Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Thursday approacheth....

... when I get to record another version of my take from Monday. Hopefully this one'll be locked in and tight, Jake, Dan and Rich were all chopping drum loops for the authentic drum track after we finished recording. Jake's been back trying to get the definitive drum sound.

It's all rather fun!

I'll really have to try to get some time in this evening so I can be solid tomorrow: this would be one of the hardest tracks to play, it's got to be spot-on, and there's still something of an issue for me about the last section of the track to make the feel slightly different after the Black-Eyed Peas style breakdown section in the middle. I used to go back to the original bassline, but I tried a little emphasis in the first half of the bar on the guide bass on monday and quite liked it.

The studio at Crawley, by the way, operates flawlessly. There's a 4 way headphone amp downstairs with talkback from the control room upstairs coming back down the 16 channel flylead with full balanced XLR breakout box on the floor in the recording room.

All it really needs it some soundproofing downstairs and a little bit of kit to isolate the drums a little more.

More Ben Folds on the 'Pod at the mo. "My Philosophy" always makes me laugh. Ben plays it really well live, you'd think playing tracks from a few years back to tens of thousands of people would mean he had less fire in his belly when playing it, but I swear when he played "the luckiest" his empathy for the track assumed physical form and moved across the crowd. Spellbinding.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Recording! And the age old question...

...What do we call the band? Yes, Gigolo needs another name! We've got a couple of ideas, but they're not ready yet!

Recording...
We're recording a lil rough demo as i type this into the P910, so we can use it to get gigs, and George just learned from Jake that when you yawn your throat is like an opera singers. "i can't wait until i next yawn", she quipped laconically :) never a dull moment here!

I just pretty much aced my take. Only a small bit of the 2 handed tapping lost a note, and the feel on the chorus isn't going to match the bass kick, but this is only a rough quality demo to get some gig action, including a crack at the oxford Party in the Park! Closing date for demo entries is the 5th of August, so we're getting our freak on! Working on "Cream of the crop" at the moment. Not sounding too bad, but I can hear my little timing problems! argh!

As you can tell, I am typing as I listen.

I will post again when I have completed cringing! heh

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Sheesh, I'm brown!

Heaven is...

This is the pool where Nic and I have been skulking for the last couple of weeks, in a little cottage in Metochi in the south of Crete. Miles away from Heraklion and Malia (the faliraki of Crete!), this little quiet haven is a great place to do nothing but alternately attempt to bake and drown yourself, smearing white stuff on yourself in between.

In short, heaven. All of it here...

I took a couple of issues of Bass Guitar Magazine with me, some interesting articles in there including DIY tips for fitting aftermarket EQ systems, although admittedly only into Fender basses, which leaves mi slightly out in the cold as I've tried all the Jazz basses and wasn't impressed... if you remember, gentle reader, it was after trying all 3 "grades" of jazz bass I ended up buyiong my adorable Warwick :)

We're back now, I didn't want to post to the blog from the phone (the GPRS service was patchy too) I thought I'd wax lyrical once I got back.

Gigolo stuff...
Oooo - meetings are starting! We've got 7 gigs between now and the end of August, we need to cram 20 in by christmas so that's a great start. First rehearsal back was monday, and it went well considering I haven't played a note for 2 weeks: even remembered the excellent new midsections for a couple of songs we worked on before I left.

Jake looks tired though, I'm worried he's doing too much, not just with the band but all the other work he's doing.

The Crawley Retreat Studios look fantastic though - the extra room upstairs is now a chillout area(!) and the multicore is installed between downstairs and upstairs - all 16 channels of it with 3 talkbacks for headphones - and I'm told the drum sound is good, kit's fully miked up.

Wicked. There's so much going on! Nic's settling into her new job, seems like she might enjoy it, and she's still trying to decide between a fully loaded new look Citroen C5 or a Jag S-Type twin turbodiesel. These are not choices I expect to make off music salaries anytime soon (or indeed, at all!)...