Studio Update

Quick update....
The Tapco / Mackie interface arrived earlier this week!! Obviously I immediately set it up and gave it a try - all I can say is AWESOME!!
The sound clarity and ability to track separate gives me so much more scope to do what I want to do - stuff that I was physically hampered by in the past.
Think I might need to have more of a play at the weekend... Maybe lay down some guide tracks...
This is such a cool arrangement!!

Her Ghost In The Fog

This is a first for me.... For the solo project I'm working on a diverse range of material - some old, some new, some ressurected!

Now, anyone who's worked with me (on original stuff) before will know I tend to work from a title, which then becomes a lyric, which then becomes a song... For "Her Ghost In The Fog" I'm looking to develop a song from a PICTURE... This picture.

I saw this picture on the net recently and I just thought it was both gothic and beautiful at the same time. The comment below it was Her Ghost In The Fog....

So, there you go. Let's see if I can make a song work from this....

Mr N's Studio Diary

OK, the photo's got nothing to do with my studio diary - it's just me (from the horrible French trip last year)....

Well, it just seems to be studio, studio, studio at the moment! The Shine are getting geared up to visit Shug Carter at The Practice Pad in Glasgow next month - that's if we can EVER decide on the tracks to record!! Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this tomorrow at a run through session. Recording at the Pad is absolutely brilliant for both The Shine and for myself personally. Shug's crew have been producing some brilliant stuff (Biffy Clyro for example) and this'll be the first time The Shine's been in a professional studio having done the previous two recordings on (1) my analogue gear and (2) Andy's home digital set up respectively. From my point of view, I'm also dying to work at The Pad - the home of Abel Ganz!! www.abelganz.com for the uninitiated!

The one thing is, I always feel like a bit of a fake (rather than a bit of a fuck which is usual) recording professionally with a covers band when there's so much brilliant original stuff out there! Mind you, if covers bands were strangers to pro studios, where would all the brilliant demos come from? Get a grip Mr N! The Shine are a brilliant covers band....

However, this ain't all there is to report in terms of a studio diary.... Whilst The Shine is my "live mayhem" release and I'm really proud of the band, I need to get more creative at the moment. I've been feeling like this since the start of the year and finally decided to start writing / recording again.

Now, this project has started to grow arms and legs!! Originally, my intention was to quietly dig out my old Yamaha analogue recording gear, Mr Alesis my resident drummer, and just do my own thang without hurting anyone else... Best laid plans and all that....

As I started to compile my tracklist for my first "Mr N" project, things started to go askew! Some of the tracks will come from my "almost shelved" Prog Epic project, some will be older demoed tracks, some will be tracks I took to The Shine and were greeted with roaring apathy and a few will be brand new wet ink ones. Now, as I say, I was gonna do all of this myself - then the volunteers started! First of all, along came my mate Jane who plays both traditional and electric pipes... "Hmmm" I thought, "This could be useful for Follow The Piper"! So, I drafted Jane into playing when the track was right. Next up, Iain Wilson - my top bud and Shine drummer volunteered - nay, demanded - to carry out rhythm duties!! This was a godsend as, although the Alesis SR-16 is a great machine, it's still a machine. Iain's an awesome drummer. Following rapidly behind, my mate Big Ade (of The Jacobites) insisted that he contribute various Celtic acoustic type noises - and probably include one Ewan Kidd (also a Jacobite and fellow UB man with Iain and myself) to contribute keyboard /accordian type stuff.

So, where does this leave me? Mr N is no longer so much solo.... These guys (and girl) are top people and I don't want to take the piss out of them with an inferior recording. So the next thing was to look at doing a pukka job. I've got Sonar installed on my laptop so, as of yesterday, an investment was made in a Mackie / Tapco USB Sound Interface. Voila!! With my live desk and effects, a ready made digital studio!! The added benefit is that the Interface / Laptop arrangement will allow me to record Shine gigs straight from the FOH desk as we see fit.

More to follow but, suffice to say at this point, this could be epic! I'd like Follow The Piper (with these people involved) to have the same kind of feel as Ganz's remake of ThePretender - Pipes, Ebow, acoustic instruments, bodhran.... All that guff.

Take care and best of love,

Mr N