James Englund
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James Englund – Founder and Head Producer of Crash Symphony Productions, (Music Producer & Audio Engineer)
James Englund is a Music Producer, Audio Engineer, Songwriter, and Performer from the beautiful North Shore of Sydney, Australia. He founded Crash Symphony Productions in 2005, a recording studio in Sydney specialising in high-definition voice recording and voice production.
James has worked alongside world renown artists such as:
- The John Butler Trio.
- Michael Bolton.
- Conducted The Late Show Gospel Choir, at Avatar Studios in New York City.
- Grammy award-winning bass player – Toni Levins.
- New Age composer and pianist – Fiona Joy Hawkins
- Co-Producing Pre-album demos with Erika Heynatz.
- Co-writing with Diana Corcoran for her US Album.
- Co-produced Fiona Joy Hawkins’ Grammy nominated album “Signature – Synchronicity” with William Ackerman at Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont, New England, USA.
Audio Engineers & Music Producers:
- Multi-grammy award-winning Audio Engineer – Michael Brauer
- Windham Hill founder and Music Producer – Will Ackerman
- Michael Brauer, (multi-award-winning New York-based Audio Engineer.)
- Produced an album alongside Audio Engineer, Michael Stavrou.
- Sound Engineered for Stewart & Sons Pianos.
Public Speakers
- Millionaire Mindset Club
- Pat Mesiti
- Amanda Gore
- Siimon Reynolds
- Mark Victor Hansen
- Willie Jollie
- Peter J Daniels
- Alan Pease
- Kirsty Spraggon
And many more!
Background
James Englund began his tertiary education in Aerospace engineering at the University of New South Wales. He is a graduate of a Science degree in Physics and a secondary major in Music.
James has combined his advanced technical knowledge to become a leading expert Audio Engineer who custom builds his own analogue equipment for the recording studio. He received his Audio Engineering Technical Diploma in 2008 from The School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in Sydney.
James Englund has an extensive musical background as a multi-instrumentalist. He plays Guitar, Bass, Piano, Saxophone, Drums and is a professional singer. He is also a composer and orchestrator who was signed as a songwriter to Shock Music Publishing in 2004.
James eventually established his own music publishing company in 2012, Crash Symphony Music Publishing. He created the first audio engineering education and music studio-tool app, Audio Engineer, in 2011. James has been performing regularly throughout Sydney and New South Wales since high school.
He is a licensed aerobatic pilot and his hobbies include photography and travelling.
How Crash Symphony Productions Became The Recording Studio in Sydney it is today!
Crash Symphony was originally a 4 piece rock band. Stewart Havill was their Audio Engineer. The band was formed in the early 2000’s by Steve Iuliano and James Englund when they met studying music at the University of New South Wales. The original band lineup was:
- James Englund – Guitar / vocals
- Steve Iuliano – Keyboard / saxophone.
- Matt Tennikoff – Electric Bass
- Josh Issac – Drummer
After Crash Symphony released their first album in 2004, they were signed by Shock Music Publishing in 2004. When the 4-piece broke up Crash Symphony continued on as a duo – James Englund and Steve Iuliano. They created Crash Symphony Productions to record their second album and it became the recording studio that it is today.
In 2008 the band went on tour in America. When they returned to Australia the duo decided to focus on the recording studio and Crash Symphony Productions continues operating today.
James Englund built the recording studio in Sydney and funded Crash Symphony Productions by selling his own CDs at music gigs. Through the sale of his own CDs he became known in Sydney’s singer-songwriter music scene and began recording demo tapes for other bands and solo artists in the recording studio in Sydney. This is how he became a Music Producer.
James’ Music Producer career excelled when a prominent Sydney based public speaker began using his recording studio for his voice recordings. James was then introduced to many more successful public speakers from around the world, which paved the way for his studio to focus on Voice Recording.
Through recording public speakers he perfected the art of editing and tracking voice recordings.
Today, James trains aspiring Music Producers in his recording studio Crash Symphony Productions.
Additional Accolades
- James has appeared in the highly acclaimed Australian TV show “Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities” in 2009, playing the lead singer of the band “Dragon”.
- In 2011, James founded Crash Symphony Music Publishing Pty Ltd where he has published some of his clients work as well as his own compositions. Crash Symphony Music Publishing Pty Ltd is involved in partnerships worldwide.
- In 2011, James released an iPhone app called “Audio Engineer” teaching users the art of Audio Engineering. It received great reviews on iTunes.
What do Music Producers do?
The Best Recording Studio in Sydney
I think James is one of the most creative, clever and generous people i have met. He is helpful, listens and allowed us to share some of his unique compilations with the video that we released. He is GREAT value!
Specialisation in Voice Recording
Crash Symphony Productions specialises in high-definition and high-end voice recording. All of the sound and audio engineering equipment is designed and chosen with this purpose in mind. Voice recording is central to so much of the audio content that is created in our world today. It’s very common for music producers to creating their work on their laptops at home or whilst travelling. However, it still remains incredibly difficult to get high quality voice recordings. There’s just no short cut available. Your voice is your voice.
Often when music producers attempt to voice recordings at home the major challenge is reducing the peripheral noises from intruding in on the recordings. This might be bird noises, cars and aeroplanes passing by, and much more. Furthermore, the expensive equipment required to get world class vocals is beyond the scope of most people. Providing a centrally located recording studio where professional and amateur music producers can get superlative voice recording is how Crash Symphony Productions has maintained relevancy in audio world today.
Since the inception of Crash Symphony Productions, the primary focus of our sound engineering has been on high quality HD voice recordings, making Crash Symphony Productions the best recording studio in Sydney for voice production. Please contact Crash Symphony for a free in-studio consultation today.
Expert Sound Engineers
Working with us means working with the best sound engineers in Sydney
The art of being an excellent sound engineer is not as prominent now that video has become the focus of our world. However, a top quality sound engineer can augment the quality of a production dramatically. When we record a vocal for music or a voice over for an ad we have the ability to enhance every aspect of that recording. The modern tools available to the twenty-first century sound engineer are truly remarkable. Staying on top of the rapid progress is very much a full time job. Let's take a quick look at what work is involved in producing an excellent vocal recording for a typical voice over job.
Our sound engineer will setup the session prior to the talent arriving. In the most extreme cases, often film ADR sessions, the project and microphones will need to be prepared first. Our clients, from film productions companies, are often located in another country like the USA, the UK, or somewhere in Europe. They will send the sound engineer the program material. This will be the video files with SMPTE timecode, the cue sheet, and all specifications required by our sound engineer to capture a similar sound to what was recorded on set.
Once these program elements are received our sound engineer in Sydney will go into Pro Tools and mark out all the cue points on the timeline of the film. Each entry point will have ADR beeps that will help the talent execute their lines in Synch with the film. In ADR the talent's job will be to lip synch in time with their delivery on set. By setting up the project prior to the talent arriving our sound engineer ensures that the session flows smoothly for the talent.
Often these "remote sessions" (where the directors and producers are overseas) are facilitated by software that helps us communicate with the overseas studios. Programs like Zoom and Source-Connect allow sound engineers in both locations to be actively involved in the session. The sound engineer overseas can literally press the recording button in one country and our software will obey the command here in Sydney. The directors and producers can watch the video content on their screen whilst listening to the audio being recorded by our sound engineers in Sydney. It's real-time. It's the modern way. It's remarkable!
In this example, an ADR recording session, the sound engineer would also need to setup two microphones. One would be a lapel mic, similar to what might have been used on set, and the other a shotgun microphone. These two microphones are setup by our sound engineer in Sydney in front of a screen. This is to allow the talent to clearly view the film as they are performing. An iPad is also positioned in close proximity to the microphones. This will have all the cue points and lines that the talent will be reading during the ADR recording session.
During the session the sound engineer will be facilitating the smooth capture of cue lines. They make sure that all the takes of each line are saved for future recall and re-listening, and can even cut recorded takes together to create a composite "best take".
Once the ADR session is complete the post-production work on the re-recorded lines begins. The amount of work that goes into the audio post-production is beyond the scope of this example. However, we can give a few examples of the kind of technology our sound engineer might decide to use on the recorded cue lines. There is software to reduce lip and mouth noises. Harsh sibilant frequency can be curtailed. The synch of the spoken lines can be further tightened by intelligent algorithms that look at the original "on set" spoken audio and literally stretch, cut, and compress lines recorded in our Sydney recording studio and make them even tighter. The list of tasks, options, and enhancements that our sound engineer can apply to a voice recording is enormous.
James Englund
Founder
Stewart Havill
Engineer/Producer
Borbala (Bobo)
Session singer and Admin
