Hi Everyone!
We wanted to take a moment to highlight something a couple of our team members worked on over the summer.
Alexa Cable (one of our interns) got together with Paul Johnston (Head of Recording at MacEwan University) to discuss the future of recording and recording education. Paul explains how staying employed is the most important skill in the recording industry.
Please show the video some love!
Have you ever thought about the importance of an album cover when promoting artists? When we think about Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club, we automatically come up with their respective album covers. It is no doubt that an album’s design plays a big part in making it memorable, recognizable, and iconic.
Bent River Records has partnered for five consecutive years with MacEwan’s Design Program professor, Constanza Pacher, to produce artworks for the label’s releases through an album design contest. This project has led to impressive creations by MacEwan’s design students, guided by Constanza.
Constanza Pacher is an Associate Professor in the Bachelor of Design at MacEwan University. She is a visual communication designer from Argentina with more than twenty years of experience in the design industry. In 2004, she received a master’s degree in Visual Communication Design from the University of Alberta. She has been teaching design, typography, and information design at MacEwan for sixteen years. Her current research focuses on the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the use of experiential learning in the classroom to improve student engagement. Constanza was honoured with the MacEwan University Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016, and an Honourable Mention for the RGD2021 Design Educator Award for Western Canada.
We have interviewed Constanza to get to know more about the album design contest and her role in this partnership with Bent River Records.
1- How long has the album design contest been going, and how did you get involved in this project?
The collaboration between MacEwan’s Bent River Records and Design Studies started in the spring of 2017, when I was contacted by Rose Ginther and Paul Johnston seeking help in the coordination of the design and production aspects of the label. In the true spirit of BRR — which is engaging students and faculty in the complete creation of music products — I decided that the best way I could contribute to this innovative learning lab project was by involving my students in it through a collaborative project in the Typography II class.
Since 2017, all students enrolled in DESN231 Typography II participate as part of their course load in a design competition. This experiential project includes musician interviews, design and preparation of files for submission, and formal final presentations to stakeholders. The project culminates with the selection of a winner, and the subsequent student participation in the final steps for printing and commercial production.
2- How has the reception been for the contest so far?
The reception of this project has been overwhelmingly positive! Artists, faculty, and students alike have been delighted with the results since the start. Students find this real project engaging and worthwhile. BRR and musicians express their gratitude year after year, as the product of this collaboration is always a success. Musicians really enjoy meeting with the students and seeing the results. They find it to be such a treat to have such variety of designs to choose from, to see how their music inspired the different concepts, and how articulate our students are in presenting convincing and professional rationales for their work.
3- What are the most challenging and the most rewarding aspects of this project?
Even though managing this project requires a considerable amount of time outside of class time, this project is all rewards! My collaboration with Rose, Paul, and Kristjan at the label has been nothing but enjoyable; it’s a fantastic group of professional and creative people that care about student experience as much as I do. In my classroom, I love stepping aside and watch the students work hard to impress the client, not me. It is a project where I know students are not working for a grade, but to earn their seat in the real world of client work.
4- What are your expectations for this year’s contest?
My expectations for this year’s contest are the same as every year: to have a positive student experience and great design. I hope the 69 students this year find the experience worthwhile, take advantage of the opportunity to meet the client, work hard to produce an original and creative concept, and dazzle the client with excellent products, great typography, and thoughtful rationales.
We are happy to announce that the 2021 album design contest is already underway. Keep following Bent River Records blog and social media accounts to get updates on this year’s winners!
Hi folks,
Brandon here! I’m pleased to be joining the Bent River Records team as an A&R Associate! I’ve had a career in music for the better part of 15 years, as both an artist and industry professional. My background is as a guitarist, songwriter, studio session musician, freelance guitarist, booking agent, venue manager, and venue concierge. The music industry has always been something I knew I wanted to be involved with, from the very first song I learned on the guitar, I knew I wanted to do this for a living.
I play in a few Edmonton-based bands such as Electric Religious, King of Foxes, Mercy Funk, and The High Powers. I have two albums released under my own project, Electric Religious, which is one of my main focuses. I also teach music lessons in St. Paul, AB, I work as the Alberta and B.C. Producer for Curbside Concerts Canada, a live music delivery service founded in Calgary in 2020, and on top of all that, I have a little 6-year old munchkin at home that keeps me busy with his Transformers and Spider Man toys. My partner and I operate a label services business called Crystal Baby Music and it’s this experience of working with artists and helping them to operate their careers at a higher level that I bring to the table at BRR. As a former music student at MacEwan University, I understand the drive and passion the students bring to their studies, and subsequently their efforts at BRR. I look forward to working with the team this year!
A few things I love to do in my spare time are to bake bread–intense kitchen projects are my favourite, though. Hello kimchi! I love to learn (and enjoy) about wine from all over the world, read books from Indigenous authors, and go for family dog walks.
My favourite part of the music industry are the people. From what I’ve seen, this community of artists and professionals is very close. Everyone wants to help everyone else succeed. Everyone keeps everyone else accountable and opens doors for those that put in the work, and commit to their art. I’m super grateful to all my mentors who expected true effort and never made anything easy for me in my formative years, it has shaped who I am today. I still can’t wrap my head around social media, but I hope that when my son is a teenager that he can help me out.
Wishing everyone a happy fall term, and a wonderful 2021-2022 school year.
—Brandon
With the success of last year’s song writing competition, we’ve decided to do it again! Bent River Records is happy to announce that we will be accepting submissions for the second edition of our art-song writing competition! The contest was conceived to honour the generous and ongoing support of one of the label’s major donors, Dr. Craig Monk, the Provost & Vice-President, Academic at MacEwan. This year’s competition is open to all MacEwan University students regardless of musical background. We want to hear from you!
We want to showcase your lyric writing abilities. If your lyrics are chosen, they will be written into an original composition created by students within the Department of Music and performed by a singer and a string quartet. Stay tuned for more on the composition competition soon.
Not only do you get to have your lyrics performed, composed, and recorded – there is also an honorarium prize of $750.00!
How cool is that!?
We encourage all contestants to submit their entries by October 30, 2021, and no later than 4:00PM MST. Please click the link below for submission details.
The call for entries is now closed.
Congratulations to Esther Forseth! Stay tuned for updates on her winning art-song lyrics, “Preacher’s Daughter.”
Our fall 2021 team of student interns have been hard at work getting ready to make some big announcements — stay tuned for more on that soon. Here’s a little bit about the new team!
Alexa Cable
Alexa is a fourth year composition major with a special focus in recording and production. This passion for recording has led her to an internship with Bent River Records in her final year at MacEwan. She spent the summer recording several singles for her solo artist career as “Lexene” which will be released this fall and in early 2022. She also spent the summer working with the YouTube channel ‘Learn Audio Engineering,’ producing an interview series focused around “how the recording industry is changing.” Before coming to MacEwan, Alexa studied film at Langara College, and did voice-over work in several commercials. Alexa is excited to build her audience online through Behind-the-Scenes YouTube videos about her recording process.
Carolina Odashima
Carolina is the new social media and promotions intern at Bent River Records. She has been collaborating with musicians for several years, creating posters, communications, and album covers. She is also a bookworm with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Education with a major in Arts, and is currently a second-year student at MacEwan’s Graphic Design Diploma program. A fun fact about her: Carolina has a very peculiar accent, and that is because she is Brazilian, and her first language is Brazilian Portuguese. You can find her work @chiodashima on Instagram.
Dylan Cave
Dylan is an interdisciplinary technician in the Canadian live entertainment Industry and a student in the department of Music at MacEwan University majoring in Sound recording and Production. He has worked all across Canada including working tours with companies such as Cirque Du Soleil, and the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA TOUR). Dylan has worked as an audio engineer for many local and international artists such as: Rex Brown (Pantera), Vinnie Appice (DIO, Black Sabbath), RUSH, John Fogherty and The Wailers to name just a few. He likes working with passionate artists in high energy fast paced work environments that push boundaries and encourage growth in his own technical development. Currently Dylan is working as a producer and co-host for MacEwan University’s new knowledge mobilization podcast Research Recast(ed). In addition to his roles with the podcast Dylan is the Production coordinator for the TD Edmonton International Jazz Festival and he also works as a swing technician at the Starlite Room in YEG doing video, sound, and lighting.
Gladwyn Badger
Gladwyn is a 4th year Bachelor of Music student at MacEwan University.
“I am so excited to join the BRR team for this semester! I am looking to actively engage with artists and musicians of all types during my time here, as well as to further develop my skills for the professional world!”
Valentina Osorio
Valentina is currently a 4th year student in the East Asian Studies Department at the University of Alberta, and this is her second year doing concurrent studies in the Arts and Cultural Management program at MacEwan University. As a person that has always been greatly intrigued by the entertainment industry and wished to know more about the ins and outs of the music industry, she feels excited and extremely grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Bent River Records team. She hopes to use the knowledge she gains from this invaluable experience towards future endeavours internationally, wherever her degree may take her.