Pre-production and PC frustration

So pre-production for my solo EP continues. Much slower than anticipated, but that's unfortunately typical of me and my perfectionist ways. It's just a little stupid when this is just about the pre-production process and not recording quality. I think it's natural to want things to sound as good as possible. It's just that I'm usually trying to turn a redneck into a gentlemen by putting him into suit. He still has an accent no matter how hard I try. Furthermore, even the suit is poorly made. (Nice analogy, huh?)

I'm not being negative about myself here. I'm doing this recordings as quickly as I can, with home recording gear, and generally adverse recording circumstances. Plus I'm not an engineering genius. What I know I've only picked up from being in studios. Next to nothing has ever been shown to me.

I actually re-recorded the vocals on "Hey (I Am Here For Every Day)" but was too focused on just getting done and didn't save my tracking. Then my PC crashed. If Ed is reading this he'll be chuckling to himself as we used to dig at each other while recording The Stuns album about whether PC (my team) or Mac (his team) was better. In truth I've always known he was right but have been trying to convince myself that PC was better so I didn't feel bad for not having the money to buy a Mac. Time for me to start saving I think.

So piles of time is disappearing into the ether. Oh well. That's the way of the recording process. Besides, I needed the practice singing the track anyway.

My friend Arun has recorded the percussion for Here For You (time to start abbreviating it). I've done a basic mix and added some bass to see how that sounds. As I've already stated though, this is just a guide recording to work out what I want to do when I'm in the studio doing the actual recording and every second is costing me money. Please let me know your thoughts. Underneath this is one is the other track, Take A Holiday...

Hey (I Am Here For You Every Day)

No-one can be strong every day

You may want to lay down and make the world go away

But when these moments come to make you blue

You have to look around and know I am always here for you

Singing hey

I am here for you every day

Everyone has some troubled times

Life has a way of upsetting your rhymes

But it’s OK, this is just the way it is

Just let it all out, but never forget this

I’m singing hey

I am here for you every day

I want you to know

That you will never walk alone

I want you to know

That when the hard times come

And you’re feeling down

You can always count on some

To be singing hey

We are here for you every day

Here is the next guide track I've done for Arun to record percussion over. Just guitar and vocals now but I'll see about adding more vocals and bass when I get the percussion tracks from Arun. I'm looking forward to hearing this one with more instrumentation. In my mind I hear the intro riff played on steel drum, not guitar. It's nice to hear the songs gradually build into a full track. When you hear the end product all the endless hours of pre-production, tracking, mixing, re-tracking, re-mixing, mastering, etc... all just float away and it's all worth it.

Take A Holiday



Won’t you
Take a holiday
With me
You know we should get away
‘Cause lately
I’ve been missing you
There’s many
Things I would like to do
With you

We need some island sun
Clear waters blue
Surfing would be fun
I really think so, don’t you
We could dance all night
Then stay in bed til 2
What could be more right
Than spending every moment

With you
Come take a holiday
Swimming
And drinking big cocktails
Coz lately
I’ve been missing you
There isn’t
Anymore time to lose
So please

We need some island sun
Coconut juice
Baby won’t you come
I really want you to
I can hold you tight
Or walk an hour or two
And while we do I’d like
To be holding hands

With you
We’ll take a holiday
Hawaii
There’s no better place
To be
Than always next to you
Some things
You simply have to do

Like loving your lover
Kissing them all over
Making them know that you
Don’t want any other
Because if you know that
You love one another
There’s nothing more pressing
Than asking that question

Lover, won’t you
Take a holiday
With me
You know we should get away
‘Cause lately
I’ve been missing you
There’s many
Things I would like to do
With you
Take a holiday
With me
You know we should get away

Foto Fun With Flitting Fireflies

I can spell photo obviously. I just thought "Foto" was more fun...

Sam, George and myself went down to Orange County last night to see our friends Megan and Zach.

We had a whole lot of fun with them as always! One of the reasons we always have fun with Megan and Zach is that they have a great camera and we always get some really funny photos. Here's one from the first night I met Megan and Zach, at Zach's 30th last year. They set their camera on a tripod in Megan's art studio facing this pink background then people could choose clothes from the box of outfits, or just have a shot in their own costume as it was a "Rock Star" theme. It was great fun and a great way to capture the night and bring everyone out of their shell!

I didn't have to wear a costume for the "Rock Star" theme night - normal wardrobe was suffice... ;~D

Last night we took many funny photos, quite a few involving some 3D glasses with the lenses removed.

Sam on the left, Megan on the right - showing that 3D glasses can be very sexy indeed...

And here's one of me adding to the campfire vibe - just so you can all see how hard-core my beard is getting.



This is also a great chance to plug Megan's Pop Art. She does a lot of different art but this one style she has been commissioned to do on a number of occasions. The first one is of Sam and the others aren't people I know. But I really love these ones. Contact me - myfighttowrite@gmail.com - and I'll put you in touch with her if you're interested in having a painting like this done.







But on to my own creativity for today. I took the following shots with Meg's digital SLR. I haven't used an SLR regularly since back when I used to do some wedding photography and worked at a Kodak store. It really got me longing for an SLR again, but a digital one. I simply L. O. V. E. the manual focus and exposure settings on an SLR, along with the warmth and clarity of a top quality lens and the instant nature of working with an SLR shutter. You can get exactly the shot you want. Furthermore, with digital you can shoot at will with no concern for cost, know exactly what you've captured, and don't have to have your eye stuck to the viewing window, freeing you up to get better angles for your composition.

Although I usually post photos with major edits done to them I've done none here as my creativity was not the editing but the shooting itself. You'll see where my blog title reference to "flitting fireflies" comes from in number 2 - using a 20 second shutter speed and 3.5 aperture. Let me know your favorites. This first one is mine. Sam is just so cute in this! (Well, she always is...and this shot captures that for me.) And I do sort of have a thing for girls wearing glasses...

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I Am Here For You Every Day

First week into recording my EP and I've only finished one guide track for the percussionist to use for recording his parts over. Recording is a slow and frustrating process. Particularly when you're anal and obsessive, but not always that capable, experiences or confident about what you want to do with a song. Every little mistake, normally inconsequential when playing live, becomes glaringly obvious and immortalized for endless repetition (and hence annoyance) if not dealt with. Four humble minutes of song can often take 10 times that number in hours, if not more.

I've tried a few things on this recording, mainly with vocal ideas, preparing the way for the actual recording, as when you get in the studio and are paying money you can't toy around like I have this week while just doing this guide track recording at home.I have to get very certain and confident about what I want to record.

Although I say this is a guide track that is under-selling it as I have tried to make it sound as good as I can, as I need better recordings to show people, as you well know if you've heard my recordings on this blog so far. Very average indeed...

I welcome any comments, and encourage brutal honesty. If you feel uncomfortable putting your honest, critical thoughts in a comment on this blog then e-mail me at myfighttowrite@gmail.com as this would be a big help to me moving forward with this recording. Anything that you find annoying, weird, distracting or negative in any way in the vocals I would like to know about.

One last thing - those who read the original post of this song you know the title was "Hey (I Am Here For You Every Day)" which I did like but am wondering whether I should remove the "Hey". What do you think?


I Am Here For You Every Day

No-one can be strong every day

You may want to lay down and make the world go away

But when these moments come to make you blue

You have to look around and know I am always here for you

Singing hey

I am here for you every day

Everyone has some troubled times

Life has a way of upsetting your rhymes

But it’s OK, this is just the way it is

Just let it all out, but never forget this

I’m singing hey

I am here for you every day

I want you to know

That you will never walk alone

I want you to know

That when the hard times come

And you’re feeling down

You can always count on some

To be singing hey

We are here for you every day

Brooke Shields and I went to a bar...

It was Sunday just gone. Trendy Brentwood Bar seemed like a good choice. She arrived 15 minutes later than me. She came and sat at the bar that I was at...

... ... ...

...having dinner and drinks with Sam.

So did you think I actually went to a bar with Brooke Shields? It was a nice try anyway. I was very glad to be there with Sam and I'm sure Brooke Shields was glad to be there with the guy she was with (a quick Google search showed him to be her husband, Chris Henchy.)

The point of my story is that this is Hollywood.

This is my biggest celebrity sighting so far. But it's not just about seeing celebs in LA. You may wind up the one being seen. On national TV even, just by casually heading down to a free gig. You can see my shaggy head and freshly-sculpted, idiotic looking smile in the crowd, just on the right of Jimmy Kimmel during the first 5 seconds of the below video, as he announces Brett Dennen as the guest performer on Monday night's filming. Also look for my huge nest of hair (and Sam's black beanie slightly hidden right in front of me - my back's to the camera) on the bottom left in front-on shots of the stage, such as at 2mins 57secs.



So is that Hollywood enough for you?

Well, as I mentioned I had some "teeth work" done this week. Not by Sam, as even though she's a qualified Doctor of Dentistry/Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, she doesn't have a set place of practice to do such procedures at the mates rates I require at the moment. So her friend Mike X-rayed my teeth, examined my teeth (no cavities and still no fillings despite not having been for a Dental checkup for 5 years) then he cleaned my teeth with some ultasonic, pain inflicting, annoyingly high-pitched-buzzing implement that spews out a lot of water, then he filed some small chipped spots flat in my front four top teeth, then he took impressions of my teeth to make whitening trays for future Californification sessions.

No - I didn't mean for this to look like I'm holding  my severed head in my hand. Stare at it and it will freak you out! Even more than staring at a picture of me normally would...

It's not completely Hollywood though. Hollywood would expect me to get porcelain veneers.

Say this 10 times fast...

"How much food would a Hollywood chick chuck if a Hollywood chick would chuck food." I was going to finish that with "eat food" but it's probably un-PC enough as it is without making the joke more blatantly about people with Bulimia in Hollywood. From what I see on the endless massive billboards here though, it seems I'm only making social comment. And seriously, you can always see at least 3 of these billboards at once while on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood/West Hollywood.




And I haven't even yet mentioned that Sam worked on the, as of today, late Elizabeth Taylor's teeth last year. I'm presuming I can say that without breaking patient-doctor confidentiality now that she's dead. Right Sam? Hmmmmm...this might get edited out later...

So what's the moral of the story?

You're never too far from stardom in LA? True but not my point.

This world is going to choke on it's own saliva if it keeps drooling over fame, fortune and stick-figures the way it does? Well, it's quite possible.

I guess my point is this - how am I going to ever make a living from music without becoming a part of this fake-fest?

It seems to me that many try harder to create waves than create music? Worse still, it seems to work in many cases.

Well - I don't think I'm much good at making waves, but with a whole lot more work I just might be good at making music. So right now that's what I'm doing. I'll be gradually posting new, decent quality recordings of my recent songs over the next week or so. Release-quality recordings will hopefully be available in just a few months when I hope to release my first solo EP.

Here's a new guitar idea that captures the deflated, overwhelmed mood that I've had recently while contemplating the massive, exponential-curve-of-a-mountain that I must continue to try and climb if I'm ever going to make money from writing music.



...hey, did you ever notice the donate link in the top right...? ;)

We go to the snow...

I think the biggest enemy to creativity is money. The need for it, the desire for it, the worrying about it. I'm nowhere near as bad as I once was but I can still see it affecting my decisions in the short term. Don't take from this that I've not been being creative daily. But obviously from my lack of posting this week it means that my blog posting hasn't been high enough on my priority list to get done. This is why I mention the money. I can't not think about it but the fact is I'm earning very little and am still spending all I earn and more so I have to worry about it to some degree. I find that with a better perspective I always see that the earning the money isn't making me happier, just allaying a perpetual but avoidable worry.

It also stands to reason that posting about my creativity on this blog is lower on my priorities than doing the creativity itself, so sometimes I only have time for the creativity and not the blogging. When posting photos, and more-so video, is involved posting my blog can be quite time consuming. 

Anyway, you'll be hearing from me much more regularly again in the coming week. New songs/recordings and more mixes I've been working on mostly.

But for now, I said I would show you some photos and videos from my skiing weekend just passed.

Here is Sam and I grabbing a photo while grabbing a drink.

This is (right to left) Sam, Luke, George and I at the top of the mountain. We found the bears but they weren't so big...




Here is the view over Big Bear Lake from the top of one of the peaks.




This is everyone who came on the skiing trip. From left to right - George, Me, Sam, Tamar, PJ, Luke, Michelle and Tessa (the dog).




This is Georgie limbering up on the slopes. Well, actually he was just being funny. It should be noted that George is a seriously bad-ass skier and I got some great footage of him doing some cool jumps but I stupidly took the footage with my camera on its side so I could get a portrait view, but the result is the videos are sideways. So you'll have to suffice with the other videos below.

We took a few minutes out at the top of one of the peaks to appreciate the view. I found the view slightly down and to my left the most breath-taking...but the snowy mountains were also spectacular...

Holding your ski poles under one arm and a camera in the other hand while going down the slopes is probably not advisable on your 4th day ever on skis (and only your second day since 2 years ago) but that's just me I guess. This is my younger brother Luke only a few hours into learning to ski.

But then snowboarding and filming while going down a descent about 3 times as steep as that is probably more crazy, although not so much when you're as experienced on the snow as Sam is.

This is Sam carving some white powder...well it wasn't quite powder...(and that wasn't meant to be a drug reference...he he...)

Anyway, so I should post something creative, huh? So here's a quick poem...

Pure
And bright
Like none before

White
All around
Gleaming in the light

Found
New heights
Yet on the ground

Hearts
Beat fast
This moment starts

Cast
From mind
Troubles future and past

Bind
Not above
But what right now is mine

Love
And snow
Are what I'm speaking of

Glow
With smiles
For our hearts already know

It's time for something new...

I spent the weekend skiing at Big Bear Mountain and had a fantastic time. Most importantly I survived without serious injury.

I don't have a lot of time today so I'll tell you more about that tomorrow. I will also mention though, on matters more relevant to this blog, that my recording gear arrived on Friday. So I can finally do better recordings and try some new ideas I've been wanting to explore for a while. Layer vocals and guitar ideas.

So there'll be some new and interesting things being posted soon.

Not to mention I'll be starting recording on my solo LP/EP (not sure which yet) which will initially involve some better quality demo recordings of what I've already, so I'll be posting them soon also.

For now though here is my old standard, computer recorded idea from today. Keep checking in for some new and interesting things.

How does a dozen sound...

...as in a dozen strings on one guitar? I'm sure you've heard a 12-string guitar at some point but maybe didn't realise that was what you were hearing.

Well, my shipping from the UK has finally gotten through US customs and is in my possession, safe and sound. So I have my acoustic back, and also my 12-string acoustic, plus my other guitars and recording gear. I'm extremely excited to have all my gear again as in the past 9 months I've only had it with me for about 6 weeks, and that was last June. I had some of it when I was back in London in Nov '10 but a lot it was packed in storage, in anticipation of being shipped.

So I've been playing around with ideas on my 12-string tonight. Here is a couple of them.

Lucky Man

I've been a little absent with my blogging over the past week as I've been very focused on the mixing and recording for my brother's band's Demo EP. I've still been writing and finding different ways to be creative, some of which I'll share in another blog soon, but today I just want to share this song.

My younger brother, Luke, and I following my gig at The Viper Room on 10/10/10
with my former band, The Stuns. Yes, I'm wearing makeup. (Well....the remnants of...)

My brother and I wrote it with his band in fairly impromptu fashion, at a rehearsal in September when I was last in LA. It was quite an organic creation. Luke had lyrics he'd been planning to write some positive sounding music for. I then just started playing the intro guitar idea from this song, basically as the first fun and happy idea that came to my head, and he started making a melody around his lyrics. Before the night was out we had the song basically finished. I really like the song and in some ways it was the start of my move back towards this style of writing. I feel it has a certain musical stamp that puts it stylistically in with my recent songwriting. We wrote some other songs, one in particular I hope to have finished recording, mixing and mastering and have posted on this blog soon. Stay tuned...

I recorded the acoustic guitar, ukulele (my Dad's new ukulele - thanks again Dad), bass guitar and backing vocals on this track. Luke recorded the lead vocals, some backing vocals, lead guitar and a couple of rhythm guitar parts. His drummer Bruce recorded the drums. Even though this hasn't involved creativity in a songwriting fashion in the past week I find myself being quite creative in the mixing/mastering process, mostly because I don't really know what I'm doing, i.e. I've learnt all I know about mixing from observing engineers while in the studio, but no-one's ever actually "taught" me what to do. I go with my instincts and use my creativity and problem solving to work my way to a result I'm satisfied with. This mix was the fourth I did, each one getting progressively better than the last. I'm actually very happy with the result considering the conditions under which the recording was done.

As I didn't write the lyrics I'm not going to post them here. I don't feel they're mine to be posting on my creativity blog. But the words are great so do listen to them carefully.


Lucky Man

Repeat

I have officially entered the 21st century and am writing this entry from my new iPhone. It's actually a Christmas present from Sam but we had to sort out a few things with my phone situation before I could get it.

So this is going to be a short entry as I suck at typing with this thing still.

Hopefully you will see more photos and video on my blog though as this thing should make all of that stuff easier.

So today I've written a poem as my blog has been a little poem-light of late. Particularly serious, moody stuff like this. Strap on your serious cap and enjoy.


Repeat

Repeat
Repeat
Myself
Deceit
Will I ever be a one way street

I need
To feed
Concede
To bleed
Without a thought I sow the seed

So now
I vow
Renounce
The gown
Without a doubt I do know how

I'll not lose another now

Perspective

I wrote a post on March 2nd called "Prioritize and Visualize". If you read straight on here and something doesn't make sense then go back and read that post. 

The one thing that ties all this together for me is perspective. I've always kept my eye on my goal but my perspective wasn't always good so I didn't put my energy in the right direction. I still stayed on track in the end as I was very committed to my goal but I took a lot of "detours" on my path. 

Once I got my perspective right my prioritizing was much better and I found myself much happier with what I was achieving (as I was actually achieving my goal) - and I continue to. I describe perspective as understanding what REALLY matters and worrying about that, rather than just what seems to matter or what others tell you matters, or whatever issue is slapping you in the face and trying to grab your attention. The bottom line for me - what really matters is what will truly give you happiness at the end of each day. I found that although watching a TV show made me happy on a certain level it didn't outdo the unhappiness I felt at not getting any writing done. So writing went up the priority list and TV down. I sold my TV 4 years ago and haven't watched one (including watching things on my computer) more than about an hour a week (if at all) since then. I'm no worse off for it. In fact, I'm much happier now that my perspective is good and I know that to truly be happy I have to write. Plain and simple.

I'm not anti-TV. I love watching a good TV show, documentary or movie. It just doesn't make it high enough on my priority list to get done usually. In fact, if I ever put TV high enough on my priorities to actually watch anything it's usually comedy as I feel laughter is good for you in so many ways.

To illustrate further, I thought always being prompt with e-mail replies made me happy, but again the happiness it gave me didn't outweigh the unhappiness of not getting writing done. Now my e-mail replies can be a bit tardy, but I'm writing, so I'm happier. I feel some guilt at my slow replies, but my own daily happiness is worth more to me (and to everyone else who's getting the e-mails - everyone prefers to get mail from a happy person.) So perspective helps you get your priorities right and this in turn gets you visualizing the right things. 

This is what I've found. I hope it helps you feel more "every day" happiness. 

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is another Hallmark special. It's my Dad's birthday today (in the US - it's already yesterday in my hometown of Perth) so I wrote Dad a birthday poem.

It can certainly be said that you should never just leave showing someone you love them for when it's a special occasion (which is why I wrote this post here for Dad about 6 weeks ago) but I still think that birthdays and other anniversaries are an important opportunity to really show someone how much you care.

So this is my birthday poem for my Dad.


I think of you so far away
And wish to be with you on this special day
To show you appreciation and love in more ways
Than just the words here on this page

For you are so very special to me
You make my life a better place to be
So know that even though we're far apart
We're together always in our hearts


I love you Dad! You really are the best dad I could ever ask for!

I hope you had a wonderful birthday. xo xo

Prioritize and Visualize

If you'd asked me in 2001 what I'd be doing in 2011 I wouldn't have expected life to turn out quite like it has, but at the same time I'm actually on the path I've always wanted to be on. I look back at how I've managed to stay on track and ultimately make my dreams a reality and it seems that two main things have been key - prioritizing and visualizing.

I wrote out goals a number of times between 2001 and 2008 and each time one point remained quite clear - I wanted to be able to be creative for a living and have enough money to get by. I'm doing this. Visualizing has been crucial as it's helped me get focused on exactly what I want. Before I ever played bass and could barely play guitar I used to go and see a certain band play in Perth and would visualize myself playing with them, and in 2001, after 6 years of watching these guys play, I was in the band! I visualized myself playing bass instead of saxophone and studying the contemporary stream at the WA Academy of Performing Arts - next thing you know I was. I have many other examples. The main thing is that the visualization gives you something very clear to focus on. Something to help you really see what you want to achieve.

Prioritizing is the toughest I think as it involves making decisions about your time according to what is going to help you keep on track and reach your goal, and then finding happiness in that, rather than simply doing what you feel that you enjoy most as often as you can do it and saying you're happy as a result, which is quite unlikely in truth. You may love watching television but you can't say that if all you did was watch television that you'd be happy. Few things are more satisfying than setting goals and making them happen so be sure that the right things are at the top of your priority list as you may not even make it past priority 3 or 4.

I've found that with my priorities in the right place not only am I happier and more productive but also more relaxed and laid-back. I stopped wasting time on anything that wasn't directly helping me achieve my goals, or providing some sort of satisfaction that motivated me on my path to those goals.

I fell asleep writing this entry the other day and didn't get as far as my final point: perspective. It's makes the prioritizing and visualizing most effective in getting you where you want to go. I'll post that part of this shpeel sometime soon.

Macro Madness

When I was in Kauai I took some macro shots of moss while hiking and since then I've gone a little macro mad. Here are those macro moss shots that got me onto this craze.








This Sunday I went to Huntington Library with Sam and our good friends Megan and Zach.

From left - Zach, Megan and Sam on a Japanese Bridge. Gotta love Zach's orange bag!

For those who don't know the Huntington Library is not your run-of-the-mill library. It contains some of the most rare historic books such as the Guttenburg Bible, first edition Shakespeare plays, a copy of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution (which abolished slavery) and all the parliamentarian signatures that approved it, plus endless early scientific works by the likes of Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Darwin and Edison, and much more. It also houses around 400 early light globe designs by Edison and others. If this isn't interesting enough for you it has an art gallery containing such classic works as "The Blue Boy" by Thomas Gainsborough. We didn't look at much of that stuff though as by the time we'd explored the expansive botanical gardens it was closing. They have an incredible Bonsai collection. Here are a few I particularly like.





But this was supposed to be all about my macro madness. So here are my favourite macro shots from some of the Huntington Library's many botanical gardens. There's an amazing desert garden, an Australian garden, rose garden, Japanese pond area and much more. It's well worth a visit.