Songsmiths — K-Jo — The Dilemma

Ooo, this is a good one. I’m very proud to have produced this haunting, mesmerizing song by a very talented young singer/songwriter who goes by the name “K-Jo”. The track starts with her looping guitar harmonics and slowly builds to a lush, orchestral finale. Nice.

The Dilemma is available on all major online music platforms.

For more Songsmiths music and info, visit songsmiths.co.za.

Another One-Mic Recording Challenge

I recorded Josh’s audition, like many Songsmiths auditions, with one mic capturing both the guitar and vocal. The first challenge when recording with one-mic, is placing that mic to get a nice balance between the instrument and voice. The second challenge is maintaining that balance.
Josh, a talented but inexperienced musician, instinctively leaned into the mic to sing which messed up my balance. Yes, I could compress the signal to even out the vocal level. But then I would lose the guitar when the compressor, responding to the loud vocal, turns down the entire signal, including the guitar.
No problem. “Just relax and enjoy your performance without moving too much.” We got a great take and Josh got his first experience in a recording studio. Now he needs to start getting some experience in front of an audience. . .and keep writing!

Songsmiths – Ed Privat – I Will Never Forget (Shatnutla remix)


Songsmiths ran a remix contest for Ed’s song “I Will Never Forget” and Shatnutla from Istanbul, Turkey won with his Tropical House take on the track. The original song was recorded here at The Cooler, but Shatnutla used and balanced a lot of his own instruments for the remix. I mastered the track though, adding some power and thickness. I have to say, it was nice to master something that I hadn’t mixed. It was a lot easier to hear the track objectively and quickly knock out a great master.

More on Cooler mastering services.

Visit the Songsmiths website for more music and audition info.