South Florida's Most In-Demand Drummer w/Lee Levin :: Ep 186 The Rich Redmond Show
Description
Billboard Magazine's focus on the South Florida Recording scene referred to Lee Levin as "the city's most in demand drummer". Since graduating the University of Miami in 1989, Lee has played on more than 1000 recordings for a variety of artists throughout the world including Barbra Streisand, Madonna, Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Nelly Furtado, Clay Aiken, Christina Aquilera, Michael Bolton, Sarah Silverman, Meat Loaf, Luis Fonsi, Calle 13, Ricardo Arjona, Alejandro Sanz, Juan Luis Guerra, Enrique Iglesias, Julio Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Eros Ramazzotti, Shakira and many others. His drumming can also be heard on ESPN and NBC Sports shows.
Lee was the Musical Director/Drummer for Bad Bunny on the Ultimo Tour Del Mundo US/Canadian Arena tour and has previously toured/performed with Barry Gibb/BeeGees, Luis Fonsi, Ricky Martin, Christopher Cross, Julio Iglesias, and Jon Secada. Although mostly known as a studio session player, Lee continues to be co-musical director for the Latin GRAMMY house band on the telecast. Besides TV and award shows, he has performed Classical and Jazz concerts, including the World Premier of the Elvis Costello/Twyla Tharp Ballet, “Nightspot”.
As a writer, Lee has written and/or recorded commercials for Pantene, Bellsouth, Florida Lottery, McDonalds, and Domino's Pizza. His compositions have been heard on NBC's Friends, Saturday Night Live, Dateline, America's Next Top Model and TMZ. Lee has worked on many educational books, videos and CD's for Alfred Publications including one he wrote for the Ultimate Beginner Tech Start Series entitled “Drum Programming Basics”.
A natural transition toward production has landed Levin with 7 Latin GRAMMY awards and 1 GRAMMY award. His nominations as either a producer or engineer, include 3 for 2015 Album of the Year (Alejandro Sanz & Natalia Jimenez), Record of the Year (Ricky Martin) 2 for 2013 Album of the Year (Alejandro Sanz & Andres Cepeda), 2 For 2012 Album of the Year and Record of the Year (Ricardo Arjona), 1 for 2011 Album of the Year (Calle 13), 3 for 2010-Record of the Year (Alejandro Sanz), Album of the Year (Alejandro Sanz), and Best Engineering (Diego Torres).
Past nominations include 2009 Record of the Year (Luis Fonsi), 2007-Best Engineering (Juan Fernando Velazco), and 2006 Record of the Year (Ricardo Arjona). In 2008 Lee, along with Tommy Torres and Dan Warner, co-produced “Tarde o Temprano” for Tommy Torres which was nominated in both the American and Latin Grammys. They also co-produced Ednita Nazario's "Por Ti" album (certified gold), which was nominated for a Grammy and won a Latin Billboard Award, as well as her release "Appasionata". In addition to co-producing a #1 song for Luis Fonsi, Levin has also produced for Ricardo Arjona, Tommy Torres, Gisselle, and Perry Joslin.
Lee's endorsements include Pearl Drums & Percussion, Paiste Cymbals, Innovative Percussion Drumsticks, Remo Drumheads, Kickport products, Snareweight Products, Heil Microphones, and 64Audio In-ear-monitors.
Follow:
IG: @leelevin1
FB: @leelevin
Some Things That Came Up:
-4:00 Lee’s studio started in a guest bedroom in 1994 with ADATS. Demos quickly became albums.
-5:15 Lee has been in his current studio for 20 years.
—6:10 Lee’s kid’s pals thought he was so cool because he was touring with Bad Bunny.
-9:00 More pro tools systems in Miami than anywhere on the planet
-10:20 Very memorable experiences with recording artist Soraya
-11:00 Lee was highlighted on Inside Story, CBS. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Supreme Court Justice graduated from Lee’s high school
-13:00 Lee came from a non musical family with super supportive parents. Pots and Pans at 4 years old. Practice pad lessons at 5. Traditional musical path-school bands, garage bands, etc.
-15:20 Played with Metro-Dade big band at 13. Lee met some of his lifelong friends there and are still working together.
-16:50 Musical Director for the Latin Grammys. Lee writes the theme song every year.
-20:00 Lee focused on studio work as soon as he got married. Ricky Martin and Barry Gibb sprinkled in.
-21:20 Bad Bunny tour. Only played 45 minutes of the show
-26:20 Most of Lee’s heroes were the session cats
-27:30 The Groove, the funk, the backbeat
-28:00 First gig after college was with heartthrob Cheyenne.
-30:30 Julio Iglesias’ gig was always a right of passage
-32:00 Getting called to replace a Carlos Vega track.
-35:15 The Miami Hurricanes! The love of football.
-37:39 The throne is now higher and the cymbals are lower
-38:20 Longtime Pearl and Paiste endorser
-40:20 5A vs. 5B sticks
-41:40 session work involves great IMAGINATION and asking the RIGHT questions
-43:00 Lobbying and advocation for musician’s rights. It is the federal government’s job to preserve copyright law
-49:20 Lee is NOT in the musician’s union. Watch out for the “race to the bottom” plague
-51:50 Most of Lee’s work comes from producers and songwriters.
-55:30 Lee’s tech is Carlos Guzman
-56:15 A walking tour of Lee’s studio
-57:30 Lee is now getting certified as a level 3 wine expert and other accolades. The Wine Guy! Lee is heading down the pro wine path.
-59:30 Le Tosh wine=$$$. Compliments of Julio Iglesias. Wine Spirits Education Trust.
-1:02:30 Wine, Finance, History
-1:05:00 Wine making is both ART and SCIENCE. Very similar to music
-1:07:00 Muso.AI. Lee is in the top .01% of recorded drummers on the planet with 16 billion streams and 1200 credits.
-1:10:30 Lee’s Advice:
“It’s not as much about your talent as it is being a people person.” This is people business. We are providing a SERVICE! Make people comfortable and ALWAYS do a great job. Be fully engaged!
-1:13:00 “The Fave 5”
The Rich Redmond Show is about all things music, motivation and success. Candid conversations with musicians, actors, comedians, authors and thought leaders about their lives and the stories that shaped them. Rich Redmond is the longtime drummer with Jason Aldean and many other veteran musicians and artists. Rich is also an actor, speaker, author, producer and educator. Rich has been heard on thousands of songs, over 30 of which have been #1 hits!
Check out Rich’s books on Amazon!
Follow Rich:
@richredmond
Jim McCarthy is the quintessential Blue Collar Voice Guy. Honing his craft since 1996 with radio stations in Illinois, South Carolina, Connecticut, New York, Las Vegas and Nashville, Jim has voiced well over 10,000 pieces since and garnered an ear for audio production which he now uses for various podcasts, commercials and promos. Jim is also an accomplished video producer, content creator, writer and overall entrepreneur.
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