9.09.07 Esmao, a rock piano trio with a ragged, Ben Folds-like demeanor recorded seven songs for an upcoming album.  It sounds awesome.  No joke.  Check'em out --> www.myspace.com/brianesmao PJo "No Average Jo" Album                         6.27.07   Hip-Hop artist PJo (Paul Jorgensen) recorded, mixed and mastered his latest full album at STTM Productions this month.  Ezalee, Chino, and Collen Barry are featured performers, with Tony McFaddin on the beats. Music for the title track 'No Average Jo' was co-produced with Scott Malinowski.  8.12.07  Update--PJo's album is released! The HarpCore4                                                       6.8.07   The HarpCore4, a cutting-edge pop harp quartet performed an awesome concert tonight in Smith Memorial Hall.  STTM Productions provided mobile recording services to capture the live event, which included kazooing, singing, tap-dancing harpists using extended techniques to recreate the sound of drumset using only concert harp. The Eureka Sky                 5.18.07  Michael Janowski of The Eureka Sky came in to lay down an acoustic emo/rock EP. You can check out his great original music we recorded on the Eureka Sky Myspace page. Rip Chords track featured on Vocies Only compilation 5.16.07   The song "Happy Face" from the new Rip Chords album Chordially Invited has been selected to appear on Voices Only, an annual two-disc compilation album comprised of collegiate a cappella groups from around the world.  The track was recorded and edited at STTM Productions.  Congrats Rip Chords! No Comment          5.7.07   Co-ed vocal group No Comment kicked off their first week of recording at STTM Productions by laying down several tracks for the upcoming album "Pleading the Fifth."  The full project is slated for release in early 2008. 312 Entertainment  4.26.07  Got a call from these guys in the afternoon and they came in for a session that same night!  This talented collective of rappers from 312 Entertainment have been laying down hot tracks all this week that will soon be shopped to major labels.  Rip Chords Album Release 4.13.07     Chordially Yours was released to fans tonight at the Rip Chords Spring show at Lincoln Hall.  Visit www.uofiripchords.com to buy a copy.  Sounds great.     Acappella madness! 11.20.06   U of I acappella groups The Rip Chords and Chaitown are continuing work on albums this semester, and into the next! James Harris Band                               9.02.06    James brought in alt-rock songs recorded at the band's rehearsal space for mixing and mastering at STTM Productions.  We also over-dubbed vocals in the studio. A Hostage Situation at STTM Productions 7.7.06  Decatur emo rock outfiit A Hostage Situation ripped out a fierce three song demo in the studio today.   Check'em out on AHS's myspace page.  Intense.   Millikin University Student Brass Quintet       5.26.06    MUSBQ recorded an album to document their repertoire from this year.  Tuba is cool. Xchords Intrumentally Challenged album wins CARA Award  5.23.06   "Say Goodnight," an original song written by Barry Horwitz and featured on the Xtension Chords album Instrumentally Challenged, has won the CARA (Contemporary A Cappella Recording Award) for Best Scholastic Original Song of 2005.  Congrats Barry on your accomplishment! Weston joins the STTM team                        5.19.06   Weston Dombroski, talented drummer and Commercial Music major at Millikin University will be assisting in the studio all summer in fulfillment of a music industry internship requirement.  Send him a warm welcome message on our studio guestbook, or by emailing him at weston@sttmproductions.com. Or you just bark at him to bring you coffee and takeout next time you visit the studio.   He likes that, a lot. 5.4.06    This evening in Kaeuper Hall at Millikin University, I presented a concert featuring six original compositions for jazz and classical ensembles, performing on trumpet and flugelhorn.  Varied styles represented include Minimalism, Swing, Funk, Latin, and Romantic music.  A big thank you for all the musicians that helped share my music with the public.  It was a truely amazing experience, and a great way to end my college career. STTM Productions welcomes The Rip Chords!     4.14.06   The talented and lovely Rip Chords, brimming with enthusiasm have set an ambitious timetable to accomplish their recording goals over the next year.  An acappella album wih 14 singers is a major undertaking, and the girls have jumped right in and commited themselves to making their vision reality.  Expect great things. GND project recorded and mixed! 2.29.06  The Girls Next Door recorded and mixed three songs at STTM Productions that will be included as part of a CD/DVD double disc entitled peace.love.gnd.   The EP celebrates the 35th aniversary of the group, and will be released at their spring show April 1st.  Good to the Last Drop Released 2.11.06    Chaitown album Good to the Last Drop has just been Released!  Have a listen.                                              Steady Pull Music Video Debut                              1.14.06     Steady Pull, a music video directed and produced by Scott Malinowski and Odell Mitchell III premiered at Millikin University.  The video stars Leigh Burton and Christopher Tuttle, and was shot on a frozen winter day in Downtown Decatur, the Millikin Campus, and surrounding forest preserves.  Editing and audio mixing occured at STTM Productions. Chaitown Update 1.7.06     In a marathon weekend session punctuated by a 20-hour non-stop mix and editing extravaganza, members of Chaitown and Scott put the final touches on the Good to the Last Drop album.  The project was handed off to mastering engineer Jon Schoenoff of Artist Mastering this morning, and will soon be duplicated and packaged by DiscMakers in New Jersey on the order of a thousand copies in the next two weeks.  Millitrax 11.5.05     Odell Michell III and Scott Malinowski assembled a group of musicians to record Pretty Girl by Sugarcult at Millitrax Studio for a class project at Millikin University.  With half a dozen electric guitar tracks, aggressive bass and wicked drums, this song really rocks!  Post-production work and mastering was performed by Scott at STTM Productions. Dave and Steve record 6-song demo    8.27.05     Today was not only my birthday, but also the first session with Dave and Steve, an acoustic duo that has been performing covers at White Horse weekly for the last few years.  The guys dove right in and knocked out a bunch of cool songs in just a couple hours.  To the Sound of the Tempest Released                        7.25.05     Grass Withers new album is available now for purchase at www.grasswithers.com and on the iTunes music store.  The record was tracked, mixed and mastered at STTM Productions in late May.  A major CD release show at Truman State in Kirksville Missouri is being planned for September.   New Gear    6.24.05   The new toys have finally arrived!  In the control room we have a beautiful Dual 2.0 Ghz Apple PowerMac G5, two 19in LCD monitors, and a couple external hardrives. The new setup is really powerful, and it's nice to have more screen-space to work with.  Pro Tools is simply breathtaking when it spans two screens...                                    To the Sound of the Tempest recorded, mixed and mastered at STTM. 5.30.05    Brad and Jerry of acoustic indie rock/folk duo Grass Withers finished their album at STTM Productions in just 5 days!  With some 13 hour days and extreme late-night sessions, we have a finished work that captures the weathered, distressed quality of their songwriting.  Take a listen.   The guys were kind enough to feature me playing some mean shaker, spacey flugelhorn and trumpet on the album.  More unusual are the credits for performing  "rain" and "daybreak."  You'll just have to snag a copy of the album to find out just what all that means... Grass Withers to record at STTM in late May            5.8.05    A vocal guitar duo from Kirksville Missouri, Grass Withers, will be cutting and mixing a 7-song album at STTM later this month.  In our 5 days of studio lockout, Jerry and Brad will be playing Guitars, Mandolin, Bowed Electric bass,  piano, keyboards, and whatever else we can throw on there!   The Girls Next Door record at STTM 5.05.05   The Girls Next Door have been working hard on several songs for their next album.  From day one the group has settled into a positive, efficient and playful groove, and are moving easily toward accomplishing their recording goals this semester.  Gina has been laying down some bad-ass vocal percussion, and I think you will all be surprised how aggressive and edgy their music sounds.  GND rock! Instrumentally Challenged released!                            4.23.05   To much fanfare, the Xchords released their new album at the Acappellapalooza spring show, selling 200+ copies in one night!.  Instrumentally Challenged represents the first full album recorded at STTM Productions.   Take a listen to sample clips at their website, www.xchords.net. They will soon be on tour in support of the album. The Great Flood 3.16.05   Came home recently to discover 5 INCHES OF WATER covering the entire basement studio at STTM.  Since the control room is upstairs and most of the gear was off the floor, major loss was averted.  But sadly a few hundred dollars of new mic cable will need to be replaced, and some personal items (photos and artwork) had to be thrown out.  Donnie and I are still working on cleaning up the mess.  What a way to spend spring break...  But the damage could have been a lot worse, so we feel lucky. Xchord's Album is finished                                     3.14.05 DONE DONE DONE!  The Xtension Chords 7th album, Instrumentally Challenged, was completed this March, and will be released April 23rd at Acappellapalooza in Follinger Auditorium.  It sounds amazing!  Check it out.  We've been working on it for the last two and a half years.  Chaitown Video at STTM                                                                                    3.12.05  Chaitown had a productive 7 hr recording session.  They guys who weren't recording used my place as a setting for several scenes in a video they are working on.  I even had a brief cameo...think I'll stick to recording.   NSA records at STTM           3.7.05   No Strings Attached came to their first recording session at STTM Productions.  They laid down the jazz ballad Tenderly,  live as a group.  Things went very smoothly for a first session and we had a lot of fun!