Session work at Grooters Productions

Had a good time in the studio today. Two old friends of mine, Lynn Walker and Pam VanPutten, are putting together a new album which is being recorded and produced at Grooters Productions in Holland, MI. John Grooters is acting as producer and Paul Wesselink is engineering. I added some classical guitar to the mix on this occasion. The forthcoming album will be available later this month. Always fun making music with friends!

-Dave

Eleven Rack

As a guitarist, I'm always on the lookout for devices that promise the "ultimate" guitar tones. I'm also thrilled when I find products that increase my workflow and simplify the recording process. So, I was blown away when I bought the new Eleven Rack from Digidesign. It is, in their words, "a revolutionary new guitar recording and effects processing solution designed to eliminate the challenges that guitarists have faced in the studio and on stage. " Finally, a virtual electric guitar system that sounds and feels like a real amp! Not only that, but it's integration with Pro Tools makes it a snap to create and edit electric guitar parts. I can't say enough about it! It will definitely be all over my recordings from here on out.

-Dave

"American Sailors" showing at the Orlando Film Festival

"American Sailors", produced by Grooters Productions, is playing this week at the Orlando Film Festival Nov. 4-8.

"American Sailors" is an hour long documentary that takes you on board and behind the scenes as four great skippers prepare and race their boats in the longest and oldest freshwater race in the world. The documentary was a winner at the 30th annual Telly Awards, receiving the highest honor: a Silver Telly. There were over 13,000 entries from all 50 states and countries around the world.

DP Creative Audio is proud to have composed and recorded one of the main themes used throughout the movie.

To view the "American Sailors" homepage: Click Here

AAF West Michigan

This past Wednesday was the first Fall meeting of AAF West Michigan. Dave Lorenz, the Manger of Public & Industry Relations for Travel Michigan was the speaker. He shared insights into the creative approach and development of the Pure Michigan brand. Forbes ranked the Pure Michigan tourism campaign its highest rated state tourism campaign, and sixth on the list of its top ten tourism campaigns worldwide, saying, “…this campaign sells with its simple and universal message: that sometimes we all need to get away from life's stresses and relax a bit.”

Once again it was an excellent event to inspire creativity and develop relations in the advertising industry. Good food never hurts either!

Sweetwater Sound

This Friday my friend Matt Hanegraaff (left) and I (right) made a three hour road trip down to Fort Wayne, Indiana to visit Sweetwater Sound. As many musicians know, Sweetwater is one of the premier music retailers in the country, particularly when it comes to "all things recording". I have been a faithful customer for many years and have placed a high value on their knowledgeable staff, and superb customer service. They have an amazing facility and it was a great pleasure to meet my sales rep in person and check out a lot of great gear first hand.

-Dave

The Creative Constant

An excellent quote by Paul Williams on the craft of music.

"What remains constant in this whirlwind of change is the art and craft of the creative process. Composers and songwriters have a unique gift – the ability to combine sparks of inspiration, imagination and life experience with talent, hard work, and often a little bit of magic, to create music that touches other people's lives. The music creators' gift is the engine that drives our industry. Its value should never be underestimated."

Panel Discussion at the Michigan Film Festival

This past Saturday was the first annual "Michigan Film Festival", held at the Grand Rapids Art Museum and UICA. I was honored to be part of a panel discussion entitled "Film Music and Soundtracks". Joining me was director Anthony Griffin and attorney Jeffrey Nelson, moderated by Jen Pider of Pider Enterprises. The discussion covered the many facets of creating a soundtrack, both from a creative and a business perspective. I attended a number of other discussions that were offered throughout the day and was very impressed with the presentations and the festival as a whole. I'm eagerly looking forward to next year's festival.

-David Purnell

Apple Jacks "2GETHER 4EVER" campaign goes live.

Kellogg's Apple Jacks "2GETHER 4EVER" campaign has now been live for three weeks. Sounds beds for five games that are part of this campaign were produced by DP Creative Audio. Every two weeks a new game is unlocked. Play "Market Mayhem" and "Inside Out" today! and check back periodically for new games.


To visit the Kellogg's Apple Jacks website: Click Here

New Gear for DP Creative AUdio

In an ongoing effort to acquire the finest audio tools to work with, DP Creative Audio recently acquired Universal Audio's "UAD-2 Nevana" bundle and Project Sam's "Symphobia" sample library.


Here's a couple of quotes,

The UAD-2 Nevana 64 combines the classic sound of Neve® with Universal Audio’s revolutionary new DSP acceleration hardware. Nevana 64 brings the coveted Neve® sound directly to your DAW and makes your mixes “sound like a record” with all the sonic quality and “polish” that Neve consoles are renowned for. -www.universalaudio.com



"Symphobia is the most advanced, realistic and impressive library that exists today. It has basically replaced all of my other sound libraries, as the variety and quality of the samples is simply unparalleled. Symphobia truly offers everything that a professional composer needs to create a dynamic and artistic cinematic score!" Sharon Farber, composer

Music for Kellogg's Apple Jacks

DP Creative Audio adds Kellogg's Apple Jacks to it's roster of breakfast cereals that it has produced music for (which includes Kellogg's Pop Tarts and Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch). Five game sound beds were created for the Apple Jacks website which will support it's upcoming "2GETHER 4EVER" campaign. Look for it soon at http://www.applejacks.com

Also notice the "Get Your Move On" service announcement when you log on to the site. It's music was created by DP Creative Audio in '07.

Score for "Their Sacrifice"

DP Creative Audio composed and recorded the orchestral score for "Their Sacrifice", a production of Media Fuel in Grand Rapids, MI. Created with Memorial Day in mind, "Their Sacrifice" is a mini movie that pays tribute to the men and women that have served in our armed forces.

To view the movie, click here

Session work for "That The World May Know"

This month I had the privilege of once again assisting my good friend Eric Schrotenboer; laying down guitar parts on scores composed by Eric for the latest Ray VanderLaan teaching series called "That The World May Know", distributed by Focus On The Family. This current series follows Ray as he leads his group through Egypt, Israel, and Jordan on the path of Moses during the Biblical Exodus. It is an honor to once again work with Eric and contribute to this series.

-David Purnell

Composition for "American Sailor"

DP Creative Audio produced an acoustic guitar piece featured in "American Sailor", a film by Grooters Productions of Holland, MI. "American Sailor" is a one-hour adventure feature celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Chicago-to-Mackinac sailboat race. The film will air on July 4, at 9PM on WGN.

Biggs|Gilmore Named Top Agency in "09 Internet Advertising Competition

Biggs|Gilmore continues to be my chief client. I have produced music for their Pop Tarts, Raisin Bran, and American Idols Live sites. I want to congratulate Biggs|Gilmore on this outstanding award! It is always an honor to work with them on their ad campaigns. (see write up below)




Biggs|Gilmore Named Top Agency in 2009 Internet Advertising Competition
3/30/2009
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Competing against some of the world’s best, interactive agency Biggs|Gilmore was named Top Agency in the 2009 Internet Advertising Competition, taking home 19 awards, including a Best of Show, eight Best of Industry awards and 10 Outstanding awards.

The Internet Advertising Competition, sponsored by the Web Marketing Association, is the first and only competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising.

“We get a lot of recognition for the Web sites we create. But online advertising and applications are just as important for building brands in the digital age,” said Marino Puhalj, senior vice president, executive creative director.

Entries were judged on design, ease of use, copywriting, interactivity, use of technology, innovation and content.

“Being named Top Agency validates the decision we made several years ago to become a digital shop. Across all categories, clients are getting more innovative and really embracing the digital possibilities of brands,” said Andy Gould, senior vice president, executive creative director.

Biggs|Gilmore won the Best of Show Online Newsletter award for Rice Krispies.

The agency’s eight “Best of” awards included Best Consumer Goods Online Campaign (Scott Tissue), Best Food Industry Rich Media Online Ad (Morningstar Farms), Best Insurance Rich Media Online Ad (Premera Blue Cross), Best Food Industry Rich Media Online Campaign (Rice Krispies), Best Food Industry Online Newsletter Campaign (Rice Krispies), Best Movie Interactive Application (IMAX), Best Food Industry Interactive Application (Apple Jacks), and Best Food Industry Integrated Ad Campaign (Pop-Tarts).

Parent Pager

DP Creative Audio just wrapped up the music for a promotional video for Parent Pager, a hi-tech child/family check in system. It was "developed for managing the security of children while under the care of a ministry or care center. Parent Pager focuses on speeding families through the check in process and providing real-time communications and information to the staff and guardians while providing the tools to help manage the security of the children in the care center."

To find out more about Parent Pager visit http://www.parentpager.com

Omnisphere

We just purchased the newest soft synth from Spectrasonics, called Omnisphere, and can't wait to use it on new projects. In the company's words...

"This epic ‘Power Synth’ breaks completely new sonic ground by combining a wide variety of hybrid realtime synthesis techniques, an epic library of remarkable ‘Psychoacoustic’ sounds, and many innovative features that have never been seen before in any hardware or software synthesizer."

The sounds and capabilities of this new synth are astounding and I could easily spend all day just exploring it's sonic offerings. I'm sure it will get a lot of use!

-Dave

Addy Awards '09

What a great event! Once again, I was struck with the amount and degree of talent that is to be found in West Michigan. Congratulations to all of the winners! Hearing from Steve Frykholm was another high point of the evening.

-Dave

Creative Crawl

This evening I took part in the Ad Club of West Michigan's "Creative Crawl". In their words, "Area ad agencies, design firms, photo and video production studios and other ACWM members meet, greet and treat area business and community leaders, students, clients and other interested publics to a taste of West Michigan's creative side." It was a lot of fun, and a great chance to meet industry people at all levels. I came away truly impressed with what a vibrant advertising community Grand Rapids is home to.

-Dave

Addy Submission

DP Creative Audio has entered a composition recorded for the "Buzzy" marketing video during the summer of 2008 in the Addy® Awards competition. The ADDY® Awards are the world's largest and arguably toughest advertising competition and represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world.

The Kellogg's Pop-Tarts Splitz website, a project created by Biggs|Gilmore that DPCA provided music for in 2007, took home a Silver Addy award in the 2008 competition.

Ad Club of West Michigan

DP Creative Audio is now a member of the Ad Club of West Michigan. The Ad Club of West Michigan promotes professional interaction and growth, integrity and creativity, while supporting a vital West Michigan advertising and marketing community. We are thrilled to be a part of this creative group of individuals.

"Small Talk" CD Production

DP Creative Audio has just wrapped up production of four CD's of songs that support the curriculum offered by "Small Talk- World Language for Kids". Songs were recorded in English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin.

Small Talk is a unique parent/child experience based on the latest linguistic research and cognitive science. Their professional staff engages parents and their children while exploring a different language and culture. Children partner with a native-speaking teacher specifically trained in Second Language Acquisition as she sings authentic lullabies, reads simple stories and nursery rhymes, and interacts with babies and children in Mandarin, Spanish, French, or Japanese.