UA Universe
by Joseph Lemmer, Marsha Vdovin, & Terry Hardin
Featured Employee: Tracy Geier, Accounts Payable
Tracy Geier in her expertly decorated cube.
Eat your heart out Office Space |
The other bonus is Precious, Dave Crane's bulldog that works in the marketing department! She may snarfle all over all of my stuff, but I still love her!
How did you end up in Santa Cruz?
I moved out here to be with my boyfriend, who's from the Bay Area. I know, it's terribly sweet
What do you like most about your job?
The people! It's such a neat work environment to be surrounded by so many smart and talented people. Everyone here is really mellow and fun. It's cool to wake up and be happy that you're going to work...Hmm, except Wednesdays. I hate Wednesday's. Plus, everybody here seems to have some weird or interesting talent. You never know what they're going to say or do, and it keeps you on your toes. The other bonus is Precious, Dave Crane's bulldog that works in the marketing department! She may snarfle all over all of my stuff, but I still love her!
What do you like the least?
Right now, I would have to say my stapler. It keeps jamming.
What are your hobbies?
I think anyone here would say, "What isn't my hobby?" I love reading, art, writing, volunteering, music and playing with anything fuzzy. I'm pretty big into sports too. I'm one of the pitchers for the rockin' and solidly defeated UA softball team, and I play a pretty intense indoor soccer game.
Do you have a favorite Santa Cruz moment?
I'm going to go with the midnight showing of the Lost Boys with a Q&A with Corey Feldman. I'm a total child of the '80s, even though I was a child in the '80s, so to get to see him in person and hear him talking about the filming of it here in Santa Cruz was pretty cool. Plus, The Lost Boys was one of my favorite movies growing up. I was certain that I was going to marry Kiefer Sutherland someday, and I used to watch it over and over again. I could probably recite most of it from memory. So, yeah, definitely one of my favorite Santa Cruz moments!
Tracy demonstrates a rare form of
Toe-Sock-Flip-Flop Kung Fu |
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NAMM
Universal Audio is looking forward to seeing everyone at the 2006 NAMM show in Anaheim California, January 19-22.
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Producer/Artist Gossip. . .
119th AES Convention
During the first week of October, UA's Sales and Marketing Department flew to New York to work our booth at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention. Four days of exhibiting, plus break down and setup, can be exhausting but the gang found some extra energy for nighttime events.
Media maven Marsha Vdovin and Senior Product Manager, Greg Westfall, are perky and fresh on setup day.
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The Universal Audio booth at AES
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Panasonic Car Audio hosted a private party at the historic nightclub CBGBs to celebrate the release of the Talking Heads catalog in 5.1 surround. Talking Heads' Jerry Harrison and longtime engineer E.T. Thorngren dredged up the master tapes and remixed eight albums in 5.1 for release on DVD-A this month by Rhino Records.
Talking Heads Jerry Harrison (left) and UAs Will Shanks celebrate at CBGBs.
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Universal Audio held a cocktail party for press and dealer/distributors at Stratosphere Sound, a beautiful new studio in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. Stratosphere recently hosted recording and mixing sessions for a new Depeche Mode album.
Universal Audios Directress of Sales, Erica McDaniel with engineer/mixer Nathaniel Kunkel
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Universal Audio was a gold sponsor of the TEC Awards, and the LA-610 was nominated but lost in the preamp category. Nevertheless, the UA crew managed to enjoy their rubber chicken dinner as well as the ceremony. A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to producer Arif Mardin by longtime Atlantic Records Chief Ahmet Ertegun.
David Byrne was awarded the Les Paul Award, but could not attend the event, so Laurie Anderson accepted the award from Les Paul on his behalf.
Legendary Producer Elliot Mazer and his wife, engineer Diana Haig, enjoyed the TEC awards.
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The legendary Les Paul visited the Universal Audio booth and took a look at the new products with UAs Dave Crane.
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For more information, please read our UAD-1 Macintosh G5 Compatibility page.
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News & Shmooze. . .
AES Prize Drawing
One of the many and, possibly, more fun activities going on at the Universal Audio booth at the recent AES convention in New York City was the daily drawing for a UAD-1 Project PAK, Studio PAK and an Ultra PAK. Starting at about 1:30 p.m. every day, the already large crowds at the UA booth would begin to increase in size and energy, leading up to the 2:00 p.m. drawing.
The winners are listed below, along with some photos of the lucky few. As you can tell by the smiles, we made some people very happy while we were in NYC.
Friday October 7
Jeremy Parise - Project PAK
Brian Mooney - Studio PAK
John Hurlbut - Ultra PAK
Saturday October 8
Susan Halford - Project PAK
Brian Evans - Studio PAK
John R. Haley III - Ultra PAK
Sunday October 9
Mike Gold - Project PAK
Tony Ruiz - Studio PAK
Chelsea VandeDrink - Ultra PAK
Monday October 10
Daniel Villalba - Project PAK
Jonathan Fournier - Studio PAK
Elias Sandoval - Ultra PAK
Brian Mooney, Studio PAK winner
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Susan Halford, Project PAK winner, and UAs Channel Marketing Manager, Terry Hardin
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Sunday's winners (L-R): Mike Gold, Chelsea VandeDrink and Tony Ruiz
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John Haley III, Mondays Ultra PAK winner
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John Nowland Picks up a Dozen 2192s for Pegi Young Project
Recording engineer John Nowland (kneeling) with UA President Matt Ward (left) and CEO/Co-Founder Bill Putnam Jr.
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Recording engineer John Nowland, a regular fixture at Neil Young's Broken Arrow Ranch in Woodside, California, stopped by to pick up a 12-pack of Universal Audio 2192 converters for Pegi Young's (Neil's wife) recording project. John first heard the 2192 when producer Elliot Mazer brought his personal units to the ranch for a project. John apparently liked them enough to drive down to UA's Santa Cruz offices and see if he could get 12 of them in the back of his Volvo wagon. While he was here, he picked up a UAD-1 Ultra Pak to spice up his Digital Performer-based Mac system and told us he can't wait to start using the Fairchild, Plate 140 and Pultec Pro plug-ins.
A 12-pack of Universal Audio 2192s at Neil Young's Broken Arrow Ranch
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In addition to the Pegi Young project, John has been immersed in a massive archival project of the Neil Young catalog. There is an enormous library of Young's studio and live performances, and just sorting it all out is an impressive undertaking. Nowland told us that, while getting the catalog into his DAW so he can quickly audition a particular version of particular song has been invaluable, he's really looking forward to being able to improve these rough mixes with his new UAD-1 Ultra Pak.
Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker, the greatest jazz sax player of his generation has MDS disease and needs to find a donor. His immediate family members are not suitable donors. It may be you that could help save his life. Please read this letter from his wife, which explains what you can do to help. |
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Michael Brecker
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Hurricane Katrina
Here are some important donation resources for musicians, post Hurricane Katrina:
New Orleans Musicians Clinic (NOMC) Make donations to: SWALHEC/NOMC Relief Fund Bank: Iberia Bank Routing No.: 265270413 Account No.: 1707009057 |
Healthcare for Musicians Southwest Louisiana Area Health Education Center Foundation, Inc. 103 Independence Blvd. Lafayette, LA 70506 337-988-1583 |
Jazz Foundation of America Send donations to: 322 West 48th Street 6th floor NYC 10036 Or donate online. |
MusiCares Make donations to: MusiCares Foundation 3402 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica, Ca 90405 310/392-3777 Or donate online. |
International Association of Jazz Educators Donate online. |
New Orleans Public Radio station WWOZ's Website contains list of musicians that have been located and aids musicians with housing. |
NOAH Leans is a new organization set up to aid with employment and relocation of displaced musicians in the New Orleans and Houston areas. |
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