Brandon Friesen is an American, Grammy Award nominated and multi-Juno Award winning music producer, audio engineer, mixer, and television producer. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and spent several years living and working in Canada before relocating permanently to Los Angeles, California. His current companies include record label Blue Cadillac Music with partner Billy Ray Cyrus,[1] Arbor Television, and C12 Records (distributed by EMI Music Canada).
In 2007 Brandon developed a TV production company known as "Arbor Television" with offices in Hollywood and Canada. Arbor TV produces the acclaimed music/comedy variety series “Arbor Live” which has run for 3 seasons and has featured artists such as Mötley Crüe, Buckcherry, The Stray Cats, Velvet Revolver, Fishbone, Staind, Slayer, Mother Mother, Joe Satriani, Papa Roach, Comeback Kid and numerous other internationally acclaimed bands.[2] Further, Brandon co-produced the successful reality show titled “LAX” which was broadcast on Viva, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Pro7 in Europe.[3] Arbor Television produced European network Bravo's "The Best Of Bravo" in 2010 which featured appearances by celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner, Selena Gomez, and more,[4] as well as various production co-ventures with Bravo, MTV, Nickelodeon, CBC and several other respected networks around the world.[5][6]
Brandon Friesen founded Arbor Records in 1999, which was recognized as one of Canada's Top Ten Most Influential Independent Record Labels by Applaud Magazine in 2004.[7] It was distributed by EMI Music Canada and Allegro Music Corporation in addition to various other distributors around the world. Brandon Friesen sold this company in 2012 to Redsmoke Records. He maintains a Canadian rock label distributed by EMI Music Canada "C12 Records", and recently founded "Blue Cadillac Music" with partner Billy Ray Cyrus. Blue Cadillac Music debuted by releasing a new song for free download by Billy Ray Cyrus on Father's Day, 2012 entitled, "That's What Daddy.s Do".[8]
As a producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer, Brandon Friesen's career has spanned over 15 years.[2] In 2006 Friesen was honored for a second time as “Engineer of the Year” at the WCMA Awards, prevailing over a number of highly respected engineers such as Randy Staub (Metallica, Nickelback). He engineered and mixed the Power97 sessions, which include acoustic performances by Nickelback, Sum 41, Everlast, Seether, Staind, Finger Eleven, Three Days Grace, and more.
