Month-end Artist RECAP: JUNE – BILLBOARD CHARTS, PAN AM GAMES, HEAT!

Summer officially kicked off in June with plenty of BBQ’s, beaches and Pro SONAR users doing some extraordinary things.  June also offered the SONAR Platinum Everett update which introduced the world’s most technologically advanced drum replacement feature.  Here are some highlights from last month on a few of the many hard working professionals using SONAR.

Murray Daigle – Toronto, Canada [Official Theme Song for Pan (and ParaPan) Am Games]

SONAR Platinum user Murray Daigle is the one of the most-awarded producers in the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). Based in Toronto, he is also known for his songwriting and mixing skills with major label and independent artists for over 20 years.  In June, Daigle added yet another major accomplishment to his profile when his writing efforts and song-pitch for the 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games were selected as the official theme song for the event.  The song was written at a “writing camp [workshop]” sponsored by the Songwriters Association of Canada, and then recorded and produced by Daigle with one of Canada’s most established pop artists Serena Ryder. The song, “Together We Are One,” was chosen out of 70 submissions created from the workshop. Seventeen artists perform on the song, including Mykey Thomas (Smashing SatellitesNeverest), Spyro Chalkiotis (lead singer of Neverest) and the Morningstar River drummers to name a few.  The song is currently picking up momentum as Universal has been promoting it to major radio stations, and a video for the song was also cut.  Additionally, the song is being played before every single game as well at the celebratory nightly fireworks ceremonies.

Damian Curry – Los Angeles, CA [Partners with new movie-trailer house and also finishes solo record]

LA-based composer/producer/musician Damian Curry has been busy writing and recording his first solo project named “Alpha,” in addition to all of his TV cue placements.  Damian recently partnered with a movie trailer house and will be having hundreds of new cues synched with upcoming releases.  Over the past 8 years, he has written hundreds of cues with SONAR that are currently featured on shows like Entertainment Tonight, Dr. Phil, The Doctors, and Rachel Ray.  Though he’s produced two other records this year, this album due out early July will be his first solo project focusing on himself as an “artist.”

Damian tells us, “Many of these cues I write have track counts of well over a hundred, and I find using the ProChannel as my go-to channel strip is really effective in terms of sound quality, efficiency and workflow. SONAR in general has been a work horse as my only DAW for composing music for all these television shows.”

Luigie Gonzalez – Los Angeles, CA [Hits #79^ on Billboard with “Compass” by Shift]

Congratulations to Luigie Gonzalez for landing on the Billboard charts in June with his production/mixing/writing work on the rising single “Compass” by the artist Shift [DJ Shift].  Last week the single was #79 on the Billboard Chart, but indicators are showing the song moving up quickly and it should be in the top 50 shortly.  “I’ve found SONAR Platinum to be the most powerful and most stable release of the program to date.  I loved X3, but it’s no comparison to the new Platinum.  For my style of music which is pop oriented, Vocalsync has been an incredible timesaver.”  Luigie is based out of Los Angeles and his SONAR studio is just north of Hollywood.  He has recently been collaborating with one of his music partners Kustom, and the two are going by the production team name of SmashBoxx for the new works together.  He is also working heavily with major artists in Asia including Ah Moon, as well as movie scores­­ like “Lost in the Pacific” with Brandon Routh.

“COMPASS” By SHIFT (Courtesy MTV)

 

John Capo – Los Angeles, CA [Recognized for indie film hit “Capsized” with over 20 awards (so far)]

Another Congratulations is in order for composer/musician/producer John Capo (Wavelength Music) for his musical work on the film Capsized.  The film has so far won 20 awards including 2 for Best Sound Design, plus a nomination for Best Original Music/Soundtrack.  Capo met the film’s writer/director Brandon Freer of Geminii Films when he shot a music video for a singer/songwriter with whom he was working. The job for this score is a great example of how hard work, talent and good rapport are three key elements to today’s industry.  Freer and Capo had enjoyed working together on the previous music video, and after Capsized was written John got the call to do the film score and audio.

Up until 2000, Capo had been traveling with bands as a piano and keyboard player until he decided to settle into his studio in CA and compose for films―as well as produce for singer/songwriters.  Coming from a “musicians” background, it has always been important to John to have a solid reliable DAW that is intuitive.  We are always intrigued and eager to know what Cakewalk users find useful in our software, so we posed the question: “The thing that I appreciate about using SONAR is that it’s completely intuitive to a musician and engineer,” John recently told us.  “I rely heavily on the Pro Channel, and the fact that I can easily run upwards of 200 tracks for my productions without any problems says a lot for the program.  My approach on these productions has always been from a musician’s standpoint, but SONAR has enabled me to become a seasoned mixer and producer as well.  I even record Foley now directly into SONAR which gives me another angle.” John is already working on Sound Design for two new independent feature length films, so we will be hearing more from him in the future.