Nathan Edwards - Audio Engineer + Assistant Professor

Paul Otteson: Robin Red

Nathan Edwards — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:06:41 +0000

I am incredibly excited to announce the latest full-length album from Paul Otteson, which I had the pleasure of mixing and mastering. Paul describes his album as, “a collection of songs inspired by the unsung failures of our past. With cautious hope, a mix of darkened characters search for redemption in a world bound against them; unconvinced their time has run out. Blurring the line between chamber-folk and Americana, Robin Red challenges this frozen landscape with soaring melodies, tortured love songs, and the promise of spring.”

The album is available now to stream, purchase, and download from his bandcamp site.

Robin Red by Paul Otteson

Spring Semester Recap

Nathan Edwards — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:13:04 +0000

Ah yes, I have officially finished my second year of DSU and the time has come once again to recap all that has been done over the past few months. This semester was particularly unique because of some bigger projects that have presented themselves, some of which are still in progress or are a continuing series. Without further ado, here’s what went down in Spring 2012:

Personal Projects:
Here in the Middle – Ongoing Podcast show and Website
Young Dakota Artists – Gallery showing at NSU and the ND Museum of Art
And I just finished working on an AMAZING project… hint hint…

University Events:
Tips for Talent fundraiser
DSU Live Battle of the Bands
University Poetry Slam
Audio & Animation Spotlight
Lastly, our internship video project for our Audio for Video class is currently in post-production and looks like it will turn out beautifully. More on that coming soon…

Summer is here! So what’s on the agenda? We will be working on shooting our video, doing some traveling out west and to Wisconsin, maybe take a trip up to Minneapolis, go to Cassie’s gallery show in Milwaukee, house projects, and probably a whole lot more to keep us busy. But for today, I’m going to sit back, relax, and enjoy a little peace and quiet.

DSU Audio and Animation Spotlight

Nathan Edwards — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:13:12 +0000

We are excited to be hosting a screening on Monday to showcase the work of DSU audio and animation students! Animation Professor Giles Timms started the event last year, and he invited audio students to join in on the fun this year. We will be watching animations and music videos, giving away door prizes, and voting for best in show. The good times will continue after the screening downtown at The Stadium. One of the prize contenders includes this great music video by DSU audio student, Nathan Fields:

Poetry Slam in the Underground

Nathan Edwards — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:54:57 +0000

An event came to campus that is pretty uncommon for DSU: A poetry slam night that was hosted by the Arts & Sciences Department, English Club, Office of Diversity, and Student Affairs. Sound assistance was provided, of course, by DSU Live.

There were a lot of brave students that performed their work in front of the judges, but the highlight of the night was guest poet, “Tsion the Wordsmith”, who blew everyone away with his insanely fast skills, combined with some really deep, introspective subject matter in his poetry.

I am also proud to say that the grand prize winner was none other than Audio Production student, Jake Ritzman! Jake took home the $200 prize and apparently now carries the crown of DSU Poetry Slam king. The turnout for the event was great, and the whole night was a big success. Kudos to all of the organizers of the event! You can check out all of my pictures on the flickr page.

Lots of Video: Live Bands and Interviews

Nathan Edwards — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:54:48 +0000

As the semester continues in full gear, several fun projects are in the works. DSU Live hosted this year’s Battle of the Bands competition last week. Four bands fought for our top prize, and Amos Slade blew us all away and came out as the winner. Students Cody Welu and Nathan Fields took this time-lapse video of our teardown:

The live production turned out great, but even more exciting is the camera shoot that we did during the event. We had a total of no less than five digital SLR cameras shooting video from a number of different angles. The video is currently in post-production, and we are anticipating some amazing results soon to come.

Another project is a short film that our “Audio for Video” class is working on that will show current and prospective Digital Arts and Design students at DSU how to seek out internships and start on a path to their careers. As a part of this project, we are interviewing recent graduates of DSU to learn about their internship experiences and the positive impact that it had on their education.

Last week, we interviewed recent DSU alumni Courtney Schlimgen and Jerad Schlobohm, as well as DSU student Margaret Pillatzki. Not only did the interviewees lend us some great insight into the internship process, but it also gave us a chance to work on our production skills: capturing sound, setting up lighting, and framing shots. There is a lot of work still to complete, but we are already excited about our final product that we aim to complete by the end of the year.

It’s great to be “Here in the Middle”

Nathan Edwards — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:30:52 +0000

Cassie and I are excited about our latest endeavor, a podcast series and website entitled, “Here in the Middle”. The show features artists and musicians from the Midwest who tell us about their craft and artistic careers. The first several episodes have been fantastic so far, and I’m really looking forward to where the show is headed! Check out the first episodes on the website: hereinthemiddle.org

Feature in the Dakota State Magazine

Nathan Edwards — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 01:12:35 +0000

A few months ago, I submitted an article about the Take the Day event at the Washington Pavilion. I am glad to say that it made it into the Fall edition of the Dakota State magazine publication. The article features myself, Cassie, Alan Montgomery, Angela Behrends, and also mentions Giles Timms, who also has a featured article in the magazine.

Here is the full text from the article: Dakota State University was very well-represented when five instructors put their artistic skills on display at the annual “Take the Day” exhibition and fund-raiser hosted at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls on October 3rd. Art Professors Angela Behrends, Cassie Edwards, and Alan Montgomery created works, along with Animation professor Giles Timms, and Audio Production professor, Nathan Edwards.

On the day of the event, a total of 44 regional artists gathered to work toward one goal: Create a new individual work of art in just one day. While the artists were hard at work, the public was invited to watch the creation of each piece and ask questions about the process behind how they are produced. With an estimated 2,000 guests visiting on the day of the opening, the event was a tremendous success.

All of the completed works are currently on display at the Visual Arts Center in the Washington Pavilion through December 11, 2011. Information about all of the artists can be viewed at www.taketheday.org.

Also, DSU students recently performed at our second annual “Tips for Talent” event on campus. Read more about it on the DSU Audio Blog.

Young Dakota Artists

Nathan Edwards — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:56:03 +0000

Cassie and I are both proud to be showing our work in the “Young Dakota Artists” exhibition that is currently being displayed at the Isaac Lincoln Gallery at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. Soon, the event will be exhibited at the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks. The piece that I am exhibiting is my Graduate Thesis Project, Nowhere (posted below). It is great to see such a strong support of the arts in the area, and we are very happy to be a part of it!

“Live at Myxers” Streaming Online

Nathan Edwards — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:06:40 +0000

On November 21, 2011, I played a live acoustic show at Myxers coffee shop on the DSU campus. Some students and I planned on doing a video shoot, but I was surprised when they came prepared with three HD cameras. Students Paul Shipper, Luke Arens, and Cody Welu did a fantastic job capturing the event and it was compiled by Paul as a full concert presentation. I took the opportunity to design DVD packaging and it became a Christmas present for family members. Therefore, at this point the physical homemade copies are quite rare. But never fear, Paul took the liberty to post the videos online and you can check them all out, along with clips from Mike Rugg’s opening performance, on his YouTube page. Thank you to the students for their great work and to DSU Live for putting on an excellent show!

New Track: Burn and Fade

Nathan Edwards — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:40:12 +0000

Last week, I made a deal with myself that I would record a song this weekend, then had fun spending the past two days holed up in the basement. This is the first track I’ve done that features ukulele, and also the first full track recorded on my new Focusrite interface. The project also gave me a chance to mic up the drum set and experiment a little with capturing a great acoustic drum sound. Ultimately, I think the music reflects the dialogue in a style reminiscent of of Josh Ritter meets Ryan Adams. I’m very pleased with the results!