Sorry about that. That was a long pause!
Since I last wrote we have been stupidly busy.
Rebecca and I went to Holland to play our last foreseeable performances as Ember, and we've not seen much of each other since. The album has been selling well thanks to her mailouts to the people who support us and value our music. We still have to work out what to do with the many boxes of Emberobelia - theatre programmes and magazines featuring write-ups about us, reviews, stacks of live recordings on CD and DVD, data CDs full of photos, as well as all the excess office materials we have left over. We can't just throw that stuff away!
Since Ember finished in early March, Phil and I have been racing to complete the remaining work on our house so that we can put it on the market and go to the smallholding. It felt so good to get involved (finally!) and complete jobs such as sanding and oiling the stairs, cleaning up the revealed copper pipes, and thoroughly scrubbing the entire interior. Phil has been doing so well - he's finished putting the new roof on the annex, painted most of the window frames and (almost) fixed the front door. I feel rather out of my depth with the actual building work, so have been signing up for any and all of the cleaning tasks...
I can't believe we are planning on moving to the smallholding on Thursday! We have two more valuations taking place on Wednesday, before we decide on an estate agent, and we're planning on leaving most of the furniture in the house while it's on the market. Life at the smallholding will be pretty basic to begin with, but my parents have offered to lend us some chairs and a patio table for our kitchen in the meantime.
Today I hit the 19 weeks mark in the pregnancy - halfway through, according to the updates I get from the BabyCentre.co.uk - and the time has been racing by! For the last three weeks or so I have been feeling little Squiggles moving about inside, and the little cartwheels are getting stronger all the time. When I think about the fact that there is an actual baby inside me, it makes me feel strangely ticklish and a bit giggly... Exciting times! :)
The downside of the pregnancy has been a hugely increased emotional sensitivity - I've been getting really upset over small things (they seem so massive at the time!) and sometimes in the evenings it can all become too much. The depression can last until I finally fall asleep exhausted. I am not normally one to cry, but some nights have seen me weeping inconsolably for hours. :( There is such a thing as Ante-Natal Depression apparently, though we don't hear much about it. The positive thing to bear in mind is that usually the depression passes once the child has been born. I'm hoping it will pass when we get to the smallholding - life has been so stressful these last few months, slowing down can only help!
Hormones though, they can drive you mad! How are you supposed to remain a nice person whilst being dragged around on a nightmarish emotional roller coaster? Poor Phil has been through the mill as well, he has no idea when I might snap next... (Well, nor do I...!)
I shall do my best to get some photos of our beautiful, tidy house for you to have a look, and while I'm at it, I might even ask Phil to take a photo of my little bump...
Goodnight! :)
PS - Oh yes - the One Hundred Days? I reckon it's over, baby. I did 54 posts out of 100 - pretty poor! - but I can appreciate what it did for me. It got me started on this blog for one thing, and helped me to connect with others who were involved - without it I would never have found Tammy, or Beth... It's brought me closer to my Kellee... Not to mention the fact that it's allowed me to share my daily mundanity with my mum, who checks the Tangled Yarn regularly and will be pleased to see that I've finally posted another update - oh - there she is now - HELLO MUM!
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Monday, 22 March 2010
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Pregnant Pause
Thursday 18th Feb.
Sorry for my silence lately, I realise that I am now at least 25 days behind in the 100 Day Project, and I am soon to add several more days to that number. This has been a hectic couple of months, finishing off Ember's 5th album, planning and organising our 10 Year Celebration concerts, and generally trying to tie up loose ends before we take a long break from playing together at the end of the month. We're excited about moving on to other projects, but I expect we'll be doing some grieving too, once the reality sinks in.
This morning I am preparing to leave home for our last UK tourette - taking in Burnham-on-Sea, Camden, Cambridge and Hitchin over this weekend, and then we have two final gigs in Holland on the 27th and 28th. It's impossible find time and internet access to update the blog when we are away, so I am resigning myself to catching up in March, hope that's OK with you! :)
There is another exciting development which has been partially responsible for the pregnant pause, which is just that - Phil and I are 14 weeks pregnant and have been given a due date of 16th August. So a new life beckons, in more ways than one! :) I've been thinking (and worrying!) about the blogging (and all of the catching up I might have to do!) and have realised that this 100 Day Project has fitted almost exactly with my pregnancy - no wonder I quickly developed an obsession with de-cluttering - isn't it all about nesting, somehow? The early exhaustion makes sense too, no wonder Christmas was so draining... We are both really happy (and nervous!), and hoping that it all goes smoothly.
Well, I shall be back at home next week, but won't promise anything, but you never know, I may surprise myself. Early March (once I return from Holland) will see me with more time, and that's when I hope to catch up properly.
Bye for now.
:)
Sorry for my silence lately, I realise that I am now at least 25 days behind in the 100 Day Project, and I am soon to add several more days to that number. This has been a hectic couple of months, finishing off Ember's 5th album, planning and organising our 10 Year Celebration concerts, and generally trying to tie up loose ends before we take a long break from playing together at the end of the month. We're excited about moving on to other projects, but I expect we'll be doing some grieving too, once the reality sinks in.
This morning I am preparing to leave home for our last UK tourette - taking in Burnham-on-Sea, Camden, Cambridge and Hitchin over this weekend, and then we have two final gigs in Holland on the 27th and 28th. It's impossible find time and internet access to update the blog when we are away, so I am resigning myself to catching up in March, hope that's OK with you! :)
There is another exciting development which has been partially responsible for the pregnant pause, which is just that - Phil and I are 14 weeks pregnant and have been given a due date of 16th August. So a new life beckons, in more ways than one! :) I've been thinking (and worrying!) about the blogging (and all of the catching up I might have to do!) and have realised that this 100 Day Project has fitted almost exactly with my pregnancy - no wonder I quickly developed an obsession with de-cluttering - isn't it all about nesting, somehow? The early exhaustion makes sense too, no wonder Christmas was so draining... We are both really happy (and nervous!), and hoping that it all goes smoothly.
Well, I shall be back at home next week, but won't promise anything, but you never know, I may surprise myself. Early March (once I return from Holland) will see me with more time, and that's when I hope to catch up properly.
Bye for now.
:)
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Lovely Surprise, and A Helpful List
Day Sixty Three.
Ooh, what a lovely surprise! This morning I received an envelope packed with loveliness from the Heartful Blogger - featuring two of her handpainted luggage tags (great bookmarks) and one of her very own postcards, which depicted some more beautiful converse boots! It made me so happy! :D It was strange too, strange to go from following a blog online and enjoying Tammy's drawings and paintings on the screen of my laptop - to having said artworks in my hands! I found that the pieces were even more impressive when I could study them in closer detail... It was very much an inspiring experience. Thanks, Tammy, I love them!
Later...
Bec and I spent the afternoon sorting out the logistics for our '10 Years of Ember' Celebration concert in the Plas, Machynlleth, on 12th February. It's amazing how much organisation is involved in one little night of music, and doing the organising has helped us to appreciate the work of all of the people who arrange gigs for us all over the country. I suppose that the more often you do it, the less stressing and planning you need to do, but still - it's a lot of work!
We made a great big list of what we'd need to do in advance, and what we'd need to do (and when) on the day. Thank goodness we have some kind friends to help out - it would be a nightmare if it were down to the pair of us! The master list was divided up between us, so now neither of us needs to worry, we just need to get OUR stuff done! Even though there is still a lot of work to do, mostly it's been broken into bite-sized pieces, so there's no need to panic.
Although:
Aaaaarrrgh!!!!
Ooh, what a lovely surprise! This morning I received an envelope packed with loveliness from the Heartful Blogger - featuring two of her handpainted luggage tags (great bookmarks) and one of her very own postcards, which depicted some more beautiful converse boots! It made me so happy! :D It was strange too, strange to go from following a blog online and enjoying Tammy's drawings and paintings on the screen of my laptop - to having said artworks in my hands! I found that the pieces were even more impressive when I could study them in closer detail... It was very much an inspiring experience. Thanks, Tammy, I love them!
Later...
Bec and I spent the afternoon sorting out the logistics for our '10 Years of Ember' Celebration concert in the Plas, Machynlleth, on 12th February. It's amazing how much organisation is involved in one little night of music, and doing the organising has helped us to appreciate the work of all of the people who arrange gigs for us all over the country. I suppose that the more often you do it, the less stressing and planning you need to do, but still - it's a lot of work!
We made a great big list of what we'd need to do in advance, and what we'd need to do (and when) on the day. Thank goodness we have some kind friends to help out - it would be a nightmare if it were down to the pair of us! The master list was divided up between us, so now neither of us needs to worry, we just need to get OUR stuff done! Even though there is still a lot of work to do, mostly it's been broken into bite-sized pieces, so there's no need to panic.
Although:
Aaaaarrrgh!!!!
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Robot/Zombie
Day Forty Seven.
You don't want to know what I've been doing ALL DAY. It made me feel like a cross between a robot, a data entry clerk, and a zombie. I was preparing the songs for mixing, and it doesn't half take a LONG TIME.
Like I said, YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW the detail, it's all very tedious.
But now that it's done, rest assured that I have de-cluttered my computer by deleting all of the unnecessary GarageBand and iTunes files. I hadn't realised how many versions of a song one goes through when making an album, sometimes eight or ten - over time. Well, the old versions have gone now, and my computer is a lot happier.
I'm looking forward to having done the final mixes so that I can be rid of the last few remaining back-up versions. And of course, by then we'll also be a huge way towards having the finished product in our grubby little paws.
Good night!
You don't want to know what I've been doing ALL DAY. It made me feel like a cross between a robot, a data entry clerk, and a zombie. I was preparing the songs for mixing, and it doesn't half take a LONG TIME.
Like I said, YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW the detail, it's all very tedious.
But now that it's done, rest assured that I have de-cluttered my computer by deleting all of the unnecessary GarageBand and iTunes files. I hadn't realised how many versions of a song one goes through when making an album, sometimes eight or ten - over time. Well, the old versions have gone now, and my computer is a lot happier.
I'm looking forward to having done the final mixes so that I can be rid of the last few remaining back-up versions. And of course, by then we'll also be a huge way towards having the finished product in our grubby little paws.
Good night!
Monday, 18 January 2010
Last Recording Day
Day Forty Six.
Not an easy day, but we did the very last of the recording for the album, and now all that's left to be done is... well, quite a lot of fiddly things, but the project is moving on and all is well.
After a long bath in the relaxing, evening silence of the house, I plugged my headphones in and got to work on topping and tailing all of the tracks (and making sure we had only the essential tracks) on each song. Sometimes when you record a few takes, you keep all of them, even though you may have decided at the time that they weren't good enough. This can be useful if you need material to cannibalise later, but more often than not it's simply confusing and a drain on your time.
Got to bed at 1am, tired, but satisfied with a job well done.
Not an easy day, but we did the very last of the recording for the album, and now all that's left to be done is... well, quite a lot of fiddly things, but the project is moving on and all is well.
After a long bath in the relaxing, evening silence of the house, I plugged my headphones in and got to work on topping and tailing all of the tracks (and making sure we had only the essential tracks) on each song. Sometimes when you record a few takes, you keep all of them, even though you may have decided at the time that they weren't good enough. This can be useful if you need material to cannibalise later, but more often than not it's simply confusing and a drain on your time.
Got to bed at 1am, tired, but satisfied with a job well done.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Proper Accounting
Day Forty One.
Paperwork. Hmm. It's a lot weightier than it should be, isn't it?
Today's hoped-for achievement was concerned with sorting out Ember's account with our CD distributor: Proper Music Distribution. It's been bugging me for a few months now, and keeps appearing on 'to do' lists, but so far has avoided closer inspection.
First I got all of the unfiled sales sheets together from the four cluttered corners of my office (which really should be a sitting room - bah), then got the 'Proper' file out and did some sums. We have not received any payments from Proper, as when we released the CD with them, they offered various publicity packages - basically we could buy advertising space and CD reviews in a variety of different folky magazines - and our CD sales would cover these costs over the following months.
I wanted to see whether we'd crossed over from owing into being owed yet, but after some basic maths I discovered that we actually still owe them. The reason for this might be something to do with the fact that our CDs are being sold at dealer prices (sometimes as low as £5) to companies such as HMV, Amazon and a handful of independent record shops. Then there are further discounts to take off.
Still, despite being sightly disappointed with the outcome of my investigation, I am proud to be working with Proper - the biggest independent distribution service in the UK - and teaming up with them has raised our profile as well as made our fourth CD available in places where it otherwise wouldn't be, so that can't be bad!
:)
Here's our CD on Amazon - though it's cheaper from our own website!
Paperwork. Hmm. It's a lot weightier than it should be, isn't it?
Today's hoped-for achievement was concerned with sorting out Ember's account with our CD distributor: Proper Music Distribution. It's been bugging me for a few months now, and keeps appearing on 'to do' lists, but so far has avoided closer inspection.
First I got all of the unfiled sales sheets together from the four cluttered corners of my office (which really should be a sitting room - bah), then got the 'Proper' file out and did some sums. We have not received any payments from Proper, as when we released the CD with them, they offered various publicity packages - basically we could buy advertising space and CD reviews in a variety of different folky magazines - and our CD sales would cover these costs over the following months.
I wanted to see whether we'd crossed over from owing into being owed yet, but after some basic maths I discovered that we actually still owe them. The reason for this might be something to do with the fact that our CDs are being sold at dealer prices (sometimes as low as £5) to companies such as HMV, Amazon and a handful of independent record shops. Then there are further discounts to take off.
Still, despite being sightly disappointed with the outcome of my investigation, I am proud to be working with Proper - the biggest independent distribution service in the UK - and teaming up with them has raised our profile as well as made our fourth CD available in places where it otherwise wouldn't be, so that can't be bad!
:)
Here's our CD on Amazon - though it's cheaper from our own website!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Gigging in Cardiff
This does not count as a day in the 100 Days Project, because the whole day was taken up with driving to Cardiff (and back) for Ember's gig at the Wales Millenium Centre. It's amazing that a one-hour gig is in reality an eleven-hour day. The ice and snow and many tractors on the road made the journey longer than it should have been, but we would have left with plenty of time to spare anyway, being the conscientious little musicians that we are. :)
The time spent on stage is the tiny tip of the iceberg in comparison to the off-stage work. But a lot of people don't realise that - they think all you do is perform. Wow, that would be a very glamorous life! At a gig in October, a guy came up to me and we had this little exchange:
Guy: "So how many days do you work, then?"
Me: "What do you mean, 'how many days'?"
Guy: "I don't know, how many days a year?"
Me: "Do you mean how many days a year do we play gigs?"
Guy: "Yes."
Me: "It varies, but we probably play between 60 and 100 gigs a year, give or take a few."
Guy [grins in disbelief]: "And you make your living from it?"
Me: "Yes, a very frugal living, but a satisfying one."
Guy: "Wow, I wish I could only work one day in three, or even one day in four - why have I been wasting my time working five days a week all these years when I could have been working two?!"
Me: "Actually for years we worked every day of the week, and only recently, when not gigging on a weekend, we might take that time off. There's a lot more to it than doing the gigs... Like getting the gigs, promoting them, getting to the gigs, writing songs (when we have the rare chance!), recording... And all the boring admin like sorting contracts and invoicing people, updating the website, accounting, and even packing up CDs that people have ordered online, then standing in the post office queue..."
And then he might as well have said: "But it's not really work is it..." as many others have before.
Ha ha. Do you know what, I am going to mark this as a 100 Days Project after all - I think I've done OK. I've got a lot off my chest (that's some de-cluttering, ha ha), and I've done something I've been meaning to do for a long time. Put this annoying conversation to rest.
Day Thirty Two.
The time spent on stage is the tiny tip of the iceberg in comparison to the off-stage work. But a lot of people don't realise that - they think all you do is perform. Wow, that would be a very glamorous life! At a gig in October, a guy came up to me and we had this little exchange:
Guy: "So how many days do you work, then?"
Me: "What do you mean, 'how many days'?"
Guy: "I don't know, how many days a year?"
Me: "Do you mean how many days a year do we play gigs?"
Guy: "Yes."
Me: "It varies, but we probably play between 60 and 100 gigs a year, give or take a few."
Guy [grins in disbelief]: "And you make your living from it?"
Me: "Yes, a very frugal living, but a satisfying one."
Guy: "Wow, I wish I could only work one day in three, or even one day in four - why have I been wasting my time working five days a week all these years when I could have been working two?!"
Me: "Actually for years we worked every day of the week, and only recently, when not gigging on a weekend, we might take that time off. There's a lot more to it than doing the gigs... Like getting the gigs, promoting them, getting to the gigs, writing songs (when we have the rare chance!), recording... And all the boring admin like sorting contracts and invoicing people, updating the website, accounting, and even packing up CDs that people have ordered online, then standing in the post office queue..."
And then he might as well have said: "But it's not really work is it..." as many others have before.
Ha ha. Do you know what, I am going to mark this as a 100 Days Project after all - I think I've done OK. I've got a lot off my chest (that's some de-cluttering, ha ha), and I've done something I've been meaning to do for a long time. Put this annoying conversation to rest.
Day Thirty Two.
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Laying the Old Year to Rest and Preparing for the New Year
Day Twenty Eight.
Finally starting to feel normal again, after a week of exhaustion and being completely full of cold (alright, snot). I can't believe I've had to breathe through my mouth every night for so long, it was a relief to be able to breathe through my nose again last night! Ah, the petty detail. Isn't that was blogging is really about?! Ha ha :)
So, one of today's missions is to catch up with my blog entries... I know, I've really let it slip what with being ill and all.
The other main task was this: I spent a good part of the day creating an itinerary for Ember's upcoming tour 'Up North,' sorting out the details and logistics of each gig and making sure we have the right times and contact numbers, etc.
The tour runs from 9th - 15th January and was booked many months ago, mostly repeat gigs, so we know what to expect. We shall be visiting these places (more info on our dates page):
Sat 9th: Faldingworth
Sun 10th: Guisborough
Mon 11th: Stockton on Tees
Tues 12th: Hartlepool
Weds 13th: Otley
Thurs 14th: York
Fri 15th: Near Telford
I'll have to sort the details out for the rest of January and February in the next few days, so there's that to look forward to as well, ha ha.
Happy New Year, let's hope it's a good one :)
Finally starting to feel normal again, after a week of exhaustion and being completely full of cold (alright, snot). I can't believe I've had to breathe through my mouth every night for so long, it was a relief to be able to breathe through my nose again last night! Ah, the petty detail. Isn't that was blogging is really about?! Ha ha :)
So, one of today's missions is to catch up with my blog entries... I know, I've really let it slip what with being ill and all.
The other main task was this: I spent a good part of the day creating an itinerary for Ember's upcoming tour 'Up North,' sorting out the details and logistics of each gig and making sure we have the right times and contact numbers, etc.
The tour runs from 9th - 15th January and was booked many months ago, mostly repeat gigs, so we know what to expect. We shall be visiting these places (more info on our dates page):
Sat 9th: Faldingworth
Sun 10th: Guisborough
Mon 11th: Stockton on Tees
Tues 12th: Hartlepool
Weds 13th: Otley
Thurs 14th: York
Fri 15th: Near Telford
I'll have to sort the details out for the rest of January and February in the next few days, so there's that to look forward to as well, ha ha.
Happy New Year, let's hope it's a good one :)
Monday, 28 December 2009
Pando Saves the Day
Day Twenty Five.
Phil and my dad left early this morning to drive to Pembrokeshire to pick up more of my dad's boxes to take to the smallholding. I'm starting to see where my hoarder's personality has come from! My father finds it really hard to part with anything, much to my mother's dismay. I've promised her that I'll help my dad to go through everything if he's not already done so by the time we move in, probably sometime in March.
It was lovely to get up so early and feel the whole day stretching ahead of me, without any distractions. Finally I had the time to sit down and convert all of the individual tracks (of the songs ready to be mixed) from Garageband files into aiff files. Sounds boring, but is essential for the tracks to be imported into ProTools - which is how Chris (our amazing sound guy) needs them. When we were at his place last, we had a bit of a breakthrough after several difficulties raised their ugly heads. Non-techies can stop reading now...
To get my Garageband songs/files onto Chris' ProTools, I needed first of all to get them onto his computer. They are very large files, and so I thought I should set up an FTP directory on our website so that I could upload to there and he could download from it. Alas, FTP will not support files with anything other than numbers and letters as names, and Garageband seems to insist upon naming each track something like 'Recording#23.' Invalid filename, unacceptable to FTP.
Then I discovered Pando.com - a programme which allows you to send large files (much larger than normal) in an email. I sent the songs to Chris, and despite his disgruntled murmurings about it taking hours to download, he was surprised that it worked... But... But it became an impossible dream when we opened the files with him in his studio and discovered (to our horror) that each recording was no longer in order, nor was it cut down to size, so that would mean we would have to go through every single track and a) try to place it in the correct place in the song, and b) cut it back AGAIN to cut out unwanted parts, which means that c) we would have to re-listen to everything to determine whether or not it was a wanted or unwanted section - argh!!!
At that point we thought the whole project would have to change course, and without Chris' expertise at that. There was no way we could afford to rearrange every micro-recording of every track of every song. 'If only we could get the tracks with the silences in between...' we muttered, glumly. And then suddenly I had a brainwave - if I could mute every track but one, I could send each track to iTunes and the silences in between would happen in real time! I quickly put my idea into action and was mightily relieved that it worked. So that's what I've been doing this morning. Saving each song with all tracks but one muted, one track at a time (naming them appropriately!), and sending every version to iTunes. I'll wait until tonight to send them all to Chris, as Pando takes up all of the bandwidth when it's sending...
I can't wait for the album to be finished, I'm so excited! :)
This afternoon I'm going to drive over to the smallholding to have a look around before Phil and my dad return from Pembrokeshire. Then I'll give him a lift home. I can't believe I've only really spent about half an hour there - that was when I went to view it before we all put the offer in - yet we're planning on being there for the rest of our foreseeable future... I'll take my camera, maybe I'll have some nice pictures to share when I come back :)
EDIT Here's one:
Phil and my dad left early this morning to drive to Pembrokeshire to pick up more of my dad's boxes to take to the smallholding. I'm starting to see where my hoarder's personality has come from! My father finds it really hard to part with anything, much to my mother's dismay. I've promised her that I'll help my dad to go through everything if he's not already done so by the time we move in, probably sometime in March.
It was lovely to get up so early and feel the whole day stretching ahead of me, without any distractions. Finally I had the time to sit down and convert all of the individual tracks (of the songs ready to be mixed) from Garageband files into aiff files. Sounds boring, but is essential for the tracks to be imported into ProTools - which is how Chris (our amazing sound guy) needs them. When we were at his place last, we had a bit of a breakthrough after several difficulties raised their ugly heads. Non-techies can stop reading now...
To get my Garageband songs/files onto Chris' ProTools, I needed first of all to get them onto his computer. They are very large files, and so I thought I should set up an FTP directory on our website so that I could upload to there and he could download from it. Alas, FTP will not support files with anything other than numbers and letters as names, and Garageband seems to insist upon naming each track something like 'Recording#23.' Invalid filename, unacceptable to FTP.
Then I discovered Pando.com - a programme which allows you to send large files (much larger than normal) in an email. I sent the songs to Chris, and despite his disgruntled murmurings about it taking hours to download, he was surprised that it worked... But... But it became an impossible dream when we opened the files with him in his studio and discovered (to our horror) that each recording was no longer in order, nor was it cut down to size, so that would mean we would have to go through every single track and a) try to place it in the correct place in the song, and b) cut it back AGAIN to cut out unwanted parts, which means that c) we would have to re-listen to everything to determine whether or not it was a wanted or unwanted section - argh!!!
At that point we thought the whole project would have to change course, and without Chris' expertise at that. There was no way we could afford to rearrange every micro-recording of every track of every song. 'If only we could get the tracks with the silences in between...' we muttered, glumly. And then suddenly I had a brainwave - if I could mute every track but one, I could send each track to iTunes and the silences in between would happen in real time! I quickly put my idea into action and was mightily relieved that it worked. So that's what I've been doing this morning. Saving each song with all tracks but one muted, one track at a time (naming them appropriately!), and sending every version to iTunes. I'll wait until tonight to send them all to Chris, as Pando takes up all of the bandwidth when it's sending...
I can't wait for the album to be finished, I'm so excited! :)
This afternoon I'm going to drive over to the smallholding to have a look around before Phil and my dad return from Pembrokeshire. Then I'll give him a lift home. I can't believe I've only really spent about half an hour there - that was when I went to view it before we all put the offer in - yet we're planning on being there for the rest of our foreseeable future... I'll take my camera, maybe I'll have some nice pictures to share when I come back :)
EDIT Here's one:
Monday, 21 December 2009
Try, Try and Try Again
Day Fourteen.
Yes, I disappeared for a few days. I wonder if anyone noticed?
I was not spirited away by some magical fairy sparkles, oh no.
I was entangled in the dark stress-cloud which surrounds my head like a blanket soaked in ditch-water, suffocating my breath and shattering my thoughts, making even the simplest of tasks seem like complicated, mammoth obstacles. I've been there for a while. It makes me feel very melodramatic, as you can tell... :)
I'm back now, sort of.
I've decided not to ask too much of myself for a while.
I hope to keep doing and writing, but do not plan on beating myself up over any of it!
:)
I tried to do lots of things on Thursday, Day Fourteen...
I need to arrange a replacement SIM card for my phone, and people keep promising me their old ones, but so far none have worked, most have been forgotten... I tried out a couple, but got the same message 'SIM Activation Failed.'
We want to move all of the boxes of books from the loft down to the empty bedroom, so that they're ready to take to the smallholding when we go. But my parents need space their on their own to overcome the stresses of the last six months, so we are now uncertain as to when we might be able to start moving stuff.
I've been waiting for a hoover part to arrive which should sort it out once and for all - how did a huge piece fall out without us noticing?!
I searched high and low for the Bukowski DVD which Bec borrowed from the library and then lent to me. It has completely vanished, and so no success there... :(
I wrote out some of the addresses for the Christmas cards, and discovered I didn't have them all. Started trying to find people's addresses.
We did some more recording at Bec's house, and listened to most of the songs. I can't keep reporting that though, can I? No matter how exciting it may be for me!
A very trying day.
Yes, I disappeared for a few days. I wonder if anyone noticed?
I was not spirited away by some magical fairy sparkles, oh no.
I was entangled in the dark stress-cloud which surrounds my head like a blanket soaked in ditch-water, suffocating my breath and shattering my thoughts, making even the simplest of tasks seem like complicated, mammoth obstacles. I've been there for a while. It makes me feel very melodramatic, as you can tell... :)
I'm back now, sort of.
I've decided not to ask too much of myself for a while.
I hope to keep doing and writing, but do not plan on beating myself up over any of it!
:)
I tried to do lots of things on Thursday, Day Fourteen...
I need to arrange a replacement SIM card for my phone, and people keep promising me their old ones, but so far none have worked, most have been forgotten... I tried out a couple, but got the same message 'SIM Activation Failed.'
We want to move all of the boxes of books from the loft down to the empty bedroom, so that they're ready to take to the smallholding when we go. But my parents need space their on their own to overcome the stresses of the last six months, so we are now uncertain as to when we might be able to start moving stuff.
I've been waiting for a hoover part to arrive which should sort it out once and for all - how did a huge piece fall out without us noticing?!
I searched high and low for the Bukowski DVD which Bec borrowed from the library and then lent to me. It has completely vanished, and so no success there... :(
I wrote out some of the addresses for the Christmas cards, and discovered I didn't have them all. Started trying to find people's addresses.
We did some more recording at Bec's house, and listened to most of the songs. I can't keep reporting that though, can I? No matter how exciting it may be for me!
A very trying day.
Friday, 11 December 2009
Getting the Tunes to the Tunesmiths
Day Eight.
Argh! I'm rushing around trying to get ready to drive to Derbyshire for our gig tonight - the last Ember concert of 2009... The small task I set myself this morning was to convert three of the songs to mp3 and send them to Jamie Smith, wonderful accordionist who plays with Mabon. The idea is that he will add some magic, and 'Da Daaa!' - they will be DONE.
But do you know HOW LONG it takes to attach a single song?! I've cooked and eaten all my porridge and the first song has not yet attached!
...Thank goodness, after plugging the laptop directly into the wi-fi thingy, it seemed to get a little faster, so I've DONE IT :) And for good measure (to prove to you that I'm not slacking) I sent a track to Duncan the drummer so that he can start working on that one too. Horray! Off to my gig now, not a minute too soon!
And thanks again, everyone, for the lovely and encouraging comments :)
Argh! I'm rushing around trying to get ready to drive to Derbyshire for our gig tonight - the last Ember concert of 2009... The small task I set myself this morning was to convert three of the songs to mp3 and send them to Jamie Smith, wonderful accordionist who plays with Mabon. The idea is that he will add some magic, and 'Da Daaa!' - they will be DONE.
But do you know HOW LONG it takes to attach a single song?! I've cooked and eaten all my porridge and the first song has not yet attached!
...Thank goodness, after plugging the laptop directly into the wi-fi thingy, it seemed to get a little faster, so I've DONE IT :) And for good measure (to prove to you that I'm not slacking) I sent a track to Duncan the drummer so that he can start working on that one too. Horray! Off to my gig now, not a minute too soon!
And thanks again, everyone, for the lovely and encouraging comments :)
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Topping and Tailing Tracks
Day Seven.
Yes indeed, I have organised the tracks for the new album! I hope this will be allowed to pass as de-cluttering! I've been deleting unwanted tracks, and nipping off the beginnings and endings of every single recorded track on every single song. Which means there will be no unwanted throat-clearing, rustling, twitching or space-bar sounds on any of the songs, horray! It's all sounding very lovely now. The sound is clear and pure, apart from the occasional crackle from the fire, the odd tweeting bird outside the window, and the obvious jets roaring around the Mach Loop faster than the speed of sound. No, amazingly, we managed to avoid the latter, as well as the unexpected phone calls and slammed doors somewhere in the depth of the house. A miracle!
It took about two hours to complete this task, as well as composing a list of what each track on each song consisted of. Now it's much easier to see what has yet to be added to each song. I spent a couple of hours recording guitar and violin parts for 'I'll Be There' (working title) and I'm feeling pretty pleased with the results. I'm afraid I can't put them up here, partly because I don't know how to, but also because we want to wait until it's ready before we unveil the finished album. I can share some screen clips though! The one at the top of this post is our version of Woody Guthrie's 'Do Re Mi,' still relevant in these days of economic uncertainty.
And the one below is mine - 'I'll Be There' - the four tracks on the right are fiddle (recorded twice with two microphones each time) and I'm very excited about that addition to the song - even though the violin is an integral part of our sound, somehow it seems to be the last thing you'd expect to hear at the end of this song :)
Side note: Originally I had thought I might need to take an actual photo of my screen, but a quick search on Mac Help revealed 'Grab' to me - a tool which can be used to capture a window, or even your entire screen. Very handy indeed! That reminds me, yesterday Tall Paul came round to use our wi-fi, in orderhook up to Skype and have a logistical conversation with his web designer. He said to me "I wish there was a way I could see his screen! This would be so much quicker!" so I told him about the 'Share My Screen' button on Skype. It wasn't available on his version, but once he'd updated it and downloaded the latest version - there it was. The miracles of technology never cease to surprise and delight :)
Oh, by the way, I'd like to introduce you to John Whipple, bare-footed bluesman and songwriter extraordinaire from Salt Lake City, Utah. Here's his Myspace page and here's his blog. He's just joined The Tangled Yarn crew. I got to hang out with him in SLC this summer, where I recorded a bit of fiddle on the track 'Too Good for Me' on his latest album 'Bible Milk.'
If you'd like to check out my music, you'll find it on Ember's Myspace page, and our website.
(Can't fault a bit of harmless self-promotion!)
Yes indeed, I have organised the tracks for the new album! I hope this will be allowed to pass as de-cluttering! I've been deleting unwanted tracks, and nipping off the beginnings and endings of every single recorded track on every single song. Which means there will be no unwanted throat-clearing, rustling, twitching or space-bar sounds on any of the songs, horray! It's all sounding very lovely now. The sound is clear and pure, apart from the occasional crackle from the fire, the odd tweeting bird outside the window, and the obvious jets roaring around the Mach Loop faster than the speed of sound. No, amazingly, we managed to avoid the latter, as well as the unexpected phone calls and slammed doors somewhere in the depth of the house. A miracle!
It took about two hours to complete this task, as well as composing a list of what each track on each song consisted of. Now it's much easier to see what has yet to be added to each song. I spent a couple of hours recording guitar and violin parts for 'I'll Be There' (working title) and I'm feeling pretty pleased with the results. I'm afraid I can't put them up here, partly because I don't know how to, but also because we want to wait until it's ready before we unveil the finished album. I can share some screen clips though! The one at the top of this post is our version of Woody Guthrie's 'Do Re Mi,' still relevant in these days of economic uncertainty.
And the one below is mine - 'I'll Be There' - the four tracks on the right are fiddle (recorded twice with two microphones each time) and I'm very excited about that addition to the song - even though the violin is an integral part of our sound, somehow it seems to be the last thing you'd expect to hear at the end of this song :)
Side note: Originally I had thought I might need to take an actual photo of my screen, but a quick search on Mac Help revealed 'Grab' to me - a tool which can be used to capture a window, or even your entire screen. Very handy indeed! That reminds me, yesterday Tall Paul came round to use our wi-fi, in orderhook up to Skype and have a logistical conversation with his web designer. He said to me "I wish there was a way I could see his screen! This would be so much quicker!" so I told him about the 'Share My Screen' button on Skype. It wasn't available on his version, but once he'd updated it and downloaded the latest version - there it was. The miracles of technology never cease to surprise and delight :)
Oh, by the way, I'd like to introduce you to John Whipple, bare-footed bluesman and songwriter extraordinaire from Salt Lake City, Utah. Here's his Myspace page and here's his blog. He's just joined The Tangled Yarn crew. I got to hang out with him in SLC this summer, where I recorded a bit of fiddle on the track 'Too Good for Me' on his latest album 'Bible Milk.'
If you'd like to check out my music, you'll find it on Ember's Myspace page, and our website.
(Can't fault a bit of harmless self-promotion!)
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Day Six of One Hundred
Day Six.
Well. It's been a long day, but a good one.
I took the cassettes (this is the LAST you'll hear of them!) to the Dog Shop, and didn't stop to look about and be tempted by more crap.
I cleaned the hoover filter and hoovered our bedroom, bathroom and the stairs. This is how horrible it looked before I sorted it out:
I reckon there was enough cat fur to make another entire cat, at least. Nice. I mistook more than one mega hairball for Jekyll. OK, I didn't really. :)
The yukka plants have been looking really ropey, so I stripped off the dead leaves. Phil put them in the woodburner ready to be kindling for our next cosy fire.
I bought a two huge bags full of fresh vegetables from the market, and did something I've been meaning to do for months now - I went outside onto the garden and collected a giant bunch of kale and winter greens, and made a nice big pot of soup. :)
I was so excited I didn't think to take a photo...
At 4:30pm we went up to Bec's to do some more recording... Nearly there now, the album is taking shape, in a lovely low-fi way. It feels so good to be recording it ourselves, so much less stress!
Ooo, before I go, I would like to point you towards some of the '100 Days to Make Me a Better Person' blogs I'm really enjoying at the moment - it feels great to connect with other people who are getting into this project!
The Yellow Lamp, The Heartful Blogger, My Name is Beth.
Signing off. :)
Well. It's been a long day, but a good one.
I took the cassettes (this is the LAST you'll hear of them!) to the Dog Shop, and didn't stop to look about and be tempted by more crap.
I cleaned the hoover filter and hoovered our bedroom, bathroom and the stairs. This is how horrible it looked before I sorted it out:
I reckon there was enough cat fur to make another entire cat, at least. Nice. I mistook more than one mega hairball for Jekyll. OK, I didn't really. :)
The yukka plants have been looking really ropey, so I stripped off the dead leaves. Phil put them in the woodburner ready to be kindling for our next cosy fire.
I bought a two huge bags full of fresh vegetables from the market, and did something I've been meaning to do for months now - I went outside onto the garden and collected a giant bunch of kale and winter greens, and made a nice big pot of soup. :)
I was so excited I didn't think to take a photo...
At 4:30pm we went up to Bec's to do some more recording... Nearly there now, the album is taking shape, in a lovely low-fi way. It feels so good to be recording it ourselves, so much less stress!
Ooo, before I go, I would like to point you towards some of the '100 Days to Make Me a Better Person' blogs I'm really enjoying at the moment - it feels great to connect with other people who are getting into this project!
The Yellow Lamp, The Heartful Blogger, My Name is Beth.
Signing off. :)
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Discovering My Musical Influences
Day Five.
Oh, BOY.
I've been listening to the tapes I held onto yesterday.
I didn't expect to find such a huge range of sonic treasures! Well, OK, not treasures exactly, but such a variety of different worlds for my ears to dip into. I've only listened to the beginnings of each side, as my object is to find home-recordings of my own songs over the years (and I always recorded my songs at the beginning of tapes so that I had some chance of finding them. I never marked the tapes. That would have been as despicable as scribbling in books).
Bloody hell, though, doesn't it take a LONG TIME to rewind an entire 90-minute cassette?! And then the names on the recordable tapes took me back:
Memorex, Ferrick, TDK AD-X 60, Philips FE-I, CP II 90, Sony Hi-Fi, Maxwell UE, Sky FX. All "High Fidelity for Music and Voice" no doubt.
The one that made me laugh out loud was BBC Normal Bias. :S
Here are some of the things I encountered, so in some ways you could probably define them as my INFLUENCES:
Popular bands: Nirvana, Pink Floyd, REM, Jewel, Johnny Cash, UB40.
Festival bands: Kangaroo Moon, Space Goats, FOS Brothers.
Classical: Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
World music: Indian flute and drums.
Mediaeval music and Dead Can Dance.
Eighties pop: Neneh Cherry and plenty of nameless radio bands.
Loads of trance music.
Some of my old songs, YAY!
University lectures recorded on a dictaphone:
"the history of tragedy"
"it's like looking at someone looking"
"this may not surprise you, but it may interest you: very often your marks for the essays are in direct proportion to the lectures you attended" *
Miscellaneous:
A song called 'Shut Up' written and recorded by my Slovenian friend Matevz, about his father.
A spine tingling musical/poetic take on Apartheid.
Elvis singing "Maybe I didn't love you quite as often as I should..."
Machine gun fire - for literally 5 minutes. I don't know how or why I ended up with that.
Ultra-slowed-down singing, only after deciphering the lyrics did I realise that it was ME, recorded on a 4-track.
Result: Many more tapes for the bin. I've discovered a brief history of my musical tastes. AND, I have found some of my earliest songs, horray!
Good night :)
PS - Kellee, thanks for your offer to turn the tapes into art, but I simply must get them out of the house before I start regretting getting rid of them! Maybe you have some of your own you can create something beautiful out of? Failing that, Imogen's got BAGS of them! :)
* This was the module on Shakespeare's Drama. I missed a few lectures but sent a mate in with a dictaphone. When the time came for me to take notes from the recording, I ended up writing out the lecture word for word. My essay was the lecture minus the anecdotes. I got a first.
Oh, BOY.
I've been listening to the tapes I held onto yesterday.
I didn't expect to find such a huge range of sonic treasures! Well, OK, not treasures exactly, but such a variety of different worlds for my ears to dip into. I've only listened to the beginnings of each side, as my object is to find home-recordings of my own songs over the years (and I always recorded my songs at the beginning of tapes so that I had some chance of finding them. I never marked the tapes. That would have been as despicable as scribbling in books).
Bloody hell, though, doesn't it take a LONG TIME to rewind an entire 90-minute cassette?! And then the names on the recordable tapes took me back:
Memorex, Ferrick, TDK AD-X 60, Philips FE-I, CP II 90, Sony Hi-Fi, Maxwell UE, Sky FX. All "High Fidelity for Music and Voice" no doubt.
The one that made me laugh out loud was BBC Normal Bias. :S
Here are some of the things I encountered, so in some ways you could probably define them as my INFLUENCES:
Popular bands: Nirvana, Pink Floyd, REM, Jewel, Johnny Cash, UB40.
Festival bands: Kangaroo Moon, Space Goats, FOS Brothers.
Classical: Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
World music: Indian flute and drums.
Mediaeval music and Dead Can Dance.
Eighties pop: Neneh Cherry and plenty of nameless radio bands.
Loads of trance music.
Some of my old songs, YAY!
University lectures recorded on a dictaphone:
"the history of tragedy"
"it's like looking at someone looking"
"this may not surprise you, but it may interest you: very often your marks for the essays are in direct proportion to the lectures you attended" *
Miscellaneous:
A song called 'Shut Up' written and recorded by my Slovenian friend Matevz, about his father.
A spine tingling musical/poetic take on Apartheid.
Elvis singing "Maybe I didn't love you quite as often as I should..."
Machine gun fire - for literally 5 minutes. I don't know how or why I ended up with that.
Ultra-slowed-down singing, only after deciphering the lyrics did I realise that it was ME, recorded on a 4-track.
Result: Many more tapes for the bin. I've discovered a brief history of my musical tastes. AND, I have found some of my earliest songs, horray!
Good night :)
PS - Kellee, thanks for your offer to turn the tapes into art, but I simply must get them out of the house before I start regretting getting rid of them! Maybe you have some of your own you can create something beautiful out of? Failing that, Imogen's got BAGS of them! :)
* This was the module on Shakespeare's Drama. I missed a few lectures but sent a mate in with a dictaphone. When the time came for me to take notes from the recording, I ended up writing out the lecture word for word. My essay was the lecture minus the anecdotes. I got a first.
Monday, 7 December 2009
My Teenage Years in Cassette Format
Day Four.
What IS my problem?! I'm 32 years old and I'm still lumbering around with this weighty, archaic albatross around my neck. I've taken this boxful of cassette tapes from house to house, where they have taken up space, gathered dust, and most importantly of all, exuded GUILT. But how can I get rid of these mini musical dinosaurs? They represent my teenage years, my musical journey, my youth itself... I can't possibly throw all that IMPORTANT history away! Just look at it - the ugly truth:
Aw, there's a kitty - only 42p... Oh, for goodness' sake, grow up!!! When was the last time I owned a functioning tape player? Too long ago to recall. You can't count the one in the car, it makes every single tape sound like the singer has a mouth full of buttons, every instrument is heavily distorted, and sometimes the player just decides to chew the whole thing up, buttons and all. OK, the last time my tape player worked properly was when I was at college. That's ten years ago. (By the way, I bought this particularly lovely ghetto blaster when I was about 12 years old, and it's still very much in use, though the radio is the only part that works now.)
Now that I have a laptop, I barely even listen to CDs - I import them, yes, but from then on in it's all about iTunes. And a couple of weeks ago I "discovered" Spotify, so now almost everything I should wish to listen to is a short search and a click away! You don't even need an invite, just click this link. So there really are no more excuses for me, I am going to be ruthless.
All of the REAL albums (actual ones, purchased from a shop) seem to be in abundance on Spotify. So they have been bagged for the local charity shop (the Dog Shop). Most of the tapes people have copied me are also available on Spotify. They can go in the bin. I'm not sure if they can be recycled or not.
There are some suspicious-looking tapes, which I would like to listen to - these might include home-recordings of some of my early songs. I'm realising that I'm really not very ruthless at all, I'm still hanging on to the unmarked ones in case they have ME on them, oh, am I that much of a narcissist?! No, I'm thinking I might be able to recycle some song ideas... Am I completely irrational? I don't know.
I'm writing a blog, aren't I? That says something, ha ha.
Day 4 mission pretty much completed.
What IS my problem?! I'm 32 years old and I'm still lumbering around with this weighty, archaic albatross around my neck. I've taken this boxful of cassette tapes from house to house, where they have taken up space, gathered dust, and most importantly of all, exuded GUILT. But how can I get rid of these mini musical dinosaurs? They represent my teenage years, my musical journey, my youth itself... I can't possibly throw all that IMPORTANT history away! Just look at it - the ugly truth:
Aw, there's a kitty - only 42p... Oh, for goodness' sake, grow up!!! When was the last time I owned a functioning tape player? Too long ago to recall. You can't count the one in the car, it makes every single tape sound like the singer has a mouth full of buttons, every instrument is heavily distorted, and sometimes the player just decides to chew the whole thing up, buttons and all. OK, the last time my tape player worked properly was when I was at college. That's ten years ago. (By the way, I bought this particularly lovely ghetto blaster when I was about 12 years old, and it's still very much in use, though the radio is the only part that works now.)
Now that I have a laptop, I barely even listen to CDs - I import them, yes, but from then on in it's all about iTunes. And a couple of weeks ago I "discovered" Spotify, so now almost everything I should wish to listen to is a short search and a click away! You don't even need an invite, just click this link. So there really are no more excuses for me, I am going to be ruthless.
All of the REAL albums (actual ones, purchased from a shop) seem to be in abundance on Spotify. So they have been bagged for the local charity shop (the Dog Shop). Most of the tapes people have copied me are also available on Spotify. They can go in the bin. I'm not sure if they can be recycled or not.
There are some suspicious-looking tapes, which I would like to listen to - these might include home-recordings of some of my early songs. I'm realising that I'm really not very ruthless at all, I'm still hanging on to the unmarked ones in case they have ME on them, oh, am I that much of a narcissist?! No, I'm thinking I might be able to recycle some song ideas... Am I completely irrational? I don't know.
I'm writing a blog, aren't I? That says something, ha ha.
Day 4 mission pretty much completed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
