Current And Recent Projects At Custom Recording Studios

Every Month
Every month we work on short projects that are too numerous to mention. We do dozens of music school entry demos, for example.

September 2011
Carl walker of Walker West School of Music is recording a brand new album of gospel songs. It will feature Carl on grand piano and Roland Wilson on the Hammond B-3 organ. Roland is one of the finest and best Hammond organ players around. Its been almost 20 years since they have recorded here, and it's great to have them back in the studio.

August 2011
Kenneth Garnier from Minneapolis was in again working on his album project. His album has used a huge array of some of the finest professional Twin Cities musicians.

August 2011
April Gunderson from Iowa came up and recorded a full album of gospel and theater songs. She used professional pianist Randy Yackle for her album of 14 songs. April has a very pretty voice.

August 2011
Ry Edwards is working on a gospel music project of five original songs. Ry is a very talented songwriter and musician. He is using Stu Nankin of World Wide Music as a producer and bassist. One of the piano and keyboard players he brought in was Kelly Kadlec. Kelly is one of the most talented and fun musicians I have had the pleasure of working with. When this album is completed it will turn some heads.

July 2011
Roy Hope of Roy Hope Ministries was in with his granddaughters recording some vocal tracks for an upcoming album.

July 2011
Erin Ebert from Iowa came in and recorded a four-song full demo CD. Erin works full-time as a Special Music Therapist and brought in some very talented musician friends to help her.

July 2011
Thor Polson from Oregon recorded a full-length jazz album of nine original songs. He brought in a total of 9 professional musicians to play with him over a two-week period. The musicians who worked on this session are Joe Dowall (drums and percussion), Ted Godbout (synthesizer), Jeff Keys (trumpet and fluegelhorn), Keith Nance (tenor saxophone), Thor Polson (piano), Harry Pontiff (acoustic bass), Darrel Pridgen (electric bass), James Prindiville (flute and bass clarinet), Eric Solberg (acoustic bass), and Steve Watne (harmonica).

May 2011
Morgan's Run, a five-piece bluegrass group, recorded their new CD album here. They were able to track all five musicians at the same time. Fourteen complete songs were recorded in less then 5 hours in full stereo. All vocal tracks were then recorded in just a couple of hours. Morgan's Run is one of the best bluegrass groups that I have had the privilege to work with.

May 2011
The White Sidewalls were in several times recording all of their vocal harmony tracks for their new album. Because we have several Neumann U-87 microphones they were able to record all background vocals (4 singers) at the same time. They brought in their own hard-disc recording system that was easy to patch into our system.

March 2011
Singer-Songwriter Steve Donlinger from Edina was in recording a new song he wrote for a wedding. Steve was in our studios back in 1985 when he recorded a 45 RPM record, "Farmer's Song." It was nice to have come in and use our services again after 26 years.

March 2011
The White Sidewalls came in and used our grand piano on eleven 1950s cover songs for their upcoming CD album.

March 2011
Neal Topliff of Red Wing, Minnesota, recorded and produced a solo piano album called "Hopes & Wishes." This is Neal's 7th album that he has recorded here. You will find all of Neal's albums in more than 130 gift shops and along the North Shore.

March 2011
Kristine Weis, a singer and songwriter from Center City, Minnesota, decided to do a full CD album of 11 of her original country songs. She used David Swanson of the White Sidewalls for her producer. The album features drums, bass, piano, pedal steel, and acoustic and electric guitars with lead vocals by Kristine and background vocals by David.

March 2011
Jacob Gatschet, independent producer and engineer, brought in two pianists to use our Yamaha Grand piano. Jacob brought in his computer-based recording equipment and used both our microphones and his own.

March 2011
Jerry and Ginger Dallin "Songmasters" recorded two new southern gospel albums. These are the 10th and 11th albums they have recorded here in our studios. They have used our studios since the early 90s. The two older Neumann U-87 microphones that we used on these sessions are the same ones they sang into in 1971, 40 years ago. Today these same two microphones cost about $3,500 each. We bought these two microphones back in 1975 from the engineer the Dallins were using at the time.

March 2011
David Carlson from Edina recorded several complex classical piano pieces for his family and friends to enjoy. David is a very accomplished piano player.

February 2011
John Gudding and Margaret Baird from Divine Love Christian Fellowship Church came in an recorded multiple voice-over tracks for their play, "Progress Of a Pilgrim." The tracks required special types of reverb and delay. John and his wife Sharron recorded a full album in our studio back in 1991.

February 2011
The jazz group "Optimum Projectory" recorded an album of well-known jazz standards. The group consisted of drums, standup acoustic bass, electric bass, saxophone, flugelhorn, trumpet, and electric guitar. The group tracked all instruments at the same time, and then tracked all vocals at the same time. Steve Hillstrom (horn player) commented that he had never heard his trumpet sound that good. It must have been our famous RCA-77DX ribbon microphones doing their magic.

February 2011
Custom Recording Studios, working in conjunction with World Wide Music Network, recorded 11 choir groups for the Eleventh Annual Northwest Suburban Conference Music Festival at Maple Grove Senior High School. There were at least 3 concerts being recorded by three engineers at the same time in different parts of the school during the day.

All recording and setup was supervised by Stu Nankin of World Wide Music Network. In the evening, for the grand finale concert, we had up to 14 professional microphones being used to capture the entire concert. During the eleven choir concerts I used 6 microphones. School recordings typically use only 2 microphones, which makes for an inferior sound.

January 2011
Lloyd Wallin was in again with Hank Thunder doing some overdubs. Hank is an icon in old-time music circles. He is one of the most talented musicians I have ever met.

January 2011
Beth Eidsor came in with her son Josh to record an album of button box concertina tunes. Josh played all of the songs from memory. His grandfather Donald played with him on a few songs.

January 2011
Duwayne Orvedahl and his group Overdrive came in and recorded 17 tracks in one afternoon. Many of the songs used our grand piano and Hammond B-3. With lead vocals and harmonies, some songs used all 16 tracks. The entire album was mixed in less than five hours with stellar results and praises from the band. I have known and worked with Duwayne since 1985 and he is an extremely good guitar player and songwriter. The songs on the album were some of his best originals.

January 2011
Evan Corcoran came in with his three-piece group and tracked all instruments and vocals live. Instruments were percussion, standup bass, and Evan Corcoran on electric and acoustic guitars and vocals.

December 2010
Roy Hope, a gospel singer from South Dakota, was in with some of his older grandkids, laying down some vocal tracks for upcoming album releases.

December 2010
Kathleen Widlund from Colorado was in again with producer Dan Perry. We mixed the entire album in just a few hours.

December 2010
Lindsay Mattson came in and recorded an entire Christmas album of popular holiday songs. One of the musicians on drums and keys was the very talented George Shelby. George is no stranger to the studio. He has been a regular for many years on various sessions.

November 2010
Lloyd Wallin, songwriter and singer, continues to work on his many songs, bringing in some bluegrass musicians to add fiddle tracks and vocal harmonies.

November 2010
Andre Crigan, Romanian gospel group (four singers) came in and finished their full album of gospel songs in Romanian.

November 2010
Donald Yahnke (drummer) came in and recorded 12 surf-type songs with Tom Brown (guitar) and Rick Larson (bass). All 12 tracks were recorded in one afternoon.

October 2010
Todd "Elvis" Anderson, popular Elvis impersonator who has performed at the Mall of America, recorded a Christmas album.

September 2010
Millie Kittleson recorded her first CD album of 22 country and gospel songs. Millie has sung on the Grand Old Opry, KSTP TV's Sunset Valley Barn Dance, and Midwest Country Theater. She has toured with George Jones. Glenn Henricksen played all of the music tracks. Henricksen has recorded 11 albums in our studio. He and Joyce Schultz, of the Jack Schultz Orchestra, contributed additional background vocals.

September 2010
Roy Hope from Sinai, South Dakota, recorded a new album of gospel songs. Some of the songs featured his grandchildren. Roy has been in full-time music ministy for over 36 years and has recorded over 28 albums.

August 2010
John Krammer from Willmar came in and recorded a full CD of piano originals. For one of the songs he brought in professional violin and flute players. John is a very gifted musician.

August 2010
Paul Lancaster and a three-piece rock band came in and recorded 4 songs with vocals in 1 hour, then used the second hour for mixing all of the songs. Very few studios are able to pull this kind of project off in 2 hours and get good results.

August 2010
Mary Beth Carlson, pianist, came in and recorded a song on our Yamaha grand piano for a compilation CD.

August 2010
Kathleen Widlund flew in from Colorado for a day of overdubbing background vocals on her new album with Dan Perry.

August 2010
Sam Anderson from Florida is a pianist and entertainer. He recorded an album of older gospel hymns with vocals. This makes the 3rd album he has recorded here in our studio.

July 2010
Jason Price recorded a full album of original and jazz cover tunes using many well known and famous musicians from the East and the Chicago area. Because we have perfect acoustics (there are no standing waves in our studio), Jason's drums sound awesome. Jason said he was very pleased with the sound of his drums and the whole CD. Price uses Yamaha Drums.

June 2010
Marcus Bitter recorded a full CD of solo piano with orchestrations of original music and some covers. He used professional musicians on drums, violin, cello, and flute for his album. Marcus Bitter is one of the youngest and most talented piano composers that I have heard. His CD is available on Amazon.com. His album is one of the best piano CDs I have recorded.

May 2010
Holly Berry, a flutist, came in and overdubbed flute tracks on her new project.

April 2010
Llyod Wallin, guitarist and singer, continues to work on his album of original songs.

April 2010
Touchpoint Consulting came in and recorded some training manuals for Monster.com.

April 2010
Tony Andreason came in to work on his new bluegrass project.

March 2010
Michelle Skoog from Rapid City, South Dakota, came in and recorded a full CD of original contemporay Christian Music using full drums, piano, bass, electric guitar, and vocals. Skoog is an awesome vocalist and pianst. The sessions were handled by our house producer, David Swanson, who did a magnificent job of playing on and producing the album.

February 2010
For most of Frebruary, groups came in to finish up their projects from 2009.

January 2010
Deep Down is an awesome-sounding Christian blues band. They recorded an album of original songs, some instrumental and some with vocals. The band includes some of the best musicians that have ever recorded here. Christian Zelin, the lead guitarist, is in a class by himself. He is one of the finest guitarists I have heard. Listen to their sample here.

December 2009
Mary Beth Carlson produced and played piano for a short Christmas album for Mary Mann, an outstanding vocalist. Carlson performs all over the Midwest, and is known for many of her piano albums being played on the radio and being sold in stores. Carlson is an awesome musician and one of the finest pianists we have recorded. She is a real joy and a blessing to work with.

November 2009
Jill and Tuffy Bryant recorded a new Christmas CD called Leave It under the Tree This Christmas. Tuffy wrote all 15 Christmas songs. Jill, his wife, accompanied Tuffy on vocals. Tuffy played acoustic guitar and Stephen Gammell played lead, rhythm, and bass guitar. Gammell is a very talented musician. All vocals and acoustic guitar were recorded live at the same time.

November 2009
The Aluminum Strings recorded their very first CD of Old Time Swedish music. The five- and six-piece group consists of accordian, zither, 2 fiddles, stand up bass, tuba, acoustic guitar, and mandolin. The ages of the group's members range from the late 60s to the middle eighties. They recorded three albums with us 12 years ago.

October 2009
William Hansen from Ringsted, Iowa, recorded a full CD album of standards and religious songs, accompanied on piano by Glenn Henriksen. Hansen's voice is one of the best I have recorded and he sings in the style of Frank Sinatra.

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