tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40079711088539059592024-03-14T04:13:37.263+00:00v3o..create tunes and enjoy. We started with no music, no ideas and no rules. What will we get and how will we get there?v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-25706371639084292692018-06-08T00:47:00.002+01:002018-06-08T00:59:00.147+01:00Backup? What Backup?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="tL8wMe EMoHub" dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">Celebrating 10 years of fun and sessions, we finally released 3 albums on 7th June - Woohoo! (check out the trailer <a href="https://youtu.be/N4mvRspSIRY" target="_blank">here</a>).</span></div>
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<span class="tL8wMe EMoHub" dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">We nearly didn't make it... but more on the sparks flying off the power supply later! </span></div>
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<span class="tL8wMe EMoHub" dir="ltr" style="outline: none;">Firstly though, 3 albums seemed like a huge task to complete on occasional evenings, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;">so I probably need to find a few facts to understand the scale...</span></div>
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<ul>
<li>~30 larger recording sessions over 10 years, ~600 hours recording sessions</li>
<li>380GB/~620 hours of multitrack WAVs (320GB via cubase projects and 60GB via Logic)</li>
<li>2,158 Project files: 1,268 Cubase | 781 Reason | 109 Logic (distinct count excluding versions will be lower of course, but there's no way I'm figuring that out!)</li>
<li>~500 recorded tunes - normal recording time was ~20 mins per tune, so total raw mixdown would be over 200hrs</li>
<li>In early 2017, we had 109 tunes on the potential albums</li>
<li>By April 2017, only managed to cut to 87 tracks over 6 hours. Based on status and duration, I estimated it would take 278 hours to finish it all, which would easily take a year of 2 hour evenings.</li>
<li>We finally ended up with 46 tracks over 3 hours (and another album or two waiting in the wings)</li>
</ul>
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<span class="tL8wMe EMoHub" dir="ltr" style="outline: none;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;">Hmm... boiled down to simple stats it seems like it could have been fairly easy!</span></span><br />
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<b>The "Studio"</b></h2>
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Ok, so "studio" is a bit of an exaggeration. We've been recording in sheds, bedrooms, attics and empty houses for 10 years. Brian's worked in a <a href="http://virtualtrio.com/pics/wardrobevocalbooth.jpg" target="_blank">wardrobe in Melbourne</a>, and in 2013 I was lucky enough to get a corner in the kitchen with a tiny chair and a nice Christmas tablecloth <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-bsNa2h2hwmw/Upz7bQtHZLI/AAAAAAAAE6g/CjVM9mN6xOE/s640/2013-12-02%25252021.16.04.jpg" target="_blank">(seriously</a>). A house in Leitrim is a real treat with <a href="https://scontent-dub4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/34552697_2137094843020379_1255898271855935488_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=c3dd57101de3a2335d20860c45b1b205&oe=5B78499E" target="_blank">plenty of space</a> where we can turn up and have some fun (assuming we can make it past 9pm and 2 beers!). Sessions in Leitrim are usually 24 hour events, sometimes longer. We'd throw on a beat, improvise for 20-40 minutes and maybe record 10-12 tunes (I don't think about the editing at this point!). The evening would usually descend into chaos, and we'd push up the tempo as the night goes on (to reduce risk of passing out). I definitely forgot to arm a track or two over the years, and remembering to correctly increment cubase and reason project files was a challenge that resulted in quite a few losses.</div>
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In terms of gear, nearly everything ran on an old Dell P4 PC upgraded to a whopping 4GB Ram. It's probably only still alive because it was never connected to the web to get upgrades that nobody wants. It's not pretty having no mixer or snazzy control surfaces, and there is a general absence of anything resembling a good microphone. Finally got Rokit monitors in 2015, and their first task was mixing <a href="http://virtualtrio.com/fishbowl.htm" target="_blank">Fishbowl</a>, which was one of the most enjoyable experiences ever. HD650 headphones I got in 2017 are a must for anybody working in a dark corner! Bought a Mac in 2017 to cater for the impending failure of the PC, and of course M-Audio decided to stop updating drivers for their Fasttrack Ultra8R, so I had to re-soundcard - the new Focusrite 18i20 is pretty smooth (although thinking of moving on already). The efficiency/productivity gains when moving from Windows XP to the real world are just insane.</div>
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<b>The Production Process</b></h2>
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So, of course we started playing with the Mac right away. Apart from new stuff, we dragged some half worked mp3s into logic and got going on vocal ideas, an occasional overdub, a bit of synth fun, etc. After a few months of this, we had ~60GB of overdubs in Logic which would surely help to wrap up all these tunes. Although, only doing 2 hours in evenings after work, that would take 140 days </div>
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From this point, a few obstacles started to emerge in the (not so) carefully planned production process:</div>
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<ol>
<li><span style="color: #263238; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">With most of the recordings on the old PC (in Cubase and Reason projects), and vocal and other instruments on the Mac (in logic), we had a slight compatibility issue to overcome. </span></span><b style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">(Lesson 1: Get </b><span style="color: #263238; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>organised</b></span></span><b style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> before you start recording)</b></li>
<li style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Of course, we can just export stems ...but the old version of cubase doesn't have a stem export feature, and no useful option to export the project file/metadata. I had a great idea - export stems for the overdubs from logic and import into the legacy Cubase setup. Easy you'd think, but the blue screen of death screamed "NO" every time (despite thousands of other imports without issue). <b>(Lesson 2: Keep your gear up to date)</b></li>
<li style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Moving on swiftly, blue screens made me start to think about maybe having a better backup of the old 400GB external hard drive with everything on it. When I noticed blue sparks flying off the power supply, that was mildly concerning. I immediately employed an <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Electrical-tape_black.jpg/1200px-Electrical-tape_black.jpg" target="_blank">advanced backup strategy</a> - not quite RAID 6, but it did the job! <b>(Lesson 3: always have various types of tape nearby)</b></li>
<li style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Finally got around to export stems one by one from Cubase, which required soloing one track and doing a mixdown (of course, making sure not to accidentally leave the required track selected or the export would be silent). Did I mention the Pentium 4? Export speed was close to real time, so it could easily take 2+ hours to export stems for one tune. Luckily my brain never made the calculation that it was a 4 week full time job just to export stems... for tunes that might not even make the cut. <b>(Lesson 4: Seriously, keep your gear up to date - invest in your own productivity)</b></li>
<li style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">One day, I found time to do a whole 12 hours of exporting stems. Being conscious of the blue sparks on the hard drive I was very clever and made sure to export to a more reliable USB stick. When finished the brain-numbing task there was absolutely nothing on the USB stick when I plugged it into the Mac. Back to the PC pretty sharpish, but all gone. I spent quite a while looking for those files - I know they were there but I still have no idea where they went. <b>(Lesson 5: Always approach major tasks with modular methods involving integrated verification and frequent auditing processes)</b></li>
<li style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">At this stage, I realised it was all just a test and I was determined that the fuckers would not grind me down. I upgraded to full trauma the day the PC started random adventures into the blue screen of death, and eventually refused to boot - I had a bit of a panic attack <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VirtualTrio/videos/1828269500569583/" target="_blank">that day</a> - everything lost! There was no point in any data backups if I didn't have the machine or software to work it. Just after I accepted defeat, I tried the power switch just once more... Woohoo! The journey continues! <b>(Lesson 6: Make sure to plug the keyboard in correctly before trying to boot an old PC... and maybe think of backups)</b></li>
<li style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The M-Audio Fasttrack Ultra 8R, which had worked well for 7 years, started behaving a bit strangely since being taken on a holiday to New Zealand in 2016. It gradually degraded until it would just reset itself for no reason, completely unpredictable - in the middle of playback, while exporting audio, etc. - I had to watch every one of those stem exports like a hawk to make sure I didn't end up with half a wav file. I was getting depressed at this stage, particularly with a soundcard reset every 30 mins or so, and in absolute frustration I got out the old Creative Audigy2 soundcard... OMG... it still worked! It took a couple of hours to turn the sample rate configuration cranks, but I could finally work on the old PC again <b>(Lesson 7: never throw out old gear ...unless it has an M-Audio logo)</b></li>
<li style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Finally, I had all my stems near/on the Mac and set about the final editing and mixing process, but it was so bloody complicated. With around 100 tunes to work through, I mostly didn't know what I was doing. Logic projects had one name and a bunch of stems from source project had another name. The pages of written notes conflicted with the comments added to Mp3s, which obviously had different names in iTunes where I tried to organise them. Then the lads popped over an email suggesting it'd be good to rename a couple of the tunes! WTF! <b>(Lesson 8: When you are in a deep hole, convert your problems and task lists to data, create a <a href="http://virtualtrio.com/pics/2018projectdashboard.png" target="_blank">dashboard in excel</a> and spend almost as much time monitoring your progress as you do working... at least until you get bored with it)</b></li>
<li style="color: #263238; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">More finally, with everything nearly there in Logic, I remembered I had the good mastering plugins on the old PC... sigh... I took a lazy scan through some mastering guidance, but I eventually stopped reading and just bulldozed through it all with very little grace. Although the years of constant listening and refinement helped with the editing/mixing, it probably didn't help for the mastering. <b>(Lesson 9: When you've really had enough and you can't go on, dig deep and focus on the details)</b></li>
</ol>
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<b>The Result?</b></h2>
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There was some dramatic hatcheting at times to get to the 46 tunes on 3 albums. <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;">I did want to have 4 different albums released on the same day on different colour vinyl with pristine artwork, but I'm pretty happy with what made it through (and keeping costs of the entire production to around $150 is a definite plus!). Have a listen and decide for yourself (we'll be adding to <a href="https://soundcloud.com/virtualtrio" target="_blank">SoundCloud</a> in near future, so would love your comments over there if you're browsing).</span></div>
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<ul>
<li>Ghost Notes - <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1Q1jhgSweqOGABp6PueVoy?si=8XLAgcB4RRGdvSL373E0Qw" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/virtualtrio9" target="_blank">CDBaby</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/ghost-notes/1381537075" target="_blank">Apple</a></li>
<li>The Joy Delusion - <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3Il8DKdIbZ3TduCxymmPH5?si=P09md8cfRNGR_i4sPlBb4Q" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/virtualtrio10" target="_blank">CDBaby</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/the-joy-delusion/1382398506" target="_blank">Apple</a></li>
<li>The Vile Circus - <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1OlFFdoVrZ4JxtLfpILd2R?si=rGYpbQUsS7u7WnjOStlw4Q" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/virtualtrio8" target="_blank">CDBaby</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/the-vile-circus/1382830309" target="_blank">Apple</a></li>
<li>Come Back (the single that was way too weird for the weird album!) - <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2moMEZfVTQRimBn93rULj8?si=O4RQRbUbTS-9cFjL5nOhDg" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/virtualtrio7" target="_blank">CDBaby</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/come-back-single/1381750796" target="_blank">Apple</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
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I hope you like some of the tunes, because it took a lot of love to deal with that technical horror. Let's be clear, it was an absolute fucking nightmare!<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif;"> Delighted to be over it and looking forward to playing with the new gear more... although the Mac is a year old now, so I'd best start thinking about upgrades and replacements (or preparing to repeat all the same mistakes again at least).</span></div>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-79275800045609814282017-07-28T00:35:00.001+01:002017-07-28T00:35:56.356+01:00Been a while<p dir="ltr">It's been way too long... over the last year it was great to release a few tunes like fishbowl. Now, there's many hours of nearly finished tunes - at least a 4 disc album, possibly 6 discs, excluding the more recent sessions.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So, the next few months of attention are on trying to wrap up those tunes and summarise the last 10 years of amazingly good times. The impending doom of the pentium 4 computer, and terrible backup strategy, are great incentives to get it done. If the tech dies, it will not be happening.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In parallel, we've got some great new hardware globally and a bright future of possibility - can't wait to get stuck in!</p>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-87220614779687275022015-11-12T01:29:00.003+00:002015-11-12T01:30:34.783+00:00Fishbowloops... forgot about this blog recently.<br />
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Delighted to be releasing Fishbowl today - was a difficult 40 minutes of insanity to navigate through! At one stage it was probably down to about 4 mins, but absolutely delightful to just let it flow instead of trying to cut to some time defined by others... More of that letting a tune breath, we can hope!<br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/virtualtrio/fishbowl">https://soundcloud.com/virtualtrio/fishbowl</a><br />
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<br />v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-69934280954637341752014-02-25T20:44:00.001+00:002014-02-25T20:44:55.562+00:0036 years of party - the vibes are still the same<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JWOkPSWgRfY" width="480"></iframe>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-46269567541582459892014-02-15T20:00:00.001+00:002014-02-15T20:00:25.458+00:00Twisting<p>Joy to get album wrapped, and brilliant to see collaboration and different views steering it thru possible directions.</p>
<p>Now to find somebody willing to invest themselves in promotion. </p>
<p>And enjoying the new experiments already.... Will be interesting to see where it goes!</p>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-67158272538823860912013-12-02T21:28:00.001+00:002013-12-02T21:28:16.540+00:00Vacancy - union rep<p>Due to unproductive working environment of current studio, a vacancy has arisen for a union rep to uphold artist rights in the ongoing fight against capitalism.</p>
<p>Candidates with a proven ability to proactively resolve issues are desired, particularly those who are capable of acquiring normal size chairs and tables and/or burning Christmas tablecloths. Candidates with massage or orthopedic re-alignment skills will also be looked upon favourably, as will those who can organise a studio larger than 1 cubed metre.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-bsNa2h2hwmw/Upz7bQtHZLI/AAAAAAAAE6g/CjVM9mN6xOE/s1600/2013-12-02%25252021.16.04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-bsNa2h2hwmw/Upz7bQtHZLI/AAAAAAAAE6g/CjVM9mN6xOE/s640/2013-12-02%25252021.16.04.jpg"> </a> </div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-30471641861652538642013-11-05T20:49:00.001+00:002013-11-05T21:00:57.260+00:00Nothing beats a deadline<p>2 weeks left to wrap up more than 40% of the album really brings focus. </p>
<p>Holy crap, <u>d</u>ouble time and no more watching breaking bad!!</p>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-57762735950044732282013-11-04T14:34:00.001+00:002013-11-04T15:18:28.422+00:00Inaccessible <p>There's a recurring internal debate popping up - do you have fun and create some crazy noise and call it a tune, or do you tone it down make sure your music is accessible?</p>
<p>Seems that sometimes the word "accessible" could be used to define commercialising, selling out, removing the outstanding characteristics, submitting to fear and ensuring conformity to boundaries. The world does not accept the insanity that creates, but if you smooth the corners and create a result which hides its true origin, that's ok.</p>
<p>Granted, sometimes "accessibility" means deleting some crazy rubbish born on the wrong tangent if it takes value away from something which could be great. Let's call that accenuating the positive.</p>
<p>There are different degrees of conformity though. I wonder if the sex pistols, in all their rebellion, conformed to the style expected of them and lost some of their creative freedom? I admire the way Ween just do whatever they want on their <u>albums</u>, it remains accessible through their polished madness, but they express their freedom on the rest. Tom Waits sometimes seems completely off the wall until you listen closely and hear the classical influence and beautiful melody behind the apparent insult.</p>
<p>With music being art, it's important to fight the "accessible" word sometimes and let the truth emerge when it can. There is an art and pleasure in mundane repetition and there's art and pleasure in crazy insane angry emotion poured onto tape in a cascade of noise which hurts your ears. The noise is perhaps more emotionally accessible and simultaneously challenging, while the mundane lets you drift happily. Balance.</p>
<p>In brief...<br>
That which appears beautiful is ugly and distorted, and that which appears ugly and distorted is truly beautiful.</p>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-28824156132904715652013-10-15T20:41:00.001+01:002013-10-15T20:41:10.440+01:00Messing with it<p>Right then... Let's try time stretch, tempo changing, pitch bend, reverse, modulated, distortion of reality edit...</p>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-67086469070465254952013-09-14T12:14:00.001+01:002013-09-14T12:17:05.857+01:00Cheap insulation<p>It's great to just upload a tune - A feeling of completion. C'mon Cheap Insulation!!!</p>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-49294087997655756822013-09-02T00:08:00.001+01:002013-09-02T00:08:24.917+01:00Progress, one hopes<p>So one tune from March uploaded, 3 more days in leitrim have brought significant progress - was pure joy listening to the music, letting it suggest words and emotions, then building on those themes lyrically. And continuing the work now, few minor edits and some vocal tweaks to come.</p>
<p> A bit unfortunate we got so blotted, but the novelty of a weekend away with a friend back from Oz makes it difficult to be a mechanised task completing machine.</p>
<p>Still, got about 10 tunes well on the way. Could be possible to wrap up by November. Could wrap up in a few weeks but gotta be realistic with other stuff on the go. Besides, the passage of time adds some quality and objective perceptions. </p>
<p>Really looking forward to next few weeks of effort to add finishing touches... Some sweet notes to wrap up!</p>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-65031394020661841332013-08-11T21:00:00.001+01:002013-08-11T21:05:08.304+01:00Temporary studio downgrade<p>Sure what else could you possibly need?</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-jOkDMkMyWsE/UgftTuonMCI/AAAAAAAAEP4/P34rjE_bGfo/s1600/1376251063031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-jOkDMkMyWsE/UgftTuonMCI/AAAAAAAAEP4/P34rjE_bGfo/s640/1376251063031.jpg"> </a> </div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-83967184038872859092013-03-11T21:56:00.001+00:002013-03-12T00:42:04.728+00:00Editing a session in de country...<p>I'm goin' in....</p>
v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-55459401173754498792013-01-24T23:14:00.001+00:002013-01-24T23:14:54.062+00:00Goodbye Hitachi!<p>Finally saying goodbye to the old broken headphones. They did a lot of work - an entire album (or 3!) flowed thru them, but completely fuct at the end. They did stop shedding lumps of rubber a few years ago, but when the wires start falling out and you've only got half volume in the left ear, it's time to act! Pity I didn't sort them before mixing and mastering all those tunes! :)</p>
<p>Now.... the replacement must be at least 10 times the quality. Temptation is to do nothing productive and just stick on some tunes that show off... daft punk, chemical brothers, goldfrapp, the knife, fila brazilia ... Aaaaaah.....</p>
<div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ic9JjODLq4Y/UQHAT1KVzqI/AAAAAAAAEII/kkZl4clPwmg/s1600/1359068130311.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border='0' src='http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ic9JjODLq4Y/UQHAT1KVzqI/AAAAAAAAEII/kkZl4clPwmg/s640/1359068130311.jpg' /> </a> </div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-67459131828074823412012-09-25T23:10:00.001+01:002012-09-25T23:10:55.418+01:00Release!After 4 years hard (but enjoyable) slog, we're finally there. Shiny CD's in hand, and all ready for you to check out on 27th September 2012!v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-60376274181043008882012-09-04T00:42:00.000+01:002012-09-04T00:42:06.597+01:00complete complete completeIt's such an immense joy to finally put an order in for some CDs! Now we start all over again - can't wait!v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-53577708555459533492012-07-30T23:31:00.001+01:002012-07-31T03:38:33.877+01:00Yes Master<div><p>After all the fear promoted about DIY mastering, it's amazing how enjoyable it is.  And amazing how it sounded good before, but the clarity of mastering highlights how shit it was!<br>
</p>
</div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-73742313732075069102012-04-11T01:29:00.001+01:002012-04-11T01:29:07.989+01:00Flowing water<div><p>Although we may have actually found it by default, we have decided to ease off on the search for the sound of flowing water in a cascade of beautiful and subtle notes to represent man's constant struggle for the peace and tranquility that is always within him and never out of reach. Of course it's possible!</p>
</div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-24908859159803545632012-03-16T22:45:00.001+00:002012-03-16T22:45:27.815+00:00Half an ear mix<div><p>Couldn't get some mixes right, kept twisting and turning. I believe i got the final mix with a blocked ear. Haven't heard it properly yet but everything sounds good when compared to possible deafness! </p>
<p>It's all about where you set your own standards/limits.</p>
</div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-41749567900339575832012-03-06T22:50:00.002+00:002012-03-07T16:00:09.788+00:00Waaay too much perspective<div>Phew - 18 months later and still we have not graced the world with a finished product. Even though there were 3 month blocks of time with absolutely nothing done is no excuse, even with emigration interfering disastrously with the vibes.<div><br /></div><div>But now there is a set timeline approaching - as much for sanity as anything else. We need freedom to experiment again.</div></div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-7938985262565173412010-08-30T23:20:00.005+01:002010-08-30T23:46:49.398+01:00Perspective SucksWhen great progress is made on a couple of tunes, suddenly the other tunes drop down in quality level. So although you felt 80-90% complete with 10 tunes, suddenly you find yourself going back towards 60-70% as you appreciate the effort required for the marginally higher quality you must strive for (note: percentages are based on general vibe, despite attempts to employ some scientific measurements and approach!). And then a tune gets stale and loses the vibe, so you've got a big gaping hole in the whole mood <div><br /></div><div>There is some benefit from increased duration - it's like somebody else's song when you come back to work on it, especially when you can't remember how to play it. But I think we've had enough duration for quite a while - could do with more completion, less duration!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>How will we get it done....?</b></div><div>Option 1... we could probably complete to a satisfactory level if we had 2 weeks full time in the studio, 12 hours a day, working through the weekends coz it's fun, that's 168 hours of studio time. So, at 1 hour per month that's 14 years.... emmm... no thanks!</div><div><br /></div><div>Option2... All Nighty Whitey once every 2 weeks gives about 6 hours studio time, so we could get 2 weeks work done in about a year</div><div><br /></div><div>Option3... 3 hours one night per week, with additional 6 hours every 2 weeks would reduce time to about 6 months. hmmmm... but disjointed time is worth less than extended working blocs, so 6 months is optimistic.</div><div><br /></div><div>So we need at least 3 nights per week, with an additional larger block of about 6 hours every week, put all other aspects of life on hold, get focussed and get it done. And we might come out of this alive in 3 months.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>So how do we set a start date.... another re-start date... Tomorrow.</div></div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-70310333232156648882010-02-13T00:50:00.003+00:002010-02-13T00:54:46.223+00:00It's a bit like shopping<div>A 2-3 year cycle in creating tunes is a bit like popping down the shop for some messages - you're sure why you're going, and where you're going, and you know what you want to get. When you get there you get some things that weren't on the list, but that's ok coz you like the extra stuff you got. Then you get home and realise you've forgotten the essentials and regret not making a list. In hindsight, there were some benefits to going down the shop, but you wish you'd done it better and overall you've let down all the people at home by not delivering the products they all wanted. </div><div><div><br /></div><div>All you had to do was sit down and think about what you'd really like and record it, and then when you get to the shop adjust your plan to suit available items, but only based on what you enjoy - so you capture long term strategy and the dynamics of short-term impulsiveness in your shopping basket. When you get home you're happy that you did what you wanted to and what you feel you should have done. You can stand over your products with dignity.</div><div><br /></div><div>The only problem is that the stuff you bought tends to start going stale - and there's always a risk that for everything you've spent, you end up with a fridge full of crap.</div></div>v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-56515677460995613422010-01-20T01:35:00.002+00:002010-01-20T01:53:53.932+00:00Back on trackIt's been a while. Bogas (singer/guitarist) departed for the merry shores of Oz last Summer. Was a bit of a panic getting all his stuff recorded - if we missed something it won't be fixed now!<br /><br />Had a 4-5 month break (not planned!) where nothing got done. Now back to the usual snail's pace. I can only imagine what a full week of studio time would do!<br /><br />More soon!v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-3118961972123740382009-03-10T00:11:00.000+00:002009-03-10T00:12:58.935+00:00Chaos is goodIf we add more chaos there will be more order<br /><br />faders up...v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4007971108853905959.post-8706652706778707452009-02-16T02:30:00.002+00:002009-02-16T02:33:29.553+00:00RisingIt's so easy to get out of a hole - just get a little time with a guitar.<br />(and some orchestral arrangement helps too!)v3ohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04867665119331396145noreply@blogger.com1