Barbra Streisand "What Matters Most" 2011

2011 marks the 18th year since I started making music with Barbra Streisand and I’m proud to announce our latest collaboration with the release of her new CD “What Matters Most” (Barbra Streisand Sings The Lyrics Of Alan and Marilyn Bergman).
We started the album in January of 2011 with the intention of only doing 4 songs but because she enjoyed the process so much, she decided to record 8 more songs and make it a full CD (Only 10 songs made the CD but there are 2 beautiful songs that will eventually be released). As usual, it was thrilling to spend so much time side by side with Barbra as we worked together perfecting this project. I spent a lot of time on my own at Westlake Recording Studios working on the editing and mixing before I joined her out at “Grandma’s House” to do the final tweaking.
This is also the first time I decided to take on the role of Mastering Engineer for this studio album after finishing the Mixing part of the process. What a thrill it was to be able to hear the results of my work coming out beautifully through the speakers at my local Starbucks during the 1st week of release! (Have to admit that I visited a heck of a lot of Starbucks that week just to hear what the CD sounded like in different environments).

The CD entered the Billboard charts at #4 giving Barbra her 31st top 10!  The critic’s reviews and fan reviews have been overwhelmingly positive and many are referring to it as their favorite Barbra record since they first fell in love with her amazing voice many years ago.

Thank you again Barbra for trusting me with your gift! I am humbled every time I get to work with the best!
Please visit www.barbrastreisand.com for more information on this wonderful project.

Best,
Dave Reitzas

I’ve been working hard mixing an incredible project called “Dandy” for famous songwriter Andreas Carlsson. I’m 4 weeks in with about another 2 weeks to go. Incredible!

So last week I get a call from the coordinator for Ayumi Hamasaki asking if I was available to mix a song. At first I said no because I was too busy, but I managed to adjust my schedule to work on my day off to do the song “Seven Days War”. Ayumi came in to hear the song and loved it! I jokingly said, “Let’s do another one” and the next thing I know, they asked if I could mix “Virgin Road”. The only time available that I could do it was after a full 12 hour day of mixing my current project. So last Monday at 12:30 am, I slept on the studio couch for 3 hours and then woke up to start mixing Ayumi’s 2nd song. Fueled on adrenaline only, I mixed until 2p on Tuesday afternoon until Ayumi came in to listen to the mix. She loved it and we said our goodbyes. Then I was off to another session at Capitol Records where I recorded and mixed a 16 piece band for the “Stand Up To Cancer” telethon that aired last Friday on all the major networks. It was a 39 hour marathon session- the kind of work I haven’t done since I was in my 20′s. But I made it and I am so honored and proud to have been able to do these songs for Ayumi. The best news is that they are being released as her 49th and 50th single on September 22, and September 29th. If these singles reach the top of the charts, she will break previous records held by Seiko Matsuda for having 24 consecutive #1 songs on the Japanese charts. Keep your fingers crossed.

Who says you can’t mix a record in a bedroom? Sometimes you just have to make the best of a situation and when Marie asked if I could mix her record in her bedroom, I said “Why not?”. I’m using ProTools and a few pieces of analog gear including a Bricasti M7, Eventide DSP4000, S.P.L. PassEQ, N.T.I. EQ3, Tube Tech CL1B, Millenia NSEQ, and a Lexicon PCM 42. Her room actually sounds pretty good for an un-treated room. There are quilts on the wall and the bed absorbs a lot of the sound so there are minimal reflections. The mixing is coming along great and she is super nice to work with.

Dave

Here’s a clip of “One World One Dream” performed by Andrea Bocelli and Jane Zhang (Zhang Liangying), composed by Tan Dun, and produced by David Foster.