Clark Media Productions

Recent Productions

We recently had the chance to travel up to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for some acoustic testing fun. Turns out Dr. Gary Davis, Mission Systems Engineer for the PACE program is a trombone player! The hospitality and enthusiasm of the NASA team for both their work, and our mini-concert was inspiring!

Video Producer duties for the Marine Band’s 225th Anniversary concert in April at Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, MD. I got to work with Marine Band video engineer Danny Fookson, and shared the producer duties with Rob Singer. Great fun!

Our friends at the Loudoun Symphony have problems… GOOD problems! They absolutely pack the house for every show! There was literally not a seat left at any show this season - impressive. We were honored to provide multi camera video and audio recording for them again this season!

We always enjoy working with our friends at Thomas Circle Singers! We live streamed their entire season this year - photos are from the Christmas show they did. Some of our favorite brass players were also performing on this concert - Barclay Brass!

August found us in Carlisle, PA, at Rubendall Recital Hall on the campus of Dickinson College. Jack Sutte (one of our regular producers and fantastic trumpeter himself) was busy recording yet another volume of sonatas for trumpet and piano. Our producer was Robert Pound (Composition and Music Dept. Chair, Dickinson College), and the pianist Craig Ketterman was Jack’s partner in crime for a whole slew of works by American composers, including Anthony Plog, Fisher Tull, and David Loeb. Will Samson assisted, once again.

We had a blast in June recording a trumpet and piano album project for Dr. Nicole Gillotti. She and her fantastic pianist, Tatiana Gorbunova, traveled up to the Washington, DC area for three days of recording sessions. We were lucky enough to use a lovely acoustical space at Spencerville Seventh Day Adventist Church in Maryland. Jack Sutte came out from Cleveland to serve as producer, and Will Samson lent his ears as both our assistant engineer and assistant producer.

We had a wonderful time recording and live streaming for our friends, Thomas Circle Singers, over the holidays.

Our first post-COVID album project! May took us to the University of North Texas, to record the outstanding women of the Lantana Trio in a new album featuring works by female and/or BIPOC composers - wonderful new music and exciting playing! The Lantana Trio is Dr. Raquel Samayoa (trumpet), Dr. Stacie Mickens (horn), and Dr. Natalie Mannix (trombone). Producer duties were handled by Bruce McDonald. Compositions by Shanyse Strickland, Ivette Herryman Rodríguez, and Jeffrey Scott.

I recently had the pleasure to produce a new album of trumpet and piano sonatas for my longtime friend and collaborator, Jack Sutte, and his amazing pianist, Christine Fuoco. They have been a very busy pair over the past few years, working on a huge project of trumpet sonata recordings. Audio engineering was handled by Bruce Gigax, longtime recording engineer for the Cleveland Orchestra.

We got to record a fun package of videos for Dr. Christopher Wilson, principal trumpet of the Pittsburgh Opera!

Chorus, Soprano, and chamber ensemble in Washington, DC

Concert multicamera video of a beautiful piece by James Whitbourne called “Annelies”. The libretto is taken from The Diary of Anne Frank. Audio and video recorded and produced by Clark Media Productions.

Wonderful new/old album from my colleague and good friend, Jonathan Bisesi. We had a great session recording HOP, by Paul Lansky, and then re-mastered many of Jon's older recordings for this release. Find it on Jon's website and at Bandcamp HERE…

The musicians in Factory Seconds are a special group. I have enjoyed working with them multiple times over the past few years, and I have known trumpeter Jack Sutte since high school! The three gentlemen are all second players on their respective instruments in The Cleveland Orchestra, and they are a musically inspiring and motivating ensemble to hear. The above track was record live in a recital in Brooklyn, New York in fall of 2018. This particular arrangement was created by Mr. Sutte especially for the ensemble. For more information about Factory Seconds, please visit their website.

Concert Band Multicam Video in Virginia

I had the GRAND pleasure of providing multi camera video for the Virginia Grand Military Band in September. The concert took place at Rachel Schlessinger Hall in Alexandria, VA. The rest of the concert was great too! (But the BIG FLAG at the end took the cake!)

New Brass Quintet album session with Stiletto Brass

July, 2019 - No audio yet, but I just finished a fantastic 3 days recording with Stiletto Brass! Wonderful album of music with a premiere recording of a commissioned work, as well as a little known French quintet from the Paris Conservatoire realm. What a fun and exciting group! Stiletto Brass is: Amy Gilreath and Susan Rider (trumpets), Rachel Hockenberry (horn), Natalie Mannix (trombone), and Velvet Brown (tuba).

Euphonium and Piano solo recital

Hiram Diaz, my euphonium colleague in the Marine Band, gave a master class and recital at Westchester University this spring, and brought me along to record audio and video. He performed in a lovely space that, besides the warm ambience, also had a nice acoustic for his beautiful playing.

Bass Trombone Soloist with Trombone Ensemble

I recently had the chance to perform an old favorite piece of chamber music for trombone quartet. To Be or Not to be has always felt like an effective way to show off the musicality of a trombone ensemble, as well as feature our bass trombone (or tuba) brothers and sisters who don’t always get a lot of chances to be in the spotlight. The soloist here is Daniel Brady, bass trombonist of “The President’s Own”, U.S. Marine Band. Myself, and our colleagues Christopher Reaves and Tim Dugan round out the group. We had a great time preparing this piece for a concert this year and wanted a chance to make a little more in depth recording of the work. We tried some different things, musically, with the piece and I’d love to know what you think! Best listened to on good headphones in a quiet location! Special thanks to Marine Band tubist, Will Samson, for his help engineering and producing the recording.

Chamber Ensemble Recording for composer Anne McGinty

Anne McGinty composed a very challenging and beautiful piece called Tuba and 12, and I had the chance to record it for Anne this winter.  The piece is a very interesting instrumentation - 6 winds, 6 brass, and solo tuba.  The variety of colors in this three movement work conjured by Anne McGinty is fantastic.  John Cradler performed the extremely demanding solo tuba part beautifully, and my fellow engineer Michael Ducassoux did the mastering work.   Find out more about Michael's work at Red Room Productions.  To hear more from this session, and see the complete list of personnel, head on over HERE.

Posaune Decuple, live concert - Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania

Recorded at the beautiful Glencairn Museum in Glen Athyn, Pennsylvania, this ensemble was founded by former Philadelphia Orchestra principal trombonist, the late Glenn Dodson. This 2018 performance featured trombonists of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Saõ Paulo State Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indiana University, the Colburn School, and “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band.

American Conical Ensemble records James Curnow

Recorded for composer James Curnow, this piece was arranged for a fantastic new brass group, called the American Conical Ensemble. American Conical Ensemble is a “super group” of musicians from the U.S. Marine Band, major symphony orchestras, and one of the most wicked alto horn players around, Nathan Miller.

This recording features Amy McCabe and Anthony Bellino on trumpet (both members of the U.S. Marine Band), as well as Matthew Harding, Nathan Miller, Hiram Diaz, and Chris Tiedeman.

I recently had the good fortune to record my good friend and 2nd trumpet of the Cleveland Orchestra, Jack Sutte, in his performance of two complete etude books newly composed by Nathan Ost.  Nathan has added two excellent collections of etudes to the trumpet repertoire, and it was a great pleasure to record Jack's fantastic playing.  Here are a few examples from the sessions... Enjoy!  Find Nathan's etude books and website HERE.  Also, check out Jack's fantastic brass trio with his Cleveland colleagues, Factory Seconds!