Monroe man engineers 2 Grammy nods

By Timothy Malcolm

Times Herald-Record
Posted: December 12, 2009 - 2:00 AM

Phil Bulla of Platinum Productions in Monroe holds a copy of the One O'Clock Lab Band's “Lab 2009,” which he produced and engineered. The band was recently nominated for two Grammy Awards.


Times Herald-Record/DOMINICK FIORILLE
MONROE —A music album has performers and producers, who are known quite widely. But deep within the liner notes, you'll find co-producers, designers, technicians, musicians and engineers. They're like the bones of a body, while most see merely skin. Phil Bulla of Monroe is one of those bones, an accomplished engineer and producer who has struck gold with his affiliation to two Grammy nominations, announced Dec. 2. He was the engineer on "Lab 2009" by the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band, which scored nominations in Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album and Best Instrumental Composition (for "Ice-Nine," a song from the album).

"For one CD to get two Grammy nominations is pretty amazing in the jazz world," Bulla said from his Monroe studio, Platinum Productions. Bulla has produced or done engineering for various artists, including Chaka Khan and trumpet legend Maynard Ferguson, whose final work he engineered in 2006. "I was called upon to engineer that recording, and that was his last recording," Bulla said. "He died one month later to the day." Ferguson played regularly with renowned bandleader Stan Kenton, who was so awestruck by the One O'Clock Lab Band that when he died, he donated his musical library to the University of North Texas so the band could perform his songs. The band enlisted Bulla to be the engineer on the first album of Kenton songs it performed.

Bulla started working with the University of North Texas in 1986. The One O'Clock Lab Band was Grammy-nominated four times before and is regarded by many as a premier collegiate big band. Bulla has toured with it to Thailand, Japan and parts of Europe, playing for kings and documenting footage of the shows for video, providing another few bones to an impressive body of work.
tmalcolm@th-record.com