Report: Remix Hotel Atlanta Day 1
Sep 19, 2008 1:55 PM, Lori J. Kennedy
The opening day of Remix Hotel Atlanta 2008 brought some sun, some clouds and a boatload of music-production science down to Georgia. We’re back at the SAE Institute on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta (next to the Hard Rock Café), and we, along with our awesome attendees, are psyched to be back. The first thing I’d like to say is that everyone is SO NICE here. Seriously. Southern hospitality at its finest. Anyway …
Today started with our 4 p.m. Q&A with Grammy Award–winning superproducer Bryan-Michael Cox, who discussed how he created Monica’s “Still Standing” track, featuring Ludacris. In addition to showing his actual Digidesign Pro Tools session and soloing a couple of parts for the crowd, Cox went into detail about how he and Monica conceptualized the track; he also gave some insight into the work he’s done with other artists, including Mary J. Blige and Kelly Rowland. But Cox’s most important point was to give sincere credit to the members of his production team—including engineer Sam Thomas and producer Kendrick “Wyldcard” Dean, both of whom were in attendance. Without them, he says, he wouldn’t be able to turn out anywhere near the quality of work he does. And any producer who claims to work alone, Cox says, is straight-up lying. Honesty at its refreshingly finest!
Next up was the Mixing by the Numbers panel with DJ Toomp; engineers Karl Heilbron and Sam Thomas; and Barto, Rook and Colione from the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. The panelists walked us through the various elements of mixing tracks and discussed their tips and techniques for mixing vocals and the low end, among other things. Stay tuned to Remixhotel.com for my video interviews with DJ Toomp and the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League about their current projects and their favorite pieces of gear. A bit of a hint: The Ensoniq ASR-10 is key. I’m just sayin’ …
The final Thursday panel focused on scoring for film, with Michael Kohler, Richard Devine, Josh Kay, Erich Netherton, Paul Jenkins and Huston Singletary, who discussed how to create audio for both film and television. For those young producers looking to break into the film world, the panel stressed flexibility, diversity and (of course) having a kickass reel of work to show potential clients. Also, it doesn’t hurt to work for free in the beginning—you never know how those first projects will benefit you in the future. With the room packed full of attendees furiously taking notes and asking tons of questions, everyone stayed past the panel end time to soak up as much knowledge as possible.
And of course, major props go to our crawesome (crazy-awesome … I just made that up—sweet!) Technology Partners, including Rane, Serato, Roland, Pioneer, IK Multimedia, Ableton, Beatlab USA, Celemony and Music Marketing for their fantastic demos, classes and exhibits in their respective rooms. Who doesn’t love playing with killer gear? Only fools, man. I’ll have more info tomorrow about some of these products as I invade these demo rooms and start putting my hands on all this cool gear. Sweet!
Day 2 is up tomorrow, and once again, we’re gonna bring you the best and brightest in the biz. I can’t wait! I also can’t wait to see your sweet self here. You don’t wanna miss this. And remember, you can catch all the video highlights at Remixhotel.com, so stay tuned!
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