Department of Music alum David Hidek (BA 2007) received a pre-production credit for platinum-selling rock band Flyleaf’s new album Between the Stars. The September 16th release topped Billboard’s Alternative chart on September 26!

Facing the challenge of completing a new album with band members living in different parts of the country, Flyleaf flew Hidek, who is Chief Mix Engineer at Treelady Studios, to drummer James Culpepper’s Texas home/studio along with New York producer Mark Troth Lewis. In the course of a week and a half, Hidek and Lewis helped Flyleaf record ten demos for the upcoming album. If you’ve ever wondered just what that pre-production album credit covers, it’s a lot more than putting on the coffee. Hidek helped the band realize and focus their song ideas, engineered the recordings, and edited the audio, all while coordinating the band members’ studio schedules so that they could make the most out of their time. When the new tracks were laid down, he brought them back to Treelady for mastering before sending them to Flyleaf’s management and record label.

“‘Traitor’ was a song that I was intensely involved with,” says Hidek, “so it was great to see it prominently featured on the record. A few of the other tunes that made the cut from our pre-production sessions were ‘Head Underwater,’ ‘Well of Lies,’ and ‘Blue Roses.’ Another song, ‘Ship of Fools’ is on the extended edition.”

Congratulations to Flyleaf on their successful new release, and for making such an outstanding choice in working with David Hidek. And congratulations to David for his continued success as a composer and recording engineer.