2016 Year in Review, Part 1 – Live Sound & Touring
2016 was an incredibly challenging year for me, but also a very rewarding one professionally. I continued to expand the realms and scope of audio-related work that I do, worked on a bunch of great records, and toured with some incredible musicians. I’m so grateful for, an always delighted by the variety and quality of projects I’m able to work on. It keeps me engaged and in love with my work.
To keep these posts readable, I’ve split the year into 3 parts, each devoted to a different aspect of my work life.
Jóhann Jóhannsson & ACME
In October, I did a six concert run in the U.S. and Canada with Berlin-based, Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Jóhann is most known for his soundtrack work on such movies as The Theory of Everything, Sicario, Arrival & the anticipated Bladerunner sequel. In 2016, he released his critically-acclaimed new album, Orphée, on notable classical label Deutsche Grammophon. A string quintet from the NYC-based American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) accompanied Jóhann’s piano, electronics and 1/4″ tape machine. It was an excellent group of musicians, and a wonderful crew to tour with.
Luke Wyland/AU/Camas High School Choir Joined Voice Project
Photo by Matthew Wordell
This past spring and fall I was part of a very inspiring project with a group of dear friends, also involving 155 high school choir students from nearby Camas High School, just across the Columbia River in Washington. My friend Luke Wyland, of AU, composed a set of music for choir, and hired me to do live sound and recording for it. He spent the winter of 2015/2016 composing, and we had a short run of shows in March and April at Camas High School, in Boise, Idaho and in Portland at Yale Union. These garnered the attention of PICA’s TBA (Time-Base Arts) Festival, who included the performance as part of the festival in September at Portland State’s Lincoln Hall.
Portland Cello Project
I continued doing sound for the Portland Cello Project throughout the year, including shows in Olympia, Idaho Falls, Salt Lake City and Portland.
Mississippi Studios & Revolution Hall
Though I did not work venue sound nearly as often in 2016 as I did in previous years, I was fortunate enough to mix shows for the likes of Quasi and Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog at Mississippi Studios, as well as Toots & The Maytals at Revolution Hall.