March 2025

Spring is awakening here at Asbury Media and chasing the winter blues away, yet thankfully one special blustery night will live forever.  Presenting!

The Billy Hector Band Live at the Saint

Released on AERIA Records in Dolby Atmos on Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon

On February 19, 2018 blues guitar legend Billy Hector and an outstanding line up comprised of Sim Cain on drums, Winston Roye on bass, David Nunez on keys, Tommy La Bella on tenor sax, Steve Jankowski on trumpet, and John Martin on baritone saxophone delivered a blistering, high spirited performance at the Saint in Asbury Park, NJ tempered only by a graceful guest appearance by the lovely Suzan Elle on lead vocals for the enchanting ballad “Wild Heart”.

Recorded by 3X GRAMMY award winning engineer Tom Ruff, mixed and mastered  for Dolby Atmos by James Sleeman, and mastered in stereo by Tim Pannella at Asbury Media, this live release truly illustrates a legendary musician at the height of his musical prowess.  From his heartfelt vocals, understated but assured stage presence, sultry strat riffs and fiery slide outbursts, Billy Hector proves yet again why he is so highly regarded and venerated.

Sadly the Saint has recently closed its doors on Main Street in Asbury Park, but thanks to the immersive sound capability of Dolby Atmos, discerning music fans can relive one glorious night again and again. 

In the Studio with Spatial Audio Engineer James Sleeman

What inspired you to pursue a career in audio engineering?
I’ve been fascinated by sound for as long as I can remember. I have very distinct memories of hearing Jimi Hendrix when I was very young and was transfixed by what was coming out of the speakers. From a young age, I was into tech which eventually led to playing around with doing simple recordings in Audacity. My first guitar teacher then recommended I check out Cubase as it was a much more powerful software. A couple years after that I started taking lessons at Lakehouse, and it was seeing Erik Romero and Tim Pinnella work in those studios that really made me realize that this is what I wanted to do as a career. 

What is your educational and professional background?

I have a B.S. in Music Business, Entrepreneurship, and Technology from The University of The Arts which was formerly located in Philadelphia. Post-graduation I am Assistant Engineer at Lakehouse Recording Studios, have done freelance audio editing for podcasts for NCCAkron and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and other various freelance audio gigs around the tri-state area. 

How did you get involved with Dolby Atmos and other immersive formats?

I first found out about Dolby Atmos when Apple announced their support for the format in Apple Music. Fast forward a few months, I was taking a class about Immersive Audio at UARTS with JohnPaul Battie (who is now an audio engineer for the Philadelphia Eagles). That class started out utilizing a custom renderer built by JohnPaul in MaxMSP using Ircam SPAT. About halfway through the class, Apple released the Atmos update to Logic Pro which brought tools to easily explore Atmos for free. Not even a week later, JohnPaul and I were re-configuring the speaker setup to be a 7.1.4 layout for Atmos so we could explore the format more. One thing led to another, and I ended up doing my thesis project/paper on Atmos and immersive audio at large.

What can immersive audio potentially provide for the listener that is lacking in regular stereo audio?

I think a great immersive mix can easily beat a great stereo mix, but a bad immersive mix can sound a lot worse than a bad stereo mix. An engineer that cares about immersive audio can effectively utilize the much larger canvas to help elevate the song in ways that are impossible in a stereo format. There are many ways that can be achieved depending on the situation: making the listener feel like they're in the room with the band, creating an uncanny space that could never exist in the real world, or pushing the boundaries of what a recording can be in an experimental way. The possibilities can be endless but it's up to the engineers, producers, and artists to fully realize its potential.

How do you perceive the consumer listening experience evolving in the future?

I think it’s really all going to be about headphones. It’s really just unrealistic for us to expect the average consumer to put 12 speakers in their living room that are all properly placed and calibrated. As it is I would say the majority of people consume music on headphones when they really want a high-fidelity experience. I think the real future is in binaural processes that allow immersive mixes to be played back properly in headphones and can be tailored to each person's physical properties such that it can be hyper realistic.

You are a prolific musician and producer as well.  How do you balance the freewheeling subjective and aesthetic choices of an artist as opposed to the rational, objective, tech savvy discipline required of an engineer?  Is it a challenge to self-produce and wear both those hats?

It’s a very tough challenge for me in some ways but also very easy at the same time. I’ve been fortunate that most of the projects i’ve been brought in on have wanted by input on all levels. I like to think I’ve sort of been building a reputation for being an engineer that doesn’t get hung up on being too much of an “engineer”.  I think being a songwriter and producer has allowed me to engineer more from a place of serving the song than strictly just a technical one. I’m not afraid of making and committing to bold choices when recording or mixing. Very rarely do I do things the same way twice, it’s no fun for me to just go through the motions of recording. But sometimes the gig is the complete opposite of that, and that's ok too!

What are your thoughts or concerns about integrating AI into music production workflows?

I currently use quite a few AI tools and processes in my workflow. AI has allowed for tasks that were previously difficult or sometimes impossible to become second nature. These tools utilize AI not from a generational standpoint, but from more of an analytical one. A perfect example of this is a couple of newer gate plugins such as Sonnox Drum Gate and Black Salt Audio Silencer that utilize AI to distinguish between a kick, snare, and tom which allows for a much more precise gate. I personally am all for that use case of AI. I’ve also used AI separation tools to create separate tracks from a stereo recording. Perfect example of this is the song How Long by Jillian Ludwig, who was tragically killed in Nashville in the fall of 2023. The song was built around a voice memo that she had recorded on her phone and was finished by her friends and mentors after her death. I made use of some AI tools to separate the vocal and the acoustic guitar.  For more information, please visit http://jamesleeman.com

On Thursday 3/27/25 please join us at The Basement Club located at 639 Cookman Ave. Asbury Park, NJ 07712, as we record the MATT O’REE BAND live to a packed house!  Matt O'Ree is an amazing blues-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter who has been a touring guitarist with Bon Jovi and recorded with Bruce Springsteen.  The crew at Asbury Media honored and delighted to record this special night. 

Please visit http://mattoreeband.com for additional information.

93% of artists highlighted in Billboard's 2024 Top 100 Artists released music in Dolby Atmos

Apple Music pays up to a 10% higher royalty rate for spatial audio releases and better product placement

ASBURY MEDIA offers live sound recording and Dolby Atmos Mastering packages.  

Immerse Yourself in the New Wave!

For booking inquiries please call (732) 455 - 2761 or email colie.brice@asburymedia.com

(c) 2025 ASBURY MEDIA LLC

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