John Kellogg Created a Bold Spatial Audio Experience of David Helpling’s Popular New Double Album “IN”
This stimulating Dolby Atmos spatial experience expands Helpling’s signature sound in a completely new way. IN is available in audiophile Spatial formats on Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music, and is also offered in double vinyl (shipping this June), double CD, MP3 (320KBPS), 16-bit DC quality, 24-bit studio master, and on all streaming platforms.
The ambient electronic music world immediately embraced David Helpling’s epic cinematic album, IN, which has (so far) held 5 weeks at #1 on the NACC Chill Charts, and Top 20 sales status on Amazon new releases, and is a focus of top U.S. radio shows from Echoes to Instrumental Saturdays, and popular streamers across Europe including Ambient.Zone and Modul303. During such a busy mainstream release, little was shared about the album’s immersive audio mix, which tapped the talents of Dolby Atmos expert John Kellogg.
IN embraces such a rich mix of shimmering synth textures, ethereal vocals, percussive ensembles and ambient guitar that it presented an exciting and massive challenge for Kellogg. With Helpling's detailed and expansive work for “IN” delivered as discreet stems directly to Kellogg, John spent weeks sculpting the immersive audio mix of IN in full Dolby Atmos spec, culminating in a completely unique ambient electronic music experience.
Helpling spent the better part of a decade creating and mixing “IN", but it was in 2021-22 that he connected with Spotted Peccary co-founder and co-producer Howard Givens to explore the hidden nuances of this album, elevating each piece to its final form. He then took the album to Kellogg in Burbank, CA, who has been producing music in immersive audio since the dawn of surround sound in the 1980s, for his special touch in the spatial audio arena.
Inspired by the vastness of small spaces, IN is both simple and intricate, both expansive and intimate. And just as the spaces that inspired them, these thirteen pieces unveil new worlds when examined, and John Kellogg has brought the whole project into breathtaking audiophile listening. Kellogg beams, "Creating the immersive mix and Atmos version of David's album IN was one part passion project, one part challenge and one part thrilling. In nearly 30 years of mixing in Surround, an immersive format, I've never heard a record so appropriate for the format. I've been following David's music and career almost since he started and always loved what he writes and produces. I had mixed some of his work in 5.1 years ago so when he presented me with the opportunity to do IN, I was more than excited to do it. David's music is epic and immersive to begin with, and I always thought it was tailor made for a full on immersive presentation. The challenging part of it was to create an actual three-dimensional space for music that was already huge and spatial, and to translate it well to David's vision (with a bit of my own) so that it completely takes you to another place where you can disappear. I think we succeeded and I'm so happy with the result."
The immersive mix further heightens Helpling’s churning guitars, granular textures, and his 1981 Yamaha CP70 Electric Grand Piano summoning a classic, fresh organic sound as it explores the vast scenes set by his textural guitar. Artistic collaborations add inspired expressions to Helpling’s vision. Matthew Schoening’s electric cello is enchanting and elegiac on “You Already Are.” Miriam Stockley lends her rich, ethereal vocals to “Slipping” and “I Too Am Coming Home,” while award-winning multi-instrumentalist Benjy Wertheimer plays the Esraj on the buoyant “The Bliss You Always Carried.” San Diego-based vocalist Nidhi Bhatmuley gives a soaring performance on the post-rock flavored “This Burning Sky,” an emotional epic that evokes Hans Zimmer’s work with Lisa Gerrard. Through these significant contributions, Helpling has realized a macro-focus on his contemplation of life. Visually, Portland fine art photographer Brandt Campbell captured IN’s micro-world in breathtaking macrophotography, which Daniel Pipitone deftly translated to the album’s vibrant and collectible packaging across all formats.
IN is available in spatial audio, limited edition gatefold color vinyl double LP; double CD; MP3 (320KBPS), 16-bit DC quality, 24-bit studio master, and on all streaming platforms.
David Helpling is the musical guest of Mary Bartlein for Instrumental Saturdays, this Saturday May 28th, 2022 from 6-9 pm CT.
For interviews, media, or promotional requests, contact Beth Ann Hilton (beth@spottedpeccary.com).
Tracklist
Disc One:
1 Waves Dream of Breaking
2 This Burning Sky
3 Only What's Been Taken
4 Here All Along
5 Still As Stone
6 The Bliss You've Always Carried
Disc Two:
7 Slipping
8 The Cold Distance Between
9 You Already Are
10 Following the Lines
11 Bending Towards the Night
12 IN Waves of Fire
13 I Too Am Coming Home
About John Kellogg:
Throughout his storied career, John Kellogg has worked with artists such as Chicago, Deep Purple, Foreigner, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and Earth Wind & Fire. In 1992, John Kellogg produced some of the first 5.1 music mixes for the introduction of the Dolby Digital (AC-3) codec on Laserdisc. He has also produced 5.1 surround sound albums of several rock classics for the major labels, such as now out-of-print and sought-after 5.1 DVD-Audio releases of Emerson Lake & Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery (1973), Deep Purple's Machine Head (1972), Chicago's self-titled second album, Chicago (1970), and Foreigner's 4 (1981).
About David Helpling:
Specializing in ambient music and electronic music, David Helpling’s early solo releases include his debut, Between Green and Blue, and Sleeping On The Edge Of The World, both released on Spotted Peccary Music. His celebrated collaborations with Jon Jenkins have so far resulted in a trilogy of albums: Treasure, The Crossing and Found. Rune continued his solo journey into ambient guitar explorations of new places under the sea. His new album, IN, is a return to his multi-instrumental style, exploding with the power of subsonic drums, pulsing synthesizers and searing new complex textures; it is an epic take on the infinitesimal and the infinite, rich with vocal and instrumental collaborations featuring Miriam Stockley, Nidhi Bhatmuley, Matthew Stewart, Benjy Wertheimer, Matthew Schoening. https://davidhelpling.com/
About Spotted Peccary Music:
Portland-based Spotted Peccary Music is North America’s finest independent record label with a focus on deep, vast and introspective soundscapes. For over three decades, the artists of Spotted Peccary have been on a mission to develop, produce, publish and release ultra-high-quality, deep-listening experiences that engage the listener and exceed expectations. Every release is carefully prepared in a variety of high quality formats from MP3 to high-res studio masters. Explore more than 165 titles and 45 artists released over 35 years of excellence at SpottedPeccary or AmbientElectronic
Links to Immersive Audio:
On some music platforms, spatial audio and/or Dolby Atmos listening options will appear as available only when you are connected to immersive audio-enabled listening devices such as headphones, earbuds, soundbars, or speakers.
Smartlink: https://orcd.co/helpling-in
SPM Album Page: https://spottedpeccary.com/shop/in/
Bandcamp: Spotted Peccary Music
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/in/1611266281
