Berklee Articles

On Tom Frazee (Berklee College of Music & MEO Senior Developer) as a teacher / mentor:
 
"The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes, and leads you onto the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth".
 
Tom, I didn't write this, but it is you. Thank you!” - Joel Goodman / Oscar, Grammy and Emmy Award Winning Composer-Former Student
 
 
 
 
On the MEO beta-testing, module and topic offerings:
 
“I came to MEO [beta testing program] with no prior knowledge of how to record, just with a few songs written, and by the time I finished with their lessons, I could record with professional quality on my own... and I had an album ready to release! The module based topic system MEO uses had me moving forward with little or no backtracking. I thought it would be a massive amount of re-education, but actually, MEO moves you forward and only steps back when you need the information. It was amazing! There's no better way to learn…” - Phillip B. / Student & MEO Beta Tester
 
On music education & the MEO curriculum streamlining:
 
“I love it, especially the emphasis on the directive of ‘preparing our students to function in today’s real world of music performance, production, marketing and technology.’ All of those elements COMBINED and funneled to a single objective! There are too many educational systems that aren't taking those elements and condensing them into one concept. The "old school" still treats them as separate entities instead of the formation of a nucleus. It's a brave new world, as you know, where "musician" no longer means instrumentalist, it means, engineer, producer and marketing genius as well. My favorite part is the MEO system of being able to cherry-pick topics and build your own path! I feel education is WAY too scattered. This concentrates a student’s forces – MEO “Modules.” Brilliant!”- Lennie Peterson / Professor, Author, Artist, Lecturer, Musician
 
On the MEO system and co-founders:
 
“MEO will take what you know about music, recording, producing, and songwriting and take you places that you did not think was possible before. Their “module / topic" system wasted no time getting me into new information without having to start over. It saved me time and money. Taking lessons and working with MEO has helped me in ways that I cannot even fully appreciate yet. Tom and Nancy's vast knowledge of music, music software, midi modules, composing/arranging, songwriting and recording is complimented by their passion and impeccable character.” - Cameron D. / Student & MEO Beta Tester
 
 
On Tom Frazee as a Teacher / Mentor:
 
I want to say the following in a public forum (and I almost NEVER post anything, anywhere on Facebook - this is maybe the 2nd or 3rd time I've done so). A huge part of your students' success is undoubtedly due to your influence at a critical time in our musical development. In addition to your fine musical instruction and guidance, your taught us all invaluable lessons about performance/showmanship, professionalism, the music business, technology (always ahead of your time) and work ethic. These are areas of "inside" knowledge that were barely covered by anyone else teaching at Berklee, and can usually only be acquired through real-world experience. You opened all of our eyes while preparing us for careers in the music business, and did so with a maniacal focus, an insane energy level, and a wicked sense of humor. I can truly say that I can connect a huge chunk of my professional activities, from graduation to the present, to your influence, in one way or another. I know that all of the names on that great class list you posted (and many others) join me in thanking you for gracing us with your insight, spirit and inspiration at a time when we needed it the most. -Dan Rosengard / Emmy Award winning Composer / Arranger-Special Music, SNL
 
 

"Que Pena" is an original instrumental from Toto Zara's 7th album "Antillano" which features salsa, bolero, cumbia and other styles he wrote durng his tours of his home country of Spain, France (the Latin Quarter) Brazil and New York.  Toto was the youngest of several siblings that became a popular european family group called "Zara"

In 1973, his family had a number one hit with "Eres Tu" one of only 5 foriegn language songs to make it to number one!  recorded under the group name of "Mocedades" (Musical Youth) from Bilbao, it was this song hat brought Toto and his 3 brothers and 2 sisters to America where they eventually settled in Las Vegas.

Toto's father (family name Zaratiegui) founded a nation school of the arts in Tafallia, Spain which today still stand in the town square as a historical landmark.  At the age of 8,  Toto was featured guitarist and flamingo-dancer during public concerts by noted French composer Gilbert Becaud.

Audio, Score and Animated Score

Admagination's "10 Minute Choir" actually takes about 30 minutes...truth be told!  Many times we've needed to add the big choir sound to jingles, live production tracks and original songs. Needless to say, we don't have the budget or the room AND we need it yesterday!  This technique uses only 1 female and 1 male vocalist!

SCROLL DOWN for diagrams & score of our technique, and to watch our short, fun video demo!

 

Here's a short example of productions we've used this concept in:

NY Burrito / Jingle (Broadway Choir)
Joyful, Joyful / Live Show Production
Charlie Frog / Jingle (Faux Childrens Choir)
Rock of America / Original Song for G.W. Bush Inaugural-2001
 
 
Credits, Diagrams, Score & Video

Once in a life time a project like this comes across the "transom" (sorry for the pun).  As an avid racing sailor, musician, producer and decent video editor, I was asked to pull this together.  This project was a combination of HD extreme sailing videos, massive EDM, rock / orchestral scoring, Latin EDM, girls on a beach in bikini footage...and plenty of research.

Xtreme Cloth (referencing the cloth of the sails and the cloth of the swim suits) was conceptualized by a crazy group of sailing enthusiasts and brought to Admagination for the final production!

Check out the video (Part 1 of 4) and the process used by clicking the "Read More" below.

Read more ...

Berklee has always been known for their dozens of top big band ensembles.  From the premier Phil Wilson's "Thursday Night Dues Band", "Herb Pomeroy's Recording Big Band" and of course the Buddy Rich Student big band and the Woody Herman Student big band...et al.  Great training ground for instrumentalists but didn't address the style of horn playing that nwas most likely to be a horn players first out of college gig.  3-5 piece horns sections that were much more exposed, had to sing back up and yes...sometimes do dance steps.

 

Documents, Posters and Stuff

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Oh bummer! This video is no longer available due to client copyright restrictions. But don't worry, click here to see the most recent video scoring project

Xtreme Cloth...it's got extreme sailboats, EDM music and girls in bikini's.

For the past 26 years, we've called Boise, Idaho home. It's a great place to connect, raise a family and there is a vibrant arts community and great live music scene. We have been able to expand our music, technology, business and community involvement not just here, but across the country by way of the great contacts we've nurtured.

Below are 3 reference contacts.  There is also a letter from each reference.  Feel free to contact any of these people, remembering that they are in the mountain timezone.  

Contact Information and Letters

More Articles ...

  1. Faculty: The Berklee Songwriting Major

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