Noah Griffin - Current Distance
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A Culminating Experience
At the end of 2024, I was starting to prepare for my “Culminating Experience in Music Production,” the final project for my master’s degree from Berklee College of Music. The professor assigned to guide me through the project was Sean Slade (Radiohead, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Dresden Dolls, Hole, and many more…). He had previously been my professor for my capstone project during my undergrad at Berklee and was one of my most valued mentors in both programs.
In addition to my assigned professor, I was required to select a second advisor. I sent some “Hail Mary” emails and DMs to producers and engineers who worked on my favorite records, but the only respondents who were willing to advise me couldn’t make the scheduling work. So I turned to the Austin-based artist/producer I trusted most, Alex Winters, and she graciously agreed.
The last piece of the puzzle was finding an artist to record. In order to start building a list, I reached out to a friend named Rachel who used to do nearly all of the booking for Up Late Austin and seems to know virtually every musician in Austin on a first-name basis. I then added every local artist I could think of that I had worked with or enjoyed listening to. After weeks of building this substantial list, I handed it to Alex, who barely glanced at it before asking, "Why don't you just ask Noah?" And that was it. In less than a second, it was decided. The second his name was floated, it was immediately obvious that there was no other option.
Luckily for me, Noah agreed, and that work became his first EP: Current Distance. Since the recording of this work, Alex has become a regular fixture doing production work at Electric Platypus, Noah has become our favorite videographer to work with, and we’ve gleefully used his image and likeness without permission at least once (so far).
I love these songs and am extremely grateful to have been entrusted with them. Now that they’re out in the wild, I hope anyone reading this enjoys them as much as I do. Have a listen:
—Travis Hanna