Archive for October, 2009

By Joe Klein

The 2009 Blogworld and New Media Expo in Las Vegas has come and gone over a week ago. But since then, the articles, blogs, comments and videos streamed out in droves during a week that saw a great deal of other new media developments that emanated out of another event, the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, that, unfortunately, we weren’t able to attend.

As we have done with our blog posts of previous new media related events, we’ll do our best to provide our own recap, which is, for the most part, a mash-up of our own experiences and those of others that have been posted online since Blogworld ended.

New Media Creative associates BRETT BUMETER and I both arrived early for the conference, on Wednesday afternoon. After settling into our digs at the Las Vegas Hilton, we decided to skip dinner and opted instead to proceed directly to the pre opening night LAS VEGAS TWEETUP at the Hilton’s Tempo Lounge, which started at 6:00 PM. We also wanted to meetup with our old friend ANDY EVANS, who is the CEO and founder of London-based NET COMMUNITIES and PODCAST VOICES. By the time we arrived at about 7:00, our friend Andy had also arrived and it was great to see our old mate for the first time since 2007. The meetup was in full gear with at least a couple hundred early-arrivers already drinking and networking to the max. A few tweets reported that over 300 tweeps attended this lively gathering, which was hosted by the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. There were drawings for free rooms and dining certificates at the hotel.

We hung out at the LV Tweetup for a couple of hours, played a little blackjack with Andy and then moved on to an impromptu soiree at the Wynn Hotel that was tweeted out by Brian Solis and a few dozen of his closest friends. This get-together was supposed to be in one of the hotel’s dining rooms, but too many wild and crazy bloggers and tweeters showed up, so everyone was re-routed to a large outdoor balcony patio overlooking the hotel’s famed LAKE OF DREAMS which features a pretty incredible three dimensional multi-media show on a small man-made lake with a large cascading waterfall. After this event, it was definitely time to head back to the room, relax for a bit and then catch some ZZZZ’s before the Expo got officially underway.

Here are some pictures from Wednesday night’s Tweetup and party at the Wynn…..

TIM STREET, ANDY AND JOE	JOE, TED MURPHY AND BRETT

JOE, JULIE VASQUEZ AND BRETT	JOE AND NICOLE SIMON

ANDY, EWAN SPENCE AND JOE	TODD COCHRANE, BRIAN YUHNKEE AND JOE

WARREN WHITLOCK AND JOE	VICTOR CAJAIO AND JOE

ROBERT GAINES AND JOE	TED MURPHY AND ANDY

ANDY AND FRIENDS AT THE WYNN	CC CHAPMAN AND JOE AT THE WYNN

LAKE OF DREAMS AT THE WYNN	LAKE OF DREAMS AT THE WYNN

LAKE OF DREAMS AT THE WYNN	LAKE OF DREAMS AT THE WYNN

Here is a YouTube video shot a couple of years ago of ”Winnie,” a giant animated frog who sings during the Lake Of Dreams Show. We missed this portion of the show while we were at the party, so it was cool to find it online. The video appears to have been shot from the same patio balcony that Brian’s party gathered on. This attraction really is a “must see” at The Wynn Las Vegas!

Thursday, it was off to the races, with the first full day of Blogworld conferences. (The exhibit floor didn’t open until Friday.) We dropped in on several, while, at the same time, met up with old friends and networked with new ones. There was a pretty nice luncheon for the full access show attendees that day, which also featured a “mini-panel” discussion with the head of social media at the Ford Motor company, SCOTT MONTY and columnist and tech market blogger KARA SWISHER . Not too sure whether having this little panel while people were still eating was such a good idea, because people were pretty much into having lunch and chatting it up with others at their table and not all that into listening to a new media and blogging business discussion as they ate. Not to mention, it was pretty hard to hear. Still, Scott and Kara had some good points to make and case studies to pass on. Oh, and the baby greens salad, steak and asparagus lunch wasn’t bad! Kara posted an article and video interview with Scott Monty which you can view here and a separate story and video interview with Blogworld co-founders RICK CALVERT and DAVE CYNKIN which can be accessed here.

Our long time podcasting and blogging pal, MICHAEL BUTLER, also known as THE ROCK AND ROLL GEEK and director/host of the MEVIO MUSIC NETWORK, arrived from San Francisco just after lunch. We picked him up and returned to the LVCC just in time for the mid-afternoon keynote panel with web strategist JEREMIAH OWYANG, founder of IZEA TED MURPHY and “e-mom” WENDY PIERSALL. The panelists offered up a lot of dialogue and blogging, social media and the Federal Trade Commission’s new guidelines regarding endorsement disclosures. (The FTC story is one created quite a stir in the blogging community earlier this month, and was the subject of major news coverage the week before Blogworld.)

THE RNR GEEK

THE AFTERNOON KEYNOTE PANEL

Michael, Brett and I left the panel discussion a little more than half way through to wander the halls and drop in on a few other sessions going on at the Expo. Of course we bumped in to a variety of old friends and colleagues at every step of the way and I got Michael to shoot a few more photos.

JOE WITH THE BOURQUINS	LEWIS HOMES AND JOE	JOE AND CHRIS BROGAN

CHRIS HEUER AND JOE	MIKE MCALLEN AND BRETT	ROB WALCH AND JOE

We needed to end up at final event of Blogworld’s first day, the day’s closing keynote presented by new and social media guru CHRIS BROGAN. This was my first “announcer gig” of the conference for me, and my first public appearance as “New Media Joe.”  After a few opening remarks by Blogworld’s CEO and co-founder, Rick Calvert. I was introduced to the full room and “did my thing” with the Chris Brogan intro. Fortunately, I managed to get the crowd pretty worked up for what turned out to be a pretty insightful session by Chris. As tweets from the those in attendance (and others following the Blogworld stream online) flashed on screens behind him, Chris inspired those gathered for the keynote with his thoughts, observations and numerous tips for achieving blogging and social media success. The video of Chris Brogan’s entire closing keynote can be viewed by clicking here. Here are a few photos of the keynote, including one of good old New Media Joe introducing Chris to the adoring crowd!

“NEW MEDIA JOE’S” FIRST GIG!	CHRIS BROGAN INSPIRES THE CROWD

CHRIS BROGAN	MICHAEL AND CC AT THE KEYNOTE

After the closing keynote, we returned to the hotel for a recharge and to “freshen up” for the night that was just ahead, which was upon us in a flash. We picked up our pal Andy and headed over to the BELLAGIO Hotel, where we decided we would rather partake in their very elaborate buffet (which includes lots of sushi and seafood delights which we favor) so we didn’t have to worry about picking through “party food” later on. Besides, we were totally famished. After a pretty scrumptious feast, we proceeded on the THE BANK nightclub in the hotel, where the very hot TECHSET party, hosted once again this year by BRIAN SOLIS and STEPHANIE AGRESTA, was already raging on at full steam. Although the music was quite loud, and the crowd was pretty rowdy, everyone there seemed to be having a great time, including us! Here are some pix of the gang at Thursday night’s party at The Bank nightclub…..
 
 
 
 
 

We hung out at this fling for for a couple of hours before heading out and back to the Hilton. Our big mistake (or, more accurately, mine, as I was driving) was heading east on Flamingo Road from the strip to Paradise Road. Ongoing construction (which I thought had ended many weeks ago) still had the popular thoroughfare down to one lane in each direction and it took us well over half an hour to travel the three or so miles from the Bellagio Hotel back to the Hilton. Butler and I were exhausted by this time, but our mates, Brett and Andy still had lots of energy left and wanted to party some more! So, upon arriving at the Hilton, I opted to loan my car (and some spending cash) to the two “kids” so they could continue to revel through the night! God only knows (or maybe even he doesn’t know) what kind of escapades they chose to partake in until all hours!

Michael Butler and I proceeded to the Hilton’s Tempo Lounge (where the Wednesday night Tweetup took place) for a nightcap, and as fate would have it, ran into our good friend TODD COCHRANE and his own cohorts from RAWVOICE, who were in Vegas themselves to man their company booth and host their own Blogworld party on Friday night. We hung out with the Raw Voice crew for about an hour, and it was time to pack it in for the night. But, where were Andy and Brett, pray tell?

With the two main days of the Blogworld Expo still ahead of us, we knew that were was much more to come…..

In Part Two of our Blogworld Expo recap, we’ll share our experiences from the event’s two big days, Friday and Saturday. This “really big post” will also include loads of additional photos and links to numerous other reports that have been posted online over the last week Look for the next installment to be up and running right here, same company, same blog, in the next few days, if all goes as planned!

Until we post again, we’ll end this one with two pretty cool videos. First, the promo video for the 2009 Blogworld and New Media Expo posted online by the events organizers, Rick Calvert and Dave Cynkin…..

Next, my own personal favorite Blogworld promo video that I came across while poking around on YouTube! Great job and a great example of getting out the word using viral video!

 

 

 

By Joe Klein

Today, in an email sent out to fans that signed up a few weeks ago to hear the first new Jackson 5 track from the upcoming release “I Want You Back! Unreleased Maters,” Motown Records announced that four more tracks were available for “preview” online.

This brings a total of five tracks now unveiled to the public, of a total of twelve that are on the new album, which will be released on November 10. The project is being produced and marketed by UNIVERSAL MUSIC ENTERPRISES, the division of the Universal Music Group that is responsible for repackaging and marketing of most of UMG’s back catalog product, including the Motown label.

In an exclusive story we broke online back in mid-September (weeks before the “official” press release about the new album), and in a subsequent article we posted online, we wrote about our friend Russ Terrana, the engineer who mixed these newly-discovered “lost tracks” of the Jackson 5 over a month-long period from the end of August until the end of September.

(***UPDATED 10/23/09*** A press release about the new J5 songs was issued by UME and hit the wires early today and appeared on the Reuters news service a short time later.)

We also published three blog posts about the project here on our own company blog over the last month. In those articles, we mentioned how Russ worked tirelessly and diligently in a state-of the-art digital recording facility in Scots Valley, California called ROCKER STUDIOS, owned by his good friend, RICK VIERRA. Russ and Rick employed a battery of digital tools and tricks to bring the 40 year-old analog audio master tapes back to life and recreate the very same sounds Russ achieved when mixing the original Jackson 5 hits forty years ago! The result is a collection of tracks that sound like clean, digitally re-mastered versions of J5 songs recorded and mixed back in 1970. But these tracks were, in fact, mixed down just last month!

Recreating the classic Motown “sound of the sixties” with such precision and accuracy is most definitely a feat to be marveled at, deserving of praise from the most experienced recording engineers, pop music historians and fans alike. That it was accomplished on the earliest recordings of the legendary Jackson brothers makes these new recordings that much more notable.

Of the tracks just made public, the song I’LL TRY YOU’LL TRY (MAYBE WE’LL ALL GET BY) is particularly worth a listen, as it features a truly “classic” Motown style and sound, eerily reminiscent of hits like I CAN’T GET NEXT TO YOU by The Temptations and the version of I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE recorded by Gladys Knight and The Pips. Russ mixed both of these classics as well back in the old Detroit Motown studios (before Motown moved their entire label operations and studios out to Hollywood in the early seventies).

Check out the sound of these two late sixties chart-toppers in the videos below, then listen to the new Jackson 5 track “I’ll Try You’ll Try” and you’ll hear the similarities! Of course the new J5 mixes perfectly emulate the sound of the early Jackson 5 hits. But by listening to these two other tracks, it becomes clear how Russ really did achieve a signature “Motown Sound” that carried over between artists and evolved through the years. The audio style and textures Russ molded in the sixties, seventies and eighties really did influence recorded pop music in many ways that few appreciate to this day!

You can hear the four new J5 tracks mixed by Russ online now, by clicking on the photo of the group at the top of this post, or click here to be taken directly to the page where you can preview the four new tracks and order the new album online.

As Motown’s chief recording engineer for over twenty years (up until the very end of Berry Gordy’s ownership of the label), Russ is credited for having mixed and recorded no less than an incredible 89 number one hit singles, hundreds of additional charted singles and many hundreds (if not thousands) more tracks from hundreds more Motown albums. This is a feat unequaled by any other pop music recording engineer in history, making Russ a true “living legend” in the history of pop music!

All of us at New Media Creative take our collective hats off to Russ Terrana! We plan to release an extensive follow-up article (or two) about about our gifted, old friend to coincide with the release of the new Jackson 5 album on November 10. So do stand by for that.

RUSS TERRANA AND RICK VIERRA IN ROCKER STUDIOS

Meanwhile, coming up next on the company blog, extensive coverage and commentary about last week’s Blogworld and New Media Expo and all the big new media and social networking news to emerge from that conference and the just-ended Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco. There’s so much to report that it’s taken us a couple of days just to gather all the information! Now that we’ve taken it all in, we’ll try to boil it all and make sense of it all here on the company blog over the next several days. As always, STAY TUNED!

By Joe Klein

Three weeks ago, New Media Creative associate BRETT BUMETER and I broke an exclusive story online about the upcoming release of a collection of never-before-heard recordings of MICHAEL JACKSON and THE JACKSON 5 that were being mixed down by my close friend, RUSS TERRANA. Early this morning, Universal Music Enterprises put out the “official” press release about the tracks and the mainstream media stories about the release of the new Jackson 5 album hit the wires almost immediately. “I WANT YOU BACK! UNRELASED MASTERS” is set for release on November 10 and the first single from the album, “THAT’S HOW LOVE IS” was released for download today on iTunes.

I received an email from Russ just as the “official” story was about to break worldwide. The email simply said, “It’s done!!” I wasn’t the least bit surprised that Russ was very excited with the release of the first new MOTOWN tracks he’s mixed in decades!

In fact, these Jackson family tracks are the first major releases that Russ has mixed since working his magic on WHITNEY HOUSTON’S 1990 album, “I’M YOUR BABY TONIGHT.” (Russ also recorded vocals for and mixed several earlier Whitney Houston hits, including the smash “DIDN’T WE ALMOST HAVE IT ALL.”)

Upon reading the email (a couple hours after he sent it), I grabbed the phone and immediately punched in Russ’ cell number. As soon as he answered I could hear the happiness in his voice. After congratulating him on completing this monumental project, I instinctively switched to my blogger/reporter mode to get a cool “behind the scenes” story about the mixing of these historic Jackson family tracks and, hopefully, a few exclusive quotes from my friend, the legendary Motown engineer!

Russ was recruited to mix the long lost Motown gems by Universal Music Enterprises director of A&R, HARRY WEINGER, who has known Russ for years and consulted with him on previous compilations of Motown catalog material. Russ started mixing the first of eleven multi-track masters he was sent by Weinger about a week before Labor Day. The 16-track analog tapes, discovered in the Motown Records vaults shortly after Michael’s sudden passing, had been converted by UME engineers to digital audio for the mixing process.

(***UPDATED ON OCTOBER 26, 2009*** UME’s Harry Weinger contacted me with a clarification of facts in this post. it was actually early this year that the additional masters were first found, as UME, already in the midst of the year-long 50th anniversary celebration of Motown Records, was preparing for the 40th anniversary of the Jackson 5 this fall. Of course, the untimely passing of Michael put the newly-discovered J5 tracks into a “bigger spotlight,” according to Weinger. We appreciate this updated information!)

I started our little impromptu interview by asking Russ how long it took to complete all the mixes. “Well, the final mixes were approved ten days ago,” he said. “So, I guess the whole process of preparing the tracks and doing all the mixing took about four weeks to get done. But we did a lot of stopping and starting, waiting for approvals of the mixes or comments from Harry about changes he wanted made.” This lead to my next question. I asked Russ how many mixes he did on each of the eleven tracks. “Wow, I can’t remember exactly,” he said. “Some of them we mixed twice or three times, others four. We mixed one of the tracks eight times, trying to get it right for Harry, but he ended up using the fourth mix. This kind of thing used to happen all the time with Berry (Gordy) and the different producers back at Motown.”

I had noticed that the new Jackson 5 album listed twelve tracks, but Russ had only told me about mixing eleven songs over the last month. So I asked him about that. Russ said that the twelfth song, called “Buttercup,”was a collaboration with Stevie Wonder, who wrote the song. This track was recorded and mixed back in 1974, but never released until now. “But I’m pretty sure I mixed that one too, back then!” Russ quipped with a laugh.

As a producer and sound engineer myself, I wanted to know how difficult the mixing process was, and how it compared to mixing the original tracks. “Of course there were challenges, and some of the tracks were definitely more difficult than others.” Russ told me. “Probably the biggest issue was that these tracks are forty years old and the sound quality wasn’t anywhere near as clean and pristine as the digital tracks recorded today. But, now, we have all sorts of digital tools to clean up the sound, so we used lots of them to enhance the audio." I asked Russ which particular track, if any, was the most difficult to mix and get to sound right. He answered that the song “Man’s Temptation,” the track that he mixed eight times, was the biggest challenge, because of the sound and other complexities of that particular multi-track recording. Interestingly, the first published track listings of the new Jackson 5 album list the song as the first cut on the CD.

I wanted to talk with Russ more about some of the technical details of the processes he used to mix these vintage old tracks, but he was already into his work-day at his current “day job” (he now directs and produces advertising for an online job site based in Santa Cruz, CA). I knew his time was limited and he may want to end the conversation at any time, so I decided to hold off on the technical questions and move on to a few more questions about the overall experience of mixing the resurrected recordings. Russ had mixed all the original Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson solo hits and recorded the vocal and instrumental tracks for many of them as well. Knowing that my friend had spent, literally, hundreds of hours in the Motown Hollywood Studios with Michael and his brothers recording and mixing the songs, I just had to know what he must have been thinking when he went back into a digital studio forty years later with some of the same tracks he may have actually recorded way back when.

I posed the question to Russ, “What went through your mind when you hit the “play” button on the software and heard these old tracks for the first time in decades?”

“Joe, it was like stepping back in a time machine,” he told me. “All I could think was, ‘OH MY GOD! This is Michael and his brothers. These guys were SO talented. How did this kid Michael have so much talent to be able to do all this?’ Hearing the tracks was like being in the control room with them again, sitting around me goofing off while I did my thing. Except this time they weren’t here. It was just their voices coming out of the monitors, kind of like they were coming from heaven.”

All I could say was, “Wow.” Russ went on. “It was a very emotional experience for me, but, at the same time, very rewarding to be working with these tracks, because of my past relationship with Michael and his brothers. We spent a lot of time in the studio together for all those years and became very close.” I detected a few cracks in my old friend’s voice as he uttered his words.

I have to admit that I never really heard Russ get emotional about anything before. In all the years we hung out at the Hollywood Motown studios and my (two different) studios, it was all good times, recording hit records, partying and loving life back in the seventies and eighties. So, hearing Russ speak, almost reverently and with such respect and even gratitude about his involvement in this project, was making me a little misty-eyed myself.

I asked Russ what was the best thing about working on this latest piece of pop music history and, just as he has been so many times before, being such an integral part of the finished project. Always the modest and humble master, Russ replied, “What can I say? It really was a labor of love…..I did this for Michael. Anyone who worked with him knew he was more than just a recording artist. He was one of a kind, truly special and a very special friend to me.”

I wanted to know if anyone in the Jackson family had contacted Russ recently. Russ said that he couldn’t even remember the last time he spoke with any Jackson family member, but then said that JERMAINE JACKSON recently requested that Russ confirm him as a friend on Facebook!

Knowing it was about time to end our call, I still had one last question for my old friend who is, himself, a living legend in the world of recorded popular music. (Lest we not forget that this is a man who has mixed at least 89 number one records and hundreds of other hit singles and albums!) I asked Russ to tell me what, personally, was his own “take-away” from getting this awesome gig and working on this historic project. Russ paused for a moment and then replied, “I’ve worked on SO many albums and with SO many artists. But this project was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and, you know, I’d like to be doing more.”

Something tells me that there will be much more for Russ Terrana.

But wait, there IS more! A new collection of Jackson 5 Christmas songs, called THE JACKSON 5 ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS ALBUM will be released next week, on October 13. Of course, most, if not all, of the tracks on this new album were recorded and mixed by Russ. This new compilation features 18 holiday songs performed by the group, including a great song called LITTLE CHRISTMAS TREE, written by our good friend ARTIE WAYNE and George Clinton, Jr. The track features a twelve year-old Michael and was supposed to be the follow-up single to the smash hit “BEN.” You can read Artie’s story about the song here.

I didn’t even listen to “That’s How Love Is,” the first of the new mixes, just released today as a single, until after speaking with Russ on the phone. The track sounded so strikingly similar to the original Jackson 5 hits we all remember so well, that I just had to smile. Russ still has the magic touch and those solid gold ears!

All of us here at New Media Creative consider Russ to be a good and valued friend and we’re happy to have broken the story about this project and his involvement in it. Stand by. There will be much more in the weeks to come! You can listen to the first single from the new Jackson 5 album, mixed by Russ, in its entirety here.

RUSS TERRANA IN ROCKER STUDIOS MIXING THE NEW JACKSON 5 TRACKS

Copyright 2009 New Media Creative