Emily Lazar Moderates Rostam Batmanglij's Presentation at Apple Store SoHo

Rostam Batmanglij and Emily Lazar at Apple Store SoHo's "Meet The Musician" Presentation

Earlier this year, Emily Lazar, The Lodge's Chief Mastering Engineer and President, was handpicked to moderate Rostam Batmanglij's (of Vampire Weekend) presentation at the Apple Store SoHo, as part of their "Meet The Musician" Series.
The series features prominent artists, producers and music taste makers offering a deliciously in-depth glimpse into each artist's creative world and has hosted luminaries such as The Miles Davis Quintet, Anthrax and Hip Hop producer 9th Wonder.

Batmanglij is a man of many talents: a multi-instrumentalist, a producer and one of the main creative forces behind Vampire Weekend's infectious world-music bending pop gems.
Rostam's relationship with The Lodge started in 2007 when both Vampire Weekend albums "Vampire Weekend" and "Contra" were mastered at The Lodge by Emily Lazar and Joe LaPorta. A world-wide success, Vampire Weekend's second album debuted at number one on Billboard 200 chart with 124,000 copies sold in just the first week! A milestone for an indie band in this decade! Emily and Joe have also mastered several side projects for Rostam including his R&B synth pop collaboration with Wes Miles (of Ra Ra Riot) named Discovery.

With Emily as his moderator, the duo geeked out on everything from the recording process, the evolution of a Vampire Weekend demo, how the four-piece writes their songs to his production techniques. He even offered a sneak peak into his newest venture in film scoring! Rostam recounted his experience scoring his brother Zal Batmanglij’s psychological thriller "Sound Of My Voice" (which premiered at Sundance) and offered before and after sound clips to the audience. Check out a clip from the movie, featuring Rostam's first official feature film score!



In the upcoming months Apple will be posting a recorded podcast of Emily and Rostam's entire discussion on their website- stay tuned!

The Lodge on Rolling Stone's 2010 "Best Of" Lists

Continuing our year-end wrap up of the internet's "Best Of" lists, we're happy to report some Lodge-mastered bands made their way onto some more big countdowns: the Rolling Stone Top 50 Songs of 2010, and Top 30 Albums of 2010.

Gaining even more accolades, Vampire Weekend's "Contra" earned the #6 ranking on the Top 30 Albums of 2010. Mastered by Emily Lazar and assisted by Joe LaPorta at The Lodge, the album has found itself onto many of this year's "Best Of" lists.

The always lively Sleigh Bells clocked in at #21 on the Top 50 Songs of 2010 with "Infinity Guitars," while Vampire Weekend earned another impressive appearance at #7 with "White Sky."

Congrats, guys!

Grammy Nominated Artists Mastered at The Lodge

The 2010 Grammy nominations have been announced and we're proud to send our congratulations to two artists we're quite familiar with: Vampire Weekend and BT. Vampire Weekend's "Contra" is up for Best Alternative Album, while BT's "THESE HOPEFUL MACHINES," earned a nod for Best Electronic/Dance Album.

The hugely successful indie release, "Contra," was mastered by Emily Lazar and assisted by Joe LaPorta. Building on the success of their 2008 self titled release (also mastered at The Lodge), "Contra" is only the 12th independently released album to ever earn a number 1 spot on the Billboard Top 100 chart.

Trailblazing electronic artist, BT, improved on his already impressive resume in 2010 with"THESE HOPEFUL MACHINES." Mastered by Lazar and LaPorta earlier this year at The Lodge, BT continued his tradition of pushing sonic boundaries, particularly in mastering, by merging analog tape machines and digital domain together in the same song. The result of this epic effort was one of the most exceptionally well crafted electronic releases this year. Sonic Scoop interviewed Lazar, LaPorta, and BT about this process in February, click here to read all about it.

The Grammy Awards ceremony will take place on February 13, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA at the Staples Center. Tune in and help us show support for our friends!

Vampire Weekend's "Contra" tops Billboard's album charts!

News just came in that Vampire Weekend's wicked new album "Contra" (XL Recordings) has hit the number one slot on Billboard!!! "Contra" was mastered at The Lodge by Emily Lazar and Assisted by Joe LaPorta over the summer of 2009.

Check it out

We're all really excited for the guys- make sure you try to catch them on tour. They are AWESOME live. Tour dates here

Picture taken at The Lodge by Justin Bishop and published in Vanity Fair mag.

Vampire Weekend master new album at The Lodge and unleash new video "Cousins"!

Indie sensations Vampire Weekend (XL Recordings) were back at The Lodge to master their supremely anticipated new album "Contra" with Mastering Engineer Emily Lazar and Assistant Joe LaPorta.
Can they live up to they hype and send Alice Cooper running for his money? We think so!!! Their new album is a must hear. Here's the new vid!