On June 21, 2016, small mobile recording studios magically appeared on sidewalks around the world.
These Street Studios, organized by Found Sound Nation, HARMAN, and the Make Music Alliance, brought world-class DJs and producers out of their studios and onto the streets for Make Music Day, setting up shop in front of an art gallery, on a downtown plaza, or outside a toy store.
Over the course of the day, producers recorded, mixed, looped, and played back live sounds, while interacting with the public who stopped by to sing, play an instrument, record audio, and become part of this spontaneous, collaborative production of original music.
At the end of the day, each producer mixed down one track, using only material recorded on-site, to share on June 23rd at the “Street Studio Smackdown” in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Our judges voted on their favorite tracks, with the grand prize winner receiving a pair of AKG414 XLII microphones, courtesy of HARMAN.
Grand Prize: Noga Erez, “Levontin“
Runner Up: Freaked Frequency, “Veggie Blues“
Runner Up: Sophie Schnell, “Street Studio“
Judges:
Will Page, Director of Economics at Spotify
Nappy G, Independent DJ & Promoter
Michelle Darling, Producer & member of Girls Like Bass
In partnership with:
Germany
Munich (Garching)
June 21: HARMAN Street Studio outside the Freiraum Restaurant, Parkring 24, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
Producer: Sophie Schnell (a.k.a. PYUR) is an emerging musician and visual artist from Bavaria, based in Munich and Berlin. Her debut album is due out this fall on one of Europe’s leading electronica imprints. Her work leverages a life of electronic musicianship, marrying technicality with a heartfelt and highly spirited intention.
“This track has lovely vocals with underlying percussion and soft sound design interspersed between vocals in the beginning. I really like the beat and spacious keys. It captures me right away. The sampling is really creative.” — Michelle Darling
Photos: Harman/Tobias Hase
Hungary
Budapest (Székesfehérvár)
June 21: Morning location: Street Studio at HARMAN, Holland fasor 19, 8000 Székesfehérvár, Hungary
Afternoon location: HARMAN Street Studio outside City Hall, Városház tér 1, Székesfehérvár 8000, Hungary
Producer: Tamás Siska is a Székesfehérvár-based musician and producer. Tamas currently attends the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and performs as in-demand session player with numerous jazz, pop and world music ensembles. As an educator, Tamas has worked closely with the Snétberger Music Talent Center, a world renowned institute aimed at educating disadvantaged Roma youth. In 2014, Tamás worked with Found Sound Nation as an organizer of the socially-engaged music project, Street Studio Hungary.
India
Bangalore
June 21: Morning: HARMAN Street Studio at Prestige Technology Park, Marathahalli Ring Road (11:30am – 1:30pm)
Afternoon: HARMAN Street Studio at Alliance Française, 108, Thimmaiah Road, Opposite U.N. I Building, Vasant Nagar (4pm – 7pm)
June 22: Morning: HARMAN Street Studio at Plot No.3 & 3A, EOIZ Industrial Area, Sadaramangala Village, Krishnarajapuram Hobli, Whitefield, Bangalore (3pm – 5pm)
Producer: SnowShoe is a studio project of Sky Rabbit’s lead guitarist, Mumbai-based Rahul Nadkarni. Chosen for its references to cats and big, lonely expanses of snow, SnowShoe’s recordings and live sets oscillate between heady pop and ambient sensibilities. A fixture of the burgeoning Indian indie-electronic scene, Nadkarni’s dense layering and spacious soundscapes evoke the very best cerebral electronica: Four Tet, Bonobo and Nightmares On Wax.
Israel
Tel Aviv
June 21: Afternoon location: HARMAN Street Studio at HaHarash 4, Hod HaSharon, Israel (12pm – 4pm)
Evening location: HARMAN Street Studio at Levontin 7, Levontin Street 7, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel (9pm – 12am)
Producer: Noga Erez is an electronic pop music producer, singer-songwriter, keyboardist and percussionist. She has been active in the alternative music scene in Israel, known for her work with the Tel Aviv band “The Secret Sea.” As a solo artist, she plays keyboard and percussion while singing, using loopers to layer bass lines, harmonies, rhythms and melodies. This summer she performs at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona. Noga’s participation is made possible with support from Israel’s Office of Cultural Affairs in North America.
“The production let the sunshine in, and the fall-back structure enabled me to see the song traveling, via remix, into other genres and styles. The hypnotic hook was an instant draw for me, as it resided in your dome on first listen and stayed there thereafter.” — Will Page
USA
Atlanta, GA
June 21: Findley Plaza, Euclid Ave NE, Little Five Points, Atlanta GA 30307
Justin “SonicBoomin” Sanders was born in Selma, Alabama. In high school he became known for the beats he would make with just pens and pencils while beatboxing on a desk in the classroom. After enlisting in the United States Marine Corps — and continuing his favorite pastime of beatboxing and writing music during deployments — he enrolled at Full Sail University, recently graduating with a Music Production Bachelors Degree.
Boston, MA
June 21: Lumit Street Studio at Copley Square (1:30pm – 8pm)
Producer: Freaked Frequency is Milojko Micha Jaric from Belgrade, Serbia. He started to produce electronic music in his early teens and after more than 10 years has gained a following on the trance scene worldwide. His music appears on Chemical Crew Records, Vision Quest Productions, Noga Records, Utopia Records, and many others. He has performed at the Transcendence Festival in Brazil, the Freedom Festival in Portugal, and the TPE Festival in Japan.
“It’s concise, it hits you over the head, combines great instrumental groove, cool sung vocals, and a hot rap all in one song.” — DJ Nappy G
Chattanooga, TN
June 21: Locations:
1437 Market St (3-7pm)
149 East MLK Blvd (3-7pm)
208 Frazier Avenue (3-7pm)
The 2016 Street Studios for Make Music Chattanooga were presented by Undaground.co. The track above was produced by Ben Park (of Undaground.co) and Nick Hudson (of Paradiso).
Los Angeles, CA
June 21: HARMAN Street Studio at Art Share L.A., 801 E. 4th Place, Los Angeles CA 90013 (3pm – 6pm)
Producer: Griffin Rodriguez is a Los Angeles-based producer and engineer, who has been producing and recording records for close to 20 years, as well as touring the world as a musician with a multitude of bands – including his own Icy Demons which he started in 2003. He has produced three LPs for the band Beirut including their most recent “The Rip Tide.” Since moving to Los Angeles in 2010 he has continued to work with such world-class artists as Modest Mouse and Califone.
New York, NY
June 11: HARMAN Street Studio Preview with producers Sophie Schnell, Tamás Siska, SnoeShoe, Noga Erez, and Griffin Rodriguez at The HARMAN Store, 527 Madison Avenue (at E. 53rd St), New York NY (3pm – 6pm)
June 21: Street Studio City
Grandma’s Place, 84 W. 120th St, Manhattan (11am-1pm) with the Manhattan Producers Alliance
Fowler Square, Lafayette St and Fulton St, Brooklyn (4–7pm) with SHRAF and Black Astonish
LP N Harmony, 683 Grand St, Brooklyn (4-6pm) with Found Sound Nation
Stratosphere, 227 Utica Ave, Brooklyn (12-2pm) with Ethereal
Andrew Freedman Home, 1125 Grand Concourse, Bronx (3-5pm) with Aaron Lazansky (DJ SpazeCraft One) & Jay Alpha
Jamaica Performing Arts Center, 153-10 Jamaica Ave, Queens (3–6pm) with Chris Marianetti & Ezra Tenenbaum
Bonus Track
June 21: HARMAN offices in Israel, India, and Hungary
Three of this year’s producers — Noga Erez, Snowshoe, and Tamas Siska — recorded extra material from HARMAN employees at their Street Studios across three countries, all of it in D major at 120 beats per minute. Found Sound Nation’s Ezra Tenenbaum has now turned these sounds into an unwitting international collaboration for Make Music Day’s 2016 Street Studios.