Multiple Grammy-winning engineer/producer Al Schmitt recently dropped in at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood to work on the new album from Japanese superstar Yumi Matsutoya.
Schmitt, who is tracking and mixing her 37th album, was joined by fellow engineer Steve Genewick for the recording of guitar overdubs by the virtuoso Dean Parks in the renowned Studio B.
Matsutoya is a hugely popular Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and pianist, with more than 42 million records sold and twenty-one #1 albums in her career. She is the only artist to have at least one number-one album every year on the charts for 18 consecutive years.
Her husband, producer Masataka “Manta” Matsutoya writes arrangements that often involve classical strings and woodwinds, and was one of the first composers to use these instruments in J-pop music. He also frequently uses choruses in his arrangements, and many popular Japanese artists have made their debuts in the background choruses of Yumi Matsutoya’s songs.
