which offered a good quality recording at a cut rate, but could not offer the amenaties of a larger studio. And then you had the beautiful large room mega studios that could offer you a real PRO recording with all the trimmings but the cost was for above the budgets of most clients.
Their goal was to create a spacious mid-sized room that would be sonically excellent, and that allowed the artist to track a full band live with complete isolation for each instrument if they wished.
Their Live room is 24' 'by 30' with an adjacent isolation booth and 2 amplifier ISO locks. What's nice about having the good sized live room is that when doing Drums, Grand Piano, or tracking guitars, you can mic "The Room" and get the ambient sound, a feature really only found in much larger studios.
Their control room has been acoustically designed for optimal listening, and is equipped with a Pro Tools HD digital recording system, Focusrite Control 24, MCI 2-inch 24 track analog recording and an abundant amount of top shelf outboard Mic Pre's, Compressors, WQ's and effect processors.
On Top of that, Audio Magick offers a library of over 50 great microphones. For the artists needs, they also have an extensive line of Drums, Amps and Instruments including a Yamaha G2 Grand Piano. Other services include CD Duplication with optical printing.
What Audio Magick had created is a studio environment that is cost effective enough for the local artist and yet a studio that can deliver the Pro product demanded by the national artist.
George and his crew know recording can sometimes take a great deal of time so they haven't forgotten the creature comforts either. There is a large living room styled lounge with large screen TV/DVD, including video games and a kitchenette area.
Besides the renowned George Marshall, Audio Magick also features a veteran staff that is seasoned with working with artists and on the cutting edge of technology. They know their job is not to be button pushers, they work with the artists at all stages from pre-production to the final mixes. "The key is knowing what the artist wants, so that you can deliver a fantastic product," says Marshall.
Other staff members include music industry veterans Patric Gordon, Mike Havern, Glenn Moses and new hotshots Tom Malinowski and Anthony Shustak, who Marshall dubs "the Superman himself."
"Shustak has been with Audio Magick since day one of construction, and as an engineer and acting studio manager his talents are one of the main pulses that keep this studio rolling."
Their first client was LI rock sensation J .Rad . This power rock quintet was the perfect first act for us to test the boundaries of the new studio. Cutting a full length LP and the theme song for WBAB's Fingers "Short Scoots" show: the band deliver a modernized classic rock punch, with a level of musicianship that just has to be heard to be believed.
Brothers Jared and Jordan Cannata are two of the most talented young musicians that I have ever come across in my 25 years. Their musical maturity and sense of feel is astonishing. You will be hearing from these guys real soon," predicts Marshall. He feels this interesting band that features a blend of young and veteran expereince will be bringing back the big show of Arena Rock to Long Island.
As far as business goes for only two months, it has been quite busy. Besides J .Rad , other artists include Mandy Ventrice's new project called "Film the Future". Also recording are Last Week with their follow up to the work that got them noticed on AOL Sessions. Also coming in are Pete Sanchez, Capitol, Charles from Forever Platinum Records featuring new artists Shots and Daisy and Rock and Roll hall of famer Dr. Funkinstine himself George Clinton!
Coming into the studio are artists such as Constricted, The Zen Trixters, The Dare Ya Blues Band, and Hip Hop Legend Craig Mac.
Club Loaded records their Radio X Loaded Rock Show that features Dave, Jess and Greg from the club. The show airs every Saturday from 10pm to 12am.
We asked George Marshall if he'd like to give a shout out to anyone in the music industry, and he did! So he would like to give a great big heart felt thank you to D'Addario Planet Waves, GMS Drums, Korg USA, Marshall Amplification, and Samson Tech for all their years of comraderie and continuing support.
For more information on Augio Magick, contact them at 631-391-9171. Give them a call and take the studio tour like I did. It's a pretty sweet set up. I'm hoping to sneak Reign of Angels in there soon.
An official website will be up soon, but in the meantime you can check out what people are saying about them on myspace.com/audiomagick.
- George Marshall and his Audio Magic by Mike Ferrari
|
is a hard rocking act based around two teenage brothers, guitarist J. Rad and drummer DieZeL, who must have been taking music lessons since they were in the womb. They are teamed up with some seasoned players and a powerhouse singer to create arena styled rock.