Congratulations 2010 ASCAP Winners

The Thomas Crown Chronicles would like to extend a big congratulations to the winners of this year's American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishes (ASCAP) Rhythm and Soul Music Awards. They include:

“KNOCK YOU DOWN” by Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo
Writers: Marcella Araica, Keri Hilson, Ne-Yo
Publishers: Keriokey Music, Pen In The Ground Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Yaslina Music Publishing Inc.

“LAST CHANCE” by Ginuwine
Writer: Wayne “Siete” Wells
Publishers: Aztec Tracs, Ultra Tunes

“TURNIN’ ME ON” by Keri Hilson
Writer: Keri Hilson
Publishers: Keriokey Music, Universal Music Publishing Group

Congrats all!

Brandy in the studio with Danja

Finally after hearing the news and anxiously waiting, here we have Brandy in the studio with Danja:



Thoughts?

Tyrese and Danja

The latest episode of Brandy's A Family Business had Brandy in the studio with Danja and Marcella (clip forthcoming) and it also showed Brandy sitting down with Tyrese to talk about his feelings on the "mixtapes" of today's artists as well as sharing he was recently in the studio with Akon and Danja himself. Take a look:

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

New Danja Interview

Check out this dope interview with Marcella and Danja:

Danja and Marcella Talk Music

Check your This Is Not A Test liner...yep there's Marcella. Big props to Raphael for the link!

Congratulations to ASCAP Winners!

The Thomas Crown Chronicles would like to an extend a big congratulations to Keri Hilson, Marcella Araica, and Ryan Tedder for their wins at yesterday's American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publisher's Awards.

-Keri and Marcella won for the most played song of "Knock You Down"
-Keri won for most played song of "Turnin' Me On"
-Marcella won for most played song of Pink's "Sober"
-Ryan won for most played song of Beyonce's "Halo", Leona Lewis "Bleeding Love", and Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone"

Congrats!

Danja & Marcella talk "We Takin' Over" (Part II)

And here's the 2nd part:

Behind the scenes with Danja & Marcella Part II

It doesn't get much better than this folks. Definitely 2 of the best videos we ever had on The Chronicle. Next up Timbaland and Demo?? Let's hope so!

Props again to El Jefe.

Danja & Marcella talk "We Takin' Over" (Part I)

Ever wonder how Danja and Marcella created the DJ Khaled banger "We Takin' Over"? Let them tell you in their own words:

Behind the scenes with Danja & Marcella Part 1

For a non producer like myself, I'm amazed! If only we could get a behind the scenes explanation like this for every Danja track! Big props to El Jefe on the find.

Unreleased Britney Spears

Seems as though Britney Spears recorded a grip of tracks for her Circus album with bonus and exclusive tracks popping up all over the various different versions in each country. We can also tell you about 2 unreleased Spears tracks to be on the lookout for that were produced by Danja and written by The Clutch. They are:

"Abroad" and "Take The Bait" both with credits to Danja, 4 members of the Clutch, and Marcella. Hit us up if you found them!

Prop to Tom of The Keepers on the info.

Pink "Sober" credits

Here are the final credits for Pink's "Sober"

2. Sober
(P!nk/Nathaniel Hills/Kara DioGuadi/Marcella Araica)
Produced by Danja for Danjahandz Production Inc, Tony Kanal & Jimmy Harry
Recorded by Marcella "Ms. Lago" Araica, Jimmy Harry & Jake Dvis at Sha Recording Malibu, CA, 3:20 Studios, Los Feliz, CA & Henson Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA
Assitant Engineers: Neil Kanal & Keith Gretlein
Mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios, Virgina Beach, VA
Pro Tools Engineer: John Hanes
Assisted by Tom Roberts
Guitars & Keyboards by Jimmy Harry
Bass by Tony Kanal
Drums by Joey Waronker
Strings Performed and Arranged by Stevie Blacke
Tony Kanal appears courtesy of Interscope Records

Thank You in Booklet:

Danja - I'm grateful I was able to pin you down, and inspiire you with my incredible vocals. (kidding) you are a sweet soul and I hope we can do it again.

Props to Bigmac on the final say.

Cop That Disc: Madonna Hard Candy

Today is a big music day with the release of Santogold's debut, the first Portishead album in 10 years!, Lil' Mama, and of course Madonna. The more I listen to Hard Candy the more I like it. Stand out tracks for me are "Miles Away", "Dance 2Night", "Candy Shop", and my favorite part of the whole album the last 2 minutes of "Incredible." The 'Tunes are back in a big way and you can see why Chad is so essential to their production. The writing and production team of Timbo, Danja, and JT strikes again. I never thought one day I'd hear a Timbaland/Madonna collaboration let alone actaully like it but here we are. Great too to see Hannon's name on such a big project as he's worked really hard to get here. Best album of the year to date? I wouldn't go that far but I would say it's in the top 5. And now for the main event we've all been waiting for, here are the truly OFFICIAL liner notes from Madonna's Hard Candy:

1. Candy Shop
Written by Madonna and Pharrell Williams
Produced by The Neptunes
Co-produced by Madonna

2. 4 Minutes
Written by Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Nate Hills and Timothy Mosley
Produced by Timbo, Danja, and Justin Timberlake
Recorded by Marcella "Ms. Lago" Aracia and Demacio "Demo" Castellon
Programmed and Mixed by Demo
Drums by Timbo
Keyboards by Danja
Scratching by DJ Demo (LOL)
Timbaland appears courtesy of Blackground Records (believe it ya'll, it's still very true)

3. Give It 2 Me
Written by Madonna and Pharrell Williams
Produced by The Neptunes
Co-produced by Madonna

4. Heartbeat
Written by Madonna and Pharrell Williams
Produced by The Neptunes
Co-produced by Madonna

5. Miles Away
Written by Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Nate Hills and Timothy Mosley
Produced by Timbo, Danja, and Justin Timberlake
Recorded by Marcella "Ms. Lago" Aracia and Demacio "Demo" Castellon
Programmed and Mixed by Demo
Additional keyboards by Hannon Lane

6. She's Not Me
Written by Madonna and Pharrell Williams
Produced by The Neptunes
Co-produced by Madonna

7. Incredible
Written by Madonna and Pharrell Williams
Produced by The Neptunes
Co-produced by Madonna

8. Beat Goes On
Written by Madonna, Pharrell Williams & Kanye West
Produced by The Neptunes
Co-produced by Madonna

9. Dance 2Night
Written by Madonna, Timothy Mosley, Justin Timberlake, & Hannon Lane
Produced by Timbaland & Justin Timberlake
Co-produced by Hannon Lane
Additional production by Demo
Recorded, programmed, and mixed by Demo
Drums by Timbaland
Guitars by Dan Warner & Darrell Pearson (wow still after all these years!!)
Bass by Darrell Pearson
Keyboards by Hannon Lane

10. Spanish Lesson
Written by Madonna and Pharrell Williams
Produced by The Neptunes
Co-produced by Madonna

11. Devil Wouldn't Recognize You
Written by Madonna, Timothy Mosley, Justin Timberlake, Nate HIlls, & J. Henry
Produced by Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, & Danja
Recorded by Marcella "Ms. Lago" Aracia and Demacio "Demo" Castellon
Programmed and Mixed by Demo
Drums by Timbaland
Keyboards by Danja
Additional keyboards: Hannon Lane
Scratching: DJ Demo

12. Voices
Written by Madonna, Timothy Mosley, Justin Timberlake, Nate Hills, & Hannon Lane)
Produced by Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, & Danja
Co-produced by Hannon Lane
Recorded by Demo and Marcella
Programmed and mixed by Demo
All instruments by Danja
Additional keyboards by Hannon Lane

iTunes Bonus Tracks:

13. 4 Minutes (Peter Saves New York
Remix by Peter Rauhofer

14. 4 Minutes (Junkie XL Remix Edit)
Produced by Junkie XL (go figure)

15. Give It 2 Me (Paul Oakenfold Edit)
Remix by Paul Oakenfold

16. Ring My Bell
Written by Madonna and Pharrell Williams
Produced by The Neptunes
Co-produced by Madonna

Check Amazon, check HMV, check Best Buy, check iTunes, check anywhere this is a Madonna album and support Timbo, Danja, Hannon, JT, Demo, Marcella and Madonna herself and COP THAT DISC!!

Marcella talks about the making of "The Way I Are"

In this month's issue of Sound On Sound magazine (we featured the Jimmy D article here too) Marcella takes you behind the scenes of the making of "The Way I Are" and working with Timbaland. Take a look:

****“I’m like a mad scientist when I’m in the studio,” she says. “I love to experiment with everything. I’ll get creatively sicko from time to time, stretching sounds and making rhythms out of things that don’t yet exist in the file. Recording is an art in its own right, but mixing is where it’s at for me. When I was an intern I would sneak into the studios when they weren’t used and I’d put up anything I could bring in, and I’d just practise and practise and practise. Then I’d go back to my car and listen and I’d learn from that. Mixing is about making sure that all sounds work with each other, that certain moving parts, lead lines stand our more than other parts, and that the vocal is at the centre of it all. Tim is always going on about being able to hear the music, and he taught me that the vocals have to stand out too. It’s very challenging, and I love to be challenged."****

Full Article BIG props to El Jefe for the article!

MMG in the new Fader

Check out this month's Fader magazine and the DOPE article on Timbo and some of the MMG crew both present and future:



Fader Magazine

You remember the name Izza Kizza right? He was mentioned in the Soul Diggaz interview The Chronicles posted that he was working with Tim. According to this Fader article, however, Tim has actually signed him. That's definitely a smart move as you can tell by the tracks on his myspace page the dude has major skills! (that first track "Red Wine" is SICK!)

We also got a couple more tracks off of Keri's new album:

-The Corey Bold produced "Alienate"
-a track called "Mic Check"
-and another "Too Proud"

2008 looks to be a BIG year for the MMG crew. Don't forget to check out that T-Shirt on Page 5 Tim's rockin' to support the cause! Thanks to Big A for the article.

The making of Katharine McPhee

Here is a behind the scenes Electronic Press Kit for the making of American Idol contestant Katharine McPhee's self titled debut album. You'll see a brief in the background cameo by Danja as well as some shots of Marcella doing her thing on the engineering boards. Jim Beanz also gives us multiple glimpses of the vocal magic he is more than capable of. If you don't have DivX unfortunately you won't be able to view the video but you can always download the DivX player :)

Katharine McPhee behind the scenes

Thanks to Gii Sounds for the link.

Marcella "Ms Lago"

We've been talking about her a lot lately. If you all listened to "The Way I Are" video edit with Sebastian you'll hear him shout her out yet again. One of the only female engineers in the game, she's definitely doing big things.

Check out her myspace and show your support of the what looks to be the next big engineer in the game.