November Sound Bytes

So... what happened to October? Well, we got busy that's what! Timothy Hay, aka Tim Severns, decided that he liked what we were doing with his songs so much that he figured we'd better finish the "wreckerd" in time for his move back to Utah. And finish we did! With several weeks of intense recording, mixing, editing and mastering, the final product was wrapped up by the end of October and sent off to Discmakers for duplication just as Tim and his faithful companion, Minnie, headed out west. It was a creative challenge for us at H&N to work with tracks that had been started elsewhere, but we came up with some interesting ways to deal with it, much to everyone's delight. And most importantly, we made a new friend. Tim and Minnie will always be welcome back at the studio. We'll soon be posting a comp of the tracks and a link to Tim's site, as well as a good Before and After of at least one song to showcase what we do here at H&N. Watch for The Timothy Hay Wreckerd at all the finest online retailers.

In between Tim's record project we hooked up with our old friend, Mike Britton, on a voiceover gig for Silver Rock resort in La Quinta. Other voiceover work included a new client, ReachMD, a satellite radio channel by and for doctors.

Derrick and writing partner Brett Ratner composed and produced two new tracks for MasterSource in Los Angeles. The songs, Inside Looking Out and Song She Sang, will appear soon on a Psychedelic 60's compilation and will undoubtedly find their way into numerous television and film projects.

SEPTEMBER SOUND BYTES

September already? Looks like we missed a couple of months there. No worries... we were having too much summer fun to keep up with the studio projects.

Along with summer fun... as well as an unwelcome three week summer cold... Hear And Now geared up for the fall promo season by getting marketing materials to the NFL and NHL. We've already experienced some great feedback and an audition for the Florida Panthers! The NBA is next.

Summer studio projects included producing some fun music tracks for TAKEDA International. Cathy Glickman provided vocals on three parody tracks and Derrick got to finally sing a Lenny Cravitz song. Meredith and Derrick also had the opportunity to be the Pips. The tracks were a big hit and we look forward to working with TAKEDA again.

New client Tim Severns brought a fun record project to the studio with a variety of songs recorded over the years in various locations with numerous musicians. We get to take all the tracks and add some new instrumentation and mix. Looking forward to working with Tim and his rootsy Americana songs. More as things develop.

June Sound Bytes

As Derrick gets ready to go full tilt with his new voiceover promotion as THE NO.1 SPORTS PROMO VOICE, we anticipate a busy time in the studio as voiceover work starts to pour in.

In the meantime, the latest Hear And Now Music projects include writing, producing and donating a theme song to a local Deerfield organization that's very close to our hearts, KIDDOS, Kids In Deerfield Doing Outstanding Service. Meredith Colby Procell wrote the words and music and Derrick arranged and produced this fun anthem for the kids to sing live at a talent show fund raiser. CD's of the song were a much sought after item, and the event was a rousing success.

Derrick's new song, 21st Century Cowboy, is being considered as the theme song for a new cable television show. This rockin' blend of country and pop is a hook filled hit that will be another feather in our music placement caps.

March Sound Bytes

In like a lamb... yeah, that's more like it. On the heels of some pretty slow months to begin the new year, March rolls in weakly but there are new projects on the horizon for Hear and Now Music.

One of the most exciting bits of news to report is the renewed interest and forward motion of the musical project closest to our hears, Planet Camp. For those of you not familiar with PC, it is a proposed "GREEN" kids tv show/interactive web presence/multimedia project that H&N Music is producing the music for. We now have some very powerful allies helping us to get the project to the likes of Kenny Ortega, the choreographer/director of Disney's mega-franchise, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL. More on that as things develop. We anticipate a flurry of activity based on Planet Camp production duties. Besides music, Derrick also provides voices for several of the characters, including one of the main characters, Woody The Cool Talking Tree.

Other musical projects on tap for H&N this month include some original Blues songs for a project being pitched to Absolute Music, a music licensing library. Derrick is reaching back to his early days as a front man in several blues bands about town in Milwaukee WI for inspiration. Blues is a fun genre to work in because there are so many flavors of blues to color the songs with.... urban, country, rock, acoustic, jazzy, etc. The real fun begins when Derrick gets to blow some mean harp on these tracks!

Other clients this month: Jake O'Brien, who read a story and sang a couple of songs as part of his 6th birthday celebration gift. A grand time was had in the studio, including finding out how many ways one can enhance and digitize a burp!

Terry Abrahamson is back for yet another Mitvah musical number to include in his multi media presentation for a client. Lots of fun, challenging vocal work for some very interesting and funny tunes about a gal who loves CHOCOLATE!

SOUND BYTES: February

Well...

where do we start? January saw a wealth of activity at Hear and Now Music. Unfortunately, most of it had to do with upgrading the system...ProTools 8 and Mac OSX Leopard, and backing things up... necessary housekeeping. Which is ok, as most clients seem to be suffering from the economic hangover that the whole country is suffering from. As confidence in the economy grows and the desire to have their projects up and running again, clients will benefit from the upgrades at the studio.

Maggie Kain's CD, BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE, is finally here! It looks as great as it sounds.... which, to my ears, is quite wonderful. Songs are already being submitted for film and tv placements through Broadjam and Pump Audio.

Nancy Shafer's CD, THE JEWISH KID IN ME, will also be available this month. Derrick co-produced the cd with Nancy and Danny Shafer. 

SOUND BYTES: January

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hear And Now Music is glad to welcome 2009. We look forward to many exciting new recording projects as well as success stories from last year's projects.

Derrick and Meredith are looking forward to their collaborative effort with Ned Yost and Andrew Rios as part of the 1320 Collective. Creative ideas are abounding, and we're sure that the combination of content that H&N can provide, along with some innovative digital age marketing strategy, will spell SUCCESS in 2009. Stay tuned for more....

January will see the long awaited release of Maggie Kain's cd, BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE. We are already submitting songs from the record to film and television listings.

We also are looking forward to getting some sales numbers for the 2008 Christmas release for Christian Beginnings. With a late inning marketing and promo push, included the article you see here from the Pioneer Press, we expect to post some encouraging figures soon.