Brian Seikan Nelson – Editor

Brian Seikan Nelson was born July 4, 1985 and is the second of four children. Both of his brothers are successful musicians and his sister is currently attending college.

Brian began editing video in high school as a way to get out of doing live presentations. He ended up editing not only his own projects but many of his classmates' as well. Eventually, what began as an excuse became a calling. After high school, he moved to Hollywood to attend The Los Angeles Film School and studied Editing and Cinematography.

After graduating, he gripped a few shoots and edited acting reels and promotional videos. His big break came twice. First, he was hired to edit the horror feature, "Sin Jin Smyth." His second break came when he was hired to edit the indie feature, "Mother's Red Dress." It is currently on track to be released in the Fall of 2011.

BNelsonEdit.com

Christine Wu – Composer

Christine's professional career began at age 17. She has since played as a soloist and ensemble member all around the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean. Professional touring has taken her to Carnegie Hall as well as most of the well known concert halls throughout Europe. Christine studied violin at the University of Southern California with Robert Lipsett. During her final semester, she won a prestigious (tenured) full time position with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in 2001. In 2005, she made the unusual decision to resign from the world class symphony orchestra job. She studied record production and once she had mastered Pro Tools, she ran away from home to join the circus aka the Record, Film and Television industries in Los Angeles.

Newly reinvented, Christine now works with producers, songwriters and bands to compose original string arrangements for rock, pop, country and urban records. She also works with composers, doing strings for film, television, trailers and jingles. Christine also writes original songs and records on several additional instruments, but we digress. Christine has worked on many major records, films and TV shows since returning to Los Angeles in 2007. She has also worked behind the scenes producing and editing vocals for recording sessions, using her perfect pitch, Pro Tools skills and quest for perfection to work with producers and mixers. Christine plays a 1782 Gragnani and a Violectra electric violin. Christine also records and composes on the cello and if pressed, the viola.

LAfilmScore.com

Kevin Doucette – Composer

Kevin Doucette is a film, TV and video game music composer in Santa Monica, CA. He began his musical career as a classical and jazz trained pianist before studying at the renowned Berklee College of Music as a George Delerue Film Scoring Scholarship recipient. While teaching film scoring as a Berklee Faculty member, Kevin helped establish Music and Motion Productions (MUMO Productions) with composer Lucas Vidal in 2005. In 2009 Kevin relocated with the company to Los Angeles and has worked on both domestic and foreign films including the Emmy Nominated "The Lois Wilson Story" and "The Immortal Voyage of Captain Drake". In early 2010, he was approached by A.R. Rahman to join the Jai Ho World Tour on which he works alongside an Oscar Winning composer, the world's best Indian artists and LA's A-list musicians.

Kevin is Canadian and spent most of his childhood in France and Holland, learning to speak both French and Dutch along the way. He began his musical studies as a classical pianist before studying jazz and working in pop music. Kevin began studying composition and music technology while in high school in Holland. Prior to his degree in Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music, Kevin earned degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Music and History from Queens University in Ontario, Canada.

While at Queen's University Kevin was the captain of the Division One Men's Soccer Varsity team for 3 years, winning both leadership and MVP awards. In his ever dwindling leisure hours, Kevin can be found playing soccer with Valhalla FC in the LA Men's Premiere league, tennis, golf, and squash.

An avid "techie", Kevin also consults for Steinberg North America specializing in Cubase and Nuendo in the West Coast market, assisting other composers, producers and music libraries with their technology and sample library needs.

KevinDoucetteMusic.com

Mehdi Safa – Song Writer, Musician and Vocalist

It’s been 4 years since transatlantic epic rock explorers *shels, released their debut album “Sea of the Dying Dhow” to critical acclaim. And since its release the group have jettisoned their own imprint, Shelsmusic, and built a home for some of underground alternative music’s finest from around the globe - including the likes of Black Sheep Wall, Latitudes, Ef, The Ascent of Everest, Sons of Noel And Adrian and more. On the sidelines, *shels have been slow-roasting their sophomore full-lengther, Plains of the Purple Buffalo with more care, detail and attention than anything the band have ever undertaken.

“it’s been a tough 4 years… juggling various different projects along with the label, and our day jobs too - we’ve been through some of the greatest personal highs and lows ever and our lives have changed so much during the writing and recording of this album… we've learned so much and tried to put everything into these tracks” – Mehdi Safa

Produced by Mehdi Safa at his home in Temecula, California, and taking its title from the novel and movie The Neverending Story, Plains of the Purple Buffalo is a monumental journey, clocking-in just shy of 80 minutes. Piloted by the songwriting force behind its previous incarnation as UK hardcore cult favorites Mahumodo, *shels' niche lies in the group’s unique ability to seamlessly intertwine blistering slabs of raw brutality with delicate and fragile passages - songs are more like film scores and packed so richly, they overflow with emotion and energy. The attention to detail and layers of melody has resonated with music lovers across all genres and what makes *shels stand apart form their peers. And in Plains of the Purple Buffalo *shels have taken their moody, emotion-fuelled quest to Epic new plains.

“when we titled the album back in 2007, we didn’t realize how appropriate and relevant it would be to our own Endeavour of completing this record. The Neverending Story is about not losing hope, taking a leap of faith and believing in something you may not be able to see, touch or understand - and overcoming fear – it’s about letting go, embracing your  own power and allowing yourself to reach your full potential – these ideals are at the core of this album” – Mehdi Safa

ShelsMusic.Bandcamp.com

Parliament of Owls – Band

Closely resembling the timid and elusive creatures they share their name with, Parliament Of Owls would also prefer to sit unnoticed while transmitting gentle, lo-fi lullabies into the noisy wilderness.

Utilizing short, delicate passages, Parliament Of Owls delivers an emotional and haunting debut in “Crow”. Every segment carefully woven together using apparently simple means – opting for a modest recording setup, consisting of a few computer mics, laptop, front room and a few bottles of wine, the final result is a collection of intimate lullabies more like audio journal entries.

Live performances have been low-key events with the members often choosing to play in low-lit settings and/or behind linen screens. Acoustic guitars and mellow vocals send gentle waves of hypnotic and soothing soft sounds reminiscent of Elliot Smith and Nick Drake.

Although frustratingly brief, every section of this debut connects with gentle yet piercing potency and leaves the listener wishing for more. Fortunately, a 2nd disc is provided courtesy of DJ/Producer ‘Cignol’, which features longer electronic re-interpretations of each track.

All in all, this limited edition dual disc features over 75 minutes music.  The release is planned thru Shelsmusic in the form of 100 hand-made/numbered copies (on CD) available at shelsmusic.com and as digital download only.

MEMBERS:
Owen Farrington - Guitar, vocals, piano, accordion
Les Seddon Brown - Guitar & backing vocals
Nicky Jones - Vocals
Silvia Novak - Ukulele & piano

Myspace.com/ParliamentOfOwls

Shaun Burdick – Sound Designer

Shaun Burdick is a Los Angeles based Sound Designer who holds a bachelor’s degree in Technical Theatre and a Master of Fine Arts in Sound Design.  For the past ten years he has leant his talents as a designer and mixer to various theatrical productions and independent films.  His film credits have included Re-recording Mixer on the independent documentary “Empty Hand: The Real Karate Kids,” Sound Designer for “The Night Shift,” TV pilot “Jalama Beach,” and Dialogue/Sound Effects Editor on “Make a Movie Like Spike…”  In February 2011 he was nominated for the MPSE Verna Field Award for his sound design work on the short film “En Route.”

BurdickSound.com

Nima Fakhrara – Composer

Born in Tehran, Iran, Nima has been with Persian classical music from birth, he slept to the sound of Music. The Santour was his lullaby.

At the tender age of five he started to learn music and The Santour. He started to study music with Ostad Tavakoli, then with Ostad Hematabadi and finally with Ostad Saeed Sabet. As the youngest musician in the academy he played in many gatherings side by side with Ostad Sabet. He finished the study of Radif (Persian Classical Repertoire) with Ostad Sabet. He traveled to the U.S. to continue his education and his musical career.

In Washington D.C. he studied the art of improvising, composition, and conducting with Dr. Nader Majd. Under the supervision of Dr. Alireza Analoui he researched the art of complex rhythms. He composed many pieces for The Chakavak Ensemble, which was conducted by Dr Majd. He then traveled to Los Angeles to continue his education in Media Composition at California State University Northridge. At California State University Northridge he has composed and arranged many pieces for large ensembles. His concert pieces performed by the Studio Ensemble include, "Magicopollis", "Heist Suite", "Prelude of the World", and "Kingdom" to name a few.

He has also studied Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, and Instrument Making. With the information gathered he made the instrument Delnavaz. He has composed many pieces for short films including, Lost Dream and Evolution both Directed by Asif Ahmad, Tumblers Directed by Vinny Delay, and Broadway Bound directed by Bandar Albuliwi to name a few.

NimaFilmMusic.com