Engineer/producer Jeff “Madjef” Taylor completed production and mixing for Sounds of Blackness' latest album at SLR Recording Studio (formerly Flyte Tyme Studio, Minneapolis) with producer LaSalle Gabriel. He mastered the album at Bernie Grundman's in L.A…Engineers James Harley and Nathaniel Smasal and producer Matt Kirkwold tracked and mixed songs for Quietdrive's Epic debut at The Boiler Room, The Terrarium and Mastermix Studios (Minneapolis), respectively…Indie rockers The Melismatics mastered their latest album with Greg Reierson at Rare Form Mastering (Minneapolis)…Engine Music Studios (Chicago) reports that Brian Deck came in to produce PureTone Records' The You with Colin Studybaker and Balthazar De Ley engineering. De Ley also engineered tracks for Napalm Records band Hurtlocker…Eric Katte chose Smart Studios (Madison, WI) to record rock band Sunspot for an upcoming Raw-Tracks.com release…At Chapman Recording (Kansas City, MO), blues artist Gary Clark Jr. tracked/mixed songs for the upcoming film Lenexa, One Mile. Local band Pomeroy worked on a new EP with co-producer/engineer Robert Rebeck.

Studio D Recording (San Francisco) finished surround mixing/mastering on a Carlos Santana/Wayne Shorter DVD. Studio owner aJoel Jaffe handled the audio post and surround mixing. Magic Christian, featuring Cyril Jordan from the Flamin' Groovies, recorded their next release with Jaffe engineering and co-producing (with Jordon). Jaffe also wrapped up indie artist Liz Kennedy's debut. Bonnie Raitt stopped in to film interviews for an upcoming film about B.B. King, and producer Wren Kleiss and engineer David Gleason worked on a forthcoming project for The Wake…Sylvia Massy Shivy, Kale Holmes and Rich Veltrop shared mixing duties for Final Animal Alpha at Shivy's RadioStar Studios (Weed, CA), the proud new owners of a pair of Crystal EQs pulled from one of Andrew Berliner's custom consoles at Crystal Sound in Hollywood…Nettleingham Audio (Vancouver, WA) engineer Kevin Nettleingham mastered releases for PDX artists Jesse Shriber, Jonny X & The Groadies, Lloyd Allen, Barbara Cecil, Softcore and Dave Carter, as well as the band Ten 33, a Deep Elm Records sampler and albums for Emile Pandolfi, Bronn Journey and CART!

Allen Morgan mixed/edited tracks for artist Skye Dyer with producer Jamie Kyle, and worked on the upcoming release for Sarah Darling, a finalist from the E! channel's The Entertainer, at his Allen Morgan Audio (Nashville)…Jim Ebert camped at Dragonfly Studios (Haymarket, VA) with engineer Scott Spelbring to record artist Niki Barr. The band Down to This tracked their new album with producer/engineer Spelbring and mixer Jeff Juliano. Budweiser True Music artists Welbilt also completed new music with Spelbring and Juliano…Jeff Carroll of Bluefield Mastering (Raleigh, NC) recently mastered Ron Sexsmith's newest project, Sexsmith & Kerr: Destination Unknown, out September 6 in the U.S…Jamie Foxx was in Miami's Circle House Studios to track vocals for a new single with producers Harold Lilly & The Usual Suspects and New York City engineer Kamel Abdo…ATL's happenin' Patchwerk Recording hosted Destiny's Child producer Ced Keys, who was in tracking beats for “Cater to You Remix” and “Girl Remix”; Steve Fisher engineered. Raekwon “The Chef” teamed with Fisher to record vocals for several songs, while Chingy spent six days with Miles Walker and Denny Ogle, who rough-mixed 10 songs and tracked vocals for another. The lovely Floetry tapped Leslie Brathwaite to mix three songs for a new project; Brathwaite stuck around to mix two songs for Ginuwine.

Avatar (NYC) welcomed John Mayer, who stopped by with producer/drummer Steve Jordan and bassist Charlie Hunter to work on an upcoming release with engineer Dave O'Donnell, then played on an upcoming B.B. King tribute engineered by Anthony Ruotolo. Donald Fagen nailed vocal overdubs with engineer Brian Montgomery and producer/mixer Rich Costey, who overdubbed and mixed the upcoming Franz Ferdinand album…Nothing Rhymes With Orange visited Threshold Music (NYC) to record their new CD with producer/owner AJ Maltese and engineer Kato. Indie bands Vinyl Addicts and Phase 9 also worked out new tracks…Sound on Sound (NYC) reports its busiest month ever. Producer/engineer David Beneth worked on projects for Dropping Daylight, The Chemistry, Bobaflex, As I Lay Dying, Breaking Benjamin and Clutch. Chico Hamilton tracked with engineer Chris Fasulo; KLB Productions mixed/edited a Converse spot with Grandmaster Flash and Kathryn Diehl; Will Downing mixed with engineer Ray Bardani; Mary J. Blige tracked with Swizz Beatz and Brian Lodato; Ali & Gipp recorded/edited with producer Dallas Austin and Chip Karpells; Ice Cube tracked with engineer Bojan Dugich and a slew of producers; and the imitable Kayne West tracked with engineer Lodato.