Nitin Sawhney announces unique 'direct-to-disc' album recording event at Metropolis Studios

Opportunity for over 100 fans to watch Nitin record an album ‘direct-to-disc’ at Metropolis Studios on April 6th 2013 

-Tickets on sale Monday March 11th at www.nitinsawhney10.com

-The album, titled OneZero, will feature new recordings from Nitin’s back catalogue, as well as preview tracks from his forthcoming studio album Dystopian Dream.  OneZero is set for release by Metropolis Recordings and Cherry Red Records on June 24th – with a limited edition boxset, as well as standard/deluxe editions with artwork by Paul Benney

- Special one-off ‘blind auction’ ends this Thursday (March 7th) at midnight, allowing one lucky fan +1 to meet Nitin, gain exclusive access to rehearsals and receive a signed box edition of OneZero numbered 0001

- 10% of the winning bid to go to Nitin’s chosen charity Facing The World

 

Nitin SawhneyMetropolis Recordings and Cherry Red Records are delighted to announce a unique collaborative event.

In the latest chapter in a long and distinguished career, Nitin will give 100 fans a rare insight into his creative world by recording his new album OneZero direct-to-disc in a daring studio performance at Metropolis Studios on Saturday, April 6th.

Resurrecting the highly intricate and long-forsaken process of cutting records live, Nitin, his band and a team of engineers will deliver a full album in one take, recording directly to production-ready vinyl lacquers.

Fifteen lucky fans will watch the recording process from inside the studio’s control room itself, providing a rare opportunity to witness one of Britain’s most noteworthy artists recording at one of the planet’s best loved recording studios. A further 100 fans will watch the process unfold from the comfort of Metropolis’ bar. This live recording will be released as a limited edition boxset, as well in standard and deluxe editions by Metropolis Recordings and Cherry Red Records on Monday, 24th June.  

Nitin’s tenth studio record “Dystopian Dream” will follow later in the year.

Tickets for this exclusive one-off event go on sale on Monday March 11th at http://www.nitinsawhney10.com.

In advance of this general sale, Nitin is currently auctioning a single once-in-a-lifetime ‘Ultimate Ticket’ where the highest bidder (and their guest) will be invited along to pre-event rehearsals at Metropolis Studios, as well as receiving a signed boxset (number 0001), memorabilia, and an invitation to attend the soundcheck for Nitin’s performance at the Roundhouse on June 27th.

The blind auction closes at midnight on Thursday March 7th and 10% of the winning bid will go to Facing The World, Nitin’s chosen charity.

The OneZero boxset will contain the four disc vinyl album, as recorded live, a bonus LP of exclusive outtake and session material, a double CD version of the album with additional bonus material, a documentary and performance DVD and a sumptuous 24-page book chronicling this audacious event. Packaged in super-deluxe bespoke and inspirational artwork by the celebrated Paul Benney, currently Artist-in-Residence at Somerset House, the package promises to be one of the year’s highlight deluxe releases. Both the boxset and the standard single and double CD editions will be released to coincide with Nitin’s one-off headline show at London’s Roundhouse on Thursday, 27th June.

Throughout a phenomenal career, Nitin has released nine studio albums, and become a leading composer for Film, TV, Theatre and video games.  He has scored over fifty feature films, numerous international TV shows and theatrical productions across the world.

Speaking about the event, Nitin said: “For this live recording we’re performing a retrospective session consisting of tracks taken from my nine album back catalogue, and a preview of tracks from my forthcoming album, Dystopian Dream. We’ll be cutting live direct-to-vinyl for the first time in many years of international music history, and simply can’t make mistakes.  The process itself involves a great deal of collaboration and technical expertise, which will be provided by the brilliant engineers at Metropolis and our own team of sound guys.  As a huge fan of vinyl, this feels a perfect way to commemorate ten albums and two decades of extensive touring with a band of brilliant musicians and singers.  Can’t wait for the day.”

He added: “When I was a kid I remember one of the most exciting feelings I had was holding a freshly purchased piece of vinyl in my hands. I would spend hours looking through the artwork, as I would listen over and over to my favourite artists.  Nowadays music seems so abstract.  I really miss the tactile experience of an album sleeve and the physical process involved in moving that record needle to its start position.  Following the amazing artwork provided for my album London Undersound by Antony Gormley, I am really happy to collaborate again with another great visual artist.   Paul Benney has an evocative and elliptical style that appeals directly to the subconscious and elegantly hovers between reality and dream.  I can’t think of a more appropriate painter to work with on the OneZero boxset and the next studio album.”

Notes to Editors

NITIN SAWHNEY
Nitin is arguably the busiest, most versatile and sought after composer and producer around. As the holder of five honorary doctorates and three fellowships, he has worked with a host of celebrated artists including Paul McCartney and Sting and has made nine studio albums, for which he has been nominated for a Mercury Music prize, won a MOBO, two BBC Radio 3 awards and a Southbank Show award, amongst fifteen others.

He has scored over fifty films for cinema and television, with an Ivor Novello nomination for best score, leading to his much acclaimed orchestral music to the BAFTA-nominated BBC series “Human Planet”; Mira Nair’s film “The Namesake”, three film scores for live performance by the London Symphony Orchestra, two celebrated videogame scores, and composition for Olivier-winning theatrical and dance productions with Complicite and Akram Khan. Sawhney recently scored for Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s book “Midnight’s Children”, Hitchcock’s early silent movie “The Lodger”, Khyentse Norbu’s “Vara: A Blessing” and “Japan In A Day” for Ridley and Tony Scott.

Sawhney is currently working on material for his next studio album “Dystopian Dream”, producing Anoushka Shankar’s latest album (featuring Norah Jones) and will be hosting his own radio series for BBC Radio 2 – “Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe”, which airs in March.
www.nitinsawhney.com

WHAT IS A LIVE DIRECT-TO-DISC VINYL CUT?
Live vinyl cuts gives a respectful nod to the legendary days of big band era and artists like Cab Calloway and Louis Jordan. It is a highly labour-intensive and intricate all-analogue process (akin to pre-analogue tape invention in the 1940s), the vinyl medium captures live performance in the highest possible quality in a recorded format. Synchronised, simultaneous live performing, mixing, mastering and cutting of the record eliminates all scope for hiding behind modern production techniques allowing a platform for artists of immense talent to showcase their skill in an unrivalled quality recording. Once we start to cut the lacquer, there's no going back! The artist must play flawlessly for 15 minutes per side, non-stop. The process not only records the output of each individual performer with remarkable clarity, it also captures on record the energy of the live performance and the sound of the room, which when played back (even on a medium quality record deck) transports the listener to the live performance. The audio created is truly phenomenal – the purest recording of a live performance possible.

WHY HASN'T IT BEEN DONE IN 35 YEARS?
The process is so intricate it requires a team of specialists to execute and we're the only studio in the world who does it! The process itself lays bare any flaws in the live performance, so only very brave and talented musicians are willing to undertake such a project. Perhaps this is why no artist since Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker recorded “I’ve Got The Music In Me” in 1975, has any album been recorded live in its entirety, in one take.

PAUL BENNEY
Paul Benney, currently Artist-in-Residence at Somerset House, lives and works in London. His commissioned and allegorical work, which he refers to as his Night Paintings, are collected extensively worldwide and can be found within major public and corporate collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The National Portrait Gallery, London; The National Gallery, Australia; The Eli Broad Foundation, Los Angeles and The Rothschild Foundation. His private commissions include work for Lord Jacob Rothschild, Paul Getty III, and Sir Mick Jagger.
"(Paul Benney) introduces us to people that belong in a place that lies somewhere between the earthbound and the transcendent. He paints figures which, while their meanings can never quite be fixed, embody a strong sense of our spiritual quest". Rachel Cambell Johnston

METROPOLIS STUDIOS
Metropolis Studios is housed in a beautiful Grade II listed ex-Power Station in Chiswick, West London. The building was designed in 1901 by architect William Curtis Green (who also designed The Dorchester), and named after the classic 1927 Fritz Lang movie. Metropolis has worked with a wealth of artists from all genres over the years, including Michael Jackson, Queen, The Cure, The Clash, Scott Walker, U2, The Stone Roses, Lana Del Rey, Rihanna, Amy Winehouse and Adele. World renowned for best-in-class recording and mastering facilities & engineers, Metropolis Studios and its sister Recordings division are set to make history with the first Direct-to-Disc vinyl cut in over 35 years!
www.metropolis-group.co.uk

CHERRY RED RECORDS
Now in its 35th year, Cherry Red Records’ long and admirable history had its seeds in the punk rock explosion, from where it mutated into a significant outlet for independent pop and post punk music in the 1980s. During the ‘90s the company mutated again into one of the world’s most renowned and prolific reissue labels, all the while acquiring a vast array of catalogue themselves, and have, in the last two years, come full circle with a new roster of much loved and still active acts, including The Fall, House Of Love, Jah Wobble, Van Der Graaf Generator and Soft Machine. The perfect home for independently minded artists.
www.cherryred.co.uk

March 6, 2013 11:00am ET by Name PR  

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