Nominated for a Grammy!
 

Well...after a fashion anyway.

I run a small business that designs and manufactures recording studio equipment. Specifically we specialize in Delta Sigma converters for digital audio. I've done a ton of research on the subject, and hold a patent on circuitry I developed. In my opinion, the work I've done is about 15-20 years ahead of my competitors in this industry (obviously I'm biased but I can make a very compelling case nonetheless).

Long story short, in the summer of 2009, I did a bunch of work for producer Mutt Lange (used to be married to Shania Twain, produced a lot of Def Leppard albums, blah blah blah).

Mutt liked my work so much (he was using it for the Maroon 5 record at the time), he recommended me to a fellow named Mike Shipley, who happened to be getting ready to record the new Alison Krauss album. That Alison Krauss album is "Paper Airplanes," which was released in April.

During the entire recording process both Mike (the engineer) and the band (most specifically Alison herself) made it very clear to me how much they loved the work I had done. Alison has insisted that she will no longer record using any company's products except mine. Of course I was pleased with this, and I think the album sounds phenomenal.

So when the Grammy nomination list was released recently, I was hoping that the record would be nominated for best sound. I'm pleased to say it was: Best sounding non-classical recording. It was also nominated for best bluegrass record, but I had nothing to do with that.

My designs were also used for the latest Lady GaGa record as well as the latest Beyonce record, but I don't really listen to that stuff at all and don't care.

I just had to share this. Thanks for reading. :)

Wait, so you are saying you are the guy responsible for making that Lady GaGa crap sound good?

Piss off.

Just kidding.

Very cool that you know you were part of it.

Congratulations.

That is cool. Congrats man.

Very cool! Black Lion Audio?

You work for BLA?

sounds like he IS BLA.........
congrats:-)

Believe me, it wasn't my idea. It's a running joke around the shop.


I own BLA, yes. Jeez I can't believe there are fellow p-car owners who have heard of it...

Hey do you know James link at MCE?

If you don't have to work on new years you should go to House of blues! Good band playing.

I've met James once, but my employees interact with him tons.

Who is playing at HOB?

Well done :)

Very cool! Congrats!!!

Awesomeness!!! Congratulations! And I do listen to that Lady Gaga and Beyonce "crap" so thanks for helping them out! :)

Pretty awesome stuff! Early on I had some exposure through a weird connection to the Chicago area music folks. BLA has a great rep!

Probably some other guy named Todd...

I'm pretty sure Gogar is playing HOB on New Years....

Congrats!

Does he know NoStatic by any chance??

Not yet. But I think he needs a guest bassist.

Gogar...you can drive a SWEEEEET Fiat 500 before your show in Agoura Hills in February. ...just sayin.' ;)

Wow that's cool. Mnewport is like . . . the Steve Wong of High-end audio, but times 10.

That is great news for your company, enjoy the reflected glow.

And don't be so surprised that some here have heard of your Co. It is a very small world. Mike Shipley is the engineer on a couple of CDs that my friend Allan Thomas has put out. Here is my shameless promotion for my Bro. Check it out!
Deep Water | Allan Thomas

Cheers Richard

Congratulations! Excellent work!

Now, if you could only make the DocFluffer clips sound good too. :D

Well done! Congratulations.

Yes, congrats. And it's nice to know that more pro audio 'content' is lurking around PPOT. I am part of the Focal Pro, Lauten Audio sales team in NA . . .

The artists can't win those awards without our gear helping them to make it sound good.

Ian

Yeah, quite a few studio/music/audio industry (or related) guys in here. I seem to remember a couple interesting threads a while back on Gearslutz and the Pro Tools forums regarding BLA... Keep up the good work, and kudos on the Grammy nod!

Great sounding album BTW (big AKUS fan). I've got the 24/96 version, and it is excellent.

Yep, and to bring it full-circle (correct me if I'm wrong), aren't there Focal drivers in those older KRK E8T's @ HOB Studios (brought in from Mr. Shipley no doubt) seen here for the aforementioned AKUS album work? :cool:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1323474491.jpg

Yes, they are. Focal's PolyKevlar drivers. The new KRK's - no. Focal pulled the plug on OEM driver sales (with 3 exceptions - one US hifi & 2 French PA co.) in 2001/2. But I wouldn't be surprised if they ramped up again due to the virtual flood of Chinese drivers. Other monitor manufacturers need an alternative & Focal has the capacity in France. And we all need something to sell back to the Chinese . . . they are fussy buyers & they love Euro goods. ;)

The Krauss/US is superb. I just hit HDTracks for the 24/96 – thanks for the tip, Eric. Dimming of the Day . . . wow.

Ian

It's a little weird to see this photo on here. Mike sent us that picture during mix-down, and its on the desktop of a computer at work. The accounting guy's computer, I think. I never realized it was something circulating in the public domain.

That's very cool--I wonder if you know our rep, Neil Ziesing of Group 55?

Yeah, that's my favorite song on the record. I absolutely love the acoustic guitar sound; it really showcases what I was trying to achieve sonically when designing the clock architecture for the converters. Very intimate and palpable, as if you can feel the player's movements and intentions.

The back story of that sound is kind of interesting. The idea for the circuit design came to me in a dream in the middle of the night. It seemed like such a far out idea that I prototyped it the very next day at work. We all listened to it and felt the sound was amazing, but for the life of me I could not figure out the physics behind what was going on. I measured every possible thing I could think of but couldn't find anything that would quantify what we were hearing. It took me months before I figured out why it sounded like it did, but once I did I got the thing patented.

Also it bears mentioning that Mutt Lange is the reason I got a 911 in the first place--I purchased my SC with some of the $$ I made from the work we did for him.

Anyway I'm glad to see there are other audio people on this board. Thanks so much for the congratulations, everyone. It's very much appreciated!

Congratulations.
Mutt share any Shania stories?
: )

I have a transistor radio that sounds pretty good, if you turn it down low and hold it against your ear. You guys can borrow it if you want.

No. I don't know him although we have probably bumped shoulders at AES or NAMM.

Ian

Very cool, congratulations!