Treelady News

PITTSBURGH – MythBusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage recently spent the afternoon recording at Treelady Studios. The pair were in town for the “MythBusters: Behind the Myths Tour,” but had to provide audio for an upcoming production.

The duo had over a dozen pages of over dubs for the April 1, 2012 show “Unchained Reaction.” Which is a science and engineering reality game show that airs on the Discovery Channel.

Senior engineer Dave Hidek recorded the session, and worked with the Discovery Channel to process and deliver the audio.

Adam Savage at Treelady Studios with Dave Hidek in Studio D

“They were coming off of nine shows in eight days,” relates owner Garrett Haines. “They were supposed to have a few hours off for downtime, but the producers at Discovery Channel needed this audio for an immediate air date. Once they arrived, we took their caffeine orders and they got to work. Both men were organized, polite, and wonderful to work with.”

The two had little time for socialization, but Savage took a full tour of the Treelady facility. Of course, musical instruments and microphones weren’t their favorite things. “I like this room!” said Savage of the Treelady Laboratories. It was just like home.

ABOUT: MythBusters and logo are trademarks owned by Discovery Communications, LLC. For more information, visit the official website at: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/ or visit Discovery Channel at www.discovery.com

LOS ANGELES – Treelady Mastering client The Sugar Free Allstars won the Grammy Award for Best Children’s Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. A handful of major trophies were presented before the main Grammy ceremony, which kicks off from the Staples Center in Los Angeles at 8 pm EST, including Best Children’s Album.

The Album, All About Bullies… Big And Small, featured various artists, including the song Sugar Free Allstars “Cooperate,” which was mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios in Pittsburgh, PA. The track was recorded and mixed at Bell Labs Recording in Norman, OK, by Trent Bell. Please join us in congratulating the winners.

Vocals for the Official Soundtrack to Underworld: The Awakening were recorded at Treelady Studios.

“Heavy Prey,” a single from the Official Soundtrack for the major motion picture Underword: Awakening, was written by by ex-Filter guitarist Geno Lenardo.

Modern technology makes cross-country audio collaboration commonplace. Music was by recorded Lenardo in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Dave Hidek recorded Lacey Sturm’s vocals at Treelady Studios in Pittsburgh. Sturm, who is best-known as the lead singer for Flyleaf, also wrote the lyrics to the track.

Soon after the vocals were completed, Ms. Sturm was back to LA for the official video shoot. In the January 18, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone, Sturm explained, “”Making the video for ‘Heavy Prey’ was such a cool experience. I love the Underworld series, so it was awesome to see how they used lighting to make everything feel like the movie. It was the first time doing something like that since my son was born nine months ago. Everyone was very accommodating, leaving time for us to play when he needed his mama.”

Lacey Sturm takes a break while shooting the official Underworld: Awakening video for "Heavy Prey."

The Lakeshore Records album will feature 17 tracks of rock/metal songs that meld with the dark aesthetic of Underworld: Awakening. Other artists contributing to the recording include: Lacuna Coil, Black Light Burns, the Cure, and Linkin Park. The recording will be available in stores on January 17th, three days before Underworld: Awakening’s January 20th release.

Track Listing

Evanescence – “Made of Stone” (Renholder Remix)
Lacey Sturm – “Heavy Prey” (feat. ex-Filter guitarist Geno Lenardo)
Linkin Park – “Blackout” (Renholder Remix)
The Cure – “Apart” (Renholder Remix)
Stella Katsoudas of Sister Soleil – “Killer & A Queen” (feat. ex-Filter guitarist Geno Lenardo)
Ministry – “Watch Yourself” (Renholder Remix)
Lacuna Coil – “Trip The Darkness” (Ben Weinman Remix)
The Naked and Famous – “Young Blood” (Renholder Remix)
Black Light Burns – “It Rapes All In Its Path“
William Control – “The Posthumous Letter“
Civil Twilights – “How’m I Supposed To Die“
& Sons – “Consolation Prize“
8MM – “Liar” (Revenant mix by 8mm)
Ryan T. Hope – “You Won’t See The Light (feat. ex-Filter guitarist Geno Lenardo)
Combichrist – “Bottle Of Pain“
Collide – “Intruder“
Justin Lassen – “Exit Wounds” (Justin Lassen Remix) (feat. Silent Fury)

Garrett Haines will be mastering a new compilation of Portland music at Treelady Studios. The Project, entitled “Jackpot! Covers Portland” will be recorded at Jackpot! Recording Studios, by owner Larry Crane and/or studio manager Kendra Lynn. Larry Crane is best known as the Oscar-Nominated Engineer who has recorded Elliot Smith, Sleater-Kinney, and the Shins (et al) as well as being the founder of Tape Op Magazine.

From the organizers: “Jackpot! Recording Studio has been recording wonderful local music (and lots of people from other places) for 15 years. The music scene in Portland, Oregon, has been very good to Jackpot!, and now we want to give something back to the world of musicians and fans that has supported us. We will be offering recording time to musicians that we like and asking them to track a song written by a Portland-based songwriter or band from any time past or present. We will record and produce the song, and then we’ll offer it up for free download on our website. So please drop by and check out some free music that celebrates the creative spirit of the town we call home, Portland, Oregon We will be mastering all of these downloads at Treelady Studios in Pittsburgh with the talented Mr. Garrett Haines”.

The first track, “Noel, Jonah, and Me,” was released on January 1, 2012. Performed by Mission Spotlight, the song is a cover of a ‘Spinanes’ track from their debut album Manos (Sub Pop, 1993). For release info, please click here.

Treelady Mastering Client The Haygoods have landed their own Television Series on the RFD Network.    The Adventures of The Haygoods gives a first hand look into the life and music of one of Branson, Missouri’s most popular and entertaining performing families. The Haygoods are 7 real life brothers and 1 sister who have performed in Branson for 20 years, for over 5 million people! The family includes Timothy, Patrick, Dominic, Shawn, Michael, Matt hew, Aaron and the only girl in the family, Catherine. They range in age from 33 to 17 and are a truly unique American musical success story.

Watch the Haygoods on RFD-TV

The Adventures of the Haygoods TV show will have a weekly live music performance featuring the Haygoods playing their 20 instruments, the tight harmonies they are known for.   The Haygoods also give back to the community by encouraging underprivileged children, giving them instruments and offering advice to help them reach their dreams of playing music.

The story of The Haygood family began in a small singlewide mobile home in the backwoods of Boerne, Texas. Mom Haygood started the youngest Haygoods playing the violin as soon as they could rosin the bow, as a way to keep them out of trouble. The family grew up playing music together and in 1988 started touring all around Texas and eventually all over the Midwest playing festivals and fairs. Playing music together brought them out of a difficult economic situation and also brought them closer together as a family. In 1993, the Haygoods packed their bags and moved to Branson, Missouri where they began performing at Silver Dollar City, a local theme park. What started as a 2 week contract ended up lasting 9 years! As the Haygoods grew up performing at Silver Dollar City, they took up more instruments and honed their talents, eventually moving their show to the Branson strip in 2002. Since that time the show has been a smash hit and has become a Branson tradition enjoyed by tens of thousands every year.

Treelady Studios client Broken Fences‘ song “Wait” is featured prominently in the latest installment of the television drama Flashpoint.

The episode entitled “Priority of Life” aired in Canada on December 6 and is scheduled to air in the United States on CBS on December 20, 2011.   (If the clip remains on YouTube the song starts at about 9:50 in the scene 4/4).  And, of course, everyone can download “Wait” on iTunes.

Broken Fences are currently working on their full-length album at Treelady Studios.   The album is slated for an early 2012 release.   They are documenting their studio experiences in their studio blog, which can be read here.

About Broken Fences:

Morgan Erina & Guy Russo began writing and performing together as Broken Fences only a short while ago, but have already developed a sound that recalls Belle & Sebastian, or Iron & Wine at their most introspective. They’ve managed to take their vastly different worldviews (she’s from NYC, he’s from Pittsburgh, PA), and meld them into an honest & powerful style of indie-folk, one that’s as hip as it is timeless.

Treelady Studios Chief Mastering Engineer Garrett Haines teamed up with legendary producer/enginer Joe Chicarelli in Tape Op Magazine issue 85.    The two reviewed the new  Fraunhofer Pro-Codec Plug-In by Sonnox.

The Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec Plug-In

The software  is designed for the real-time auditioning, encoding and decoding of audio signals using Fraunhofer codecs.    Before this new invention, it had not been possible to critically audition and then encode multiple formats in real time within a host DAW environment.

In the first part of the review, Chicarelli discusses the improvements in workflow, speed, and accuracy provided by the Sonnox application.   In the second part, Haines covers how internet music gatekeepers (such as Apple, CD Baby, TuneCore, et al) do not permit artists or mastering engineers to submit digital assets.   He calls for a change to this practice, suggesting some form of certification or licensing process.

Joe Chicarelli in the studio

Tape Op magazine is available in the United States, Canada, and the European Union.  Free Third Class subscriptions are available for US readers.   For more information see the Tape Op website.

About Sonnox: Sonnox Ltd. has evolved out of Sony Oxford, which in turn traces its history back to a group of five dedicated audio professionals that first worked together in the early 1980s. These engineers spent many years together designing analogue and digital consoles for Solid State Logic, and subsequently left to start a new Company in 1988 that was called Oxford Digital. Over the following few years the team slowly expanded, until in 1993 it became Sony Oxford.

Full text of the review can be found: Here

Producer / Engineer / Programmer Rae DiLeo was profiled in the August 11, 2011 issue of the Pittsburgh CITY PAPER.

Rae DiLeo busy reviewing a mix in Treelady Studios' Studio D

Contributor Margaret Welsh recently interviewed Mr. DiLeo for an extended article.  This short piece ran in the Music “Local Beat” Section.

PITTSBURGH — A&M/Octone Platinum-selling artists Flyleaf recently spent the week at Treelady Studios. Devoting time to song writing and pre-production, the band is getting ready for their next CD. The session was engineered by Dave Hidek, and assisted by Jarid Yankus and Dylan Ray.

Flyleaf has been together since 2000, but broke on to the scene in 2005 with their eponymous debut album, Flyleaf. The album earned an RIAA Platinum Record, after selling more than one million copies.

Sameer Bhattacharya (L) and Pat Seals (R) jam on a new riff at Treelady Studios.

The Texas natives braved some of the coldest weather of the Pittsburgh winter, prompting Sameer to Tweet, “Had a great time in Pittsburgh. Excited to be headed back to Texas.”

Lacey Sturm tracks vocals in Studio A

Specifics regarding timelines and release dates for the new CD have not been made public as of this writing. Flyleaf fans are encouraged to keep up with the band at their main website: or via their official Twitter Account: @flyleafmusic.

Drummer James Culpepper patiently waits to resume tracking.

BURBANK CA – Treelady Mastering client Travis Linville appeared on NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno‘ on January 10, 2010. Linville plays lead guitar for Hayes Carll, the inspiration for one of the main characters in the recent film Country Strong. Carl performed his single KMAG YOYO, from his upcoming release of the same name. (Release date currently set at February 15, 2011.) Visit Carll’s website for pre-orders and downloads.

Linville, who also produces and mixes bands has mastered numerous projects with Treelady Mastering over the years. He lives in Oklahoma. Below is a photo of the sound check from Hayes Carll’s web team: