HeartBeat

Mixed a wonderful track today for Jayney Klimek - a reworking of a track we already worked on together. Beautiful.

PUSH arrives from Ableton

Had a great demo of this device from Nick Hook and now I have my own. Feeling excited and inspired by it!, and looking forward to making more time to practise.

I am looking for occasional Assistant - must be down with Logic

This is not a full time job, rather VERY part time.

David's Lyre in the Pool

Great session with Paul in the Pool Studio (Thanks to Miloco) yesterday recording the songs that he has been performing live. Just Vocal and Electric Guitar. A real session with filming (videoing?) too. Coming your way soon we hope.

Very Happy

my Music Room is setup again


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Mixing Outside the Box - how and why

I know I keep banging on about this month's thrill - coming out of the box for the Sons and Daughters record. So I thought I would explain my thinking (and feeling). The project was beautifully recorded onto "One Inch" 16 track Analogue Tape. I wanted to integrate my usual "In the Box" mixing method into the whole process. I have fallen in love with the working method of setting up mixes and adjusting them later after input from Band, Producer, Record Company. Letting the mixes grow and be inspired by different tunes and mixes across the album is a method I really value, as a way of navigating the route to the best possible result, especially when I am not mixing the whole time with the band.

So I put together a "white room" for a month at Strongroom, initially with my rig, Apogee Ensemble and Metric Halo ULN-8 convertors, and a rented Fat Bustard. This has enabled me to work alone, and with Scott from Sons and Daughters and Keith (the producer). Recall on the Fat Bustard is very simple (most of the controls are notched), and everything else is recalled with the session and so the album has been taking shape nicely.

Finally I have rented an Ampex ATR 102 for a day at the very end of the session, so when all the mixes are approved I shall be able to print the whole album to half inch tape at 30 ips, as well as back into Logic at 96k.

Aggregate Audio Issues in my World - a simple solution

I came out the box for the Sons and Daughters LP Mix, and it was a new experience for me. I have successfully tracked in the past with my ULN-8 and my Ensemble at 44.1k so I was hoping for a simple and stable solution again - though this project was 96k. I had quite a few problems - interfaces not being recognised, terrible glitchy audio, no audio, Logic complaining about wrong sample rate and more. I had to replace the firmware on the ULN-8 and the Ensemble although both were already at latest firmware and latest drivers when I started the project, it seemed they became corrupted. Shutdowns did not always solve the problem, and though I was enjoying the project, the music, the audio and the challenge I found it very frustrating at times, and wondered if my system would be more stable with 2 Ensembles or 2 ULN-8s instead (though I would still have to aggregate). I also considered (and am still very interested in) a non aggregate 16 output system using an Aurora 8 hooked up to my ULN-8.

After reinstalling the firmware on the Ensemble I followed the instructions exactly and switched on the computer before powering up the Interface. This made me think that switch on order might be important, so from then on I booted the computer before switching on any Audio Interfaces. This seems to work very much better, and now my system seems to be stable and very useable.

Video Interview

A short video of me with Emmy the Great in Red Bull Studio

Mixing

I write about my attempts to get a great sounding mix (in German). Here.

Mixing LP for Noam Rotem

Had fun mixing an LP for Noam Rotem at The Crescent. Stormy in London, Sunny in Tel Aviv. Communicating with Dropbox and Skype.

The Producers - Red Bull & VBS 6 part series

I take part in the series. Trailer here

Wild Palms LP

Recording Finished. Pop Up Studio dismantled. Mixing next month.

Wild Palms LP

2 weeks into recording and everything sounding fresh and exciting. Next week - vocals, acoustic guitars, strings and final percussion plus a couple of electric guitars. Then mix!

Video Footage at Hansa Meistersaal

Footage of our De-Re-Construction Time Again event on youtube

Alan and I after the show in Hansa Studios MeisterSaal

Photo by Britt

Preparing for our set tomorrow

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Sleepy Sun have done a great version of The Chain

I have had the pleasure of mixing Sleepy Sun's live version of The Chain recorded at ATP vs The Fans last year.

Tip Top Audio z8000

Gotta Love It


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Alphaville

Alphaville: Interesting afternoon in the studio with Marian and Martin working on arrangements and vocals for a new song. Replacing, reducing, editing, enhancing, focusing. Enjoyed supper afterwards in Teddington. Followed by a good phone conversation with Pete, (who is currently in NY) about ideas and ways of working. .

Wild Palms

Enjoyed a great day in the Limehouse Studios with Wild Palms recording A and B sides for a single.
Pics.