‘Invisible’ Live –Nick D’Virgilio Performs Latest Solo Album at Sweetwater Studios

Fort Wayne, IN, May 13, 2021 – Sweetwater Studios, the state-of-the-art recording studio and multimedia production complex attached to music retailer Sweetwater Sound, has announced the latest in its peerless program of streaming live music events ‘Nick D’Virgilio - Invisible: Live at Sweetwater Studios’. Progressive rock virtuoso and Sweetwater Studios ace session drummer D’Virgilio will be performing his second solo album ‘Invisible’ from the Sweetwater Studios Performance Theater with an expanded backing band, bringing the full album to life on the stage in its entirety for the first time. The performance will be taking place on Friday, May 14, 2021 at 4pm ET/1pm PT, and tickets for the streaming event can be purchased here.

Returning to the stage
​Originally released in June of 2020, ‘Invisible’ showcases D’Virgilio’s ambitious songwriting and singular talent at melding a diverse array of stylistic influences, exploring pop, rock, funk, and R&B influences. Unfortunately, when the pandemic shuttered live music across the world, any initial plans of taking the album on the road were put on hold. “Touring on my own music is something that I have always really wanted to do,” he said. “When we realized that we couldn’t do that right away I knew I wanted to create something special to make up for that.”

Sweetwater Studios has recently begun to offer a full range of multimedia production services to artists looking to produce high quality streaming video content. Recent performances have included successful high-energy events for artists like metal core heroes We Came as Romans and rising guitar god Jared James Nichols. For D’Virgilio, this was a chance to capture the perfect live performance of his art with the people who helped bring the album together. “It’s a real Sweetwater show in that way because so many of the people involved had supported the production of the album, from the players, to the engineers, to the production team,” he said. “The idea of doing a streaming live performance of the full album immediately became appealing, and I realized that it was an opportunity to do a show that would really do justice to the album.”

For the performance, D’Virglio assembled an all-star backing band to bring the album to life on stage. The band consists of Don Car and Pete Lock on guitar, Andy Rice on Bass, Jacob Dupre on keyboards, Ryan Holquist on drums, Isak West on tenor sax and backing vocals, Adam Griswold on baritone sax, and Nick’s daughter Sophia D’Virgilio on backing vocals. “Building the expanded backing band for this was a lot of fun because of how many wonderful friends and colleagues I was able to involve,” he said. “Everyone gave a lot of themselves to help make this happens and I think it gives the performance so much energy and joy on the stage.”

Sound and vision
​An important part of bringing ‘Invisible’ to life was utilizing the full resources of Sweetwater’s production lighting and stage design team as an integrated part of the performance. The show was directed by Sweetwater’s Joe Etemadi with lighting design by Austin Walsh, and visuals from Ray of Light Films’ producer Christian Rios on the 4K video screen behind the band. All of these elements were carefully coordinated to create a multimedia event that would be as exciting to watch as it was to listen to. “Invisible is a concept record, so it was important to me that we have these visual elements to help tell the story,” D’Virgilio said. “Christian has worked with so many prog rock legends so it was natural to get him involved, and once we were seeing it projected on this massive 22x12ft video wall, it really made the show feel larger-than-life in the best possible way.”

Audio production duties were handled from Sweetwater Studios’ Studio A by producer/engineer Shawn Dealey. Dealey has been spearheading Sweetwater’s streaming live event production, utilizing his skillset as a well-versed live engineer from his years on the road with artists like Counting Crows, Goo Goo Dolls, and Santana. He captured the audio for the show with a variety of high-end DPA and Telefunken microphones with Rupert Neve Designs RMP-D8 preamps and mixed in Sweetwater Studios’ Studio A. “One of my goals at Sweetwater Studios is to capture artists giving their best performances in the most real and organic way possible,” said Dealey. “When you allow the artists to what they do best, without getting in their way, with the amazing equipment we have at our disposal, we can ensure that the end result is of the highest quality.” 

For D’Virgilio, the performance is a culmination of a decade of work that has allowed him to realize his artistic vision in a stage show that rivals his best work, while also opening a window into what’s possible for the future. “Being able to offer this to artists is something we’re really proud of at Sweetwater because we know how important high quality video content is now to people making music,” he said. “For me, it was exhilarating to be able to do a performance like this after a year and a half of being off the stage and the level of production we were able to bring to this means anyone who watches it will be able to experience it in the same way.”

For tickets and information about ‘Invisible: Live”, please click here.

For more information about Nick D’Virgilio, please visit: http://www.nickdvirgilio.com/

For more information on Sweetwater Studios and upcoming streaming events, please visit: http://www.sweetwaterstudios.com/

​About Sweetwater Studios
​Sweetwater Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sweetwater Sound, Inc., the largest online music instrument retailer in the country. With three world-class studios designed by Russ Berger and access to a greater diversity of musical equipment and professional audio gear than any other recording studio in the world, Sweetwater Studios is able to accommodate just about any recording, mixing or mastering project, no matter how simple or complex. Sweetwater Studios also has an exceptional staff of producers, engineers, session musicians and studio technicians to ensure that any artist will get personalized, first-class treatment from start to finish.