I know it’s been a while, but I was just waiting for a fair bit to happen to blog about, so here we go.
My home studio is now set up and everything is fantastic! I will be posting up pictures of my small scale temporary set-up for this blog soon.
I recently visited my sixth form college, and I must say it feels weird seeing the mixing desk I trained with after being behind the 24 channel, 3 foot long, £25,000 desks I use at uni. Very strange comparison. The automated faders on the V-mixer desk at the sixth form at the time seemed like the height of flashiness, but now I’m at university it just seems normal and almost standard.
I am very impressed with the new percussion gear they’ve been getting lately and the new MIDI suite in the room where business and IT was once taught. I couldn’t retrieve my old session files while I was visiting as I didn’t have enough time, nor did I have my hard drive with me, but I do intend to get my old audio stems on my next visit in the near future.
I recently fell ill with a pretty nasty bout of flu, so I have been unable to attend a pair of seminars in Stockton that I was aiming to learn from. I feel at a bit of a disadvantage with it too, as one was about how to maximize the use of the internet and take full advantage of it to advertise myself as a Producer. The other would have been a one-to-one session with some top movers and shakers in the business side of the industry to help me improve my own business and I feel pretty bad about not turning up, but such is life. My advice is, take every opportunity you can, after all Woody Allen was right when he said “80% of success is about turning up”.
My day in uni on monday was very enlightening. I learned a fair deal on how to make better use of compression, and when I put these tips into practice on my own mixes tonight I achieved phenomenal results! My drum tracks are now sounding a thousand times tighter, and I know I can apply these methods to other instruments too.
I listened back to the tracks we recorded with the Sunderland lads from We Beat the System, and already I know exactly how I’m wanting their tracks to sound when I get my own hands on them. Each track has a very different feel to it, but can easily be compared with some of R.E.M.’s recently released stuff, and with U2’s tracks from the mid 90’s, so I fully intend to mix them to that same standard and way of working and I’m expecting some very tasty tracks hitting my SoundCloud very shortly. If all goes well and I can prove myself a cut above the rest, I may try and get their new EP released. Fingers crossed!
I had my first encounter with the MIDI to video program known as Arkaos on monday also. It’s a very strange beast and definately not like anything I’ve encountered before. Almost like what would happen if you attached a MIDI keyboard to iMovie or Final Cut and added a lot more versatility and functions. Very fun to play about with though.
I recently discovered that my friend Jonny (a course mate) has been offered a job at Blank studios in Newcastle based on a fantastic track he made for his own band, SS Arcadia. I’ve decided to follow suit in a way by improving on tracks I’ve already produced and putting together my own promo package to post out to studios around the surrounding area - mainly Stockton, Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. Hopefully I’ll get good response from someone and I’ll actually be getting paid to do this for once!
To start this, I’ve already made work on a track at home by a uni band called Grease the Beast. the track is a cover of Rage Against the Machine’s song “Know Your Enemy”. I’ve already made work on the drums and they are sounding out of this world :) especially considering the rather poor quality they’d been recorded in, but it’s good to have a challenge. I feel that if I can produce this track well and make a fantastic sound out of the mammoth track “World of Regret” by local Metal band Insylum (another project I’m working on from home) then I can take on anything the industry can throw at me.
In short, everything’s going great at the minute and I’ll update you all with what goes on. Wish me luck everybody, and keep it funky ;)
