Rip Gerber – “Old Piano”

I am so proud to have directed this recording with the singer/songwriter, Rip Gerber. Rip’s music is emotionally vulnerable, raw, and REAL: no loops, no AI… Just heart and soul, the old fashioned way. The album features 10 original songs, 4 of which feature orchestrations I wrote and directed. I also produced the album, overseeing the entire recording production.

Official music videos for album selections are available on the artist’s YouTube channel, and the entire album can be streamed on all platforms. Purchase limited edition vinyl from the composer’s website.

Below is an excerpt from an article in Rolling Stone about the album and how it was conceived:

“For an independent debut, Old Piano was recorded in storied company. Sessions took place at Skywalker Sound and at Sausalito’s 2200 Studios, the former Record Plant where Fleetwood Mac made Rumours. Four tracks feature a live 30-piece orchestra arranged and conducted by Noah Luna, recorded on the Skywalker scoring stage.

The album was mixed by seven-time Grammy winner Jim Scott, whose credits include Tom Petty, Wilco and Sturgill Simpson, on his vintage Neve 8048 console, and mastered in Nashville by Grammy-winning engineer Pete Lyman. The session players, Gerber notes, have performed alongside some of the most recognisable names in rock, and the takes on the record are live rather than looped.

Gerber describes the day the orchestra first played his songs as the moment the project came into focus. “Hearing thirty musicians breathe at the same time, no click track in their souls, no grid, just people listening to each other, was the moment I understood what this album actually was,” he says. “I’d spent months telling people I was making a fully human record. That day I finally heard what that meant.””