Historical Connection to RCA: 93 years after RCA’s first ribbon mic impacted both the audio and broadcast industries, AEA Ribbon Mics in Pasadena is still mastering the art of the ribbon, creating state-of-the-art mics and preamps that bring the imaginations of musicians and engineers to life. AEA’s original owner Wes Dooley, an engineer and audio salesman who started the company as a record label, began servicing RCA’s classic ribbon mics in the mid-'70s after GE bought out RCA and closed its microphone division. After surviving cancer, Dooley made it his goal to create a replica of the RCA 44BX from the stock replacement parts AEA had built up over two decades. Since creating the AEA R44C, the company has built and designed an array of new ribbon mics, each with a unique application and function, using the same RCA traditions combined with advanced ribbon technology and updated manufacturing techniques. AEA’s current owner, Julie Tan, is a 30-year audio industry veteran who began her association with Dooley and his wife as a sales consultant. 

Since taking the reins in 2022, Julie has made it her mission to not only continue to bring AEA’s products to a wider market, but also to help build a consortium that promotes and preserves legendary analog-based companies with roots in Southern California. 

Trademark AEA Products: In 2000, Dooley followed the R44C with the first of two proprietary ribbon mics that launched the company’s era of original products. The R84 series ribbon mics delivered the classic tonality of the legendary R44, with extended top-end and reduced proximity effect for mid-ranger and close-range recording. The R84A is an active version of the passive R84 that allows compatibility with a wider ranger of preamps. The R88 Stereo ribbon mics, which followed in 2005, capture sound as the ears hear it, with an honest and open tonality. The R88 and R88A effortlessly record complex sources like drums, strings, piano and other instruments that produce intricate transients, harsher highs and bellowing lows. 

NUVO Series: AEA’s bestselling line of active mics is its NUVO modern ribbon series, including the ubiquitous near-field 22 and far-field N8. In Spring 2024, the company will release a new midfield NUVO series called the mid-field N13. They are also releasing 44-CX25LE a limited edition 25th Anniversary of their flagship mic as well as TDI, an active DI box based on the circuitry of our acclaimed RQP and TRP preamps. 

Quote from Julie Tan: “Sonically, our ribbon mics offer less harshness and brassiness. These mics are used a lot on brass sections to tame harsh overtones. Digital recording emphasizes the sharpness of square waves at the high end, while analog old school mics smooth out the sharper, harsher tones. AEA mics are a throwback to the analog sound people appreciate on vinyl records. We’re long past the era of the '90s and 2000s where every recording was as ear piercing as possible. We are dedicated to bringing that old analog warm into the digital realm.” 

Contact AEA Ribbon Mics, 626-798-9128 

Carrying on the Legacy: Thirty years after becoming a staff engineer at Stagg Street Studios in Van Nuys, CA, under the tutelage of original owners Gary Denton and Melody Carpenter, Trent Slatton (pictured) recently became the sole owner upon Carpenter’s passing. Both Slatton and the room he proudly calls “a true mom and pop studio” have fascinating histories. After years of helming the boards there and traveling the world as producer Gavin MacKillop’s assistant, Slatton—who has worked with everyone from The Ramones to Rod Stewart—left the business for over 10 years and sold real estate in San Diego. When he returned to L.A. in 2017, his love for “my true calling” was rekindled and he launched his current stint there. This time, he invested in the business, and when Carpenter fell ill, her fondest wish was that Slatton take over and continue to build Stagg Street’s legacy. While The Rembrandt’s Friends theme “I’ll Be There For You” is probably the most famous track recorded there, over the years the studio has been the out-of-the-limelight choice for a wide array of superstars and legends—including Johnny Cash, John Mayer, Chaka Khan, Tori Amos, Little Richard, Queens of the Stone Age and Smokey Robinson—and numerous jazz musicians, including Keiko Matsui, Dean Parks and Tigran Hamasyan. 

Quote from Trent Slatton: “Gary and Melody developed an amazing workspace out of their love and passion for music,” Slatton says. “Whether we’re working with big names or upstart indie artists, what’s great about it to this day is that we’re not genre-specific. We’ve done rock, jazz, country, bluegrass, film music—even circus music. Stagg Street offers a combination of privacy, a conducive creative environment and overqualified staff, which is dedicated to upkeep and excellent service to our clients. We may not have the history of some of the larger studios in L.A., but we have an incredible array of equipment and a lot of heart. From Gary and Melody to myself, Stagg Street has been run by people who care about the music. It’s like an alchemy lab to create magic and amazing performances.” 

Vintage Console and Mics: Stagg Street Studios is home to a rare, white, Brent Averil modified mid-'70s vintage API console (originally housed in A&M Studios) consisting of two sections. The original 32 channels section has 554 semi-parametric EQs and the 16 channel fully integrated sidecar is equipped with 550 stepped EQs. Both offer the mega-headroom 312 mic preamps. Clients get a legendary API sound with 32 inputs to Pro Tools. The studio is designed with three isolated areas surrounding the main room, offering an ideal setting for live ensemble tracking. Each room has windows for maximum visual contact—and with 16 channel personal headphone mixers, clients can cue mixes just right. In addition to a ‘70s Yamaha G7 grand piano, the room also has an extensive mic locker with vintage mics from the '40s through the '80s, in addition to vintage outboard gear.

 Contact Stagg Street Studios, 213-949-7957 

One of the more interesting personal facts noted in 17-year-old musical multi-talent Anna
Duboc’s bio is the fact that the incredibly gifted, prolific and stylistically diverse
singer/songwriter is an A student, maintaining that average in her second year of high school AP
calculus. She probably doesn’t need higher math to keep track of her social media numbers, but
they’ve been pretty crazy, adding up to some 45 million streams on all platforms via a flurry of
dynamic singles since launching her career at 13.

Writing about her life with the same emotionally expressive wit, narrative bite and vulnerable
tenderness as culturally impactful icons like Taylor and Billie, Anna has amassed 220,500
followers and over 1.2 million likes on TikTok, 26 million views and nearly 40,000 subscribers
on her official YouTube partner channel and over 31,000 followers on Instagram. Amazingly, all
of her success to date are via tracks she produced with her mom, veteran pop songwriter and jazz
vocalist Carol Duboc.

The release of her upcoming single (set to drop Valentine’s week) marks a unique turning point
in that she wrote and co-produced “One Touch” – which was written when she was 14 – with
Juan Ariza (Harry Styles). It’s the first release of an upcoming batch she calls the Unreleased
Series, featuring songs from her archives which she didn’t feel were right to share when she was
younger but seem appropriate now. Gearing up for this next phase of her career, the singer made
an impressive headlining appearance with a full, high-energy band at The Mint in mid-January.
She follows with a gig at Genghis Cohen February 3.

When young artists are so successful so quickly in the streaming and video realm, one may
wonder if they’ve got the goods live, vocally and performance wise. The great news is that Anna
is as charming, soulful and engaging a performer onstage as she is a masterful vocalist/producer
in the studio. Though she showcased it well into the set, one of the most fascinating revelations
about the seductive, infectious “One Touch” is that in both lyrical content and driving slow
groove, it’s up there with anything magical the Swifties are digging these days – and remember,
Anna was 20 years younger than Taylor when she wrote it. The emotional core of Anna’s set was
that one as the follow-up to her latest single “Poetry,” which allowed her to showcase her tender
skills as a piano based balladeer and the powerful range of her voice, from a soft tenderhearted
coolness to a towering emotion that sears the heart.

Anna’s ten song set, a run through some of her biggest streamers from 2021 to present, offered a
dynamic range of rhythms and vibes, from the mid-tempo lite funk R&B/pop simmer of “80 in a
Flood Rain” and plaintive, stripped down “Flowers and Graves” (backed only by the acoustic
guitar of MD Enzo Iannello) to one of her most compelling songs “Plot Twist” (another heart-
tugging piano ballad) and the sassy, moody pop-rocker “Mystery Lady.” She closed with songs
titled “Sinking Feeling” (which displayed the angelic, Billie-esque side of her voice) and
“Promises from Hell,” but all her fans were too full of her lively, charismatic sunshine by that
point to give into the themes of darkness.

Label: Big Loud Rock

Type of Music: Alt-Pop

Management: Nicolette McCann at TWIST MUSIC Group

Booking: N/A

Legal: Rachel Guttmann - Taylor Guttman 

Publicity: Sam Rosenthal at Notorious Noise & Nicole Rich at Big Loud Rock

Web: srryimbizzy.com

A&R: Ava Boney & Lloyd Norman at Big Loud Rock

The artist known and embraced by millions of TikTok followers as BIZZY came by her professional name organically, as an homage to a childhood where she literally couldn’t sit still. As she writes in her website bio: “It was a nickname my dad gave me when I was three because I was always running around like a little psychopath with way too much energy. I chose BIZZY to be my artist name because it feels like the purest and truest version of myself.”  

The Washington, DC-bred, Nashville-based singer-songwriter—who majored in Creative Industry Studies at Belmont University—has been living up to her moniker big time since April 2022, when a brief clip of her song “Anybody” went viral on TikTok. She was working at her server job at a Mexican restaurant when she got wind it was blowing up—and to date it has 18.7M views. 

BIZZY’s success with “Anybody” and her equally infectious follow-up “Just Yet” (8.4M views to date) gained her instant industry attention, but she was adamant—at least initially—about staying DIY, despite meeting many “nice” people at major and indie labels she had long dreamed of connecting with. As she warmed to the idea of signing a deal, her criteria was simple—that those running the label cared about her as a person first. “Numbers will go up and down,” she says, “but I need you to be invested in who I am beyond that.”  

In conjunction with the release of her recent single “I Don’t Get Breakups,” BIZZY announced her signing with Big Loud Rock, the new alternative/rock imprint of Big Loud Records. Big Loud Rock approached BIZZY in the beginning, along with many other labels. She had put them in the ‘maybe’ pile because she knew their parent label was country heavy. The singer’s first question was, How would they deal with a non-country artist?  

“As I released more songs,” she says, “new labels would call and others would drop out. What stuck out about Big Loud Rock is that they continued to show up at every show—and when they showed up, there was always a whole team there supporting me. They offered me a good deal, but it still took me eight months to sign it. I knew they were committed when they told me I could take all the time in the world to make my decision. I also appreciate their dedication to artist development.”

Welcome Back Your Natural Voice: A well-respected cantor for over 40 years, Nathan Gluck was a popular and influential presence in that role for 32 years at Flatbush Park Jewish Center in the Mill Basin section of his native Brooklyn. The projection dynamics of his voice was so powerful that his chants filled the space without use of a microphone. Concurrently launching his career as a well-respected private vocal instructor, he has spent over 30 years helping students of all ages—from pop/rock singers and TV/radio announcers to children and older adults—achieve such power and “welcome back” their natural voices. Taking a holistic, individually customized approach which draws from the many different methods and unique cultural practices he has studied, Gluck—who calls himself a voice builder and vocal specialist—has helped over 2000 students from the U.S. and Israel to the U.K. make their natural voice better, stronger, clearer and more comfortable for the throat. One of his specialties is bringing back the vitality of the voice for those who have lost it. He was also able to bring back the voice of a client who had lost her voice completely to chemo. “As people get older, people often lose the vitality in their voice and I have learned how to bring back their youthful voice,” Gluck says. “Most teachers concentrate on vocal exercises, but I have learned how to make the lungs stronger and fuller while also developing direct exercises for the vocal cords/folds themselves.”  

Natural Supplements for Voice, Throat and General Well-Being: Since launching its initial product line in 2014, his company Vita Vocal Health, has helped thousands of singers, musicians and “civilians” enhance their vocal health with natural, gluten, dairy and gelatin free supplements. The company’s mission is summed up in their statement: “When you are done wasting time on solutions that don’t work, try our health products. We’ve gotten some of the best feedback from real life performers like yourself.” All supplement products are vegetarian capsules, manufactured in a facility that is FDA approved. All products are GMP and made in the United States. 

Vita Vocal Throat & Voice Enhancer: This flagship product is a natural blend designed to boost and strengthen the voice to the max.  After years of searching for the right blend, a voice specialist arrived at the perfect formula to help prevent vocal cord inflammation, minimize dryness, boost vocal clarity and soothe the throat—ensuring that the singing voice feels comfortable. It is a powerful blend of natural herbs and vitamins, including a flower known as Linden, American ginseng, slippery elm bark, chamomile and marshmallow root, plus many others. 

Other Vita Vocal Supplements: The Vita Vocal Super Defense is a natural blend designed to boost and strengthen your immune health and fight against colds. Like the Throat & Voice Enhancer, it loosens phlegm and may help with laryngitis. It works in conjunction with that supplement to help clear sinus and respiratory passages and help the functions related to the lungs. Calming and Anxiety Ease is a stress relief and mood booster supplement that helps with stage fright. Memory & Focus Booster helps memory and cognition by supporting oxygen and circulation in the brain, brain cells and neurons. Vita Energy Boost plus Vision Support, which may assist with increased physical and mental stamina and improved endurance. Aller Relief reduces seasonal discomfort and sinus congestion while boosting immunity. VitaVocal’s newest product is Sleep Support, which helps users fall asleep quickly, achieve quality rest and refresh their minds. 

Contact Vita Vocal Health 718-514-0773

Premiere PR Firm for 25-Plus Years: A 2019 quote in Music Connection about SRO PR’s enduring success and influence in the industry remains relevant, as the firm launched in 1995 by veteran rock journalist and publicist Mitch Schneider as MSO (Mitch Schneider Organization) closes in on its 30-year anniversary: “One of the world’s premiere public relations firms... (the) roster is eclectic and encompassing. It includes various styles and genres, superstars, musical legends, festivals, award shows and emerging artists. That diversity enables them to obtain coverage in multiple outlets and mediums, from underground to mainstream.”

Eclectic History: The company was rebranded to SRO PR that year to reflect the promotion to partner of Marcee Rondan, who joined Schneider’s previous company, Levine/Schneider PR, in 1989. Establishing itself as an indie powerhouse, SRO PR’s dynamic array of clients over the years includes David Bowie, Tom Petty, Janet Jackson, Rod Stewart, Soundgarden, and it has represented Ozzy Osbourne since the company’s earlier incarnation the late '80s. Schneider and his team did publicity for Coachella’s first dozen years and this past year was hired to work with Powertrip, Goldenvoice’s heavy metal festival that takes place on the Coachella grounds. With offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, Phoenix, San Diego and Las Vegas—where Schneider relocated in 2020—SRO PR’s team of publicists includes Lyndie Wenner, Kelly Walsh, Andrea Faulk and Hillary Smoot, who was brought on board for her extensive Vegas-centric portfolio and to build the company’s presence there. Schneider is proud that in all incarnations, his company has been a female-strong company.  

The More Things Change: Even as music consumption has morphed into digital and streaming and social media drives fan and artist interactions, Schneider says the goal for major acts (which he calls “the lottery tickets of PR”) remains the same—getting them on the network morning shows, “Saturday Night Live,” Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Rolling Stone, etc. Major guitar magazines are also highly coveted, as SRO PR’s recently scoring covers for Brian Setzer on Guitar Player and Vintage Guitar prove. “Legacy clients still want to get into print,” Schneider says. “There’s an expression I heard when I first got into the business: A cover is a cover is a cover. Print and TV remain supreme.” In the current environment, he and his team have to keep up with niche websites in country and hard rock, which have largely replaced major print magazines. For bigger names, podcasts like Marc Maron’s are a coup as well. For up-and-coming indie artists, a clever approach is necessary—like photoshopping Vegas alternative band Crashing Wayward’s debut album onto an image of the groundbreaking Sphere venue. 

Lead Single Foreplay and Social Media Impact: Back in the day, PR firms like SRO would do campaigns around full albums as they dropped. These days, there has to be equal focus on getting attention for lead singles and video (aka “musical foreplay”) to keep fans engaged—especially for artists who are not major stars or going on tour. Often these artists will want a video premiere on a specific high-profile website. One of the other major changes is that artists used to hire publicists for a full year to see a project and tour through. Now, it’s more likely to be three to five months because once the project is out, some artists can coast on social media and keep fans entertained and updated there. 

Contact SRO PR 818-266-9285

Producer: Andrew Lappin

As both a vocalist and storyteller, gossamer voiced poet and offbeat yet straight to the heart singer-songwriter has earned nonstop lofty comparisons (Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones) throughout her 13-year recording career. Still, none of those quite prepare us for the way she seduces, then pierces the heart and invites her way in via dreamy-breezy melodies—which mostly caress in ballad form, but sometimes groovy pop. She remains a master at artfully juxtaposing the mundanity of life with soul-deep sacredness, using casual observations as portals to epiphanies on the heavier truths of existence.  – Jonathan Widran

While the “and friends” Koz usually invites to join the fun of his cross-country December tours
are usually other genre A-lister stars, he switched things up delightfully this year, complementing
the core of him and “my brother” Jonathan Butler with equally brilliant but slightly lesser known
performers like saxophonist Marcus Anderson, vocalist Rebecca Jade and 16-year old South
African born multi-instrumentalist phenom Justin Lee Schultz, whose 2023 debut album Just In
The Moment is one of the genre’s best of the year.
Koz and Butler kicked off the nearly two-hour show showcasing their dynamic sax-guitar-vocal
chemistry on an engaging medley of freshly arranged classics, seamlessly flowing through
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “White Christmas,” “We Need a Little Christmas,”
“Joy to the World and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” Everything seemed like a
“normal” but of course wonderful Koz Christmas show until Schultz popped in with a soulful
version of “This Christmas” that featured him, in rapid succession on vocals, fiery electric guitar
and acoustic piano. Then came the blazing sax and stage commanding charisma of Anderson,
followed by Jade performing (with Anderson and Schultz on harmonies) a fascinating, funked
out twist on “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” with a completely new melody.
Likewise, Anderson played one of the peppiest spins through the usually staid and sacred “Silent
Night” that I’ve ever heard.
After Koz and Butler joined them for a full cast romp through a playfully choreographed “Santa
Claus is Coming to Town,” Koz took center stage (with Schultz on piano) to share his new
single, “When You Wish Upon A Star” (part of an upcoming Disney themed EP), easing from
lush balladry to a whimsical, percussive samba arrangement. The one aspect of the show that set
it apart from previous Koz extravaganzas was when the five principals gathered around the piano

for intimate talk (and of course, brief performances) of their very favorite holiday songs. These
ranged from Anderson’s perky “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and Jade’s sweet “Merry
Christmas Darling” to Koz’s hilarious “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!”
The cultural-religious balance of a Koz holiday show is always a treat as well, this time
manifested with Koz complementing his folksy dance “Eight Candles” with snippets traditional
Hanukah songs; Jade and Butler offering a shimmering, goose-bump inducing duet on “Mary
Did You Know?”; Jade making a joyful noise to the Lord on “O Come All Ye Faithful” with a
faux stained glass church window on the screen behind her; and Butler’s showstopping “O Holy
Night,” performed with a meditational grace that invited everyone in the audience to feel each
word on a soul-deep level.
Energy-wise, the flip side of that was when the whole cast joined forces as Butler took the
congregation to church on his fiery gospel jam “Brand New Day.” Koz and Friends closed the
evening on a thoughtful note, with some Beatlesque messaging for a world in need, starting with
a thoughtful rendition of “Imagine” topped with a swelling chorus of “All You Need is Love.”

Besides her lifelong love of Bricusse’s many era defining songs that made him one of the most prolific theatre and film musical composers of the 60’s, 70’s and early 80s, that typical response was one of the great driving forces behind the album. Because, as Fraser explained to her enthusiastic crowd at Catalina Jazz Club, while everyone of a certain age is familiar with many his most enduring songs – “Pure Imagination,” “If I Ruled the World,” “Feeling Good,” “This is The Moment,” “Two For the Road”– more often than not, they don’t know his name. In another of her charming anecdotes, the singer told the back story of how as a little girl growing up in North Hollywood, she idolized Petula Clark – and she discovered Bricusse via Clark’s song “You and I” from the film Goodbye Mr. Chips. You and I naturally became the perfect name for the project dedicated in his honor. She slipped in an all too brief Petula medley as well.

If anyone in the audience happened to come in not knowing Bricusse’s name, she made sure they heard it quite often throughout her hour-plus set, which included moments of exquisite intimacy, grand showmanship reflecting Dianne’s lengthy regional musical theatre resume and towering emotional expressions – all backed impeccably by her trio featuring pianist/musical director Todd Fraser, bassist Adam Cohen and drummer Denise Fraser (Dianne’s sister).

Earlier in the day, I began to fall in love with her voice, her phrasing, those arrangements and the album as I listened to write a review, hearing songs I already loved rendered so beautifully and powerfully, and many songs I didn’t so cleverly mashed up in unique medleys. It was wonderful to complement that experience with the opportunity to hear her bring these tunes alive on stage, infusing so much of her personality and natural charisma into the presentation. The purity of her vocals allowed every lyric to pour forth and linger in the heart as all great poetry does.

Following a rousing overture by her trio, Dianne invited everyone to experience life “At the Crossroads,” a gentle ballad which she segued into the playfully swinging “After Today.” After a mystical stroll through “Pure Imagination” and the Petula story, she said, “That’s right, he (Bricusse) was NOT a lady!” and eased into a sensual, dreamy spin on one of his best-known pieces, “Feeling Good” (popularized by everyone from Nina Simone to Michael Buble). The centerpiece of the set was he pairing of the lesser known, soft spoken “Crazy World” with the triumphantly optimistic “If I Ruled The World.” Her transition was so seamless it was almost hard to tell she had begun a completely different song.

Dianne put every ounce of her deeper theatricality on display donning a top hat and sharing her French language skills on the old timey romp “Le Jazz Hot” from Victor/Victoria. Another delightful highlight was the uber romantic medley of “Look at That Face/Something In Your Smile” performed as a sly, soulful duet with guest baritone Damon Kirsche (who also sings it with her on the album). Her tear for perfect pairings continued with the empowering, wonder and seize the day filled medley of “This is the Moment/Once in a Lifetime.” She closed with two of the most inviting pieces from the album, the hopeful, lovelorn title track and the reflective “Two for the Road,” whose Bricusse-penned lyrics speak of “collecting precious memories.” This was a night of many thanks to Dianne’s heartfelt and enthusiastic performances of these timeless songs. Even at an hour plus, it seemed too short a time to spend with her on that road.   

Producer: Sonny Emory

Legendary for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire and pop and jazz legends (J Lo, Eric Clapton, Stanley Clarke), drummer Sonny Emory’s soul/funk/rock ensemble showcases his eclectic artistry in collab-oration with bass great Sam Sims and Emory’s talented sons Nic Gibran on vocals/keys and engineer Ni Emory, who adds his prowess at the mic. Though most songs are written or co-penned by Emory, he chooses a very offbeat “cover” obscurity—“Eminence Front” from The Who—to get the party rolling.