In late February of 2012 I moved into the Somerville Theatre for 3 days and recorded an album of original tunes with some of the most talented musicians I know. I brought in a mobile recording studio and a film crew to document the sessions (two per day) with five different ensembles (plus one solo guitar improv). Together we were 15 musicians, 2 audio engineers, 6 camera operators and 2 assistants. The end result is an incredible live recording of 7 compositions, 3.5 hours of improvisation and about a terabyte of footage. At the beginning of the year I sent this e-mail to the musicians: "In just a matter of days, we are all going on an adventure to the Somerville Theatre. This is a project and a reality that has incredible meaning to me. Thank you for being a part of it. I’ve asked each and everyone one of you to play on this session because I like you. I’m inspired by your musicianship, humanity, and contribution to the world. Plus, I really want to make music with you. The working title for this project is TimeStamp. The concept is simply to meet in a beautiful sounding theatre and make music together. The recording aspect essentially serves as a way to represent where we were on the third week of February in 2012. I don’t know what will happen with these recordings when we are done. Regardless if they turn into an album, or we use them for our own private listening, the emphasis is on recording the moments that we have together. I appreciate you all. Thank you for contributing yourselves to this adventure." For every session, we would setup our instruments/amps so that we could hear and be in balance with each other (we had no headphones or isolation). Ariel Bernstein close-mic’d all instruments, and placed area mics on the stage and in the center of the theatre. We introduced ourselves to the pieces and recorded the rehearsal process. After about 4 or 5 takes we would notice that we built a tune into something nice, and with a consensus of smiles, we’d move onto the next tune and/or the next ensemble. The days were full, and the music was inspired and treated with great care. I’m thrilled to say that we captured something very special with the audio. There is a great feel to all the performances and the sound of the theatre is right there in the recording. Everything is open, clear and exposed. Lainey SchoolTree mixed all the tracks & Hans DeKline mastered them. I’m completely in love with the sound of this project. TimeStamp Ensemble – February 20, 21st & 22nd @ Somerville Theatre Brendan Burns – Guitar Nick Grondin – Guitar Tony Leva – Bass Raky Sastri – Drums Valerie Thompson – Cello Molly Zenobia – Keyboard Lainey SchoolTree – Keyboard Derek VanWormer – Bass Jordan Ross – Drums Eliza Kopczyńska – Violin Michelle Rush – Viola David Aquilina – Trumpet Chris Veilleux – Alto Sax Kathy Olson – Bari Sax Grant Randall – Trombone Ariel Bernstein – Head Engineer Toby Chandler – Engineer Alexia Prichard – Film Director Gonzalo Plaza – Camera Operator Ronny Preciado – Camera Operator Sarah Patterson – Camera Operator Stephen Atkinson – Camera Operator Jordan Stallings – Camera Operator Jamie Little – Assistant Jason Boyle – Assistant