Sep 2 2017

Music NL Nominations! Very happy to receive 3 nominations for side musician of the year and industry professional of the year, and company of the year for the sound solution. Moreover, a scan of the entire list shows 22 nominations other than mine were projects that passed through The Sound Solution in the last year! 

Also, this week 2 great Cd releases: Rachel Cousins This Fire was recorded, mixed and mastered by me here (produced by Chris LeDrew) and Clare Follett's Neck Deep was mastered here too. Two young mega-talents to watch out for, both also up for MusicNL awards, as is Chris!

Busy summer and looks to be a very busy fall, a few mastering projects this weekend and further news updates on new recordings soon!

2017 Updates!

So busy this year. Sound Solution has been involved in a number of great records by mid year: Shanneyganock's Home in My Harbour, Matthew Byrne's Horizon Lines, Dave Penny's All Turned Around and Rachel Cousin's debut EP This Fire were fully recorded, mixed and mastered here. On the mastering side alone, projects from Clare Follet, Kubasonics, The Nova Scotiables, John Showman, Dan Boland, Fabian James and many others.

Gear wise, the trusty old Tascam dm3200 mixer finally said goodbye. (It lives on with someone else though). New UAD Apollo Silver interface and new PCbolsters the previous investment in the UAD cards for audio processing. Some new guitars and amps and other stuff too. All set for a few years now on this platform which has been rock solid.

Coming up- 3 new recording projects in the works, and at least 4 mastering jobs on the sched for aug/sept. One of these is quite exciting and in the next few weeks I'll drop some hints.

That's it for now!

Cheers

J

July1 Battle of the Somme Memorial Observance

I'm happy to announce I will be performing Trail of the Caribou and other WW1 themed material at the July1 ceremony in Beaumont Hamel, France. I will be joined by the awesome NL singer Allison Walsh currently living in France. I know many here are making the trip over there for the event. More updates to come soon. My song and video for Trail of the Caribou here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmIOq5G8XjA

Dec 19 Press Release Day

For immediate Release.

Dec 18, 2015


Jason Whelan announces the release of his long awaited second solo album - Connection. The album represents the many connections that have influenced Jason’s music identity and is available in stores and online now.

13 years have passed since Jason’s solo debut, Blur, was released. Like Blur, Connection echoes the incredibly diverse musical influences that have shaped Jason’s own musical identity, and offers a balanced program of traditional arrangements and original songs book-ended by two popular local cover songs. The recording represents connections - those between musical styles, people, and ideas; it embodies the multitude of connections that surround and link us.  Jason’s own connections within the local music community have resulted in an offering featuring some of Newfoundland and Labrador’s finest singers and musicians, each bringing their own distinctive style showcasing both traditional and contemporary influences.

Jason has been a stalwart of the Newfoundland and Labrador music community through 25 years as a performer, composer, technician and producer of recordings and live music projects. A talented composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Jason has drawn on this extensive musical and studio production knowledgeto create a unique recording. From the hard driving delivery of “Rocks of Ireland’s Eye” to the haunting imagery of “Once Around the Harbour”, the songs and instrumentals take the listener through a variety of styles and regions, while managing to retain a connection with their Newfoundland roots.

CONNECTION is available online and in stores now. For more information please visit jasonwhelan.com.
 

For interview requests and further info contact info@jasonwhelan.com
 

For a preview of the album and more info please visit http://www.jasonwhelan.com/connection
 

Connection is done!

So... last few mix tweaks are done- amazing what a word or single note will do once it starts to grate on ya... if I heard it I think I fixed it by now.. and with that said- off to have my CD mastered tomorrow! Should be back by Dec 14 or 15. I will get the Indiegogo supporters their copies asap (either local or post). I also had a few requests for a pre-purchase copy directly - 20 bucks to me via online interac or paypal and I'll make sure ya get one by xmas! Thx to everyone who helped me bring this project along- Billy Sutton, Chris Ledrew, Matthew Byrne and the awesome musicians who played on the record: (above) plus Aaron Collis, Jack Daw, Emilia Bartellas, Michael Walsh, Paul Kinsman, Denis Parker, Jamie Dart, Colleen Power, Ward Pike, Brian Feltham,Bob Hallet, Darrell Power, Fergus Brown O'Byrne and Paddy Mackey. Special thanks to Scott Hammond, Spencer Crewe, Justin Merdsoy and Billy S for lending an ear- literally. Now to get the smell of studio of me for xmas. Cheers!

Update Nov 23

Hi All. Well, I am done. The CD is done. I may have a sanity check listen tomorrow night, but I think I am finally finished.... (sinks in)....

Mastering date next week and then off to plant. Should have discs about a week before xmas and I will get them out asap! Thx so much to the people who played on the cd with me, and those who supported me with Indiegogo or directly buying a cd. Also thanks to Billy Sutton for his production assistance and to Spencer Crewe, Scott Hammond and Justin Merdsoy who all weighed in on mixes and acted as a sanity check.  Soon, I will have news on a CD release and any other associated shows! Cheers!!!!

J

Oct 8

So crowdfunding has ended and I got 2/3 of my funds so that is awesome. Probably behind a week or so on tracking, but only have 3 guests left to come in, the last week I have been editing and cleaning up for mixing, so hopefully mixing happens in a week or so. Still aiming for early-mid November release. Getting to that 75% done point I would say next day or so. Thanks for all the support, and if anyone still wants to pre-order a CD you can do it directly from me via cd@jasonwhelan.com. Cheers!

Sep 27 over the hump

Been a very busy 2 weekends, major progress. Have finished all the beds and main tracking, and had a number of guests in this week and weekend- Jack Daw on Upright Bass, Michael Walsh on whistles, Aaron Collis on Accordion, Fergus Brown O'Byrne on concertina and Paddy Mackey on Bodhran. A few more guests left this week and weekend. Give or take 2 days right on schedule. Wow. In other news- did not win the lotto, so still flogging the indiegogo campaign to pay musicians and pay duplication costs, thanks to those who have contributed, and feel free to jump in or share with anyone you think would like to pre-order a disc!

Cheers

J

Progress....

So... some good movement on the cd project. Musician and photo ninja Chris Ledrew came by earlier in the week and we got some great macro-lens closeup photos for the cd artwork, which is being done by musician and graphic ninja Matthew Byrne. (Lot of martial artists here).

I have finished 90% of my stuff (except vocals) and this week will start the parade of talent that will help me out on the recording- and I have some of the best to work with luckily: Paul Kinsman, Aaron Collis, Emilia Bartellas, Jack Daw, Fergus Brown O'Byrne, Billy Sutton, Paddy Mackey, Bob Sutherby, Michael Walsh,  Denis Parker and a few others are all going to be doing sessions with me in the next 3 weeks or so. Once done, I'll do vocals and some stuff like percussion and then we'll be done recording and then move on to mixing, which will take about 2 weeks or so. Gonna be a busy month or so, but good busy....not that other kind of busy.

Cheers!

Jdub

Alas for the ides of September are upon us.

Mid point of month. Mid point of my studio tan. I need to work on my back as I have been sitting in the same chair for about 80 hrs now, except to play drums, which has a stool. Drummers call it a throne, but that is also a toilet. So.... on that note, just an hr ago finished my bed tracks. That means hopefully I am done with the mundane task of playing the same 4 note pattern 100000 times. Now I can do more fun stuff like have awesome musicians play on the recording and I can be all producery and stuff. Also signed on the twitter platform, (since all versions of jw,jdub etc were taken, I am kookybouzouki) which will be a challenge as this post is already about 400% of a tweet limit.... Will try to keep this updated as the project continues, and thanks all for the support on indiego and all of your interest in general....

Cheers

Jdub

 

Moving right along...

This week saw the talents of Chris Ledrew behind the camera, rather than pedal steel, and we got some great photo stuff for the project. Matthew Byrne is working away at the artwork between his own gigs and I have lined up some serious talent to do guest spots on the recording. Looks like another 3 15 hr/day weekend in the studio for me.... Now to tape up the blisters from drumming and hitting things repeatedly......

Recording is well underway!

Ok, time for an update. Well into the recording phase now, have most of the bed tracks done (the foundation stuff) and moving on to other stuff for me before I bring some guests in. Hashtag-progress! I just wanted to type out hashtag.... Thanks to all who have helped out with the Indiegogo funding. which enables me to pay guest musicians and do things right, which in turn makes for a better end result.  Sort of like an infinite loop of artists-listener. Only you can pause it to watch funny cat videos... :-)