2nd week

DAY 8

Ruth and the kids are here. It’s good to be home.

DAY 9

Bloody shooters again. This is the 3rd time, and today they don’t even have the excuse of pheasant. They’re down at the bottom of the drive shooting clay pigeons for goodness sake. Why don’t they do that in their own drive? Oh hang on - don’t tell me…. they have a problem with the neighbours.

Ruth and the kids are gone.

Finger tips have toughened up nicely with a couple of days rest, and the singer/songwriter thing with the guitar is starting to feel a little more comfortable.

Spend most of the evening trying to work out how to switch from the studio monitors to phones only for recording. Logic Pro seems to have some cunning method of bypassing all the instructions I send to the MOTU 828 (mkII).

Finally get a workaround and start with arrangements for the eponymous track (’Fiftieth Anniversary Edition’).

DAY 10

Beginning to wonder if I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew…

Spent a couple of hours trying to get Logic to track the tempo of my playing rather than using a click track, but the results sounded clunky with Logic jumping ten to twenty bpm in every beat. I’m obviously doing something wrong, but I don’t have the time to work out what, so it’s back to the click track.

Finally manage to put down a rough vocal and guitar guide track and roughly arrange the drums and piano. Butt this is where things start to get difficult.

In my past I’ve done plenty of song-writing, and I’ve also done plenty of computer sequencing, but I haven’t often done both together. Add to that the fact that I intend to present the songs as if played by a real band and maybe you get my drift.

Computer sequencing encourages the use of repeated patterns while a song with verses, chorus, bridge and refrains doesn’t. And particularly not when apparently played by real musicians.

Which just means I’ve got a lot of work on my hands.

Shooters again. Landrovers, trailers and quads parked around the house. One of the bored clients in the field was obviously more interested in the goings on here than waiting for a frightened pheasant to appear.

When they finally gave up, one cheeky bugger opened the gate and drove his Landrover and trailer in front of the house to turn. There’s me strumming my guitar at the window contemplating the solitude and not 6 feet away there’s a bloke in tweed cap and Barbour jacket trying not to catch my eye.

DAY 11

Spend most of the day working on yesterday’s song. I’ve got live mandolin, fiddle, guitar and bass now, and most of the basics of the drums. But programming the drums convincingly is still going to take some time. Of course, I’m still not convinced by the bridge where I’ve tried to keep things simple and probably ended up sounding twee. No, let’s be honest - for better or worse it sounds like James Bisset.

Ah well, time is too short to sweat it. I’ve already spent the best part of two and half days on this thing and it’s not finished yet. Funky mandolin though!

When I woke up this morning there was a Landrover parked outside the gate. Probably someone from the estate checking to see if there was any bird-life left in the wood below the house. Gone by the time I got back from town.

DAY 12

Finished the drum programming last night for ‘Fiftieth Anniversary Edition’ and recorded the rest of the guitar parts this afternoon. After all these years, and even when I’m alone in my own studio, I get a queer feeling in the pit of my stomach when I hit the record button and start playing. My muscles stiffen and my mind goes blank. Or is that just a sign of age?

Anyway, like all the best performers I’ve left the lyrics till last. So now I’m sitting with a pad on my knee trying to think of words with rhythm and rhyme. Well actually I would be if I wasn’t procrastinating by writing this.

Finally finish around 5am with something approaching a rough mix. Lyrics, melody, guitar solo - why, it’s got everything a good song needs.

DAY 13

Get up around 12. Stomach’s beginning to play up now. Is this a sign of anxiety or have I stumbled on some hidden source of gluten?

With the various chores done, I’m about to start work on ‘Keep On’.

Policy decision here too for those interested in such things: I declared on the the project pages that “I’m going to restrict myself to a pre-defined ‘band’ with a limited range of instruments. That will also help to give the song set some consistency and a common identity”.

Well, having spent the last three days trying to re-create the sound of a real band with limited success, I’m going to allow myself the luxury of sequencing any way I want for this song. I may as well try and enjoy myself for the last couple of days…

My giddy aunt! I can see I’m going to have to redo ‘Fiftieth Anniversary Edition. I’ve just spent the last few hours writing and sequencing ‘Keep On’. The results are promising. Scratch that, let’s be a little less British - the results are scary!

For a start, the guitar sound great. I just plugged the guitar straight in and then used the amp simulators in Logic. Bugger what the critics say, this is still far better than miking up a Marshall 2x12 and keeping fingers crossed.

Anyway, write some lyrics based around the old story about the minstrel who discovered Richard the Lionheart by wandering round France singing and then hearing the refrain being sung back to him by the imprisoned king.

DAY 14

Last day. I have to be out of the cottage by 10am tomorrow, and I’ll need to do some cleaning after packing.

Spend most of the day re-recording the guitar for ‘Keep On’. I can hear what it should sound like in my head - it just takes ages to get my fingers to do the same.

Then record the main vocal part, although at this stage it’s really just a guide vocal so I can get on with producing the thing properly when I get home. Aha - I hear you cry, so I’m going to let the project spill over the fortnight and start to encroach on my real life.

Well, I’m going to have to think about it.

In the meantime, I need to pack this computer away and start cleaning.

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