Photograph by Kevin Belton

Blackbeard the Voyager, a truly hip poet, has been throwing it down for NC Hip Hop for a hot minute.  He’s got a presence and a style that’s difficult to duplicate.  His performance is always full of energy and always something special.

Photograph by Kevin Belton

For his DMP performance, Mr. Rozzi brought along an entourage.  They weren’t just there to pump up the crowd.  One person or another shared the stage with Rozzi for at least half of his set.

Photography by Kevin Belton

Vanessa Ferguson belted out background vocals before and after taking center stage to treat the audience to an a capella interlude.

Photo by Ioannis Batsios

Jeremy Johnson also offered up backing vocals as well as belting out one of his R&B jams during the set.

I know what you’re wondering.  With all these performers, who was the DJ for this whole  affair?  We had none other than L in Japanese holding it down all night long.

Photo by Ioannis Batsios

You like Hip Hop, right?  Well then, in the words of Jeremy Johnson, “Get the album.  Get the album.  Get the album!”  To pick up – or rather download – the album, you can check out Amiestreet and Last.fm.  For the newbies, here’s our promo entrance page to sign up for an account with Amiestreet and receive free money to support our local artists.

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Don Ravon
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Kevin Belton

After two wild months of hard-rocking and hell-raising tunes, the dotmatrix project got a little mellow for the month of February.  The audience buzzed with a cool anticipation as Bruce Piephoff and a small orchestra of musicians took the stage to kick off the eleventh DMP show.

Photo by Mark Smith

Bruce has been around a while and he’s got plenty of music to show for it.  He dipped into his collection and pulled out several great tunes for us here at DMP.  His set included a song referencing his time in Texas (Rosalita), one about a local basball hero (Big Foot In The Door), and a tune about a one-time Tate St. staple known as the Nightshade Cafe (Old Crow).  Check them out, along with the rest of Bruce’s live album, on Amiestreet or Last.FM.  For the newbies, here’s our promo entrance page to sign up for an account with Amiestreet and receive free money to support our local artists.

One more thing…

This is the first DMP album to be mastered thanks to the gentlemen at Studio 4.  Bruce likes it.  We like it.  I’m pretty sure you will, too.

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Dan Bayer, Cesar Oviedo
Mastering Engineers: Cesar Oviedo
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Elizabeth Lemon

Looks like Cesar is happy too.

Here’s the press release:

Greensboro, N.C. – Local music media group, the dotmatrix project, is teaming up with Studio 4. This relationship will combine the recording and mixing expertise of DMP engineers, Dan Bayer & Don Ravon, with the mixing and mastering expertise of Studio 4, all at an exclusive discount to the featured musicians.

The DMP is a collective of musicians, photographers, videographers and sound engineers who put on and document live shows. Each month they rotate in original acts from Greensboro and surrounding counties in North Carolina. To date, the media team numbers more than 40 all-volunteer participants.

“The partnership falls into our plan of establishing relationships with local businesses that share our vision of building community around local, original musicians,” says Sean Coon, the executive producer for the dotmatrix project. “Until this partnership, the best live album we could produce was a high-quality, multi-track mix. The staff at Studio 4 brings 20 years of mastering expertise to the table with chief engineer Cesar Oviedo and, along with our engineers, a deeper, more fine-tuned final mix. We want our participating artists to be able to use their live album to book gigs or sell at shows, so the pressure is always on us to replicate the sound and vibe of a live show the best we can.”

Owner of Studio 4 Prez is excited about this effort, as it will increase the amount of local musician recording at his studio. “Our studio looks to be a thriving source of recording, mixing, and mastering for local and non local musicians alike,” Prez says. Studio 4 is a professional music recording and film production studio based out of Greensboro.

For inquires about the dotmatrix project, contact Sean Coon: sean@dotmatrixproject.com
For Studio 4 inquiries, contact Prez: prez.psyoptic@gmail.com

There are two specific elements of this partnership that I want to explicitly highlight for past and future bands:

1. Quality
   We were proud of our recordings prior to this arrangement, but quite honestly, the potential quality of our live albums has now been drastically improved. Don’t just take my word for it, listen to the difference yourself in these two versions of Bruce Piephoff’s track, Notes From Knoxville (live @ DMP):
    

   The original DMP mix:
   [Click through to the post to listen to audio]

   Mix collaboration with Studio 4 w/ album mastering:
   [Click through to the post to listen to audio]

   The differences in vocal levels, the new found twang in the guitar, the violin’s sweeping song, the umph of the upright bass — it really is an amazing improvement.

2. Cost
   Prez is a big supporter of local independent artists, so he was willing to provide these services at a ridiculously low, bargain basement price that allows each and every DMP musician to participate, from the veteran players to the garage rockers. As long as the artists are serious about the project and invest studio time to get the mix/master done right the first time through, the cost stays nominal. Guaranteed.

   It really is a sweet deal.

If you have a partnership idea that could serve you/your company well while positively adding to our project, definitely hit me up.

Photo by Elizabeth Lemon

For the tenth installment of the dotmatrix project, we were fortunate enough to capture a sampling of the Hell-raising hits they make together. That was back at the end of January. Even though it was a bit cold outside, it was nice and hot next to the DMP stage that night!

Photo by Alex Maness

In case you don’t believe me (or somehow don’t remember), you can check out the pictures from that evening on the DMP photostream. Or you can check out the video on vimeo . Oh yeah, and you can listen to the live album on Amie Street.  To make the whole process a whole lot easier for you on Amie Street, here’s our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets.  (It should be on Last.fm before long. You can check back here for the link when that happens.)

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Don Ravon
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Elizabeth Lemon

Photo by Stephen Charles

With a little help from their friends, they put on a fantastic performance! You can listen to (and buy) a copy of that performance at Amie Street, or Last.FM.*

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Don Ravon
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Kevin Belton

After their fellow rockers finished warming it up, and Doug Pike got a chance to rest his limbs, Queen Anne’s Revenge claimed the stage to finish off a great evening of Punk for the dotmatrix project!

Photo by Kevin Belton

Photo by Stephen Charles

You can get a copy of their live album on Amie Street or Last.FM, too.*

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Dan Bayer
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Eric Velarde

*To make the whole process a whole lot easier for you on Amie Street, here’s our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets . My advice…USE IT!

The wait is over, folks. DMP is proud to release the highly anticipated album The Bronzed Chorus Live at the dotmatrix project.

We thank Elizabeth Lemon for capturing the moment you see on the album cover. You can find more great pics from that evening on Flickr.

The Amie Street album is currently available for only $0.90 (now that’s a steal)! Hurry and grab this little treasure. That price can’t possibly last for too long. If you’re new to the whole process, be sure to use our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets.

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Dan Bayer
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Elizabeth Lemon

Local music doesn’t get much better than what Laurelyn Dossett has to offer. Tales of love, tragedy, triumph — Laurelyn’s storytelling and angelic voice grabs a hold of your soul and refuses to let go. DMP is proud to release Laurelyn Dossett Live at the dotmatrix project.

The beautiful cover shot was captured by the immensely talented John Leonard.

The Amie Street album is currently available for $1.98, but will undoubtedly be jumping in price soon, as it’s already gotten a few Recs. If you’re new to that process, be sure to use our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets.

You can listen to the entire show, chock full of bonus prelude cuts over at Last.fm for free.

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: John Leonard

You lay down the track separately and mix it down.

Great job, Dan & Mark. Thought y’all might enjoy the behind the scenes goodness.

You can get the live album on Amie Street:

Are you ready to rock? I can’t hear you. I said are you ready to ROCK!? Good. We’re ready to deliver. DMP is proud to release The Tiny Meteors Live at the dotmatrix project.

Kemp Stroble’s screaming mug was captured by the talented John Leonard.

The Amie Street album is available for $1.12, but could be jumping in price soon. If you’re new to that process, be sure to use our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets.

And if you’d like to check out the album for free, head on over to Last.fm.

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: John Leonard

The wait is over, folks. DMP is proud to release Janik Live at the dotmatrix project.

You like that album cover? That beautiful face was captured by the talented Elizabeth Lemon.

The Amie Street album is available for $1.04, but will be soon jumping in price. It’s already gotten one Rec. If you’re new to that process, be sure to use our promo entrance page to sign up for an account and receive free money to support our local artists by putting coin directly in their pockets.

ALBUM CREDITS
Recording Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Mixing Engineers: Don Ravon, Dan Bayer
Cover Design: Sean Coon
Cover Photograph: Elizabeth Lemon