Damien Gerard Sydney Recording Studios, Digital Recording at our Sydney Studio

Hi Marshall
Just to let you know that, from my point of view, the session went very well - I could do one of those every day! Dave was just the right person for engineer, being a writer and musician himself. Took less time than I imagined. I hope I get the chance to do something else before too long.

Thanks

Kind regards
Marcus

Just wanted to say that the weekend recording went extremely well. the
studio was wonderful and our two engineers, Pete and Dave were well above
and beyond what we were expecting. their efficiency and intuitiveness and
all round good humour helped us achieve the perfect result. both were always
accomodating and fast to respond to ideas etc so thank you so much for
making the experience one of the most personally fulfilling experiences of
our careers. it was precisely as we would have designed it.

At the moment, we have the mixes of the songs and are listening to them for
a little while before we move onto mastering. I just wanted to find out what
the price is for mastering and whether we could request Pete and Dave to do
that for us?

Maxine Kauter Band

Hello,

Just wanted to thank you for the great job you did with the 'Acousticapella' songs for me. I can hear them clearly with all the light and shade etc they should have. I'm very grateful.

On behalf of CLOUD 9 thankyou so much for including the band on your forthcoming “Grow your Own Upload One” compilation, The band are delighted to be a part of this great concept you have successfully run for so long.

Just wanted to send an email through saying thanks heaps for the studio time! The recording came out great! Russ did an excellent job! It would be great if you could pass that along to him as well! We ended up just putting down 4 tracks, we ended with about 10 minutes to spare so everything worked out well! The mix is great!

Thanks again Marshall, it's a nice little studio and a tops engineer you have there!
Cheers,
Graeme

I would just like to say Thank You for the amazing experience I have had while being involved with the Home Grown Roots album after recording my inclusion at Damien Gerard's. It has given me many oppertunities to grow and evolve as a performer and musician, live my dream and meet other muso's within the blues and roots genre. Peats Ridge went really well despite the traffic and the thunderstorm. I felt good about the gig and sound wise thought it was the best gig we've done so far- Thanks Marshall. I would love to get a copy of the gig if it was recorded! I'm keen to be involved with HGR 2007. Please let me know when submissions close. Thanks again for your encouragement and support for emerging artists. Have a great 2007!

Just wanted to follow up on our recording on the weekend with Russell and
just say thanks to both of you.

We had a pretty productive time and managed to get a pretty solid lo-fi demo
of 5 songs together in the day and a bit - and it didn't cost too much which
helped!

The session was really good, Russell had the whole thing going when I got there. I pretty much let Russell have some fun with it and I think we got a good radio mix. I'll definitely use him again as I found him easy to communicate with.

Thanks for your help with everything man, you boosted the cd to another level and inspired us! You're a champ. I really liked your drum sound.

Lachlan from Looking Glass here. Just letting you know that we are extremely happy with the results from the week we spent at the studio. We are happy with the mixes Russell made at this point and are in fact already talking about coming up and doing it again. Please pass on our gratitude to Russell - we had a blast.

Just a note to thank you guys for involving us in Grow your Own Vol 10 !! We definately learnt a lot from it... and had a great time too. Have a great Christmas and new years!! See you sometime in the future..

Mike from Driving South here.
BTW we have our EP back from mastering and we're really happy with the result. You did a fantastic job of recording us (as well as being a pleasure to work with), and I'm sure we'll be back in the not too distant future!

Russell,
Thank you for your expertise, tolerance, and forbearance on the Birdman sessions. I was greatly impressed with your work.
Kind Regards,
Nuruddin (Chris) Masuak

Hey Russell, Thanks so much for such a great recording yesterday. I was amazed how much we were able to get done in such a short amount of time. I've never before recorded with a studio engineer who really knows their shit (or a band that knows what they're doing for that matter). The relaxed vibe made the whole thing pretty much completely stress free and easy. So thanks man - in a very real way your expertise will help us take things up a notch."
Chris-The Nancies Sydney

The mixes are sounding awesome, Russ is a legend!! Thank you to you and him for everything!!
Harry Twin Valve Sydney Aust

The Floors feature on Grow Your Own Volume 9. Throughout, we have managed to meet and develop business with some fantastic people who are working tirelessly to make independant labels, independant bands and songwriters work together and keep supporting new emerging talent in every area of the industry.
For example, from this project we have managed to get Triple J on board, who gave The Floors a start on November 1st, we have had other labels including Foghorn, interested in collaborating on more recordings, paid gigs associated with the release of the product, as well as us picking up representation with Australia's most profile agency. The Floors have also been asked to tour NSW again in January. The folks down at Foghorn Records are great to deal with and are highly respected in the industry.
Rachel Mann Managing Director Rage 8 Perth WA

Hi Marshall,
How are you? I have found the correct spelling for SCHWEINHUND so if it is still possible could we change the name from Dirty Dog to SCHWEINHUND? The kids are gonna love it!
By the way, we had a great time recording and we thanked Russell but if you could pass on additional thanks it would be much appreciated
The Ross Orbit Stack

Hey Marshall,
Just wanted to say thank to you guys. It was without a doubt the most enjoyable recording session any of us have ever had. We are going to go away and do the guitar/ vocal and key tracks and if we save enough money from gigging between now and when we are ready to mix will certainly be back to work with Russell. He brought heaps of ideas, encouragement and advice to everything that went down.
Harry Twin

Hi Marshall Just to let you know that a product of your studio and Russell's fine work is going to air nationally tonight The Urban Guerillas video of "Here Comes the Americans" put together with footage from the No War in Iraq rally at the Domain and other peace and anti Bush protests, courtesy of Actively Radical TV, will be aired on Rage at 4am tomorrow morning. There are also some animations that have the harbour bridge get another arch and turn yellow and a KFC cup replace the centrepoint tower. I won't ruin the entertainment value by telling any more.

Hello Marshall,
Just writing a quick e-mail to say thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to record in your fabulous studio with you awesome engineers. I was also hoping to encourage you to consider the second version of "Ugly" (there are three on the CD) for mastering, as the first is a bit flat (although Christian and I initially thought it was the best, upon second and third listens at home proved to be lacking) and the third is much too pop- the kick and groove of the drums completely lost under the gutiars and voice. The second version, with guitars up, is perfect because it grooves along wonderfully- especially if the guituars get panned to seperate speakers- and is, in turn sexy and tough compared to the others.

hi marshall,
this is a damn fine collection of home talent!
well done.
Gary Seeger
Creative Manager Festival Mushroom Records
Festival Mushroom Records

G'day Marshall,
Just giving GYO8 a listen. It's absolutely fabulous and really exciting to be in there with such company!
Thanks a heap!
Al

Just to let you know we are really happy with how the recording went! We have a good feeling about this compilation.
Glister

From the engineers to the outboard gear, you've got all the tools to create the classic record and you feel like you never left home".
Jordan.

Marshall,
Thanks for the update. Just a quick note to let you know how much we enjoyed recording "Don't Push Me Down". Russell's great fun to work with and the sound he got was amazing. Looking foward to hearing it at the launch

...on friday we remixed "Fall of Babylon" for the upcoming Grow your Own 8 with awesome engineer Russ Pilling, it sounds mad and we can't wait to release it.
The Lyrical Madmen

Dear Marshall
please pass on our extreme thanx to sir russell pilling (well if he hasn't been knighted yet he damn well should be!) for making our session at damien's yesterday such an enjoyable time.
it seems unfair to the rest of us that such a nice guy should be so hugely talented as well, but there you go.
we and everyone here at citizenworld are knocked out by the results. we will definitely be back.
so thanx marshall, thanx damiens and especially thanx russell - we really do appreciate your care, attention to detail, gentle prodding us towards a slightly better or more in-tune take and general creative vibe.
have a great xmas.
-- be a good citizen
john, hans & tommy
john citizen

Your help has been invaluable, we truly appreciate it.
we are having the cd launch at the metro on the 15th - if you're not busy you should come along.
take care,
Ben Davey
Communications Coordinator
Clean Up Australia
ben@cleanup.com.au
Ph: +61 2 9692 1206

Hi There,
Just wanted to thank Foghorn and DGSS for all your help with the EP. I still haven't seen it but the boys inform me that it's all good. Our launch date is set for 15th Feb at The Metro Roma Room. There will be some more info/invites coming your way.
thanks again
Jim

Grow your own vol 7 has given Satellite Reign great media exposure [Drum live review, drum cd review, Pepsi Live review] and helped us to get shows [Bar Broadway, Hopetoun, Green Square].
I'm sure it helped us to get a bit more airplay on Nova 969 too through Original Sydney, so if your a band out there then you should definately get into Grow your own. Plus you get great studio discounts.
Ryan (Satellite Reign)

Being a part of GYOv.6 was a great opportunity and learning experience for all of us. Not only was it terrific publicity for the band and a chance to play to a whole new audience, it provided us with the experience of recording/mixing/mastering a track in quality facilities, seeing it through to pressing, and finally CD release through an independent label.
I would recommend the Grow Your Own experience to any band or artist looking to start their music career on the right foot. This is a great opportunity to showcase your music, as well as gain valuable contacts and experience"
Dave Campbell
dropmotive

Grow Your Own 2 gave us the chance to meet other acts of a similar standard and level to us. It also opened up a lot of venues where previously we had been restricted because we were not 'big enough' at the time. It was our first experience of being part of an 'event'.
When the opportunity to be on Grow Your Own 6 came up we had been songwriting and producing our new record for nearly 12 months so our street and industry profile had dipped. Grow Your Own 6 offered us the perfect opportunity to start building up our good name again and got some momentum going for the launch of our new EP.
Couldn't have said it better myself...
A (Fendahlene)

Grow your own #6 gave to littlelunch an opportunity every band craves, some organised recognition and a huge learning experience in the studio working with both Russel Pilling & Marshall Cullen. Grow your own #6 resulted in a well recorded song mastered at Festival that not only was used for the compilation but a valuable tool for the bands growth, by using it to advertise externally for other gig opportunities.
The entire team at Foghorn and Damien Gerard's namely Di who continually communicated with us and had well organised gigs at some of Sydney's best venues (Bar Broardway, Excelsior and the Hopetoun) for weeks to promote the compilation & every band involved. Constant press released and write ups in Drum Media put each in some sort of lime light each week.
Marshall's position within Australian music also got our song sent to most major radio stations, producers and other record labels, all of which we wouldn't have been able to attain ourselves.
Littlelunch have now gone on with some recording & promotion of a new single with Marshall. From littlelunch we thank the tireless efforts of Russel in the studio, Di on the phones & qwerty keyboard and Marshall for giving us the opportunity.
Littlelunch

Dear Marshall,
Sorry I haven¹t written sooner but I've been up to my ass in recording and mixing...We got the files and they were just perfect and exactly what we were looking for. I can't thank you enough. Let me know if I can do anything for you over here as I have a studio here as well.
Best, Val Garay (Producer, Engineer)
THE BARN STUDIO
772 North Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Topanga, CA 90290-3840

DAMIEN GERARD RECORDING STUDIOS - TESTIMONIALS