Dave Schall Acoustic

01/02/2026

2025 was a wild ride....we never really know what may be in store, but this past year came with some amazing opportunities for collaboration and expanding the palette! I got to work with a handful of musical heroes, tracked a ton of fantastic content with our favorites in the client roster and added some fresh new folks to that list, shook hands with two of my initial musical inspirations, and tracked a myriad of top notch new works. Special thanks to all of my best buds at THS Audio, who saw a banner year and added my new favorite tool to their arsenal, the Quantum 338 console that is elevating my work with the NAO bit by bit.

As I sit here and work on an upcoming album release and a stack of more NAO video content, I can only be grateful to be doing what I love here in the snowy tundra of Michigan every day and to have such amazing colleagues to keep me energized, most notably the amazing Robyn Kimmey who has my back on every project, every day, and in our lives in general . We never work, we just do what we do!

11/09/2025

Its a party in Dearborn! The NAO presenting a series of "Sing Along With the NAO" events, and each one is a big old community hang.

09/06/2025

Dropping fat beats with Akropolis Reed Quintet at Willis Sound today. Teamed up in the booth with producer Elaine Lee Martone. This piece is a gem....stand by for more. 🎩

08/15/2025

It's a big day today! Project Encore Vol. 2 from Tim McAllister and Liz Ames is released. This is a fascinating compendium of virtuosic vignettes for saxophone and piano that we have been working on for two years as the second installment of the "Project Encore" offerings. It's always a joy to work with the "TMac dream team" (Tim and Liz on the stage, David Biedenbender and myself in the booth), and I'm really excited for this to hit the ground.

A hearty brava to all the composers who contributed to this!
This album also puts another Marsalis on my work roster with Wynton's "Book Book Nova" as the kickoff piece.

Check it out on Neuma Records site:

Digital audio available from ALL DIGITAL STREAMING SERVICES (from August 15) and from BANDCAMP Free pdf booklet When audiences cry out for more after a thrilling concert, players need to respond with something even more dazzling and impactful. Their options of what to play just increased with the ar...

05/01/2025

Always pushing the boundaries and raising the bar with the National Arab Orchestra, we deployed a bunch of new tools this past weekend for a phenomenal show at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in Dearborn. The orchestra was joined by Ameer Dandan as our featured vocalist, the Detroit Youth Choir, and 43 student instrumentalists from local high schools.

I took the brand new Digico Quantum 338 console from THS Audio for its first spin with the NAO, and it did not disappoint! Unlimited flexibility and control, it was never easier for me to lock all of this activity on stage in. I also deployed my recently acquired package of DPA 4099 mics on our string section, resulting in unrivaled clarity, tonal accuracy, isolation, and gain structure for our string section. The whole show was tracked via Waves Soundgrid and Reaper as usual, and the media will be coming soon.

Many, many thanks to my intrepid crew of Toby Philips on monitors and IEMs, Cory Robinson and Robyn Kimmey on filming, Salim Laham for his gorgeous lighting design, the whole Guido Theater stage crew, and the immense help from Olivia Cirisan who shadowed this show with me and stepped right up to the challenge like a boss on stage crew THEN manned our FoH camera!

04/05/2025

Thanks LSO! What a great 25 years! ❤️❤️

For almost every concert in our 25 years, recording engineer Dave Schall has been behind the soundboard, making the recordings that we have sold on CD and now make available digitally. He makes us sound good!

Last night, he stepped in front of our display of concert posters for a quick photo.

If you have a musical event that needs recording, he’s at Dave Schall Acoustic!

04/04/2025

We've enjoyed working with Mark Clague and the Gershwin Initiative since its inception, and each new critical edition they bring about further solidifies the catalog of beloved works by George and Ira. Here's the most recent presentation that we had the privilege of capturing and creating the media for.

THE GERSHWINS AT A TURNING POINT by Andrew S. Kohler, PhD, Alfred and Jane Wolin Managing Editor Welcome to our centennial celebration of George and Ira Gers...

03/30/2025

Today we'd like to highlight a fun and compelling project that we've been a part of in the last few years supporting our dear colleagues of Akropolis Reed Quintet at their annual chamber music institute at Bay View. This is an invaluable opportunity for young composers and emerging young players to immerse themselves in a series of new works side-by-side with ARQ.

Everything that we have seen come out of this has been stellar from top to bottom, and we've been delighted to roll tape and cams for it! Check out the playlist from the 2024 shows and sessions below.

If you are a young composer or wind player and love new music, we highly recommend applying to be a part of this fast-growing new opportunity in the beautiful city of Petoskey up on Lake Michigan!

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02/24/2025

We had an amazing opportunity to record and film the first full capture of a brand new piece by Michael Daugherty, "Kansas City Confidential," for two saxophones and piano last week. Not only did the ensemble consist of my dear colleagues Tim McAllister and Liz Ames, but the saxophone monolith himself; Brandford Marsalis. It was a fantastic experience, and I'm looking forward to digging into the media this week.
It's not every day you get to work with the people who inspire you to get in to your career, and Branford was a huge motivator for me in the late 80s when I was playing saxophone and starting up the bassoon. To hear his tone up close in person was like being visited by that initial inspiration all over again.

Stay tuned for the release of this exceptional work!