The life of a solo songwriter/programmer/producer is not an easy one - many times I wish I could lose the ability and urge to create and perform, and just veg out in front of the TV instead. But something keeps me going…

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February 2010 #2 - New MP3 with a cats (sic) of thousands

As promised earlier this month, I’ve got the mix of the new song completed, and it’s ready to download for your listening pleasure!

Believe employed the use of two hands (palms, two thumbs and four fingers), a CD case, crinkly plastic, a frying pan screen, a wine glass and fish slice, a violin × 4, Paddy × 8, a metal tray and a cat, plus all the usual electronic bits and pieces. See November 08 blog below for a bit more about the early recording session.

I’ve been putting off the hated mixing session for ages, but a few sessions recording the vocals, harmonies, more instruments, tweaking, adding and subtracting got me to an end that I’m happy with. I hope you’ll like it too.

The picture embedded in the mp3 is one that I made as a Christmas card, but I thought it appropriate for this song. And the song’s about whether believing in goodness, fairy tale happy endings, fate, and heaven is a good idea, or whether we’ve all been deluded by some evil evil people…

February 2010 - Hoover music and more writing and recording

Here’s some silliness for you! On Burns Night I decided that Henry Hoover looked too much like bagpipes to not be made into a bagpiping video. So I tuned up to the hoover drone and recorded some Juno 1 in mono mode to simulate the monophonic constantly-sounding bagpipe (it’s hard to play without letting any gaps in!) and recorded some violin and synth and drums to go with them. I did the video (in my Creative Media guise) with After FX and Premiere Pro. Lots of fun!

On the more serious side, I spent a snowy day at home writing some horror sounds (a bit distorted but will be ok when they’re down in the mix) and a “happy tune” for a film called “The Box” by the young people at eShed.net.

I’ve also written three backing tracks for songs I’ll be doing live with Mark Darkside. And I’m currently doing the final mix for Believe, which should be available on the music page before the end of the month.

Also this month, I’ll be having a jam in Reading for a 40th birthday, and recording some music with Jacques - A Robin.

December 09 - A pop video!

I’ve wanted for ages to make a pop video, and I’ve been shooting bits and pieces for a couple of years, but not got anything finished yet (yes, I know I’ve been promising The Man Who Planted Trees for ages now!). So, one morning in September I went up to the BT tower at Pur Down with a perculiar mirror and a DV camera and wandered (and even danced!) around. After capturing the video onto computer, it was split up into individual images, converted from perculiar-mirror-shape to ultra-wide, cropped, contrasted and effected, then re-combined into a movie format. Lots of editing later, it’s done! See it on the music page, along with my extra verse.

In the studio, I’ve got fed up with getting neck-ache every time I do any music work (thanks to bad ergonomics). So I found a monitor stand in a charity shop, built a new trestle for my makeshift Giant Desk (made out of a door), took out all the long leads I installed a while back, and moved the computer. The room somehow feels longer.

And I’ve been using it! I recorded a backing track for one of Mark Darkside’s songs, and have started work on a second.

On the live side, I&rdsquo;ve played violin and tambourine with Jacques A Robin in Bath. On the web side, I’ve at last made this into a proper blog that you can subscribe to.

November 09 - Small soiree vs sizable screen success!

Electrosonica 2 went ahead eventually in the cosy Café Kino. Cosy was good, because I was unable to summon many people to watch, but a good time was had, I think. I filled the first slot, unable to find any more electronic musicians, then Alex H performed a nice set of chilled funkiness, followed by We Are Your’s, who clearly needed more room for their dark techno!

Working where I do, I was asked to provide music for a trailer for Watershed’s ElectricDecember.org, which I did at short notice - I only wish I could record my own songs with such motivation! I used two capos on the guitar (one upside-down to cover only certain strings) for the almost-"DADGAD" (the folk guitar tuning) tuning, one of my Susato whistles, 4 tracks of violin, my “fake drums” kit and some synths.

I used the wonderful free Audacity software and a laptop (instead of Cubase) for all the audio recording this time, and it was wonderfully trouble-free and buzz/click/hum free too. Everything went across to Cubase on the PC later for the drums, mixing and MIDI stuff. Will remember that for next time!

Not only is it on YouTube, but (apparently) it’s going on the BBC’s big outdoor screen in Millennium Square here in Bristol for a month. I should be sending off the DVD to them today.

Other news is that I did do film footage for All Along the Watchtower (as promised last month), and I’ve got about ¾ through the editing, though I’m worried I’m running out of useful footage now. It will be on youtube (and here) when it’s done.

September 09 - French films, failed fixtures and filming forecasts

Hmmm - so much for Electrosonica #2: a mixup at the venue meant it was cancelled. But I did have a good chat to We Are Yours and Miriam, and we’re keen to continue hatching plans for more live electronica in Bristol. And they’re all keen to re-schedule the gig.

I’m still working on pop videos, and have even filmed some footage in France this month for The Man Who Planted Trees, and I will (I will!) do a speedy shoot for All Along The Watchtower tomorrow, which will entirely be carried by the clever video technique I’m going to use (and the great song too, of course!)

Also I’ve acquired some harmonising technology, which might make the recording end of things a bit quicker.

July 09 - Jumpin’ Cats!

I’ve got a few songs floating around, clamouring to be written. I listened to a load of progressive house and a Dave Seaman set yesterday on last.fm, and was woken up by the bleep-bleep-bleep alarm of an off-the-hook phone this morning; I was dreaming about being visited by one of my musician heroes and playing a riff on an old upright piano, and the alarm was kind of in the background, so I got up and put it into Cubase before I forget it. I might consider to be dull on the next listen, but it might turn into something…

A riff I’ve probably been humming for years might finally be turning into a song: I’m going all pretentious with 6/8 and 7/8 time, and the song’s starting to find lyrics about all those metaphors about life being a battle etc being misunderstood by people who want to make it more physical. I’ve done a test version, unsaved apart from the final audio (big risk during the process… will it crash?) and have used it on a short video of our cat Lucinda doing some jumping (see this YouTube video). She already appears in the audio for Believe. And the purring at the end is the ring tone I made of her for my partner’s phone.

Electrosonica #2 is coming, but it won’t be until September. I’ll set a date soon, and decide whether to hog one of the sets for me again, or find some other musicians. We Are Yours should be playing.

May 2009 - Two blogs in one month!

Electrosonica was a success! And Café Delight are up for us doing another one. A few technical hitches, but the audience enjoyed it, and I met Simon the Lunarian and the guys from We Are Yours, both of whom I hope will appear in Electrosonica #2 or #3. Big thank-yous to Amias and Mark Darkside for performing for a pittance at ES #1

A painstakingly slow chunk of work on American Movies the night before almost had me giving up the idea of getting it ready to perform, but I made some loops to throw together and cut‘n’paste through the song, then thought “sod the noise - I’ll just record it as it comes, mains hum and all, else I’ll never get it ready…”. I did a chunk of work in the evening, then some more at around 6am, and a low-tech record into Audacity on the laptop at 7.30 gave a beautiful noise-free recording (unless you count -50db as noise). I was amazed!

May 2009 - Electrosonica!

So much has happened since the last blog! I’ve finally arranged a music night for music I like, and I’m playing at the first one next week. Electrosonica will hopefully continue as an occasional night, featuring 3 electronica artists performing a decent length of set.

I’ve also helped do the soundtrack for “Popping to the Shop”, by German maker of quirky super 8 films, Charlie Blackfield. I’m about to record an African-style drum track for Mark Darkside using, amongst other things, a wooden ladder.

American Movies has come together lyrically, and several failed musical attempts (where I loved it the first time, then hated it the second) have ended up as a bearable start to a backing. Sadly my attempts at scary music always seem to end up sounding fairly benign.

I’m also getting ideas to “electrolise” an old guitar song. And of course, at least two other songs are floating around, demanding attention…

March 2009 - Things in Spring

Slow progress (as usual), but a few things are planted. Firstly, I’ve increased my store of musical devices: At the sublime end is an Akai Headrush pedal, which gives me toe-tip control over live echo effects, and also allows me to build loops live on stage, which I’m planning to use for my new song American Movies. American Movies has been regularly tapping me on the mental shoulder for months and I’ve recently grabbed it and forced-fed lyrics into it to shut it up!

At the ridiculous end is a Cajon (“Ka Honn”), Spanish for “crate”: these are wooden boxes with wires attached that sound like a bass and snare drum on the cheap. Well, I’ve really gone on the cheap by making one out of an old microwave!

Chandra is gradually leaving Bristol, so I’m looking for different music projects to make sure I keep playing live: I’ve done a gig with Suzy Condrad (watch footage), and am jamming with Mark Darkside and Amias Channer.

And, most exciting thing last, I’m planning to start up Electrosonica, a night especially for electronic music performers. For more information, see Electrosonica.org.uk.

January 2009 - The Flu!

I’ve been ill ill ill with the flu… twice, and have done very little musically over the winter. But I’ve finally got my cover of Fever onto the AUDIO&LYRICS music page (I was up early this morning with a big bottle of meths doing a photoshoot for the mp3 album art!), and I’m planning some days off to do some recording.

Chandra’s running off to Africa for a while, so I’m putting out feelers for gigs.

Oh, and happy new year!

December 2008 - A lilac-er shade of white

Not any music to report this time, in fact my piano is still in its bag since the last gig! But a request from a site visitor with Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome has led to the site being changed to a very pale lilac. Hopefully that’ll help.

I’ve also found a “VST MIDI Chopper plugin”. For those not in the know, Cubase (the “sequencer” that I use to programme music into my synths) allows extra features (“plugins”) to be added: The chopper enables me to record a sound, then use the keyboard to rhythmically mute the sound, previously a long-winded process requiring plugging wires into an external piece of euipment, unplugging other things, and getting a pretty bad recording at the end.

I’m going to a “musicians’ party” next week - hopefully I’ll pick up some tips and contacts for getting gigs.

November 2008 - A not-very-busy winter

A web design project is taking up lots of my spare early morning time and energy, so I’ve not been overly busy on the music. But Fever is close to being released; the mix isn’t absolutely perfect, but gremlins have struck again, and I’d have to re-record chunks of it to fix any of the problems, and then I’ never get it out!

I’ve written a new song - Believe - all about my fairy-story outlook on life; how kind people deserve happy endings, etc. Inspired by the like of Imogen Heap, I did most of the percussion with finger clicks and hand claps, a frying pan fat-guard and a CD case. Other sounds were from smashing a posh Habitat wine glass with a Prestige fish slice (only the best “instruments” for me - actually, the glass had a broken stem, and my repair attempts had failed), some crinkly plastic and our cat Lucinda.

I’ve had a gig too, at Mr Wolf’s: backing Chandra Moon, and also three songs of my own - Believe, Hanging in the Air, and Fever. You can see the live video on the audio page and there will be some photos on the picture page too.

I may be playing once more this year with Chandra, and I’m also down to play something festive at the office party. And some wassailing might be on the cards at an orchard in Street. All very acoustic and traditional!

September 2008 - Trials, Triubulations and Tiny Triumphs

I had a big chunk of the weekend to myself: ‘An ideal opportunity to make some progress on the music’, I thought. But some niggly Technical Troubles took up a lot of my time and emotional energy and had me shouting and yelling like a proper tortured artist! In my cover of Fever, everything I recorded would vanish when I tried to edit it, though the sound file would still be there, so I’ve taken up residence in the forum of a good sound technology magazine to look for help. I also recorded a ‘beatbox’ style test track, partly inspired by a Bristolian performer I saw the other day, to try to find the problem. It might even find its way onto this site!

Fortunately, the problem’s only happening in Fever, and my Man Who Planted Trees work had more success: I found I’d already recorded a vocal and Clarke’s C whistle track, and my D whistles slowed down (by precisely -10.91% - see my last blog) perfectly. I like it a lot, and… I’m planning a pop video for it! Listen to the audio version on the AUDIO&LYRICS page.

On the web site front, I need to sort out audio on the music page. Hopefully I’ll have that done soon; I’ve got some ideas on how to do it (did I mention I’m also a web designer? See www.creativemedia.org.uk) so that page will go through some changes.

Take care y’all!

September 2008 - Slow progress

Argh! I wish I could motivate myself better: I end up just spending only an hour or two a week recording or writing, often very early in the morning. I’m adding some Low D whistle to The Man Who Planted Trees, which I’m intending to make a pop video for. Musos amongst you might notice that ‘Trees’ is actually in C, not D. So I’ve speeded up the backing track to pitch it in D, recorded the whistle, and when I’ve finished doing the mixing on the whistles track, I’ll slow it back down to C. A test recording sounded good, so I hope my efforts aren’t wasted!

I’m also planning to film a “studio tour”, though all this web stuff on top of the music feels a bit overwhelming!

August 2008 - New studio, bassist, a gig(!) and becoming a “fan”

I’m still working with Chandra Moon, and now we also have Barry on an interesting electro-acoustic stand-up bass. And I’ve done my first set of my own material, with flute and guitar from Chandra, at a gig in the Café Delight. It went well enough for me to plan for more.

The studio has had a massive re-arrangement, involving some scavenging and my only (so far) IKEA trip: I got tired of trying to get the PC quiet enough to enable me to use a microphone in the same room, other techniques using different recording devices seemed too time-consuming and complicated, as did moving myself and the mic out of the room in order to record. So, a fortuitous find of a thrown-away TV/video unit on wheels saw me splashing out on a mile of wires, and now the PC rolls out of the room whenever I need to record. And a new bed to put it under.

The first time I used it, I found the vital MIDI connection between the computer and the instruments had failed, and I totally despaired! After a bit of screaming and shouting (and double-checking) I found where the wires had come unplugged, and everything was fine!

I’ve also converted my spare bed, with the help of an IKEA unit and a thrown-away bedstead from across the road, into a dizzying 6 foot high platform bed with lots of storage space for equipment boxes underneath. When I sleep on it, I’m always afraid it’s going to crack and I’ll plummet to my doom!

Musically, I've discovered the band Frou Frou and Imogen Heap. After initially assuming it was a musician-plus-girl type of setup, I was impressed to find that she, like me, is a do-everything-yourself type of musician, writing music in a similar genre to mine. Part of me wonders whether I could have done what she has if I’d taken the risk of being a full time musician, but I think it wouldn’t have suited me and I’m probably best off doing what I do. I am very envious of her sound-making/tweaking skills and patience, which I’ve given up trying to emulate. The talents aren’t wasted on her, and I’ll just stick with doing what I’m good at!

November 2007 - A new start

The rest of summer 2007 was spent on a project that didn’t work out, but now I’ve got in touch with singer-songwriter Chandra Moon. A long-time drummer and flautist, she’s discovered she can write songs and has decided to make a full-on album! For the launch, she needed a guitarist, but I persuaded her a keyboardist would be better. So I’m going to be doing some gigs and the big launch event with her. She’s also interested in playing some backing on some of the material I wrote for LittleMy.

June 2007 - Bad news!

Bad news! Menekse’s had to drop out because of work pressure. So I’m looking for someone to work with again, ideally a singer/songwriter. If you like what you hear on AUDIO&LYRICS, can remember the 80s, can sing in tune and have some ideas for songs, get in touch!

May 2007 - Online

We’ve got a website! You’re on it! I’ve just had a bit of a battle making the music player work, but I think I’ve got it. When I finally got it to play something, it came out at twice the speed, but I’ve sorted that out now. We’ll have to decide whether to make full songs available on the music page, or whether to be all commercial and sell them on CDs. Quite often, people want CDs anyway, while others (like me) have huge collections of mp3 files.

Speaking of music, yes, it’s getting there. We’ve had two recording sessions so far (3 vocal tracks recorded each time!) and then me taking a few weeks before I’ve got them all put together with the music. We’re also sorting out some audio backing tracks so I don’t have to lug a pile of temperamental (and heavy) computer gear around to gigs. So is it cheating to use a backing track? I say “no!” Not only have I written the lyrics and music, I’ve played all the instruments, done the recording and mixing, and am playing the piano bit live. That’s a lot more work than when I’m in singer-songwriter mode, strumming away at a solo guitar. When people say “Ahh, the computer does it all…” I reply “No it bloody well doesn’t!”.

(Rant over).

April 2007 - New songs

We’ve added another cover to our repertoire: Fever, which I’ve pushed into four-on-the-floor techno. I’ve been inspired by groups like Starecase to put more effort into effects and tweaks, so am spending hours on the drum tracks, adding little echoes and reverses. We’ve also got a name! I’m very into children’s books, and I thought something from The Moomins would be nice. Little My is a mischievous character who has lots of fun without getting all stressed about things. I guess we’d all like to be a bit like that – the archetypal iconoclast.

With all this “mySpace” and “My Computer” and such going on right now, having a little-er “my” might not be such a bad idea; I’m sure I can find some more meaning in this name, but I can’t quite wring it out…

March 2007 - A new house

I’ve moved house: there used to be a very bad (and very loud) drummer living next to my music room (even the people across the road are complaining about him!). Now I’ve got a lovely end-of-terrace with thick curtains, so home-recording is a lot more feasible. I’m using Cubase 3.7 on Windows 98 (retro all the way!) and have just bought a software synth (Albino 3 VST synth from Linplug, for those interested) which is great for making the squeaky noises without me having to fiddle around with external equipment, and it’s got nice effects and other things that automatically line up with the music speed. I’ve used the demo for a while, but put off buying the full version: since my last band fell through shortly after buying a new keyboard, I’m a bit superstitious about buying new stuff!

I also use a Roland Juno1 and U220, Korg EA1 (which I very nearly sold, but decided to keep whilst recording a demo mp3 for the eBay advert!), Giga Studio (another old version) and a Yamaha SW1000XG card.

January 2007

It’s going well, and looks like this duo will be a goer, though we still don’t have a name yet. In previous bands I’ve often been the singer, so have forgotten how hard it is to teach singing, particularly harmonies. I’ve worked out a few of my songs that we can do, and a few covers too: Fake Plastic Trees and All Along The Watchtower. Of course, I’ll be doing these a good bit different than the originals!

December 2006 - Musical connections

Someone’s got in touch with me! I met Menekse at Watershed and it turns out we almost know each other: she works in film (which I work on the fringes of) and organises the Cineformations events at Watershed. She demonstrated her singing by doing karaoke to a Lamb track off their website! We’re having a go at a rehearsal in January.

July 2006 - Dumped!

I’m without a band again; never a good situation for a musician, and it’s hard to find people that want to do the same kind of thing as me, as well as being people I can get on with.

Having done “indie eclectic”, punk, singer-songwriter and so on, I want to go back to the eighties and some of those great keyboard bands, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Everything But The Girl (really liked their Walking Wounded album). Most of the electronic stuff these days seems to be mass-produced pop or dance music that’s great at a club, but not something you’d want to go and watch.

I’d like to be performing real songs but with some of that techno energy. I’m currently hunting around on Musofinder.com, a kind of “dating agency for musicians”. It’s all a bit scary: what if I meet someone and we don’t get on (or who can’t play) and have to tell them “don’t call us…”? I don’t want to let just anyone loose on my “masterpieces”!