Written by Cookie Marenco
closeAuthor: Cookie Marenco Name: Cookie Marenco
Site: http://www.bluecoastrecords.comAbout: With more than 20 years in the music industry, Cookie Marenco’s creative and technical skills have touched almost every aspect of the business. She is widely known for the quality of her audio engineering skills and for drawing out passionate performances from the artists she produces. She has engineered or produced 5 Grammy-nominated records, several Gold records and an Academy Award-winning documentary. Her artist credits include Max Roach, Brain, Kenny Aronoff, Vijay Iyer, Kai Eckhardt, New Monsoon, Brady Blade, Tony Furtado, Tony Trischka, Dirk Powell, Rob Ickes, Charlie Haden, Tony Levin, Alex DeGrassi, Turtle Island String Quartet, Steve Rodby, Buckethead, Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, Ernie Watts, Glen Moore, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Jennings, Pat DiNizio, Keith Greeninger, Houston Jones, Kristin Hersch, Brad Mehldau, Matt Rollings, Kevin Kern, Art Lande, Luis Bonfa, Clara Ponty, Chanticleer, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mark Isham and Michael Tolcher. Her production and engineering skills can be found on projects for Monterey Jazz Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Marinfest, Midem, Hard Rock Cafe, Windham Hill Records, Verve, Rounder Records, Om Records, Sony, Warner Bros. and others.See Authors Posts (1)
is an international artist of the highest caliber and reflects the new sensibilities of jazz’s next generation of players. Though considered a ‘youngster’ in the world of jazz, Vijay has been recording albums for more than 15 years. Vijay was named
2010 MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR in the
Jazz Journalists Association Annual Jazz Awards! I’ve had the great fortune of recording all but one of his releases. It’s been a pleasure to watch him grow and see him grace the covers of notable magazines such as
Downbeat and Jazzwise. He was recognized with a Grammy Nomination for Best Jazz Recording.
Though Vijay is a resident of New York City, he chose to fly to the San Francisco area to record at OTR Studios, my commercial recording facility of 25 years. Because this would be his first solo piano effort, his decision to use my studio was based around the 1885 Steinway that lives at OTR along with my personal bias to record on analog tape and mix to DSD (Direct Stream Digital). Light or heavy action, key grip, pedal noise, and you name it variations between instruments make it a challenge for any pianist to perform at their best.
Vijay is always keen to ‘future-proof’ his music by recording with the highest fidelity audio gear and format available. We used the E.S.E (Extended Sound Environment) techniques devised for Blue Coast Records’ projects. We simultaneously recorded to tape, DSD and 44.1khz/24bit.
Vijay’s choice of songs showed his wide appreciation for all great artists. From Michael Jackson’s
Thriller he performed a version of ”Human Nature”, my personal favorite. Over the three-day recording period, he applied his unique interpretive style to works by Ellington, Monk and many other well-known composers.
Most of you are familiar with analog tape and have heard of
Direct Stream Digital recording. DSD is a one-bit digital recording format that offers 2.8 million samples per second. I realize there are numerous opinions on this subject of preference, but, in my view, DSD comes closest to tape and is our format of choice for multitrack recording. Thanks to Gus Skinas and the Super Audio Center, we have a Sonoma System at OTR studios for use with EMM Labs ADDA converters.
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