In October Doug’s good friend (as well as the evil geneous behind the curtain at CRC) Chris Shepard brought in a very unique and special project that he recorded with the help of his remote recording company American Moble.  The Angel Band Project, is a musical collaboration paying homage to the tragic murder of Teresa Butz.  In an inspiring effort, three generations of the musically talented Butz family (including Teresa’s brother Norbert Leo Butz, 2005 winner of the Tony Award for best male vocalist) banded together with the Broadway Inspirational Voices Gospel Choir for this heartwarming creation.  The year long project, which was funded entirely through donations, contains a mix of originals and covers which were recorded live in Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and Seattle, then mixed back in Chicago by Chris Sheppard and mastered by Doug McBride at Gravity Mastering.  Pretty spine tingling album.  Doug commented, “it’s soul music… raw, beautiful, horrible, inspired soul music.”  All of the proceeds from the album will go to the Voices & Faces Project, a charity fighting to end sexual violence.

www.angelbandproject.org

www.voicesandfaces.org

Exciting news! Lee DeWyze’s Slumberland just debuted at #32 on the Billboard Heatseeker list!

Edit: We just got word that Slumberland also hit #68 on ITunes albums charts!

Not only that, but MTV news stopped by the studio to talk with Ryan McGuire, Louis Svitek, and Gravity’s Doug McBride and Lee and his recently released new song “Princess (Reprise)”

Article below the break..

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1639378/20100517/story.jhtml

Plenty of “American Idol” finalists have independently released albums or singles before rolling the dice on the show for a shot at a big-time recording contract. In April, an Ohio radio station even started playing Crystal Bowersox’s “Holy Toledo,” a song that was never released on an album. But never in the history of the program (as far as MTV News can tell) has a top-three finisher had a brand-new single offered to radio in the final weeks of competition.

On Friday — the day Lee DeWyze returned home to Chicago for a parade, a concert and a visit to Wrigley Field to sing the national anthem and throw out the first pitch at a Cubs game — his former label, Wuli Records, delivered “Princess (Reprise)” to two hometown stations. On Wednesday afternoon, music engineer Doug McBride was at Chicago’s Gravity Studios putting the finishing touches on the song, which he’d first laid ears on less than 24 hours earlier.

“These guys [Lee DeWyze bandmembers and Wuli partners guitarist Louis Svitek and drummer Ryan McGuire] essentially produced this song,” he said, cueing up the tune on the small studio’s booming system. “It’s not really a remix of the album song; it’s a completely different production and recording. And basically, I just kind of helped them finish it.” He said the song, which appears in a much more sedate version on the Wuli-releasedSlumberland, shows a different side of DeWyze, with a crunchier rock arrangement, big drums and a heavier, alt-rock vibe.

The tune starts out with DeWyze’s raggedy, soulful voice over a gently strummed acoustic guitar, which is quickly joined by crashing drums and a thick wall of electric guitars that mixes the sensitivity of John Mayer with the stomp of Nickelback. The result is much more aggressive than the style of songs DeWyze has performed on “Idol,” especially in the middle section, which features a squealing electric-guitar solo.

Though Wuli’s founders sent copies of the song on Wednesday night to both the alt-rock station WKQX 102.1 (Q101) and the more classic-rock outlet WLUP 97.9 FM (The Loop), Kyle Guderian, operations manager for the Chicago sister stations, said Monday (May 17) that only WLUP has played it so far.

“We put it on the air Thursday on the Loop and spun it a few times on Thursday and Friday,” he said, noting that it did not get any weekend play but was supposed to pop up again during the Monday drive-time hours. “We’re still evaluating it to see if it will be a permanent add.” While the song didn’t fit the format for Q101, the station honored DeWyze’s request to be interviewed on Friday on the outlet he said he listened to all the time growing up. DeWyze was in town for his home visit, which his many supporters were excited about, as the low-key singer steams toward a possible showdown in the finals with Crystal Bowersox or Casey James.

While the Loop only has about a dozen new songs in rotation at any give time, Guderian said the response has been positive so far for “Princess (Reprise),” and he’s psyched to have the exclusive. “There’s lots of local hometown support for him, so it’s natural to have people exited to hear it and applauding the Loop’s effort to support him,” he said. “For a straight-ahead rock song, it fits the bill.”

Slumberland, released quietly in January when DeWyze was already on the show, was the second of a planned trio of Wuli albums under the singer’s contract with the label. Svitek and McGuire let their bandmate out of his contract, though, so he could compete on the show, but McGuire said the wheels were already in motion to release the follow-up to 2007’s So I’m Told, so that plan went ahead.

McGuire said he and Svitek were inspired to work with the one vocal take they had from DeWyze of the alternate version of the song because they were eager to try to get some of Lee’s music on local radio stations to support the hometown finalist. What they came up with was an unused track from the Slumberland sessions that they added new music to and beefed up in order to get play on commercial radio in the lead-up to the May 26 “Idol” finale.

Though sales of Slumberland were sluggish to tiny at first, McGuire said they’ve picked up considerably since, and he’s hoping the new single — or, best-case scenario, a win by Lee — will boost them even more. “He’s done pretty well,” McGuire said cagily, his eyes hidden underneath a baseball cap pulled low over his face. He noted that Walmart had just made a sizable order and that other major national retailers are getting onboard, in addition to iTunes. Though he didn’t have hard figures to share, he said even without DeWyze available to promote the disc — which he can’t do while on “Idol” — the word of mouth is definitely getting out. “Walmart is a huge chain, and they gook a big chunk, a big whopper order,” he said of the disc, which was recorded in his backyard studio in the Oak Park section of the city.

McGuire — who, along with ex-Ministry member Svitek, backed up DeWyze for five years and played on both records — couldn’t resist razzing his former frontman, chuckling about how Lee had insisted on having the Slumberland cases printed on recycled hemp paper with plant-based dyes, a process that tacked an extra six weeks onto the manufacturing process. But now that orders are picking up, McGuire said he’s been forced to revert back to good-old plastic jewel cases to comply with some of the major chains. “It’s plastic from now on,” he laughed. “Sorry, Lee.”

What do you think about Lee’s former bandmates releasing his music? Let us know in the comments.

Get your “Idol” fix on MTV News’ “American Idol” page, where you’ll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

Back in December, Doug mastered an album for a young, up and coming artist by the name of Lee DeWyze. Skip forward a couple months and low and behold, Lee is in the top ten finalists on American Idol this season. Everyone here at Gravity wishes him the best on the show and hopes he takes it all the way! You can see Lee on American Idol on Fox Tuesdays at 7:00 and Wednesdays at 8:00.

Lee DeWyze – American Idol page

Pick up Lee’s new album from WuLi Records

Things are busy here and time slots fill up fast, so book your mastering session in advance.

Doug just wrapped up mastering for Aiden’s new live album and DVD, recorded at the Bottom Lounge here in Chicago. Look for the Victory Records release soon in stores near you.

Recently Doug mastered the upcoming Vans Warped Tour 2009 15th Anniversary Celebration. Featuring artists such as NOFX, Underoath, Rise Against, blink-182, Bad Religion, 3OH!3, and The All-American Rejects. Keep an eye out for this upcoming release available digitally and in stores soon.

Grammy nominated artist Hedreich Nichols had her most recent album mastered by Doug McBride. She had this to say about the completion of her album:

Advent–of Another Kind

Since there was probably no star shining over Chicago’s Gravity Studios at 2am, we thought we’d announce it here–the baby is born! No, not that baby. And maybe it’s reaching a little to compare the two. Still, we’re proud to announce that the CD is finished! Doug McBride did the mastering with mixing engeneer James Auwarter and his assistant Miela giving valuable inputs. The first couple of reactions have been more than positive and although sudden peace on earth is probably not imminent, you can expect a good sound and rich stories that will hopefully make your corner of the world a tiny bit brighter. We’ll keep you posted on availability, concerts and all that jazz.

On other fronts, Vienna with the Inspirational Singers was exactly that–inspirational. With good music, incredibly beautiful venues like Schonbrunn at Christmastime and the Viennese guildhall (pictured) it was a picture postcard perfect.

Chicago act Boots With Spurs just wrapped up a double album – The Sun Never Sets On Andy Griffith pt. 1 and These Boot Were Made For Moonwalking. Spastic and well thought out, Boots With Spurs shred with deadly precision on this release. The album will be available on Jan. 6, 2010 for the CD release show at The Bottom Lounge and at future shows.

The free test master is for use in comparing our work against the work of other mastering engineers. We will return to you a mastered song cut to :45-1:30 long for you to use in your comparison. If you choose to use us, which we hope you will, the initial song mastered will be used and billed to your final invoice.