DJ Galen Wade | Scratchy Records Show | Mad Chatter
Professional Audio Services
I am a musician, songwriter, composer, sound designer, mixer, and DJ. Here's an overview of some of my work.
DJ Galen Wade Music To Make You Merry! All styles. Any occasion.
My work as an "events" DJ is my primary focus right now & I am currently booking gigs.
My job is to make you sound good; whether it's a slinky backdrop that accentuates your own innate sense of style, or the front and center big deal main event dance party. I am a music lover of the highest order, and strive to create the perfect mix to enhance your experience in ways that are fun, classy, personable, and professional.
I prefer to play a blend of Rock N' Soul N' Funky Hip Hop N' Classic Pop, but I can adapt to pretty much any need (from current top forty to classic rock to club bangers to narrower slices like the ‘war years’ or classic country or or or or). I've never met a gig I didn't enjoy. I love sharing my joy in music. I am a people person and welcome the challenge of seamlessly weaving in requests. [Try that with an iPod.] I am adept at reading a room (or field) and can balance the various needs of wildly different groups (your teenage daughter and your Uncle Louie, Louie). I play what you want to hear and what you didn't even know you wanted to hear and have a sixth sense for conjuring it up. I hold myself to a high standard, and it is reflected in the work. My goal is that each gig be flawless.
I generally appear/perform with a computer loaded with Professional DJ software and over 33,000 songs (and counting), as well as a turntable and a few boxes of records. Because I am a die-hard vinyl enthusiast, and love to blend it into the mix and scratchy it up a little. Also, if you've got a special itch, I can spin just vinyl with a couple of turntables.
Rates are based on time commitment, location, and the nature of the event, and are both reasonable and competitive. Please contact me for more info.
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I also host a weekly radio program, the "Scratchy Records Show," on WBCR-LP (97.7 FM, Great Barrington, MA), on Friday evenings from 7 pm - 8 pm EST, as I have done from their very first day of programming (April of 2005). Here I get a chance to really stretch, and enjoy filtering popular tunes through the hazy crackle of jukebox nostalgia almost as much as I dig liberating obscure gems from the trash-bin of history. Live webcast available @ berkshireradio.org.
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Venues where I have served as DJ include: The VFW (Great Barrington, MA), The American Legion Hall (Sheffield, MA), The Brickhouse Pup (Housatonic, MA), Jason's Upstairs Bar (Hudson, NY), The Weathervane Inn (S. Egremont), The Well (Great Barrington, MA), Crissy Farms (Great Barrington, MA), The Egremont Country Club (S. Egremont, MA), Dewey Hall (Sheffield, MA), Seven Hills (Lenox, MA) & various private residences.
Mad Chatter is my recording studio. I am primarily a guitarist and singer. I write songs & improvise with great facility. I have written pop songs emulating the styles of the 50s and 60s. I performed in a blistering alt. rock duo w/ drummer Andy Malm for many years, first as Tympanic, then as Plucker. After years of noodling with electronic instruments, and loops, and way too many options, this was a great way to get back to the immediacy of just a guitar in my hand and my voice, singing, and/or maybe screaming. What a rush. What a release. Rock and roll!
My recording history is pretty much all over the map, but from the very first 4tk recorder I purchased in 1986, I have always dabbled in making music of my own. Since 1990, whatever location was at hand for my own personal recordings has been known as Mad Chatter. I am currently building into a beautiful space at my home. I record with Protools and am an expert audio editor (usually using Peak, which I adore). I record inspiration, sketches, sound collage, and more deliberately finished work and have had a number of fine collaborators over the years.
I also transfer a lot of vinyl to digital and have a pretty slick record collection at this point. It's gotten to where, as the host of the Scratchy Records Show, people will often hand me their entire record collections - which I will sift through, keep some, replace some, give some to the radio station, and maybe even trade some over at John Doe in Hudson.
I am currently putting together a project that involves recording (and editing) the life stories of some of our wildly interesting local elders. It really is a diverse area, rich with all manner of characters, and I find this work of 'legacy' recording exceptionally fulfilling. My first subject has been Bob Guidi, a delightful character, World War II veteran, and generally witty and spry 88 yr. old. I have conducted over ten hours of interviews with him, and am trying to find the time and resources to shape it into the finished product I know it can be, in which my own presence is effectively erased, and Bob gets to tell his story as only he can, with all of the shine I can give it. This involves removing artifacts like denture clicks and hearing aid squeals, and the occasional wandering thought, while attempting to retain the rhythm and character that makes his speaking voice unique. Basically, I help the story to shine through with as much clarity as possible.
To hear an excerpt of one of my sessions with Bob, click on (or download) "Half A Sandwich."
I will try to make more detailed information about my history as a sound designer and composer for theatre & film available soon. For now, I will note that I was a founding member of the theatrical performance works collective, Dar A Luz, under the guidance of the legendary and influential director, Reza Abdoh. I was a resident sound designer for this troop (with Raul Vincent Enriquez) and designed the sound for "Bogeyman," and "Quotations From A Ruined City." I was also the house mixer for most of their live performances, (for the above plays as well as "The Hip-Hop Waltz of Eurydice," and "The Law Of Remains,") and participated in tours that brought us to a host of prominent European theater festivals in locations such as Paris, Bordeaux, Montreal, Barcelona, Grenada, Vienna, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and others fine cities. I also did a bunch of sound work for Ann Magnuson, and was the sound designer for the Los Angeles run of "You Could Be Home Now," which also eventually went on tour. I occasionally mixed her live band, as well.
I did the sound design (and some incidental music composition) for the film, "Ill-Gotten Gains," by director Joel Marsden. The film, "Days Of Pentecost," by Lawrence Elbert, featuring the incredible Mario Gardner, has some of my composition work in it. Recent sound designs (no longer my primary focus) have happened at Simon's Rock College Of Bard here in Great Barrington, where I have also mentored students interested in the art. My favorite of these was a phenomenal production of, "Suddenly Last Summer," a few years back.
I created the project, Sham Records, and worked on it for many years (more on that later). I launched a multimedia production company that attempted to balance artistic endeavor and commercial work entitled, El Flex, in partnership with Raul, for which I raised money, put together a business plan, and contributed creative capital.
I made a lovely (and edgy) album I hope to make available soon as one half of the duo, Plucker, (w/ Andy Malm) for which I wrote songs, sang, and played my axe real raw and direct. We recorded the album with Wharton Tiers at Fun City in Manhattan in four days, mostly live on the spot.
Contact
Please email me with requests for information, availability, prices, etc. I am currently located near Catamount Ski Resort on the boarder between Massachusetts and New York - about an equal distance from Great Barrington (MA) and Hudson (NY).
For direct enquiries you may call my cell phone @ 413.429.1929, but please note that when I am at home I am out of range so it might be a day or so before I return your call.
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- HOME
- Scratchy Records Show
- Mad Chatter
- Legacy Recordings
- My History
- Song Of The Week
- A Body Of Work
- MySpace/Galen
- MySpace/Plucker
- CONTACT
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All Text, Images, Songs, Lyrics & Recordings, etc. ©2010, Galen Wade
(unless otherwise noted) All Rights Reserved.
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http://www.galenwade.com
web design :: by :: galen
This is the SOUND page of Galen Wade's web site, galenwade.com. Providing professional audio services for over 20 years. Regionally, serving the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, as well as the Hudson Valley of New York State, with the wide net stretching from Boston to NYC & Albany.
Galen Wade W. Professional Audio Services DJ Parties Weddings Events Berkshires MA NY Great Barrington Lenox Pittsfield Hudson Albany Sheffield New Marlborough Rock'n'Roll Hip Hop Latin Rockabilly Pop Current Vintage 80s New Wave Punk Hard Rock Scratchy Scratchy Records Show Mad Chatter Sound Design Simon's Rock
