oct 2012

Another interesting collaboration. This time with an Australian artist Kim Churchill. He's laying down a simple acoustic guitar and vocal album in a shack on a beach in Eastern Australia. Then he's sending me the files to add strings with the fabulous Four On the Floor quartet. I always love working with these beautiful people.

sept 2012

Working on a very interesting project with german songwriter and artist Matthias Sturm. We've never met but he's produced and self recorded the basic of his songs. Now he's sending them to me to add bass, strings, rework some drums and a few odds and ends. Then mix. The wonders of the interweb.

my studio the command centre is now fully opperational in east vancouver and open to outside clients. check it out if you are looking for a reasonably priced overdubbing and mixing room with world class gear. contact me with any enquiries here.

aug 2012

Mixing a great track for the new Kyprios record. Also looking forward to this year's Peak Performance Project Bootcamp at the end of the month. Also finishing off Mark Hildreth's new record.

july 2012

in the studio with Redgy Blackout recording two awesome songs. Did beds in greenhouse studio a and now overdubbing and mixing at the command centre. Also mixing The Trip from Australia and working on an environmental campaign song for the ridiculously talented and inspiring 11 year old Ta'Kaiya Blaney. Yes, she's a singer, songwriter, public speaker, activist and 11 years old. Check out her video here.

june 2012

i'm excited to now be teaching a music production class at nimbus school of recording arts 3 mornings a week.

feb 2012

Back in vancouver now. mixing the rest of the Rykka record. i am loving this project. having been produced by the awesome ryan guldemond from mother mother and engineered by my old buddy shaun penner

in toronto : awesome, matthew good's album, 'lights of endangerred species', has been nominated for a juno. not sure it quite fits into the best rock album catagory, but you take it where you get it i guess.

january 2012

having a blast mixing the first few songs for the rykka record. then off to europe for a break.

december 2011

mixing the dudes ep. produced by the mighty jeff dawson. also finishing off charlie's ep and a few days here and there with mark hildreth.

november, 2011

working on a great ep with charlie mackenzie. classic songwriting with an edgy alt. country feel with british rock and 80s influences (not nessecarily of my making).

october, 2011

heading into vogville studio with last year's awesome peak performance project winner kyprios and the exceptional ryan guldemond of mother mother to record a song they wrote together.

canadian musician

i have an editorial and take part in a q&a article on production and engineering with a bunch of contemoraries in vol. no. 5 of cm magazine, just out now. check my press page to see it.

studio

there's going to be some exciting news soon regarding my new vancouver based studio. check back soon for full details.

zero orchestra

congratulations to matt good who's current single zero orchestra is now at #8 on the alt. rock airplay charts. its taken a while to get traction. its amazing how scary horns can be to a radio station.

peak performance project bootcamp 2011

just came back from my second year with the ppp. the producer involvement this year was slightly different in that we each got 4 artists who we worked with on a song during the week. we recorded in all night sessions. i came back completely exhausted after only a few hours sleep each night, but was also completely inspired. i was lucky to get a great selection of artists. i recorded tracks with current swell, the boom booms, j.p. maurice and redgy blackout. will now be doing a few tweaks and mixing those tracks ready to go onto the peak's compilation cd that should be released in november. it was also very inspiring to be recording alongside my extremely talented fellow producers: garth richardson, dane deviller, winston hauschild and shawn cole.

no sinner

currently working on a great ep with no sinner. the band features colleen rennison, who has one of the best voices i have heard in a very long time. my long time buddy from the matthew good band, ian browne is on drums. parker bosley ex of hot hot heat on bass and eric campbell, 18 year old wiz kid, on guitar. hoping to have the ep out in the fall.

matthew good - may 31

Lights of Endangered Species is released and available on iTunes.
check out the Vancouver Sun article here.

this is the next single from the new album. matt's vocal is so awesome on this song and you gotta love that brass. thank-you terry, rod, oliver and bill for making us sound like we know what we're doing. i think this is my favourite track on the record. blake nails the drums as usual and matt also played the shit out of my piano (especially considering he's not a piano player).

Zero Orchestra (2011) by Matthew Good  

the explore music site is previewing the entire new matt good record, lights of endangered species here. also here is alan cross interviewing matt about the new album, which is released may 31:

part 2:
 

mark hildreth

after a short break when my wife and i went travelling in arizona, i am now back in the studio cutting lead vocals for mark's new record.

vince vaccaro

started mixing tracks for vince's new record today. Its vibey, awesome and lots of fun to work on.

matthew good's new single has over 14,000 plays on soundcloud, the other streamed track non populus has 11,000 and the album is no. 22 on the iTunes chart on pre-orders alone - and the record doesn't even come out for 2 months. not a bad first week.

junos 2011

cogratulations to:
matt good (and stuart, blake, zach and bernie) for winning rock album of the year for 'vancouver'
said the whale for best new group
and greg sczebel for contemporary christain/gospel album

Pre-Order the album on iTunes or a physical copy at the Maple Music Store.

matthew good - 2011

the new matthew good cd 'lights of endangered species' is now completed and mastered. the album will be released may 31. i am personally very excited about this record. i think its the best work we have done together. he is an amazingly talented artist and writer and i enjoyed every moment of the process of working with him on this record. my son joel livesey second engineered on the recordings at vogville studios and did an excellent job: making mine and matt's lives a lot easier. we had a supurb line-up of musicians join us, both from matt's regular live band and guesting session players. the finishing touch of mastering was added by my longtime friend from the uk, tim young. we charted a lot of new territory and i look forward to seeing what people think. what i know for sure though is that i am very proud of it. click to check matt's site for more details.

peak performance project finale

and the winner is....

Thursday night saw the finale of the 2010 Peak Performance project with stunning performances from the top three artists. Kyprios, who took the top prize, closed the night in style with his monster 11 piece band of some of Vancouver's finest musicians. Kyp's show is world class and would not be out of place in any sized venue. His stage presence is second to none in this competition and his set is pure entertainment. With set piece choreography, catchy songs, sharp lyrics, explosive musicianship and an engaging energetic performance from the man himself, this was a fitting end to an awesome night.

Vince Vaccaro, who took third prize, started the evening with the best show I have seen him play to date. Backed by another stellar lineup (including two members borrowed from the Kyprios band) Vince commanded the packed commodore room from the moment he came on stage. Vince cannot help projecting his nature loving, humanitarian personality and the warmth of his music and songs had an obvious positive effect on the audience. By the end of his set he brought out fellow PPP top 20 artists Christopher Arruda and Adaline (amongst others) for a rousing version of his song Little Candle. The fact that I stood watching this beside Bobby Kimderley, who was only able to get here from Toronto because of Vince, was another testament to the man's heart and the spirit of this PPP family.

Sandwiched between these two, both on the night and in the prizes ,was Said the Whale. Perhaps in many people's opinion the favorites to win, the band once again showed why they are the most established act in the top 20 and have the biggest fan base. Again they rose to the occasion of playing the best venue in Vancouver and I would guess by crowd response had the most fans in the audience. It was also a nice demonstration of the spirit of this project that they brought up all the present top 20 artists to join them for their final song.

I look back over the months of my involvement in the PPP with some sadness at it now being over and will miss the regular get-togethers with this awesome collection of people. When I first spoke to Bob D'Eith and offered to participate I was expecting that it would be fun to be involved. But I totally underestimated just how much I would personally get out of this. It was quite obvious from the first day when I was on the panel that selected the top 20 that the quality of talent was going to be high. I think two thirds of those acts were unanimously voted in. But when we got to the bootcamp the real magic began. That week was totally inspiring for me and renewed my enthusiasm and drive for the music business. The creativity, great work ethic, awesome attitude and camaraderie amongst the musicians was a wonder to behold. The energy and inspiration was electrifying and prompted many recording sessions into the early hours. Those Nimbus students worked like crazy in the studios. More than 30 songs were written and recorded during 4 days. And thats in addition to the workshops, showcases and critiques that kept everyone busy for at least 10 hours a day.

In that week I made so many new friends, both amongst the artists and my fellow faculty members, deepened existing friendships and sprouted many inspiring creative relationships, some of which have already led to making music together and many more that I hope will transpire down the road. Even though I was primarily there to pass on my experience and knowledge of music making, I came away learning so much myself and feeling totally inspired and renewed. The music business can be a cynical and harsh mistress so it is good to be reminded that, at its grass roots it is a community of people who have such passion and talent for music and that we are all bound together as a part of an extended family by gracious spirit and generosity of heart . And the PPP bootcamp was a perfect environment to foster and demonstrate this.

Although the final stage inevitably brings focus on the three big prize winners, it cannot be overstated how all the top 20 artists made this special and they should all be proud of what they achieved and contributed. It's perhaps particularly harsh on Greg Sczebel and Aidan Knight who are both amazing artists, worked incredibly hard and missed out on the big prize money by a mere whisper. But I am sure both will have substantial careers ahead of them. And I would just like to mention a few others that stood out to me. Steph MacPherson is a beautiful and unique singer songwriter. Debra-Jean blew me away live with her passion and intensity. Christina Maria is just fabulous. Not only Bob Kimberley is in love with you! Yes Nice have such musicality and originality. Those 4 part harmonies still ring in my ears. YUCA are such a tight and powerful rock band. And Christopher Arruda with his huge voice and even huger piano playing.

Over the last decade the music business has experienced a massive financial decline that has prompted the record labels to beat a hasty retreat from the field of artist development. Some independents like 604 records have taken up some of the slack but, by and large, artists now have to self support and build their careers themselves. There are some positive aspects to this change, most notably that it transfers the power back to the artists and creative people and also benefits the most passionate. But, at the same time, it is nigh-on impossible to build a music career without some financial backing.

In my view The Peak Performance Project is one of the most innovative and progressive contributions to artist development I have seen and will go a long way to build and support the developing artist community in B.C. I would personally like to thank and pay tribute to all those who brought this into being: Jim Pattison for donating the money, 100.5 The Peak and Music BC, especially Bob D'Eith and Tamara Stanners. This is a great thing you have created and I thank you all personally for inviting me to take part.

diesel and dust named best australian album of all time

its pretty exciting to hear that midnight oil's album 'diesel and dust' that i produced back in 1986 has been named the best australian album in a recent book of the top 100.

in the studio with matt good

we're now at the end of week three of recording and everything is awesome. we are ahead of schedule and the record is super vibey and sounds great. drums, bass, pianos, two thirds of the guitars, 4 vocals, woodwind and strings are all complete. brass come in on monday and then finishing guitars and vocals and a few keys.

peak performance project boot camp

just got back from the boot camp and had an awesome, inspiring experience. what an amazing project this is and what a great bunch of talented and beautiful people I had the good fortune to hang with. thank-you music bc and 100.5 the peak for inviting me to take part.

matthew good

i'm very excited to announce i will be producing the next matthew good project with him. this will be my 6th time working with this exceptional artist and close friend. matt already has an incredible collection of songs demoed and the project will be quite a new departure for us both. we will start recording in october.

mark hildreth

just started working with mark on his next cd. we will be recording 5 new songs during september and the rest of the cd later.

ben sigston

just completed 2 new songs with ben sigston. ben is part of the top 20 artists in the peak performance project for the second year.

xavier rudd

2010 started with a bang mixing the fantastic new CD from australian multi instrumentalist xavier rudd. filled with influences from arround the globe, this passionate music is his best to date and will be released in april.

the producer's producer

when death cab for cutie guitarist/producer chris walla set about recording his first solo album field manual he considered only one producer to join him, warne livesey. piers henwood, the co-manager of tegan and sara, whom walla had just produced, mentioned to walla that the british producer of midnight oil, matthew good band, the the etc. had recently moved to vancouver island.

'walla, 32, didn't need a tonne of convincing. diesel and dust , the 1988 breakout release from midnight oil (which livesey produced), is one of his all-time desert island discs. "it was one of those life-changing records for me. the whole soundscape of that record was so foreign and so alien to me, and is something that has stuck with me into my adult life in a really big way"', says walla.

'he moved... into livesey's... studio, the command centre. the two worked tirelessly with very little outside assistance (aside from walla, drummers jason mcgerr from death cab for cutie and kurt dahle from the new pornographers are the only musicians credited on field manual).' *

the album is out on barsuk records and is in stores now. and of coarse available for download.

* excerts taken from the times colonist article by mike devin