Very excited to witness the premiere of Sam Fleischner’s gem Stand Clear of the Closing Doors. Echo Magic (Scott Hirsch) worked alongside maestro Eli Cohn to complete the multi-layered and cerebral sound design of the film this April.
We are headed out to Park City again this year, and we wanted to highlight a couple projects we worked on playing in the festival. We are super excited to have been involved in both these amazing films. They are already buzzing with press and positive reviews!!
Boneshaker is Frances Bodomo’s dreamy short film, mixed by Scott at Echo Magic studio in December! The fil stars 2013 Academy award nominee Quvenzhané Wallis!! Click the image for some more info:
Next up we did sound FX editing for truly stunning feature film, directed by Matthew Porterfield of Putty Hill fame! Its called I Used to Be Darker. This film stars Ned Oldham and takes place in and around Baltimore, MD. We are very excited about this feature. Gene Park and Danny Meltzer were the gurus behind the rest of the wonderful sounding mix. If you click the picture, it goes to Indiewire’s interview with Matt.
See you in the Mountains!!!
This lovely EP by fellow Greenpointer Daniel Rossen comes out this week. It is a tour de force of haunting melodies, deep tones, and dense arrangements. I had the pleasure of joining Daniel one afternoon at the church in our ‘hood where he conjures his magic with my lap steel in tow. Congrats to Daniel on all the awesome reviews. Here’s one from Pitchfork.
Congratulations to The Kook for winning the LES Film Festival 2012 Audience Award! We did the sound design and mix in 2011 for this hilarious, and otherworldly short. More info here.
This news just in from Austin. Grainger David’s The Chair, which premiered at SXSW 2012 has won best narrative short! We are so excited to have done the sound design and mix of this film, which was completed on a rainy couple of days last Fall. Congrats to Grainger. We’re Looking forward to a NYC premiere at some point and a run of many great fim fests this year.
Some exciting news and events at (((echo magic )))! First off, we are going back to Park City, UT this weekend for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival! Below you can take a look at the awesome projects we are involved with this year. Second, there are some new projects just completed that are sure to be floating your way soon.
Director Rick Alverson’s feature The Comedy, stars none other than Tim Heidecker of Tim and Eric fame. Sound effects editing, foley, and backgrounds were cut by ((( echo magic ))) throughout November and December. Supervision, dialogue, and re-record mixing was handled by genius Gene Park of Toneburst Audio. The Comedy provokes and
disorients; it’s a carefully rendered cautionary fable for the autumn of America.
Director Brooke Swaney’s short film, OK Breathe Auralee is also premiering at Sundance as part of the shorts competition. ((( echo magic ))) crafted the entire post production audio, from the editing to the final re-record mix. Take a journey with a baby-crazed young lady.
Already a huge festival favorite, Nat Livingston Johnson and Greg Mitnick’s The Kook will screen as part of the Slamdance 2012 shorts festival in Park City. This is a hilarious and thrilling short touching on such topics as group psychology, space travel, and death cults. Sound designed by (((echo magic))) back in early 2011.
Another film we are very proud of, Granger Davis’ The Chair is a stunning film shot in 35mm in South Carolina lowlands. We sound designed, edited, and mixed a lush 5.1 soundtrack and completed in mid December. There are some very exciting festival announcements we will make shortly about this one!
Hiss Golden Messenger‘s Poor Moon was released in November to a very receptive audience. It has been hailed by everyone from Uncut Magazine to The Independent Weekly. All of this great press was a very nice surprise to the few of us involved in making this record, so much so that we are already knee deep in another HGM record, and as recording gets done this Winter/Spring, I promise to keep you updated.
The end of 2011 also marked the completing of some great music projects, such as a fabulous upcoming Family Band record that was recorded at Miner St Studios in Philly and mixed both at (((echo magic ))) studios and at Miner St.
Finally, stay tuned to hear about a solo performance by Dunedin Dunedin (my musical alias) March 9th at Storefront BK in Bushwick. Save the date.
On November 1st, 2011–an apropos date known variously, and coincidentally, as the high harvest holiday of Samhain, the liturgical All Saints’ Day, y el primer Día de los Muertos–Hiss Golden Messenger will release a new long-playing vinyl record entitled Poor Moon on Durham, North Carolina’s boutique Paradise of Bachelors label.
Composed and arranged by Head Messenger M.C. Taylor at his home in the rural Piedmont mill town of Pittsboro and recorded with longtime collaborator Scott Hirsch in New York, California and North Carolina, Poor Moon offers a moving culmination of the spiritually-charged song cycle commenced on last year’s critically acclaimed Bad Debt album. Treading a red-clay road between Bad Debt and Country Hai East Cotton in sound and sentiment, it is the first fully electric ensemble recording since the highly limited HGM live release Root Work in 2010.
Featuring contributions from Terry Lonergan, Nathan Bowles (Black Twig Pickers; Pelt), Hans Chew (D. Charles Speer & the Helix), Matt Cunitz (Brightblack Morning Light), Tom Heyman (The Court & Spark), visual artist Alex Jako and others, Poor Moon represents both an elaboration and inversion of previous Hiss Golden Messenger efforts, proposing an America at perpetual sundown, wracked by devotion, wrecked by celebration. Named in homage to the Canned Heat track penned by the immortal Blind Owl, Poor Moon conjures the unsteady experience of soul at home in the wild, and it stands as the greatest Hiss Golden Messenger album to date.
Paradise of Bachelors is proud to present such a captivating document of Southern songcraft as its first foray into contemporary music. This autumnal album of twelve songs will be available in a limited edition of 500 copies, pressed on 150-gram virgin vinyl, packaged in hand-numbered tip-on sleeves, and accompanied by digital download coupons.
For a limited time, you can download the album cut “Call Him Daylight” in exchange for providing an email address HERE.
Please consider “liking” Paradise of Bachelors and Hiss Golden Messengeron Facebook, where you’ll find their most up-to-the-minute announcements, rambles, and information regarding pre-ordering and record release celebrations for Poor Moon.
Thank you, one and all. Carry the good news.
Hey! I wanted to share some recent events and news for all things (((echo magic))).
First on the list: A little educational endeavor I conceived of last Fall has come to fruition. My second course for Lynda.com, titled Audio for Film And Video with Pro Tools 9 is available now. While I can’t personally sit and listen to my own voice for very long, they tell me it turned out quite nicely! Have a listen for learning purposes, or at least comic effect!
Next, I have been very busy in the film sound department!
Recent projects include:
Musically, Family Band wrapped up a 2 month long tour in March! It was a success, as we rolled around the USA and Canada in Lil’ Dreamer, the green van, opening for Warpaint and Phosphorescent, two amazing groups!
Photos by David Torch, band shot by Emily Hirsch
Finally, a project I am very excited about- Hiss Golden Messenger has a new record coming out. Its called Poor Moon. We did a whirlwind recording session in Brooklyn and then took the mobile unit to California to get all the essential sound from the other coast. I mixed it here at Cowboy Technical Services under the Williamsburg Bridge. It was a labor of love to make and a dream to listen to! More on that soon after it gets mastered next week! Did I mention it is coming out on Vinyl!?
Park City, here we come! (((Echo Magic))) will be representing this year at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and at the 2011 Slamdance film festival. Stay tuned for more details from the fests! Below are some links to the films I worked on this year, and showtimes, if you are in the area:
I am very excited about three new films with (((echo magic))) sound that are in the pipeline. Septien was completed with Tone-Burst at the helm and is premiering at Sundance 2011. I’m still looking for a place to stay for 2 if anyone knows of anything. Gravity is a beautiful dialogue-less short also showing at Park City for the Slamdance 2011 festival. The Kook is in progress now too, more information is to come, but for now, just know it takes place in upstate NY and has a hologram in it!
