TRACK RECORDS

He learned in BMG, then married and moved to Eretz Yisrael, but returning to Flatbush turned out to be the right move for his music. “I met Tzvi Silberstein, who was looking for songs for his first album,” Doni recalls. “He bought one off me, then asked me if I felt comfortable arranging it. I said, ‘I think I can do it.’ ” A year later, Silberstein released a duet album, and the young arranger got to meet and work with Jewish music greats. He hasn’t looked back since, producing some of today’s best loved albums, but when asked about a favorite project, he says it would have to be working with Abie Rotenberg on the rebirth of Journeys.

YITZY WALDNER started out in the music world by singing. He was the Pirchei soloist who sang “Shema Hashem vechaneini, Hashem heyei ozer li” at HASC’s A Time for Music II, acted the role of Albert on Shmuel Kunda’s The Longest Pesach, was a soloist with Amudai Shaish and sang for Reb Eli Teitelbaum and Country Yossi too. He soon progressed to composing songs, and produced his first album in 1997. Over the years, over 450 of his compositions have been released. Yitzy is a chassid who works from his home in Lakewood, but makes it a priority to connect all around. “I try not to get stuck in my own style, but instead connect to the neshamah of whoever I’m writing a song for, whether he’s chassidish, litvish, or modern.”

NAFTALI SCHNITZLER says his upbringing in Kiryas Yoel, Monroe, means that it’s only natural for him to have an organic feel for chassidish music. He balances that with an expert finger on the pulse of up-to-the-minute musical tastes, to arrange and produce songs that resonate far and wide. From the time he was approached by a friend in yeshivah to produce a Purim album at age 18, he’s always looked for opportunities and run with them. Working as a one-man-band, his big break came when an unfamiliar number on his phone screen was a call from MBD, asked him for arrangements for the Kissufim album. That’s twenty years of memorable intros, creative productions, and impeccable arrangements from this Williamsburg-based linchpin of the music industry, and albums with his House of Music label — including the Yingerlach series— have been part of our soundtrack ever since.

WITH SO MANY HOPEFUL SONGWRITERS OUT THERE AND SONGS CONSTANTLY BEING SENT TO YOU, HOW DO YOU CHOOSE THE ONES YOU THINK WILL WORK?

Doni Gross:

That depends on the singer. If it’s a new artist, he’ll generally sing what he thinks people want to hear. He might try to sing something with touches of Ishay Ribo style, because he thinks that’s what appeals. But for more well-established and top-tier singers, where we get the feeling that the people out there are waiting to hear from them, we work more authentically, choosing material that talks to our hearts.