For those of you interested in recording at Cedar Street: an artist Ted is producing has decided to reschedule for January, leaving 2-3 weeks open in October. As a bonus for artists new to our studio, if you book 2 or more days we will give you $200 towards your booking! That’s over 20% off [...]]]>

For those of you interested in recording at Cedar Street: an artist Ted is producing has decided to reschedule for January, leaving 2-3 weeks open in October. As a bonus for artists new to our studio, if you book 2 or more days we will give you $200 towards your booking! That’s over 20% off on two days time.

This special is good for October 2011 only. To come in for a tour or to schedule your time call Ted at 215-413-1200 or email him at booking@cedarstreetstudios.com.

The photo above was taken at last weekend’s Lehigh Ave Art Fest. Look for that same scene out on Girard Ave this Saturday, because we will be in the middle of the street all day for Girard Fest! Saturday night we will be hosting a show in conjunction with the Philadelphia Film and Music Festival [...]]]>

The photo above was taken at last weekend’s Lehigh Ave Art Fest. Look for that same scene out on Girard Ave this Saturday, because we will be in the middle of the street all day for Girard Fest! Saturday night we will be hosting a show in conjunction with the Philadelphia Film and Music Festival at the El Bar featuring our favorite bands. And finally, all day Sunday we will be out with the table again at the Ukie Club at 847 N. Franklin St. in Northern Liberties for the big Philly F/M Fest Sunday BBQ. There are some killer bands playing! The show is $15, all ages, and F/M Fest all-access pass holders get free beer, so come on out and enjoy all the great music with us!

Since our last update we have been pretty busy with some great projects. We are proud to say that Kai Botak’s album All That I Am is finally completed and available for your listening pleasure. It has the distinction of being the first album mixed on our new DDA console through the Lynx converters, and [...]]]>

Since our last update we have been pretty busy with some great projects. We are proud to say that Kai Botak’s album All That I Am is finally completed and available for your listening pleasure. It has the distinction of being the first album mixed on our new DDA console through the Lynx converters, and it has an amazing sound. Kai was an absolute pleasure to work with, and we can’t wait to partner with her again on the production of her next album. Visit Kai’s new website (designed by Cedar Street’s own Jessica Richardson) to listen to some tracks from All That I Am.

Jennifer Jaclyn Founds found us when she attended one of our Second Saturday events featuring her friends The Mechanicals. She came to us in August to see if we could transfer three 2″ multitrack tape reels of music for her upcoming album to digital and record a new song in it’s entirety, along with some guitar overdubs on a second existing song. Of course, we obliged. We thoroughly enjoyed working with her and her partner Mike Haldeman and we look forward to the possibility of working them on future recordings.

As you may know, earlier this summer TivaTiva ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for their new album Music for Interior Castles. By allowing the creative process to go along in as unhindered a way as possible, the album that started as a small, transitional piece has turned into a sonic magnum opus for the band. Ted is now putting the finishing touches on the recording process and this incredible album will be mixed and mastered for an official release in November.

Brendan Walsleben has been in the studio working with Ted on material for Last Full Measure’s sophomore LP. Brendan recorded his first album at school and brought it to Ted to master, eventually sitting beside Ted while he remixed it in it’s entirety. This time around Brendan has fully immersed himself into the studio, and began with a full week of pre-production and then moved onto recording and allowing the songs to grow naturally. A few of our house musicians were enlisted to help, including Darren Keith on drums and Ben Contois on bass. We’ve been having fun using different amps, effects, guitars, and keyboards, and the tracks are sounding quite amazing.

Last week Ibanez came to Cedar Street to enlist Ted’s help with recording some guitar tracks to demo their TS9 series effects pedals. He was also filmed playing, which will be on their website showing the tones of the pedals. This is not the first time Hoshino/Ibanez has been in. They’ve used our photogenic studio to take photographs of the Tama Silverstar drum kit, and then filmed it being played at a Second Saturday show for an advertisement on their website. They shot the photos for their 2011 Acoustic Guitar Catalog here at Cedar Street too, and even put Jaryrd of The Mechanicals on the cover (above). Fun!

We often get cool instruments in, and the new all-tube Conn organ is definitely one of the coolest we’ve got. We’ve only had it a few weeks and it is already on two albums. Another new aquisition is a 70′s Premier drum kit with a crazy funky yellow holographic wrap. Groovy!

Last but definitely not least, we would also like to thank our awesome summer interns Brandon Kaplan and David Balcher for the fine job they did here. We miss them already!

• Ted was just in the studio with Parlophone/EMI UK recording artists and Philly superstars Chiddy Bang. They laid down some fresh drum tracks and vocals for their forthcoming album entitled Breakfast. Isn’t that Swelly?

• We have finished work on singer-songwriter CJ Gallopo‘ s debut EP.  Ted handled pre-production, arrangements, and coordinated [...]]]>

Chiddy Bang at Cedar Street.

• Ted was just in the studio with Parlophone/EMI UK recording artists and Philly superstars Chiddy Bang. They laid down some fresh drum tracks and vocals for their forthcoming album entitled Breakfast. Isn’t that Swelly?

• We have finished work on singer-songwriter CJ Gallopo‘ s debut EP.  Ted handled pre-production, arrangements, and coordinated the musicians who performed on the album: Darren Keith on drums, Ben Contois on bass,  Daniel deJesús on cello, Emmett Lindsay of the late great Shutters on keys, and, of course, Ted himself on guitar and other instrumentation. CJ’s CD features a world-class sound to best showcase his incredible talent, and we are excited to see where it takes him.

• Mark Green (formerly of Head), Adam Pomerantz and John Mirsky together make up the amazing rock trio Sleeper. They came to Ted for his producing skills, and wanted a BIG sound on this record… and that is exactly what they got! Adam was so pleased with their experience at Cedar Street that he wrote us a fantastic review on Yelp. Thanks, Adam!

• Bravo Utah came to Cedar Street halfway through recording their new album because they were not happy with the results they were getting at another studio. Ted recorded the rest of their tracks, barbecued them some burgers out on the deck, and is now moving into mix stage with the album. The guys in Bravo are very excited with the results so far and are eagerly anticipating the finished product.

• We are finishing up mastering Hale Allen‘s full length album Pigeon, which features Darren Keith on Drums, Ben Contois on Bass, and the Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner on slide guitar. Hale has a real passion for music and a great ear, and knows precisely what he wants from his studio sessions. It has been a pleasure to get to know him and to consider him a friend.

• Cedar Street veteran Christy Jefferson will be releasing an EP at the start of each season this year. She had Ted master her EP Spring, which also features the über talented Daniel deJesús on cello. It is available for free download on her website, so check it out!

• Artie Kornfeld brought Davin McCoy to Cedar Street for an intensive week-long re-mixing of his album So Good, So Cruel. Together, Artie and Ted got the album up to Artie’s standards and now several labels have expressed their interest in Davin and are considering the album. Job well done, boys!

Ted, Davin McCoy and Artie Kornfeld.

Cedar Street has experienced a growth spurt in the past couple of months. First and foremost, we would like to welcome Ron Meersand to the Cedar Street family. Former tech engineer at legendary studios Fantasy, Electric Lady, Cello and others, he has been instrumental in getting our new [...]]]>

Ron Meersand, the man behind the console.

Cedar Street has experienced a growth spurt in the past couple of months. First and foremost, we would like to welcome Ron Meersand to the Cedar Street family. Former tech engineer at legendary studios Fantasy, Electric Lady, Cello and others, he has been instrumental in getting our new equipment installed and all our gear in top running condition. He has worked on some amazing projects during his career, including Santana’s Grammy Award winning record Supernatural, and many Academy Award winning films, including The English Patient. Ted is honored to have him as a friend and to have him working beside him here at Cedar Street.

Our new DDA AMR24. Isn't she pretty?

We are in the middle of a significant upgrade and remodel of our studio.  The centerpiece of the upgrade is our new vintage DDA AMR24 large format recording console. Fewer than 10 of these were ever made, and we are very excited to be able to produce new artists on this unique and amazing sounding console. Notable albums and artists have been recorded on this very console, such as the Dixie Hummingbirds Grammy-nominated Last Man Standing and Dave Matthews. We want to thank Dave Peltier of Adam Rung Woodworks for doing on a masterful job with designing and constructing the new stand and custom woodwork for this console.

The studio upgrade wouldn’t be complete without brand new “clean” power and all new high-end audio cabling, so Andrew Williams of Cameltone Electronics has been working with Ron to complete this sizable undertaking. We have also upgraded our audio converters to the amazing sounding Lynx Aurora 16 with Lynx AES16 mastering grade digital interface along with an Apogee Ensemble. We are always adding new microphones, preamps and other stuff to our growing list of gear, so please visit our gear page to check it all out!

The remodeling of the studio has begun with the design and construction of a large 16×12 isolation room for piano, drums, etc., and we would like to thank Andrew Baran (whom we affectionately refer to as “The Viking”) for his time and invaluable expertise in this area. With the addition of this room we will be able to add to our sonic possibilities as well as increase our ability to record multiple instruments live simultaneously with incredible separation. Look forward to August, when we will have an open house and a great big party to celebrate and show off all of our upgrades. We will give you the details as soon as we have them!

• The incomparable Los Festingos‘ new EP was produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Ted. The 6 songs [...]]]>
• Lost In Company‘s CD, produced, record mixed and mastered Cedar Street, was released with much fanfare at our Second Saturdays event in February. It’s a great EP with a sound that is both current and classic, cool and passionate.

• The incomparable Los Festingos‘ new EP was produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Ted. The 6 songs on the album are fun and infectious, and so are the guys in the band.

• Ted has completed recording mixing and mastering the current album for the renowned 16 member accapella group Counterparts (John Legend was a part of this group during his years at Penn). It was a big job but lots of fun to record and mix,  and everyone is very happy with results.

• We are currently mixing singer-songwriter Kelly Botak‘s full length debut. Produced and arranged by Ted and recorded here at Cedar Street, the album features Brendan Walsleben on drums, Dave Gustafson on piano, Ben Contois on Bass, Daniel deJesús on cello, Jan Alba on flute, and Ted playing on and various other instruments. There are some incredible songs and unbelievable moments on this album and we are on the edge of our seats waiting to hear the finished CD!

• Thriving Glee had their first studio experience with us and did a fantastic job. They had a blast producing their first EP, are so thrilled with the finished product that say they can’t wait to come back and record their full album.

Phillybraodcaster is an open-ended, all-inclusive A&E community blog, out on a mission to better the city. They provide an unfiltered source of news and media to the Philadelphia community, along with an exhibition of artistic talent… and they posted a great article about us! Chip Schwartz came to Cedar Street to see a Second Saturday [...]]]>

Phillybraodcaster is an open-ended, all-inclusive A&E community blog, out on a mission to better the city. They provide an unfiltered source of news and media to the Philadelphia community, along with an exhibition of artistic talent… and they posted a great article about us! Chip Schwartz came to Cedar Street to see a Second Saturday show and he liked the place so much he decided to write about us on Philybroadcaster. Check out the article here.

Zareen Helaly, a former intern here at Cedar Street, writes her own blog entitled A to Zareen. Having a thirst for knowledge and loving to be “in the know” about everything, A to Zareen is little miss Zareen’s opportunity to share and explore her favorite things with the world. Her post about the break up of the beloved Philly band Post Post contains a nice little shout out to Cedar Street. Thanks Z!!

This October’s Second Saturday show at Cedar Street Studios will be an event to remember.  Tonight (Saturday October 9) we are excited to present three amazing bands who all just happen to have a cellist in them: The Sparta Philharmonic, TivaTiva, and Shutters. All three bands are spectacular, and proceeds from [...]]]>

This October’s Second Saturday show at Cedar Street Studios will be an event to remember.  Tonight (Saturday October 9) we are excited to present three amazing bands who all just happen to have a cellist in them: The Sparta Philharmonic, TivaTiva, and Shutters. All three bands are spectacular, and proceeds from your $5 suggested donation go to the Sabina Rose Memorial Fund. This BYO and all-ages party is also a celebration of the 10th annual Philadelphia Open Studios Tour, and some food and drinks will be available…. AND… Tonight will be your one and only chance to get your Cedar Street compilation disc (normally only available to music industry peeps) featuring 16 tracks from 8 great bands for only $5, with the proceeds going to the Sabina Fund as well.

So come out and show your support for local music, the arts, and a great cause. Click here for more info and directions. See you tonight at 8!!

Last weekend we did double duty and participated in two local festivals: Philadelphia Film and Music Fest, and the [...]]]> We are on the way to the Dewey Beach Music conference, and as I am stuck in the passenger seat I have a moment or several to update everyone on what we have been up to.

Last weekend we did double duty and participated in two local festivals: Philadelphia Film and Music Fest, and the corresponding Girard Fest. Saturday was a gorgeous day and it was so great to be out on Girard Ave, meeting and greeting and getting out the good word about our studio. We listened to and spoke with some great bands and fabulous people, and it was a truly rewarding experience. We want to thank Lost In Company, The Mechanicals, Brendan Walsleben, and Daniel deJesus of TivaTiva for coming out in support of Cedar Street and helping us at our tables on Girard and in The Skybox.

And so here I am, the following Thursday afternoon, hurtling southbound on I-95 at slightly faster than the legal limit toward yet another music festival of sorts, the Dewey Beach Music Conference.

It’s been a while since we’ve posted any studio news, but that’s not been for a lack of news to report. We’ve been quite busy lately both in the studio and with our promotions company, Cedar Street Presents. Our website has been redesigned to offer more info [...]]]>

Ted Richardson, the man with the cat-headed maraca.

It’s been a while since we’ve posted any studio news, but that’s not been for a lack of news to report. We’ve been quite busy lately both in the studio and with our promotions company, Cedar Street Presents. Our website has been redesigned to offer more info with more clarity, and we have added a store where we will be making available some of the great recordings that are coming out of the studio these days, plus other goodies.

We have completed recording and are just finishing mixing and mastering for two fantastic bands: The Mechanicals and The LBG Project. It was truly great to have these bands in the studio this summer, and both their EPs will be released within a month. In fact, we are hosting a dual CD release party for these two amazing bands on one hot night…

On the Second Saturday of each month, Cedar Street will be hosting an evening of music right in the studio. We have held some successful events here in the past, and we figured it was about time to make them a regular occurrence. Kicking things off for us on September 11th will be The Mechanicals and the LBG project. A third band (TBA soon!) will also be performing.

Stay tuned for more studio news as we get back into the swing of reporting it…