Gadgetbox

03/24/2024

A big thanks to Santa Cruz Works for the time in the spotlight this week! Thanks Doug! 🙏🏼

In the heart of Santa Cruz, California, Andy Zenczak's Gadgetbox has emerged as a beacon of creativity and innovation in music production. His journey, which spans over two decades, is a vivid narrative of passion, evolution, and the enduring power of music.

03/12/2024

It’s been a long time since Andy Falco and I went to college together and played guitar in rival bands 🤣, but the good news is that the laws of nature prevailed, placing my butt in a studio recording people getting Falco into The Infamous Stringdusters so he could share his limitless talent with the world. Felt so good to be part of this session - and feel the HEAT these fellas bring to their jams- so good! 🙏🏼

02/27/2024

Ain’t nothing like a Tomboy Session…. They are pretty dang special 🥰🙏🏼🤠🎙️🎶

02/25/2024

Zen and the art of a total studio rewire. Sometimes you just need to tear it all down to build it up again better. And sometimes you need to vacuum up dust bunnies that are practically old enough to vote.

02/24/2024

How many times in life do I need to end up laying face up behind a rack of recording gear rewiring everything from scratch?

01/03/2024

We brought the cameras and The String Cheese Incident brought the 🔥! What an amazing experience filming and livestreaming 3 nights of this legendary band for nugs.net on New Years’s Eve- which was also their 30th anniversary as a band. Music, community, and joy were in full effect- and we’re grateful to have been able to be a part of it!

01/29/2023

12/12/2022

Producing a live concert - from scratch - in the middle of an empty meadow - definitely has its challenges. But when the venue is as great as Pie Ranch and the band (and their fans!) are as amazing as AJ Lee & Blue Summit, the sparks will fly - and we just have to point our mics and cameras in the right directions!

Much thanks and love to the whole Gadgetbox team (Chip Yamada, Erik Scanlon, Roby A. Behrens, and Eric Muller - and special thanks to Nina Berry and Lucas Lawson at Pie Ranch for all their effort into making this an event/video shoot/concert/moment to remember!

05/03/2022

A great tune and a great performance with some great people in a great place! 👍🏼🙏🏼♥️ 

We're proud to present Tomboy Sessions #16 featuring The Coffis Brothers performing "Two Of A Kind" from their brand new record, Turn My Radio Up. Hailing fr...

10/26/2021

Mesmerizing musicianship, amazing arrangements, and powerful performances - all these superlatives don't do justice to the sheer joy and spirit captured in this music. I'm grateful and proud to have recorded and mixed "Alma", the upcoming release from Fire & Grace, featuring Edwin Huizinga and . Worldwide release on Nov 4, 2021.

01/06/2021

Starting the new year with a message of hope... this piece is meaningful in so many ways- it was one of the last pieces of music recorded at the old Gadgetbox, and one of the first opportunities I had to work with this very accomplished artist and truly gifted lyricist.

The idea for a simple live video emerged, and we all captured the magic within just a few hours.

Inspiration abounds- we only need to keep our channels open to allow it to find us.

Recorded by Collin Atkinson
Mixed and mastered by Andy Zenczak
Filmed and edited by Andy Zenczak
Assisted by Katia Andon

01/04/2021

A misty mountain hop to start the new year.

01/01/2021

Farewell- to a year of discovery, struggle, patience and growth unlike any other....

12/19/2020

A view from our office of the day... the Big Sur coastline at sunset

11/16/2020

test drive of Gadgetbox and Wind River Live Stream

08/20/2020

We'll be pausing operations for the most part for the next couple weeks.... holding our friends and family close and keeping faith that we can all can rise to the challenges presented to our community in this unprecedented time.

We have not heard specifically, but it is likely that my friend Justin Mayer's Bear Creek Studio (where I've held residence for the last 2 years+) is right in the path of the fire in Bonny Doon... with crews spread too thin and not enough resources to combat such widespread fire activity, we are fearing the worst. I pulled my instruments, data, and a carload of irreplaceables in the brief time I had to evacuate, but the collective loss of items, equipment and memories brings a heaviness to my heart.

Most client data from 2019-2020 is currently backed up on the cloud. Hard drives from prior years are in a fireproof safe off premises.

Stay vigilant everyone. Thanks to everyone who checked in. Hold the ones you love a little closer today. We'll all need to step up and dig deep for one another.

06/20/2020

Reverb plug-in (circa 1953).

06/15/2020

Another wonderful song from our friends Aza, Tifirass was filmed in Santa Cruz at Wind River Studios in February 2020. I look back fondly at my time as a bassist in this band, but over the years I am grateful to remain a part of their growth through helping them with the production of music and video.

We'll soon be live-streaming with a four camera broadcast-style switcher and bringing this quality of video and sound to your laptop, screen or device! More soon....

New song by AZA, composed by AZA in Collaboration with Abbou Khalid. Recorded and filmed at Wind River Studio on Feb 2020.

06/14/2020

Ready for the road. 4-camera live-streaming. Multi-track and multi-cam recording live as well.

06/09/2020

Coming very soon to a gadgetbox near you... virtual concerts... i.e. 4 camera input with multi-track audio ... live stream direct to Facebook/YouTube.... and record in real time to SSD... inquire within!

04/17/2020

Multiple music industry organizations announced today that an agreement has been reached with California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and Majority Leader Ian Calderon on pending amendments to Cali…

03/17/2020

Despite the current predicament musicians have found themselves in, we believe where there's a will, there's a way.

For those willing and interested, we're going to soon begin offering on-location live video streaming packages for artists. For soloists to full bands, we can capture a broadcast ready 4-camera stream (with studio quality audio), switch cameras live and send a single 1080p upstream to Facebook Live (or YouTube.) This is an opportunity to continue to reach your friends and fans while we're stifled by the situation that we're all in together.

Shuttering doors to venues is currently a necessary step to slowing the spread of the coronavirus. But live music is a necessary form of expression and release at this time, and we want to help continue to bring the music to the masses - online.

We've shot live music all over the Bay Area for years - on stages, in studios, in pastures and mountaintops, in caves and in cars.... we see this as an opportunity to keep the channel of creativity open and not feel helpless in a moment of anxiety and fear.

We're also seeking sponsors who would be interested in helping with the costs of this project so that we can maximize exposure and keep costs low for musicians, who have lost a considerable amount of their revenue-making potential as a result of COVID-19.

Please reach out if you're interested and we can provide you with more information.

In the meantime, we hope you'll join us by staying safe, staying indoors, and staying creative... the world needs will need us more than ever before this is through. 👊🏼

Gadgetbox Recording Studios is central California's premier destination for music recording and creative audio and video production in Santa Cruz, and the home of producer Andy Zenczak.

01/04/2020

Another year another mission. Happy 2020 everyone.

12/20/2019

05/30/2019

Lots of music in the matrix these days....

04/28/2019

Super proud to have co-produced recorded, mixed and filmed an amazing classical crossover album with trio Fire & Grace & Ash. Videos popping out now, new record release in May 2019!

03/28/2019

Pimpin the ol’ 4-channel API preamp with some super-sweet vintage-voiced “Red-Dot” 2520 op amps from Scott Liebers! It’s like adding a combat boot on your mic’s signal path! Fun to get some time to do some housekeeping.

03/06/2019

2019 has kicked off with an amazing collection of music recording projects, including some regular time at Bear Creek Recording Studio with my dear friends Mohamed Aoualou and Fattah Abbou from the band Azaband {AZA}. The look of pure joy on their faces when they play is a reminder of the joy in music, and the privilege I have to be part of the making of it.

08/15/2018

It's always a thrill recording and filming music *live*. Studio work has its own deliberate and detailed rewards, but recently we've been thrilled to capture the energy of bands doing their thing, sharing their 'special sauce' and igniting what makes them unique.

This video from Lauren Wahl Music & Simply Put was a blast to make - a really fun and energetic gang with a creative vision and the courage to play it all live and in front of our cameras. Thanks to Josh Huver and The Bay Bridged for taking notice and helping to spread the word!

In less than ten months, Lauren Wahl has watched her dream grow from a seed simply put in Santa Cruz all the way to Seattle. Having chased down, given up …

08/02/2018

to recording members of legendary Irish band Lunasa with our friend Admiral Haworth.