Bryan Pugh

Recent mixing and sound design for the Empire Strikes Back UNCUT!!!!!

I’m so pumped to do the full length!

I’m in another vid recording Murs at Rubber Tracks for a new project called The White Mandingos. Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains on drums and bass. Co-founder of Ego Trip Sacha Jenkins on guitar.

Awesome session!!!

Here’s a video promoting Eliane Elias’ new album that I recorded at Avatar. I’m in the vid a couple times at 4:30, 5:02 and wait…that’s not my hand at 0:28!

He is the most sincere songwriter I’ve ever heard and I find his music undeniable because of his heart-on-his-sleeve yet tongue-in-cheek attitude. 

You can listen to it here or on his site that I constructed kennycambre.com

Me and my family at the Star Wars Uncut world premiere at Lincoln Center last Friday!

My brothers both won an Emmy for their outstanding work on the Star Wars Uncut website and I did the sound design and mixing for the feature length film. It was an awesome experience to see our work in such an esteemed theater!

(From left to right: Jessamine Buck, Chad Pugh, me, Kara Suzanne, Casey Pugh and my cousin Brad Pugh)

These guys from Jersey certainly know how to hit some good ol’ rock n’ roll. Great sense of humor too.

Osekre, the protege of the late Kiki Gyan of “Osibisa” fame; one of the few African bands which dominated the global music scene in the 70′s. I find it hysterical that he calls himself “a Lucky Bastard” having watched Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America back-to-back for a week as his orientation to the U.S.

We had a great time at Rubber Tracks recording his new songs. Thanks Osekre!

The 78 Project is a documentary and recording journey inspired by Alan Lomax and his quest to capture music where it lived throughout the early 20th century. Their object is to bring the spirit of his work into the present by pairing breakthrough musicians with the songs and recording technology of the past.

(click on image to see the making of video)

The 78 Project’s most recent exploit are two artists I have done a lot of work with (and one happens to be my wife), Kara Suzanne and The Reverend John DeLore. Their performance was captured in one take using one mic and recorded straight to a lacquer disc using a 1930’s Presto direct-to-disc recorder. Kara and John chose to sing an American classic murder ballad that tells the sad story of Omie Wise. An early 19th century murder victim who was strangled by her beloved and drowned in a river.

To make the song a bit more up-to-date, Suzanne cleverly arranged the melody and wrote an outstanding harmony (the end kills me every time) while DeLore rewrote the lyrics to fit a murder trial from our lifetime….It’s hard for me to not give it away, so I’ll give you a clue. It’s got something to do with a leather glove and a white Bronco.

I’m back producing another album with the Reverend John DeLore. This time, the Rev is need of your help. In addition to recording the whole album live in the studio in three days, John’s cousin Keegan filmed the session, as well as a bunch of interviews & some artsy footage of the city.  It’s going to be a very cool trans-media album release, which is where most of the extra cost is building up.

Take a look at Kickstarter to get a taste of how the album looks and sounds.  

If you like what you see, become part of the project with a pledge.  You can pledge as little as $2 or as much as $2000…whatever’s good for you.  There’s a list of incentives on the page, and the more you donate the more you get back (i.e. hand-typed lyric sheets, limited edition posters, and you can even request a cover song for $150 pledge!).

The title of the album is Songs From Church Avenue and is a love story set in a city in late Autumn. It begins with the line, “The dress she wore was the color of envy.” The album’s intended release date is Late Autumn, 2011. This will be the third studio album from the Reverend DeLore that I’ve been involved with and I gotta say that this is by far his best work to date. Understated, mature and moody.

John’s cousin M. Keegan Uhl has won awards for his directing, editing and cinematography and his celebrated work includes commercials, music videos and shorts, one of which recently won Canon’s Beyond the Still contest featured on Vimeo and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

I recorded six songs in five hours with country artist Luba Dvorak for his new album.

Great band. Great group of guys…They also covered one of my favorite Little Feat songs, Willin’.

I just mixed an Electro/Dancehall track called Pussy Galore for artist/producer 77Klash. We didn’t really talk about it, but I’m guessing he would like to get it in the new Bond movie somehow.

Finished another productive day with Cleveland/Queens artist OHBO! NIYRE. 

I just finished working with the great Boston band Viva Viva. They were awarded the Golden Record by Converse at SxSW this year, which gave them the opportunity to record for two days at Converse’s new studio Rubber Tracks. Fortunately, I was matched with these guys to produce/engineer the session.

I didn’t really know what to expect when meeting the band, but I was super excited to have two days to make some music. It turns out these guys (and Fumika) really have their shit together, which made the process as smooth as shit from a duck’s ass. After the first five hours we had the basics for four songs already finished and at the end of day two they drove back to Boston with four completely recorded and mixed songs ready to hit the streets… Amazing!

Thanks again to Brad and Ben at Rubber Tracks for putting us together. I had a great time.

- Wizard

If you’ve ever gone through my posts, you’ll notice that I’m not big on writing. I’ve had the idea of presenting my ideas through b-logging, but it all becomes too time consuming in my head and I’d rather just be working on a track instead. Today my good friend Jason Finkel wrote an article for Sonic Scoop. After reading his article I realize that why I don’t write much is cause I suck at it. (and I don’t really want to be all that great either.)

Jason and I have a similar background as engineers: the same college and years of developing our craft at the same major recording studios in Manhattan. We’re both freelancers now and often get into tech talk when we’re able to catch up. This article is similar to things we talk about and is an in-depth perspective on how to approach editing and mixing drums. 

Read it [here].

I want to know this guy.

It seems we share a common bond.

Love for music and building shit with our hands.

What is going on here?!

Yet another one of several bumpers I sound designed for the VHX.tv loading screen.

And another one of several bumpers I sound designed for the VHX.tv loading screen.