 AD4M: U Want Me (EP) |
Session Date: Summer / Autumn, 2001 Produced by Adam Drake Engineered and mixed by Adam Drake This is my current project, which is a work in progress. Electronic music in the big-beat / progressive house motif. I have a website which I put together mostly for DJ's to check out the tracks. So far response has been better than I expected so I am on a fast-track production schedule to produce a 12" ep for international DJ use. Feel free to email me if you are a DJ who wants a copy. |
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 Ralph: This Is For The Night People |
Session Date: May, 1998 - September, 1999 Produced and Mixed by Tracy Marks Recorded at Quantum Sound, Vancouver Engineered by Adam Drake This was the third release I worked on for Ralph. It was recorded over numerous months at Quantum Sound in Vancouver, BC. All the instrumental tracks were largely recorded live off the floor in a very 1950's-60's style of "capturing" the sounds. Overdubs were performed many weeks later. The end mix was done in a variety of studios after I had left Vancouver. This CD continues to receive a great deal of acclaim and airplay from Bravo Television (Canada) and CBC Radio and Television. The single "Last Year's Valentine" was also made into a very poignant video (Directed and shot by Chris Hooper) which charted within the top 15 on Bravo Canada. After touring extensively for this release, Ralph has gone on to achieve a great deal of acclaim for his published poetry. This album is available via the Bongobeat website. |
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 SunLikeStar: Inverse |
Session Date: Summer, 2000 Produced by SunLikeStar and Phil Western Engineered and Mixed by Mike Plotnikov Mastered at Gotham City Mastering, Vancouver, BC by Craig Waddell I assisted in a lot of the preparation for these sessions, including recording and mixing numerous demos with the band. However I had moved from Vancouver to Toronto when the actual recording took place. I got a "special thanks" credit on the album and continued working with the band after it was completed, providing feedback on mixes, mastering, album sequencing and other facets of the production and promotion of the album. I'm immensely proud of this album and the band, and of course I built their website. |
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| SunLikeStar: (Various Demos) |
Session Date: May. 1998 - Aug. 1999 Produced by SunLikeStar with assistance from Adam Drake Engineered by SunLikeStar and Adam Drake Mixed by Adam Drake and SunLikeStar Mastered at Gotham City Mastering, Vancouver, BC I assisted as engineer, mixer, co-producer, and creative consultant to the band (formerly known as Pan: - see below.) This band has a really distinct and energetic sound, and the result of these numerous demos was that the band would go on to record their own independently-released CD Inverse in 2000. These sessions were recorded on numerous types of media including a Roland home studio. I really enjoy working with these guys. I also went on to do the band's website. You should check it out and support this amazing band. The band continues to demo and perform live. Watch for the inevitable tour soon. |
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 Jessica Weiser: What Has Happened |
Session Date: July 12, 1998 Produced by Adam Drake and Jessica Weiser Recorded in Adam's Kitchen in Vancouver Engineered and mixed by Adam Drake Available on CD in limited quantities at www.jessicaweiser.com I recorded and mixed this, my first actual released CD that I had a lot to do with, with Jessica. The album was tracked and mixed in my apartment. It was a gruelling process getting the Akai personal studio we had rented for the session to play ball. It completely destroyed entire songs - on its own - in a mere minute or so. I don't recommend it at all. Considering we only spent three weeks recording and mixing, and that the entire project went from nothing to a completely pressed and printed work within only two months, it's a really decent-sounding release in my opinion (and that of others.) I am extremely proud of Jessica's work on this. She went on to continue writing and recording in her home town of Muncie, Indiana and then moved to New York where she recently completed her third release, "After Silence". The "What Has Happened" CD was a limited pressing of 700 which were mostly pre-sold before the CD was completely finished being pressed. People from all over North America (and even some other continents) sought it out. Not bad for an indie debut. |
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 Front Line Assembly: Flavour Of The Weak |
Session Date: Aug. 28th, 1997 Produced by Bill Leeb and Chris Peterson Mastered at Gotham City Mastering, Vancouver, BC Engineered by Bill Leeb, Chris Peterson Mixed by Chris Peterson Available on CD via SPV / OffBeat (Germany) My input on this session was to perform the final track sequence for the album. A small job, really, in the grand scheme of things. Select the order of songs with the band, then perform crossfades and edits to put everything in that order. I also performed a single edit for the song "Colombian Necktie". This was a fairly big international release, from a band who already had a fairly large and devoted following. The session literally flew by and the band members were quite excited by the results. |
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 Front Line Assembly: Colombian Necktie (EP) |
Session Date: Aug. 28th, 1997 Produced by Bill Leeb and Chris Peterson Mastered at Gotham City Mastering, Vancouver, BC Engineered by Bill Leeb, Chris Peterson Mixed by Chris Peterson Available on CD via SPV / OffBeat (Germany) I did the single edit for the track "Colombian Necktie", knocking it down from the album length of 6:30 to about 3:45. More mastering and editing. Very specific. Lots of eyeballing of quarter notes, eighth notes, etc. Tweaky stuff. It ended up sounding very big and heavy. The band was quite happy with the results. This was the first release, with the album following it. Sounded great to me, particularly after mastering. |
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| Pan: Demo |
Session Date: Aug. 15th, 1997 Produced by Greg Bradley, Adam Drake, David Mariacci Recorded at UV Studios, Vancouver Engineered by Adam Drake Mixed by Hugh Gordon and Adam Drake Did a lot on this one. It was a really good set of sessions. The band was very happy with the results. It got some label attention too. :) Good to see. Really diverse for a demo. Great sounding band though. Next step was to get them on the road, which took a while. Good songs, only one of which ("Allergy") now remains in their setlist. The band is now known as Sun Like Star. |
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 Ralph: Sophisticated Boom Boom |
Session Date: March 29th, 1997 Produced by Ralph Alfonso, Tracy Marks Recorded at UV Studios, Vancouver Engineered and Mixed by Adam Drake Wow what a huge session! Lots of work. My first time in this studio so a lot of stuff was to be figured out as we went along. The session kind of put things "off-kilter" in that respect. All of us got very little sleep this whole session, which lasted the better part of 10 days and nights. There was some very emotional work on this one. I am pretty proud of the mixing work on it, considering how sparse the setup was. It sounds like an older album than it is. A very stripped-down, garage kind of approach was taken, from the tracking setup (completely live), to the mixdown (no automation, all hands on deck, very little effects.) Graham Howell lends a real level of professionalism and soul to these tracks. (Sax and flute.) His takes and those of "Radar" (the occasional drummer) were my very favorite thing about these sessions. This album is available via the Bongobeat website. |
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| Pan: Instrumental Demos |
Session Date: March 15th, 1997 Produced by Adam Drake, Greg Bradley, Scott McCargar, Hugh Gordon Recorded at Slack Studios, Vancouver Engineered and Mixed by Hugh Gordon and Adam Drake Instrumental sessions in hopes of procuring a vocalist for the band. Although at the time we recorded this song it didn't have a title, I put the name Allergy in here. It wasn't actually named until about two months later when rehearsals started with the vocalist which this demo attracted: Jonathan Hetherington. The session was organized, professional, quick, and sometimes difficult. But very clean. What we came out of there with was respectable considering it was essentially a rough mix. It still stands up pretty well. During the session, I got Scottie to record a few loops of rhythms used in the song so we could go back and sample them later. I made rough mixes of all the loops as well. To date they have yet to be used. The bottom line: we did very few takes of any song. The playing was confident and extremely tight. I wish all sessions were like this one. |
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 Delerium: Duende (Radio Edit) |
Session Date: Feb. 23rd, 1997 Produced by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber Recorded at Slack Studios, Vancouver Engineered and Mixed by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber Edited by George Maniatis and Adam Drake This is my favorite cut on the album ("Karma") so editing it was a breeze. Still: it took us two full days of chopping and cross fading to make it as dynamic as the album cut. The song on the album was originally 6:32 and we managed to get it down to 3:59. Not bad. George Maniatis and Mark Jowett were really happy with it and very little extra work was needed. The CD single featuring this edit was released on Sept. 13th, 1997. I was uncredited. A 12" vinyl EP of it was released to DJ's only on October 25th, 1997. I was also uncredited. This single hit #3 on the Billboard Dance Chart, #3 at Canadian CHR Radio. The video soared to #5 on MuchMusic. |
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 Delerium: Euphoria (Firefly) (Radio Edit) |
Session Date: Jan. 28th, 1997 Produced by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber Recorded at Slack Studios, Vancouver Engineered and Mixed by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber Edited by George Maniatis, Mark Jowett and Adam Drake Another last second editing shot. Had to edit the song from 8:12 down to 4:30. Mark Jowett was there for guidance. Vocals on this track were really wet which made for difficult cutting. Both the band and the A&R department were happy with it. I hoped that this would lead to more single cutting as opposed to straight albums cuts. It did. I considered this very satisfying work. The whole thing was done in the midst of a hefty headcold, and while I was also building the Bryan Adams website. Insane time. The Euphoria single was released in May of 1997 as both a CD-5 and a 12" vinyl EP. I was uncredited on both. It went on to land at #1 on the Billboard Dance charts. The radio edit hit #4 in Canada on CHR Radio. Later (in late 1999) the single won "Best Dance Recording" awards in both Australia and the UK. |
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 Delerium: Silence (Japanese Radio Edit) |
Session Date: Oct. 17th, 1996 Produced by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber Recorded at Slack Studios, Vancouver Engineered and Mixed by Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber Edited by George Maniatis, Mark Jowett and Adam Drake Had to do a pretty quick job, which in this case meant two eight hour sessions of cutting, listening, re-listening, waiting for approval, etc. Mark Jowett asked me to do it and George Maniatis helped me a lot. They were ultimately very happy with it. I don't think it actually did anything in Japan as it was more of an example piece for them, since Japan was the only territory in which we were able to release the song as a single. (That changed in 1999 when it was released as a single in North America.) This was my first work involving any recording which featured Sarah McLachlan's voice. Woo. :) We cut the song from its original time of over 6 minutes down to around 3:40. The single went on to chart at #3 in Canada and #1 on the Billboard Dance Chart. |
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 Ralph: Coffee, Jazz and Poetry |
Session Date: February, 1996 Produced by Ralph Alfonso Recorded at Slack Studios, Vancouver Engineered and Mixed by Adam Drake Mastered at Gotham City Mastering, Vancouver, BC by Craig Waddell The first of three Ralph recordings which I engineered, mixed and otherwise provided creative feedback for. Tracked 90% live off the floor (including vocals in some cases.) This was captured in an in-studio concert for close friends, but also includes some more traditional recording styles. This album is available via the Bongobeat website. |
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 Rose Chronicles: Happily Ever After |
Session Date: June 3rd, 1996 Produced by The Rose Chronicles, Kevin Hamilton Recorded at Slack Studios, Vancouver Engineered by Kevin Hamilton Mixed by Mike Plotnikoff, Greg Reely, Kevin Hamilton Last minute editing gig. I was asked (the day before it was to be shipped for mastering) to edit the playlist for the final sequence of the album with the band. Terrified. Went well and I did it all "blind" (no overview, older version of SoundTools, etc.) The band members who were there (Kristy Thirsk and Rich Maranda) were very gracious and thankful. Took a bit of work to find the proper masters to use. Ric Arboit (the A&R person in charge of the mastering) was happy with the work. So was I. The final mastering was done the next day at Sterling Sound in New York by George Marino (Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, at least a zillion others.) The album was finally released on Oct. 29th, 1996 by which time the band had suffered an acrimonious breakup. Rich wanted his name to appear on the disc as "Global Sound Inc." Wacky. His name even appears that way on the release. Unfortunately, it became an instantly forgotten sophomore release and essentially no promotion took place at all. This for a band which had won a Juno award for its debut album "Shiver" in 1994. It was sad but just as well I suppose. I still consider this to be a very good album, with a lot of rich textures and great melodies. |
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| Ralph / Agnelli & Rave (mid-album sessions) |
Session Date: May 5th, 1996 Produced by Ralph Alphonso, Dave Rave, Lauren Agnelli Recorded at Slack Studios, Vancouver Engineered and Mixed by Adam Drake, Hugh Gordon What a session! True genius pop song stylists (in the real sense of the word.) Dave Rave was originally in Teenage head, Lauren Agnelli was originally in the Washington Squares. Together they are a songwriting duo from New York called Agnelli & Rave. Ralph is....well, Ralph. Dave and Lauren are very gracious and warm. It was a dream working with them. This was two days of total old school pop song recording. Very 1960. Sounded great. We ended up remixing on or around May 19th. (another one day session.) Turned out great. Hard to choose a favorite. Many cool memories, not the least of which was tracking a cigarette being lit. I played drums on a track called "Breezes Still". This track, and others from this session, later appeared on the cd "This Is For The Night People" in December, 2000. "Jangly Love Song" eventually showed up on the album "Sophisticated Boom Boom" (see above) in September of 1997. What I did: Setup, Mic setup, Sound check, Tape check, equipment maintenance, tracking and mix engineering, open and close of studio, coffee, food, cleanup, mixing, assitance in general, proper live setup monitoring, production assistant stuff, shutdown and cleanup. Also performed drums. |
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 Gob: Green Beans And Almonds |
Session Date: August 10th, 1995 Produced by Gob, Jay Clark Engineered by Adam Drake Mixed by Gob, Adam Drake I recorded and mixed this extremely limited edition Green vinyl 7" EP for the band (on LandSpeed Records) in a record two days at the now defunkt Slack Studios in Vancouver's shi-shi west-end. The session initially started with seven songs which were whittled down to four, which are the ones which appear on this release. We put in some lengthy hours on this (though the band would later do so on several lengthier recordings as well. This EP went on to sell out almost instantly. I'm still very proud of it. It's also seen a brief CD re-release on LandSpeed as Green Beans And Almonds +3. This is the only recording I've worked on which was actually released on a vinyl format, something I'm extremely happy about. |
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 Skinny Puppy: Brap |
Session Date: Nov. 21st, 1995 Produced by cEvin Key, David Ogilvie, Ken Marshall Engineered by Ken Marshall, Anthony Valcic and David Ogilvie Mixed by Ken Marshall, Anthony Valcic, Various Finally! I get to work on a Skinny Puppy release. A great deal of fun. Simple stuff, really. Lots of audio chopping and looping. But it was definitely very fun to work on. :) To be fair: this was not a true recording session. The work I did here ended up on the massive multimedia section of the two-disc release "Brap". Still! It was awesome and the resulting multimedia won a great deal of respect from fans around the world. |
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| Pan: Mob Psychology |
Session Date: Nov. 18th, 1995 Produced by Adam Drake, David Mariacci, Greg Bradley Engineered by Hugh Gordon Mixed by Hugh Gordon and Adam Drake Totally creative and very hard project. First they were called "Downer", then "Mob Psychology". These sessions were the seeds which inevitably would produce Pan: and then Sun Like Star. They resulted in several "sketches" which the band would later turn into full-fledged songs. This came about in a weekend that Greg Bradley went to Calgary. He hooked up with David Mariacci (who was still living there at the time) and they immediately came up with two song ideas. Completely cool sounding guitar parts. They asked Hugh Gordon and I to produce and kind of oversee the whole thing. I was given total freedom to do whatever was needed to get things in shape sonically and creatively. Hugh and I took on the traditional Engineer and Producer roles (respectively.) After only two weeks of initial tracking, we had two complete ideas down on tape, three more begun, three more written and ready to record. Initial working name for the group was "Downer". None of this has ever been released. What I did: Production coordination, MIDI sequencing, sampling, editing, pro-tools coordination with Hugh, rough mixing, on-site recording and production assistance, conceptualizing, mixing, editing, coffee, setup, mic setup and assistance, gear maintenance, DAT dubbing, cassette duplication. |
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 Taste Of Joy: Hands Are Tied (Radio Edit) |
Session Date: Oct. 26th, 1995 Produced by Vincent Jones Engineered by Ken Marshall Mixed by Vincent Jones Edited by Vincent Jones and Adam Drake This was the first edit I ever did for Nettwerk Records which was ever heard by anyone. I was asked to do this one at the last minute. This became a trend (see above.) It turned into a really long edit because Vince and I were using an older version of Sound Tools on an old Mac II (no joke!) We were done in two days. The song went on to light rotation at Canadian radio. It never charted anywhere. The band left Nettwerk in mid-1996. During the session, Vince said he liked the 1st Ralph CD. Made me extremely happy to hear that. |
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More multimedia audio work I did:
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