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Pro audio distributor Amptec recently invited me to give a day-long masterclass in Music Mixing with Pro Tools. Over the years, my workflow has changed from using large analog consoles to alternating between a hybrid and a fully in-the-box setup. Explaining the ins and outs of my current methods and exchanging ideas with fellow sound engineers made for an interesting and fruitful day..

Nick Drummond has been a performing songwriter for over 10 years, selling out multi-night runs at historic venues such as Seattle, WA’s Triple Door and Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley with legendary Pacific Northwest rock-band-with-jazz-instrumentation The Senate (hailed by A Prairie Home Companion’s Garrison Keillor for their “Brilliant Dionysian music.”) Drummond is also known for his work with former band Impossible Bird. Seattle Weekly praised his music as “An absolutely stellar combination of upbeat alt-folk that’s mesmerizing and radiates talent.”

We got a little transatlantic connection going when Nick asked me to mix his debut solo album “Follow The Rivulets” here at tonekitchen.be. I had a great time sculpting these finely crafted songs into their final soundstage. Available now on iTunes amongst others. Have a listen!

Released about a month ago (indeed I should get around to updating this place more often..): “Storm”, the new album by Stoomboot. I had a great time mixing and mastering Stoomboot’s debut album a couple of years ago, so I was thrilled to be asked to record, mix and master his latest effort. This was the first full album to be recorded at the new tonekitchen.be location, and I am happy to report the new digs passed the test with flying colors!

Upon its release a couple of months ago, this album got a fair share of exposure and some great critical acclaim (check out the Work-section!). Here’s hoping this feature will yield some extra attention for this little gem, since I honestly feel it’s worth your while. What started off as a spare time pet project a couple of years ago has matured into a rich, multi textured piece of work. At times moodful, at times rocking and energetic, always sonically intriguing.

I had been a member of the original “Wicona” line-up some fifteen-odd years ago, so it’s great to see this album mark a renewed collaboration with Harald Vanherf (founding member of Wicona and Hoodoo Club). Rounding out the outstanding team on this record are Sjang Coenen on bass, Kristof Meeuwissen on drums, Filip Wouters on guitars and pedal steel, and Nina Babet, Chantal Kashala and Pieter-Jan De Smet on backing vocals. I took care of keyboards, part of the recording and all the mixing and mastering.

You can have a taste of some tracks on Youtube, but to savor this recording in all its glory your best bet would be to order a vinyl copy (CD included!). And like us 😉

Picking three albums to sum up a career that spans 25 years must not have been an easy feat for Stijn Meuris. The various bands he was in, in their ever evolving incarnations, produced quite the discography over the past decades. It is a joy to see then, that of the albums that made the cut to be included in this retrospective vinyl box, two out of three have been (partially) co-written, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by yours truly. And it’s a very nice box to boot, check it out!

Marco Z ruled national airwaves a few years back with his smash hit “I’m A Bird”, a single from his debut album. “Hold Me Like The World Is Ending” is his currently released follow-up to that successful debut. Marco’s writing had been so prolific of late that he saw no way to fit the material on one album, so he actually released two! The first is a collection of more densely arranged, rich and often sparkling pop tunes. The second album holds a more sparsely arranged, largely acoustic set of songs. I had the profound pleasure of mixing album one, a gem of richly textured and expertly crafted songs. Have a listen!

Up and coming Dutch singing artist Niels Boutsen, aka Stoomboot, just released his debut album. I am pleased to see it is garnering great reviews and the singles are getting tons of airplay, as I had a great time mixing and mastering the album. I even got to dust off the old Hammond organ on a couple of tunes!

Kind of old news, this one, but we’re admittedly running a bit late in updating the site. Stand-up comedian Alex Agnew recently wrapped up a series of sold-out performances in Sportpaleis Antwerpen (which seats 12000 people). Tonekitchen.be was quite honored to be commissioned to compose, perform, mix and master the intro track to the DVD-release of these shows. Godspeed as thou rocketh on, Alex!

Out now: the debut album “Flying Thoughts” by Paulien Mathues. Produced by David Poltrock, mixed by yours truly at tonekitchen.be. Buy it on iTunes here.

Never change a winning team, or so the saying goes. Last year I had the pleasure of working with songwriting/producing tandem Jasper Steverlinck and David Poltrock on Glenn Claes’ winning single for “The Voice Van Vlaanderen”. This year we did it all over again for Paulien Mathues. I mixed her single “There’s Some Place I’ve Got To Be”, which is currently climbing the national charts and contributed to her victory in the contest. Congratz to Paulien and team Jasper!