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The producers Alan Parsons and Julian Colbeck look back at the debut year of ASSR!

Check it out here or download the PDF release.

Alan Parsons at USC

Strengthening ASSR’s ties with music and recording technology institutions, on Nov 5th & 6th 2011 students at the USC Thornton Popular Music Program in Los Angeles will get to work with Alan Parsons at the prestigious Village Studios in West LA.

Over two days Alan will discuss his recording and production career and then conduct a recording session of an original song performed by some of the students. This session will provide a hands-on learning experience for students and introduce fundamental recording, arranging, production, and mixing techniques.

Chris Sampson, Associate Dean and Director of the Popular Music at USC Thornton, says the opportunity for students to work with Alan Parsons is unique. “Alan Parsons is one of the most highly regarded producers in music,” says Sampson. “Our students will have the chance to work directly with him and learn from one of the greats.”

These sessions are part of a required class for Popular Music majors at USC called the Popular Music Forum. Popular Music Forum is a guest artist series designed to give insights into the music industry and profession. Other guest artists who are a part of the course this fall include Fred Wreck (producer with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg), Glenn Frey (co-founder of the Eagles), Linda Perry (hit songwriter and producer), Trevor Rabin (film composer), Tena Clark (CEO of DMI Music and Media Solutions), Darrell Brown (hit songwriter and producer), and Tom Johnston (co-founder of the Doobie Brothers).

USC Thornton’s Popular Music Program is unique within the music conservatory model and created as a rich multi-disciplinary hub for rock, pop, R&B, folk, Latin, and country artists. Set within the vibrant creative center of Los Angeles, the program ushers students into all the facets of the pop music scene, and the Forum is an integral part of that goal.

More at www.usc.edu/music, or call (213) 740-3233.

“It’s vital that university programs try to connect with the real world of music and recording technology,” says ASSR producer Julian Colbeck. ”In Los Angeles it’s great to see USC taking advantage of their location and actively involving people who have already achieved so much in this industry. Acknowledging the past–in a time when music also had a business attached to it–strikes me as a very positive move towards ensuring that students enrolled in these types of program actually have a future.”

Brought to you by the ASSR Educational License

Alan Parsons on BBC, Rolling Stone Interview and Pink Floyd

Dateline: October 3rd 2011:

• Alan Parsons has joined in on the recent celebrations for Pink Floyd's anniversary of Dark Side Of The Moon. He will be featured on two BBC programmers this week. First, catch him on Friday at 1 P.M. PST during The Record Producers, followed by another appearance at 2:30 P.M. PST on The Producers Playlist.

Rolling Stone has published an interview about the Pink Floyd reissue project: Alan Parsons on 'Dark Side': 'Roger Knew Something Great Was in the Making'

• The original console used for Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon is featured in the Consoles & Controllers section of ASSR. Catch a rare glimpse of the legendary mixing desk and watch Alan Parsons recount his experiences with the console. Learn more about the ASSR Consoles & Controllers section, available now for streaming and download.

Sellout Master Class, DVD and Live Show in Bogota

Dateline: September 21st 2011:

Everything sold out for Alan Parsons’ flying visit to Bogota, Colombia, Sept 15/16 2011, including all copies of the ASSR DVD set. One final copy, held back for auction (proceeds going to sponsor Hermes Music Fundacion), went for more than half a million Colombian pesos, roughly twice the DVD set’s full list price.

Attendance for the Master Class, held at the Centro Cultural Teatro Municipal, home to the IDARTES arts organization, exceeded 800 and the event kicked off with a surprise number from the complete Alan Parsons Live Project. After watching the DVD set’s introductory Section in Spanish the audience was treated to a fascinating discussion on recording techniques – classic and modern – from Alan and panel of inquisitors that included Hector Buitrago from the #1 Colombian pop outfit Aterciopelados and top local recording engineer Mauricio Ramirez.

Alan was later joined on stage by another local legend, Vamsi, with his unique double-neck nylon string plus 12-string steel guitar with which Alan conducted a series of live experiments on different acoustic guitar miking techniques.

The two-hour event came to an official close with a lively Q&A session before Alan personally auctioned off the remaining copy of the ASSR DVD set in front of a highly enthusiastic crowd.

The following night saw a full (and sellout) concert with the Alan Parsons Live Project supported by the somewhat appropriately named Patricio Stiglich Project.

Watch the video!

The Alan Parsons Master Class Training Session, in conjunction with the Alan Parsons Live Project band fly south in September to Bogota, Colombia for a whistle stop concert and Level 1 MCTS at “IDARTES” INSTITUTO DISTRITAL DE LAS ARTES at the University Of Bogota.

The presentation, to some 500 recording arts students at one of the Colombia's most prestigious universities is expected to generate some challenging questions since Colombia, along with several other South American countries is, putting considerable resources into both music and music technology education, producing an increasingly skilled new generation of musicians, orchestras, engineers, and recording professionals.

Event Info