When Linda Sargent was 15 years old, she was layering vocals on a borrowed old four-track recorder, searching out things around her house to play “percussion tracks” on her songs. With years of piano lessons already behind her, Linda was slowly crafting an original sound that would carry her into her first album project.
Just two years later she loaded up a box full of tapes of her own music (scratch tracks), and some money (pre-sales from parents at her all-girl Catholic high school), and headed to the Disney Studios to record her first album, One Step From Home. She explains, “I met up with the engineer from the Disney character voices studio in Burbank, CA, who kindly let me record there on the weekends and after work hours. It was exhilarating recording in professional studios—like fireworks—I decided to pursue music as my path in life.”
After the release of One Step From Home in 2000, Linda moved from Phoenix to San Diego and enrolled in the brand new Computer Music program at the University of California, San Diego. "I bought my first legitimate computer and began to seriously study digital recording, computer music, programming and multimedia arts. The more I dug in, the more I was satisfied," she says with a grin.
During college, musician Tom Griesgraber introduced Linda to Spotted Peccary Studios, a San Diego based ambient-electronic record label, where she assisted in recording sessions. There Linda met Spotted Peccary artist and film/TV composer David Helpling, and they soon began collaborating on corporate projects for Hewlett Packard, Sempra Energy and Tony Robbins.
Linda graduated from UCSD in 2004 with a degree in Computer Music and began concentrating on her second album, which she’s constructing around themes of personal experience, love, loss and relationships. The unique sound she’s developing, working in the intersections of pop, electronica, classical and acoustic styles, comes out of her diverse musical and engineering background. The result is innovative, raw, and cutting-edge: "We hand crafted almost all of the instruments on this record by sampling various things: kitchen mixing bowls, hand-bells, antique reed organ, my old music box, pitched wine glasses, etc." Linda is working closely with Stephan Vankov who she met at UCSD. Stephan is an extrodinarily skilled beat programmer who breathes life into the rhythmic elements of each mix. Born and raised in Bulgaria, his eastern-european roots heavily influence his sound and infuse an eclectic blend of rhythms and bass lines that artfully dance around Linda’s music.
Meanwhile, Spotted Peccary artists Jon Jenkins and Howard Givens invited Linda to perform vocals on a track Jenkins wrote for the Behind the Scenes Trailer for the major motion picture The New World (New Line Cinemas) which was released fall 2005. The trailer played internationally at all Regal Cinemas and Ultra Star theaters and was also aired on Entertainment Tonight. In addition, two songs from Linda's upcoming release will appear in the thriller Cold Storage (Lion's Gate Films). The track "Moving On" from Linda's album One Step From Home also appears in the indie film False Summit by director Chris Cummings (Art Director for Big Fish, Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, Lady Killers) and two of her songs are featured in the film The Devil and Saddamm by William Backer. Recently, Linda was awarded the title of “Best Songwriter of the Year” by the San Diego Songwriters Guild for her song, Oxygen. Her award-winning track will be featured on 102.1 KPRI and is making quite a stir around San Diego. Linda was also nominated as “Best Keyboardist in San Diego” by the San Diego HAT Awards in 2006. Currently, Linda is also Adjunct Professor at Palomar Community College where she is able to share her knowledge of music production and multimedia arts.
Though she has come a long way as a professional musician and engineer, she maintains that this is just the beginning. "This album is a benchmark on the first leg of a long journey; my next album project is a big accomplishment for me both as a singer and composer. I can't wait to unleash these new songs into the world."
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So, I loved Oxygen the moment that I heard it. Like most artist, I assumed that maybe that was your only great song. I WAS WRONG! I LOVE Valentine, Cloudless and Passion too. Keep em coming!
When Linda Sargent was 15 years old, she was layering vocals on a borrowed old four-track recorder, searching out things around her house to play “percussion tracks” on her songs. With years of piano lessons already behind her, Linda was slowly crafting an original sound that would carry her into her first album project.
