Big Green's Winning Streak - Nichols School

The Producer:
Allen Farmelo ’88
By Blake Walsh ’98
Brooklyn, N.Y.-based freelance record producer, Allen Farmelo
’88, and his partner, Shelley, recently started a record label called
Winter Bear Records to release Shelley’s albums for children.
The featured character of these albums is called Elska, a modern
pioneer who lives on a newly-formed volcanic island off the coast of
Iceland. As Allen describes, “Elska weaves the sweetness of Winnie
the Pooh with the otherworldliness of Dr. Seuss into a rather
unique musical sound.” The first Elska album came out on Sept.
4, thus making recent months in Allen’s production world very
busy and very exciting. The album has already won two prestigious
awards in the educational/parenting world: The National Parenting
Publication Awards Honors and the Parents’ Choice Foundation
Silver Medal.
How Nichols shaped his
abilities and character:
Nichols totally inspired
my career! The first time
I stepped into a recording
studio was as an 8 th grader
playing synthesizers with the
Nichols Jazz Band. When I
walked into that studio, my
life changed. I was inalterably
hooked on the idea of making
records in studios, no matter
what. Of course, my senior
project was to record an album with my band. Nichols was flexible
enough to accommodate my interests in recording, and this was a
direct reflection of the high value the school puts on the arts. I can
hardly imagine my life without those formative opportunities and
the support for the arts.
Interestingly, I went on to record in that same studio in my 20s,
and then again in my 30s when I recorded a whole album there
with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple and Jesus Christ Superstar fame. It
now belongs to The Goo Goo Dolls, who were working there back
when I was in high school.
What’s all in a day’s work:
I am a freelance record producer, a career that – given that there
were no schools to teach this when I was coming up – was born of
my own ingenuity combined with the luck of great opportunities
and caring mentors. I wish I had a quick explanation for what
“record producer” actually means. The best I can explain it is that
I spend long stretches of time with musicians making their life’s
work. My work entails many different roles, including coach, boss,
critic, servant, songwriter, musician, recording engineer, mixer,
budget manager and more. The roles I play change with every
record.
Greatest accomplishment to date:
In the past year, I have made two records with the previously
unrecorded 86-year-old pianist Boyd Lee Dunlop. He is from
Buffalo. His records have touched so many people, but they’ve
been especially meaningful to elderly people. In the same year
I helped create and recorded the Elska project for children. To
broaden my work to include the very old and the very young feels
like an incredible accomplishment, and has added an unexpected
emotional depth to my work.
Advice for current students:
Don’t quit! Perseverance is the secret to success in any creative
field. The hardest part about creative careers is that the
opportunities and the logical career steps aren’t laid before you as
clearly as they are in, say, the legal or medical fields. So, you have to
make sure that you can always say “yes” to an opportunity when it
Allen Farmelo ’88
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