11 October 2005
I am restlessly preparing for another Dresden Dolls tour. We leave in a matter of hours to fly to Colorado!! We will be touring with two amaizing bands, Devotchka and Faun Fables!! I will try to keep a tour diary this time. Feel free to check out my blog at www.myspace.com/sonicenhancement. I'll try to keep you updated with the intersting stuff that happens on the road. We'll be putting up a new page in the Sight and Soundsection featuring some great performances by bands I've played in and mixed on the road. That should be up really soon!! In the meantime, I 've been keeping busy, doing some studio work with Flash in Blue. We're starting to see the light at the end of that tunnel, and the album should be finished by late November. I was also invited to play some keyboards in the studio for a new band called Temper, featuring my friend and favorite bass player, Pete Sutton!! Hope to see you all in costume at Avalon on the 31st!! For info about the tour go to www.dresdendolls.com In the meantime, I am booking for November and December. Email me as soon as you can if you have a project or live show coming up. Let me know if there's something I can do. See you out there!! Cheers, Joel
3 September 2005
Labor Day Weekend...and while most people are out and about charring pieces of dead animal, I am inside working on some audio fun. I bumped into an old college friend, Scott Pittman , who invited me to come up and do a live recording for Frank Morey, a blues singer he's currently playing with. We loaded into a tiny bar in Worcester named Vincent's and they played a wonderful show which I am currently mastering with my "ghetto" setup. I am waiting for a new monitor and a new hard drive and then I can take on some more projects. That will be happening very soon. In the meantime... These past two months I have been catching up with a lot of old friends. Ian McIntosh from the Mad Druid project invited me over to his new digs to talk about working on the next Mad Druid album. We will begin working on this formally in November, using his newly acquired Sonar recording setup!! I also had the opportunity to work with my old Nisi Period friends in their new project, Dear Old Stockholm Syndrome, who played live at an outdoor arts festival in Gloucester. We are currently talking , not only about doing some recording, but also about a possible Nisi retrospective. I recently unearthed a few cassettes of some live performances from those days, including some performances which were never formally recorded and were only performed once. I also discovered some rare Curious Ritual live recordings. I just purchased a used Tascam 122 in mint condition for the transfer and I will be using my new restoration tools. We should have a few samples in the Sounds section in about a month!! In the meantime, if any of you have some old cassettes that you'd like cleaned up and transferred,email me and we can make arrangements!! I'll be equipped to do LP and 78 restoration in a couple of months!! My mind is also on the aftermath of the hurricane. I gave blood yesterday and I plan on donating food and clothing to the Red Cross and I urge everyone to do the same..You can plan on seeing me at a future benefit show, whose planning is already in the works. Cheers, Joel
25 August 2005
Well. Finally an update. I don't know where to start so I'll start with some good news. I have a new myspace account, and I will be posting more introspective stuff on my new blog. I will be doing basic professional updates here as always. I am just getting the hang of inputting some stuff here and hopefully by the end of the weedend, thigs will be back to normal. The other bit of news is that ASK MR. SOUNDMAN is up and running, so drop me a line with your questions!! I will also be mixing tonight at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge for my good friends, Count Zero!! I will also be sitting in on keyboards for a few numbers!! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to be playing with some dear old friends. I hope You can come out!! I'll post more fun stuff over the weekend. Cheers, Joel
27 March 2005
With so much happening, I can't believe I haven't updated this page since November!!
Early this year Regina Spektor joined us on some dates on a short Northeast tour. She has an exquisite voice and she was wonderful to work with. Get hooked on her now!! www.reginaspektor.com
I also had my first full blown Pro Tools session at Mad Oak in Allston, MA with the band Flash in Blue. Work is progressing on their second album. Later in April I will be adding drums and keyboards to Jeffrey Simmons' new album.
Of course the big new is the Dresden Dolls opening for Nine Inch Nails for a five week stretch beginning the 27th of April in San Francisco!! Go to the DDolls' site for more info. I will be mixing the band on the NIN console: a brand spankin' new Digi Design Venue!!! I had to change my underwear when I found that out!!
This past European tour we got to hang out with one of my favorite bands, And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. We got drunk with them after their show at the Melkveg in Amsterdam and they returned the favor by partying with us in Munich at the Atomic Cafe!! They will be appearing with the Dresden Dolls some time in May!!
In the meantime I've been digging new albums by Arcade Fire and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Both are good for your soul.
There are some more exciting things happening with Sonic Enhancement coming this summer so stay tuned!!
Cheers, Joel
November 27, 2004
The time between tours grows shorter and shorter and no sooner do I get comfortable in sleeping in an actual bed instead of a shaking pod on a tour bus, I am going back out again. This time the Dresden Dolls and I are going to Europe, then New Zealand and Australia!!!
For details on upcoming shows go to www.dresdendolls.com
Peter Moore kept an hilarious tour journal of our last jaunt through the states. Check out this and some great tour photos at www.count-zero.com
The Ditty Bops joined us for the second half of the tour and they are wonderful and should become your next favorite band!! I had a wonderful time mixing them and you can check out their music at www.thedittybops.com
I recorded all of the shows and so hopefully some of those performances will be up on the band's respective sites in the coming months, which brings me to my next bit of news:
My Nuendo setup is up and running and I hope to be offering some more mastering options when I come back from this tour. Email me for more details. I expect to have this going full tilt by the spring, if not earlier. Also on the horizon are three new album projects which I will begin recording at the top of the new year.
I will be beginning preproduction for a new Flash in Blue album as well as a new record with Jeffrey Simmons. The third project I may even be playing drums !!
Being on the road has afforded me little time to be a musician so I am looking forward to these projects. Joe Turner's CD release show has been moved to February 18th. The band line-up includes Carolyn Corella on Bass, Ajda the Turkish Queen on flute and vocals, among a few other guys. I will be playing some keys and doing some vocals as well!!
More info when I get back and hopefully more recordings as well!!
Have a great holiday, whichever one you happen to celebrate!!
September 21, 2004
Hey there, everybody!!
Welcome to my site. Feel free to look around. As I write this, I am getting ready to go back out on the road with the Dresden Dolls. First, a couple of weeks in Europe and then we head back to the US of A for a ground tour that will go until Thanksgiving!!! For details about the shows go to www.dresdendolls.com.
On the recording front, I finally put the finishing touches on Tony Schinella's as yet untitled solo album. Nick Zampiello is mastering it at New Alliance and the disc should be out soon. There is a sample of Tony's music in the sight and sounds section!!
I also had the opportunity to work on a small independent film called Dog. The screenplay was written by a New Zealand Novelist named Matthew Stokow and directed by Paul K. I had loads of fun and can't wait to see the final result!! For info in this film go to www.dollysdog.com.
Check out November's issue of The Noise for a feature story on me!!
That's it for now. Cheers, Joel
July 25, 2004
Well Hello and welcome to this magnificant website!! This page will be devoted to upcoming news and developments including whom I'm working with, where I've been and what I'm listening to. Hopefully we can have some interesting things to check out and listen to as well.
So far this year has been the year of the Dresden Dolls. Since Hummelvision closed down last November, I've been taking the time to get out on the road.. It started to trickle in little by little, working with the Dolls, Count Zero and going to Switzerland twice with All The Queen's Men. This year I've been out with the Dresden Dolls several times. This next tour will take us to Canada and then a return to the West Coast. For their tour dates you can visit Dresdendolls.com.
Also coming up this year is a solo album from Joe Turner, who was the drummer for the psychedlic band Abunai! We had gotten back in touch during my performances with Project Eno and I had started consulting and helping out with some mastering on this record which is now oficially out on Camera Obscura Records. The label liked what they had heard and requested five more songs, it was at this point that Joe asked me to take a more active role in the project and produce some of the track, including the title track, "Between Two Seconds." Check out this song and many others, including "When Will You Wake Up?" at the label's website: http://www.cameraobscura.com.au/Bios/cambios_turner.htm. I am psyched to work with Joe again and I am proud of the work that we did together.
Look for updates on this page and enjoy everything else.
Ask Mr. Soundman will be up and running soon and I encourage everyone to come up with some interesting questions!!! Feel free to contact me at info@sonicenhancement.com if you like what you see and hear!!
