Waterfront Film Festival 2010

This weekend I attended my second Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, MI. It is a wonderful event that showcases some of the best independent and documentary films being produced.

Here's how the organizers describe the fest...."In what has quickly become a tradition, the idyllic resort village of Saugatuck, Michigan comes alive each June with filmgoers, actors, producers and directors sharing the excitement as outstanding independent films from all over the United States are screened in casual, intimate settings. Entertainment professionals from Los Angeles, New York and Michigan created the Waterfront Film Festival in 1999 to provide a "middle coast" venue for independent filmmakers eager to show their work to sophisticated audiences. The festival has succeeded with growing support and recognition each year, and enthusiastic reviews from attendees."

From drama to documentary, comedy to horror, there were films for everyone; certainly more than I could fit into two days of viewing. As during my first visit to the WFF, I came away inspired by the quality and breadth of films shown, not to mention the excellence with which the fest was organized and run. I also gained a lot of fantastic scoring ideas from viewing these films. Can't wait for next year!


To find out more about the fest, click Waterfront Film Festival

Time Bomb Productions

I completed three underscore pieces for Time Bomb Productions out of Holland, MI this month. Time Bomb Prod. is owned by Randy Stephens and focuses on filming any manner of auto races and demolitions derbies. He was needing some aggressive, hard rocking tracks to use underneath his race footage. More info can be found at Git-R-Bent.

Demo for Lee Heerspink

This month I have been working with my good friend Lee Heerspink on his demo disc. Lee is a Holland, MI native who has been playing guitar for over 12 years. He currently holds a bachelors in music education from Hope College (04’), and a master of music from the University of South Florida (07’) in jazz performance. While in Tampa he was able to play professionally with some of the areas best including Jack Wilkins, Steve Davis, and Richard Drexler. Not only is Lee extremely talented, but he is a heck of a great guy!

We ended up using the Digidesign Eleven Rack for all of Lee's guitar tracks, and the tones sounded fantastic! An added bonus was that the prep time was miniscule compared to standard amp miking procedures, and he could play in the control room, tracking over the monitors. Very nice! Lee's demo also gave me the chance to use my latest plugin, the Fatso Jr. In Universal Audio's words "The Empirical Labs EL7 FATSO’s ingenious design and creative feature set gives users the wonderfully warm and pleasing sound of magnetic recording tape, class A transformers, and tube circuits." A great addition to my plugin arsenal, which really made a difference on Lee's demo.

To find out more about Lee, follow this link. Lee Heerspink

Addy Picture

Here's a photo of me (l) and Karl Koelling (r) from the Addy's back in February, taken by Grand Rapids Social Diary.

Karl owns Kairos Productions in Grand Rapids, MI and it has been my privilege to work on a number of projects with him. Karl is a true creative professional, who runs his business with integrity, and is a pleasure to work with. If you are searching for a full service production company to take you from concept to final DVD authoring, be sure to check him out.

Kairos Productions


The Addy's was my first encounter with Grand Rapids Social Diary. In their words..."The Grand Rapids Social Diary is a unique online magazine and social network designed to inform, entertain and connect West Michigan residents, nonprofit groups and businesses. It is both inspirational and aspirational, engaging readers with a smart tone and highly visual style of covering Grand Rapids’ philanthropic and cultural activities." If you are not familiar with this organization, be sure and see what they are covering.


Grand Rapids Social Diary

4WALL

Last night I attended my first West Michigan Film and Video Alliance (WMFVA) 4WALL event. 4WALL screenings take place at the Wealthy Theater in Grand Rapids, MI, and show off the best member work and provide networking inside the production community. This month was dedicated to the best commercial and corporate work in Grand Rapids. Presenters were Kerry Rasikas and Lisa Steele of Rasikas Films, and Ken Schmidt of Ken Schmidt Productions. Once again I was blown away with the creativity and top notch work that is being done right here in West Michigan! A very fun and informative evening.

Promotional Trailer for Rob Stam

Rob Stam, who I wrote a post about last month, has started appearing as a guest speaker in support of his book "Almost Our Time". In need of a promotional trailer (and needing it "yesterday"), Karl Koelling of Kairos Productions and I whipped up this short promo that Rob has started putting to good use. The soundtrack is actually a piano piece that Rob has had floating around his head for a long time now. Glad we could record it and put it to good use!

Keystone Coaching

I wrapped up some voice-over work today for Mark de Roo, president of Keystone Coaching & Consulting. Keystone is "in the business of transforming performance for corporate professionals and organizations. (Their) objective is to facilitate your growth by helping to define your vision through goal-oriented coaching." Mark wanted to add some short educational audio clips to the site, but lacked the proper equipment to produce a professional audio sample. It was my pleasure to help him achieve his goal. Check out his "Emotional Intelligence?" audio clip by following the link below.


Keystone Coaching & Consulting