Independent producer/ engineer Bruce Swedien has
again worked his "sound magic," this time around with recording
artist and actress, Jennifer Lopez, on her latest Epic album, This
Is Me...Then.
Grammy-Award winning Swedien, who has spanned decades
with his engineering prowess for innumerable popular music artists,
is famously known for his work with Michael Jackson.
Swedien commented, "What attracted me to
Jennifer's album project is, first of all, I love the sound of her
voice, but equally important is that I heard that she is not afraid
to work hard on a project. I love to work hard on all my projects
and with that kind of commitment from an artist, I felt that I could
help take Jennifer to a new level of musical and sonic excellence."
Lopez's CD also features collaboration with rap
super-guru, LL Cool J. The single, "All I Have," has quickly risen
to the #1 position on Billboard's Hot 100 music chart since its
release this January. Swedien recorded Ms Lopez's vocals on her
album at the Hit Factory in New York and at Philadelphia's The Studio.
He arranged to have his personal set of StudioTraps, which make
up the (comprised of the sound-shaping, acoustic Studio Traps) shipped
from The Hit Factory Studio in Manhattan to the Philly studio in
order to get the artist's critical new CD project completed.
"When we did some earlier work at New York's Hit
Factory, Jennifer fell in love with the vocal sound space inside
the Quick Sound Field. She insisted that I use them again. In fact,
we stopped recording for a day until we could get them shipped down
to the studio in Philadelphia."
Swedien continued, "I had all 14 of my ASC StudioTraps
shipped; they are my 'traveling set.' I use them exclusively
for critical vocal work, regardless of where I work. I have to accommodate
an artist's hectic and irregular work schedule, so I find myself
working in numerous professional as well as home/project studios.
For consistency, I always depend on my ASC Traps to create the exact
acoustic space I want, in whatever studio I'm working in.
In addition to all the vocals on this project being
recorded with my Quick Sound Field
StudioTraps, they also helped considerably by creating a wonderful-sounding
ambiance for the album's numerous string section overdubs."
Originally patented in the early '80s, and ubiquitously
also known to engineers, producers and artists as simply,"TubeTraps"
(owing to their tall and slender cylindrical shape), many recording
engineers as well as numerous custom-designed commercial studios
use them to achieve better recording (and mixing) results.
Summarizing his affection for ASC's Products, Swedien
wrapped up a recent interview by once again offering his personal
endorsement of the Eugene, OR firm's products, "ASC's StudioTraps
have been one of my 'secret weapons' all these years. They are an
incredible product--durable, portable, extremely flexible and most
important, they give me the ability to achieve precise, repeatable
sound results with whatever microphones I choose, wherever I work.
I haven't done a project without them."
