Interview with Producer Keven Brennan

The Secret Journey of a Song

Los Angeles-based producer Keven Brennan talks about working with artists long distance. Brennan says, "Working with Janeen Leah [f.Boo artist] is a perfect example of one way I work with an artist and one who doesn't live in Los Angeles. Janeen will write a song and do a simple two track recording on her computer with vocals and guitar, and then she emails that to me. I listen to the track and talk with her over the phone about the vibe of the song and what I hear for it. Then I go to work laying down the tracks. I send her a rough mix so that she can rehearse and get the song with it's full production into her body. Then we either arrange for her to fly into Los Angeles for one day to record the vocal or arrange a session with a studio in her area and have the track sent down for my final mixing."

Check out the before and after production of Janeen Leah's song "Let this Love Die." Also, look for her forthcoming EP "Right in Front of Me." International, Spain-based singer-songwriter Paco Pasman, of the band Los Mawers, was in town to lay down the tracks for his song "Winter in Madrid." "Yeah, it was great working with Paco. We have a similar sensibility about music and art which led to some great conversations as well as tracks. Once recording was done, Paco flew back to Spain and I continued with mixing. I emailed him the final tracks and we wrapped everything via email, says Keven.

Listen to "Winter in Madrid" and check out the music videos for "Winter in Madrid" and "Not Dead Yet" below. You'll see Keven Brennan on Sax and Brandon Burns on Trombone in "Not Dead Yet".

Los Mawers ''Winter in Madrid''

(click here if you don't see the videos)

Los Mawers ''Not Dead Yet''

About the Studio

Our studio is designed to inspire and put the artist at ease. The rooms (main recording room with grand piano, iso/vocal booth, and control booth) are acoustically tuned and aesthetically outfitted with a warm, comfortable vibe.

We have some great sounding equipment in our studio, but more importantly, we know how to use our gear and how to apply it in a recording or mixing session to get a product that sounds amazing.

We treat our artists and clients like family -- and have a pool of talent to support the recording artist from the start of music pre-production and planning through the entire recording and mixing experience.

Some Clients and Guests:

Jim Keltner (drums), Colleen Duffy (Devil Doll), New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Chief - Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of the Golden Eagles Tribe, Maceo Parker, Lisa Loeb, Lily Tomlin, Lew Soloff (Blood, Sweat, and Tears), Bonnie Tamblyn, Dino Soldo (Leonard Cohen), J'Anna Jacoby (Rod Stuart), Jason Harnell, JoE-LeSs shOe (Matt Otto, Jason Harnell, Jamie Rosenn), Fran Banish (Keb' Mo), Nate Wood (John Tesh and others), Kaveh Rastegar, Kneebody, Davey Chegwidden (Rhythm Roots Allstars), Orgone, Leslie Zemeckis, Paul Cantelon (The Wild Colonials), Victoria Jackson (Saturday Night Live), Big Jay McNeely, Freebo, Andy Georges (Jewel), Rick Rossi  (The Brian Setzer Band), Kevin Martin (Candlebox), Shane Endsley (Ani DiFranco), Daniel Mackenzie (W.A.R. Records), Connie Kaplan Books on CD, Coresoftware Video Games, and many wonderful others...

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Services

recording studio with engineer
music producer
performance & vocal coach

Additional Services:

arrangers, composers, songwriters, musicians, drum programming, sample & loop library, sound effects,
CD graphic design - call for quote

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Main Recording Systems

Microphones: Royer R121 Ribbon Mic, Neumann TLM103 & U87 (U67, U47 available upon request), Audio Technica 4050, Audio Technica 4031, Josephson C42, Groove Tubes Model 2A (2), Shure SM7, SM57 (2), SM58 (2), AKG C12 available upon request, Octava MK112 (2), Cascade Fat Head Ribbon Mics (2)

Mic Preamps: Neve 1272 (2), Sebatron 4000E 4 Channel Tube Preamp, Trident Dual Discrete A Range (with 4 band eq), Art Pro Channel (tube)

Outboard & Effects: Universal Audio 1176LN, Summit Audio TLA-100A, Lexicon Vortex, Chandler Tube Driver, Alesis Wedge, Line 6 Pod, Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler, various guitar stomp boxes

Computers: 3.2GHz P4, 3.6GHz P4, 2+ Terabytes Hard-drive capacity, DVD Burner, USB2 ports, Firewire ports

DAW: Pro Tools, Logic Audio, 128 Track, 24 Bit

Software: Ableton Live, Reason, Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge and Acid, Waves Gold Native, Antares Autotune, sound library, many miscellaneous directx plug-ins

Monitors: ProAc Studio 100, Event 20/20, Alesis M1

Amplifiers: Matchless, Fender Twin Reverb blackface, Fender Blues Jr. Guitar Amp, 1950's Tube Amp, Genz-Benz

Recorders: Ampex AG440C 2 track reel to reel, Alesis ADAT XT, Tascam DA-30 MKII, Tascam 102 cassette

Piano/Synths/Samplers/Keyboards: Yamaha C1 grand piano, Kurtzweil, Rhodes