News At Eleven Productions

08/03/2020

Our very own Ann MacPhail was featured on Avid’s Instagram feed just now! Thanks Avid!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDacDhIj_vi/?igshid=1byhqki50baut

06/11/2020

St. Patrick's Catholic School, Rockville, MD

At St. Patrick's Catholic School, Rockville, MD, one of the traditions for the graduating 8th graders is to sing the unofficial school song: Lori True's "May The Road Rise To Meet You," (based on the old "Irish Blessing") at their graduation ceremony.

In these very weird times we find ourselves living in, unfortunately, that wasn't going to be possible this year.

Still, Jill Fecko, the music teacher at St. Patrick's, wanted to make sure that this tradition could still be observed with a "virtual choir" video.

As all sorts of performance groups have been "forced underground" by the pandemic, there are all sorts of examples of these kinds of videos on the web these days. Unfortunately, virtual choir videos can be tricky to produce, especially with large numbers of non-professional singers involved. The school reached out to us at Undisclosed Location Studios • Arlington, VA / News At Eleven Productions for help.

Working with Jill Fecko, we:
• Coordinated and planned the "raw materials" for the virtual recording sessions, including how to make custom reference tracks for the students to sing to, and how to come up with a strategy for keeping all 33 videos (and their soundtracks!) in proper sync during the editing process.
• Generated a "proof of concept" reference video with a couple of early test recordings to confirm that the planned process would work, and would be "doable" for young, non-technical performers to record without outside assistance or special equipment.
• Edited and mixed the audio soundtrack, which involved cleaning up and suppressing background noise from computer fans, air conditioning and -- yes, even the sound of birds and wildlife outside one student's open window!
• Assembled the final video, ensuring that each student's on-camera performance stayed in sync with the recorded soundtrack. In the final "grid" tableau, 32 videos had to be trimmed and adjusted to correctly play in lip-sync with the mixed song.

We are pleased to share the final result with you. Congratulations to the St. Patrick's Class of 2020 -- wherever the road may lead you!

A special farewell from the Class of 2020. Wishing all of our families a very restful and healthy summer. “...and until we meet again, may you keep safe in the gentle, loving arms of God.” 🎼❤️☘️

12/17/2018

News At Eleven Productions's cover photo

11/30/2018

‎A Time Will Come for Singing (Special Edition) by St. Petronille Contemporary Choir

It gives us great pleasure to present the first release on our new record label, News At Eleven Records -- the Special Edition release of The St. Petronille Contemporary Choir's "A Time Will Come For Singing." The full album drops December 14th, but if you pre-order now, you get an "instant gratification" track right away! Thanks for checking it out, and if you like what you hear, please like & share with your friends!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-time-will-come-for-singing-special-edition/1445073902

‎Album · 2018 · 1 Song

11/29/2018

Over the past 18 months, we have been working with our good friend Paul Sirvatka to refresh, restore, and update a classic Christmas album from 1995. The new album is also the first release on our new record label, News At Eleven Records.

If you're around the Chicago area, you're invited to join us for the World Premiere on Friday, December 14th! Hope to see you there!

04/26/2018

The SoCal VoCals - ICCA Finals Set (2018)

Congratulations to The SoCal VoCals, who won the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (the ICCAs, the real-life contest depicted in "Pitch Perfect") for a record-extending 5th time last weekend. As founding members and alumni, we are very proud of all the group has accomplished!

SoCal VoCals - 2018 Winners of the ICCA Beacon Theatre. April 21, 2018. ***** Varsity Vocals threw an incredible competition this year - the International Ch...

03/13/2018

(Listen with sound)
TFW you’ve automated the everloving daylights out of sorting photos on macOS... hehe

12/09/2017

Enjoying Recorded Music That You Can’t Even Hear

From our sister site, Undisclosed Location Studios:

Twenty years before Thomas Edison’s great breakthrough in recorded sound, another inventor first conceived of a method of “writing” sound on a blackened piece of paper. But he never intended that his recordings would be played back with a machine. Is it possible to enjoy music that you can’t even hear?

Please follow and like us:Sharehttp://www.undisclosedlocationstudios.com/enjoying-recorded-music-that-you-cant-even-hear/

12/05/2017

Undisclosed Location Studios • Arlington, VA

How less than a penny's worth of plastic can keep a workhorse studio microphone from turning into a missile.

New on the ULS Blog:

Sennheiser’s MD421 dynamic microphone was originally intended as a general-use microphone for vocals and instruments. Along the way, it gained “killer app” status on tom drums. An unintended defect in the mic’s design, though, has been killing tom drums ever since. Here’s a little history on this workhorse microphone, and a neat little hack that semi-permanently solves a problem that drives audio engineers nuts.

07/12/2017

Undisclosed Location Studios • Arlington, VA

Undisclosed Location Studios • Arlington, VA

From the ULS blog...
Deferred maintenance, or "what happens when there's a 10+ year age difference in your vacuum tubes..."

06/18/2017

Undisclosed Location Studios • Arlington, VA

Undisclosed Location Studios • Arlington, VA

¡Felicitaciones! (Congratulations!) to the guys from Los ILegales de Lempira on the release of their debut CD, "Tequila y Bucana"!

The group, a 6-man Norteño band from here in DC, recorded and mixed their album at ULS last fall. We also provided graphic design and photography services for the project, so it was fun to make the guys look AND sound their best!

05/24/2017

WSDG Walters-Storyk Design Group

WSDG’S JOHN STORYK TO ADDRESS Alto Music Brooklyn SERIES

Lessons Learned From Electric Lady + Project Studios at Both Ends of The Spectrum

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: On Thursday evening June 1, John Storyk, architect/ acoustician and founding partner of WSDG – Walters-Storyk Design Group, will
address the popular Alto Music Happy Hour Series. With credentials ranging from Jimi Hendrix’s historic Electric Lady in 1970 to NY’s Jungle City and Paul Epworth’s The Church Studios in London, WSDG has set a standard for studio design and acoustical excellence for nearly 50 years.

Coordinated by Alto Music exec Dan Physics, the Happy Hour Series has been drawing SRO crowds to the monthly gatherings for 3 years. Industry pros ranging from Joel Hamilton and Ben Lilly of ATC Loudspeakers to Dusty Wakeman of Mojave Audio and Al Sutton of Acme Audio have shared their experience, and trade secrets with Brooklyn-based recording artists, engineers, and enthusiasts of all stripes.

John Storyk lectures regularly at Berklee College of Music (Boston) where he is an adjunct professor of Acoustics and Studio Design. He has addressed classes at NYU, Yale, Columbia, and many other universities. His Alto Music presentation will be highlighted by a retrospective of his first (and still active) studio design, Electric Lady in Greenwich Village. He will also discuss the continuing relevance for both home/project studios AND ‘mega’ studios. Technical issues ranging from acoustics and isolation to speaker placement and future 3D audio production environments will be addressed.

The presentation will close with a brief comparison of the similar goals and dramatically different solutions of three diverse Project Studios. One built inside a 140 sq. ft. Airstream Trailer (circa 1958), another built 22 feet below a luxurious new 5000 sq. ft. Victorian home in an “Undisclosed Location,” and Blue Table Post, just completed in a renovated Boerum Hill townhouse.

To RSVP contact [email protected]


Photo Caps

1 WSDG founding partner John Storyk photo by Tom Lemke
2 Paul Epworth’s The Church Studios Writing Room, London
3 Blue Table Post, Brooklyn, NY

12/27/2016

WSDG Walters-Storyk Design Group

WSDG Walters-Storyk Design Group

5 Questions:
With John Storyk, WSDG Walters-Storyk Design Group
1. What shouldn't you skimp on when it comes to studio design?
2. What's one simple thing you can do to improve the sound in a room?
3. How has improved technology changed the way you design a studio space?
4. How do you reconcile form and function when it comes to working in public spaces?
5. How do you design a space that encourages creativity?
Thank you, Full Sail University for video production!

12/18/2016

Audio isn't the only kind of production we do! Today Ann & I are testing out the green screen rig for an album cover shoot tomorrow with one of our recording clients. Looking good!

12/02/2016

Panic! at the Console

From our studio blog: The "Click of Death" leads to the "Blue Screen of Death," and other tales from "Life with Embedded Windows XP®."

Or “that one time when you are suddenly reminded that the studio’s biggest piece of hardware still runs on Windows.” Windows XP, that is.

11/03/2016

From our sister site, Undisclosed Location Studios:

The Cubs won the World Series! We had a chance to go to Game 3 of the World Series in Chicago, the first World Series game at Wrigley in 71 years. Although the score (1-0) was not what we hoped, all's well that ends well for Cub fans, anyway, and it was an incredible experience to be part of a truly epic series.
We rented a pro zoom lens from rentglass.com for the event. Here's some photos from our evening at Wrigley!

I grew up outside Chicago, and even though I no longer live there, I have been a Cubs fan since 1974.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity to visit Chicago for Game 3 of the 2016 World Series, the first World Series game at Wrigley Field in 71 years. As Cubs fans, the final score of Game 3 (1-0) didn't go the way we hoped, but all's well that ends well! It was an incredible experience and one I will never forget.

I rented a pro zoom lens (Canon L Series EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L) for the game from rentglass.com, and while I didn't take a ton of pictures (too busy watching the game!), I got some really great shots that I'm very proud of and happy to share with you. Enjoy!

oh, and uh...GO CUBS!

09/19/2016

Undisclosed Location Studios • Arlington, VA

New on our studio blog!

From the ULS blog: building the first of four miniature 1176-style compressors. Or, for the mathematically inclined, "How to get 4 channels of FET compression into 2/5ths of 3 RU's."

05/14/2016

News At Eleven Productions

05/14/2016

News At Eleven Productions's cover photo

12/09/2014

This would come in handy, yeah.

Who wants one?

11/16/2014

Editor’s Note: Curiosity Media takes slow, steady approach

We are proud to be part of the team behind Curiosity Media's Fluencia language learning product! Since March 2013, we've recorded over 20,000 Spanish words and phrases for Fluencia at our studios here in Arlington, VA. Check out Fluencia at http://www.fluencia.com/ and get started learning Spanish today!

This company dates back to the dot-com boom, but it continues to operate like a start-up.

01/25/2014

Project Studio Optimization - Panel

News At Eleven Productions' Matt MacPhail is speaking at The NAMM Show on a panel with John Storyk from Walters-Storyk Design Group today at 3 PM! If you're at the show, we hope you'll stop by!

A designer to the stars talks project studio design with some of today’s most skilled producers, engineers and musicians – exploring advice and deep wisdom on how to get the perfect product from a project studio.

01/22/2014

Virgin America Safety Video #VXsafetydance

This is too good not to share! Virgin America has always had a pretty clever safety video, but they've absolutely outdone themselves on this one. Check out the team of guys wearing inflatable vests doing "the robot." Mad props to VA for this!

Buckle up to get down. We've enlisted the help of Virgin Produced, Director Jon M. Chu, Choreographers Jamal Sims and Christopher Scott, Song & Lyrics by Tod...

01/22/2014

Heading to NAMM! Hope to see you there!

11/24/2013

Project Studio Optimization - Panel

Going to Winter NAMM in January? News At Eleven Productions' Matt MacPhail will be speaking on a panel with Walters-Storyk Design Group (WSDG)'s John Storyk, the architect of our new studios, on our experiences building out the facility. There's never a dull moment with John, so it should be a great session. Hope you'll come check it out!

A designer to the stars talks project studio design with some of today’s most skilled producers, engineers and musicians – exploring advice and deep wisdom on how to get the perfect product from a

10/26/2013

Electric Lady Studios History | American Masters | PBS

Will definitely be checking this out -- November 5th on PBS!

Watch the behind-the-scenes history of how Jimi Hendrix's legendary Electric Lady Studios began, told by sound engineer Eddie Kramer and architect John Storyk.

10/20/2013

Join'em | Get together. Shop together. Save together.

Fun to be involved with making this Join'em video! Voice over by Ann MacPhail of News At Eleven Productions. Video by Pixl Production of Dallas, TX.

Join'em is the ultimate community-powered marketplace, led by Lifestyle Gurus. Like-minded shoppers buy what they want, when they want, at an asking price th...

09/19/2013

Congratulations to Chris Cummings, Elise Brau and the whole Fluencia team on the launch of their new product! Fluencia is a new Spanish online learning system from the team behind SpanishDict. All the audio recordings for the product (over 7,500 individual sound files so far!) have been recorded at our studios over the past five months. Matt and Ann MacPhail from NAEP were happy to join them tonight at their launch party. We wish them great success with this new endeavor, and we hope you'll check it out!

08/23/2013

Soundworks Collection: Walt Disney Imagineers

Sound design at Disneyland. What a COOL gig! How would you like to work on a "42.1" mix for one of their attractions?

The vision and showmanship of Walt Disney has touched more corners of the world and hearts through his many films and theme parks. Since opening his first park "Disneyland"…

07/23/2013

XLR History

For audio nerds...the history of the humble XLR connector. Which, apparently, should actually be called the "XL" connector and we've collectively been doing it wrong all these years...

Before my time in the audio industry Cannon (now ITT Cannon) made a Type O connector with an oval shaped body. The Cannon RJC-8-1955 catalog said "This series consists of a line of 3-contact oval-shaped plugs and receptacles, equipped with Latch Locking Device. Contacts are silver-plated, full-float...

02/18/2013

SoundWorks Collection: Architect and Acoustician John Storyk

A brief interview with John Storyk, the designer of our studio. We look forward to joining WSDG's collection of "studio porn" one day very soon. :)

Architect and acoustician John Storyk has designed and provided construction supervision services for the professional audio and video recording community since…

01/27/2013

Handel: Gentle airs, melodious strains! (Athalia HWV 52)

As promised -- a little taste of our on-location work last Tuesday!

Jason Rylander performs "Gentle Airs, Melodious Strains" from G.F. Handel's opera "Athalia." Recorded January 22, 2013 at St. ...

01/27/2013

On Tuesday, we were on location at St. George's Church in Arlington with tenor Jason Rylander. The tracks are finished and we'll be posting one shortly. Stay tuned!

08/06/2012

WSDG Interview About New Berklee in Valencia Studio Facilities

WSDG Interview About New Berklee in Valencia Studio Facilities

John Storyk and Romina Larregina of Walters Storyk Design Group (WSDG) discuss Berklee College of Music´s new studio design and construction project at their...

04/17/2012

Checking out new gear & new technologies with John Storyk of Walters-Storyk Design Group (WSDG) at NAB 2012!