Corry BanksThis year, EASTWEST (soundsonline.com) celebrates 25 years as the industry leader in soundware and virtual instrument development! The company has launched a new, redesigned website and a new logo this month to reflect their standing as the #1 producer and distributor of virtual (software) instruments in the world. With clientele that spans the who’s who of the music, film, television, games, multimedia and performing arts, EASTWEST provides professionals with the very best music creation tools available.
EASTWEST is the brainchild of producer Doug Rogers, who has won many awards, including “Recording Engineer of the Year”. He founded EASTWEST in 1988, and since then, the company has received more than 60 international industry awards. Thanks to Rogers’ uncompromising approach to quality and innovation, EASTWEST introduced a number of new technologies that have changed the way people make music: the world’s first commercial drum sample collection, Midi driven drum loops, which enabled users to adjust each loop tempo in their sequencer without adjusting pitch or decreasing the samples audio quality, “construction loops” which enabled users to mix and customize each loop to fit their music, and significant input into the creation of the GigaSampler software and sound libraries which pioneered the use of “streaming from hard drive technology”, a technical breakthrough without which the high quality virtual instruments of today would not be possible.
EASTWEST is the creator of Symphonic Orchestra, engineered by 11-time Grammy nominated classical recording engineer Keith Johnson, co-produced with Nick Phoenix who has worked with Rogers for 15 years, the first surround sound capable virtual orchestra available. This was followed by Symphonic Choirs, the first music software product to enable users to type in lyrics for the choirs to sing in any key with a computer. It remains the only product capable of this innovation today. In 2005 Rogers established a software development division for EASTWEST, and released the first 64-bit virtual instruments that have become the standard today.
A year later, EASTWEST purchased the former Western Studios in Hollywood, “the scene of more hit records – from the 1960’s to right now – than any other studio. No other studio has won more technical excellence awards, and no other studio has garnered as many Best Engineered Grammys as this complex of studios on Sunset Boulevard” (quote from “Temples of Sound”). The famed facility, where Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, and many other musical legends recorded as well as today’s top artists and bands, was renamed EASTWEST STUDIOS. It is here where EASTWEST’s sounds and software products are created. In 2012 there were more Grammy nominated records produced at EASTWEST than any other recording facility in history!
EASTWEST is pulling out all of the stops to celebrate the company’s 25th Anniversary in 2013. Only a handful of music software companies can claim a quarter-century of longevity and success, and EASTWEST has been an industry leader and innovator from the beginning.
Rogers has signed several industry heavyweights to develop a, no expense spared, “Masters Series” of Virtual Instruments. Producers in this high-profile group are MARK “SPIKE” STENT (Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Madonna, Muse, etc.); JOE CHICCARELLI (Raconteurs, Killers, White Stripes, etc.); STEVEN WILSON (lead guitarist and singer of the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree); drummers MATT CHAMBERLAIN (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, etc.); and STEVE SIDELNYK (Madonna, Seal, Massive Attack). Nick Phoenix has produced Stormdrum 3 (SD3) with Grateful Dead percussionist MICKEY HART, and Solo Cello with TINA GUO, to be released later this year.
“I am honored to work with such an amazing and talented group of people,” said Rogers. “Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, a British producer/engineer brings his experience of working with international superstars such as Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Madonna, U2, Beyoncé, Muse, Björk, Depeche Mode, Green Day, and many more, to the table. Accordingly, our new “Masters Series” of Virtual Instruments will reflect that kind of quality.”
Another milestone is the completion of the multiple Award-Winning Hollywood Orchestral Virtual Instruments series with Hollywood Orchestral Percussion, planned for late 2013, again engineered by ACADEMY AWARD, C.A.S. (Cinema Audio Society), BAFTA, and EMMY award-winning sound engineer SHAWN MURPHY, who has recorded and mixed the scores for more than 300 feature films including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Star Wars: Episode II and III, Star Wars: A Musical Journey, Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park The Lost World, and many more.