Safe in Sound

Seasons Greetings Ladies and Germs

Having had a glass of Sherry and reflecting back upon this year, I am still amazed at the turnaround in my Musical fortunes. After having spent the past Seven years or so in a covers band, I felt drained and barely had enough inspiration to pick up the guitar, let alone write a song. Then, a few serendipitous happenings took place and all of a sudden the Creative Juices were flowing again.

The first was going to see Danny George Wilson play a solo gig in March, now having watched his career from the early days I was blown away by how far he come on his musical journey and also by how much he had matured as both a Songwriter and a Performer. After many pints of Guinness that night, I returned home and, very drunkenly, began writing "Ringing like a Bell". This was the first song I had written in almost 6 years! It took about 3 weeks in total to complete, tweaking here and (Not Concert Pitch) tuning there, but, finally, I actually had a finished tune. It may not be a "Straight in at No.1" song, but, to me it was like pure audible gold.

The second happening came by way of MySpace. I decided to post some old demos on to the site for no better reason than boredom and, also, to see how easy/difficult it could be. Now, although I had known Danny for a few years, it was merely the "see each other at gigs and a have a pint" kind of relationship, but, I decided to email him the link to my MySpace page. He wrote back with some really encouraging comments and ended by saying "You should make a record, Go for it". The seed was, indeed, firmly planted.

The third and, probably most important, event was, again, through MySpace. One of the first people I became "Friends" (I still only have 18 Friends!) with was Jim Boggia. Now, for those of you who have never heard of Jim, he is, quite simply a Pop Genius. Not only is he a disgustingly talented and successful musician, but, he is a real FAN of music too. When he ok'd my Friend request, he also answered the little question about "After the Gold Rush" at the end of my "influences" section on the MySpace page. Wow, he had actually read my Blurb!!! We traded a few mails back and forth and, as mentioned in a previous post, one of my songs is now with Jim in Philadelphia awaiting his magic touch.

What I have come to learn over the last 12 months is that there are no barriers, only the ones that you, yourself, put up. Whilst discussing the events of the last year with a good friend over a few glasses of mulled wine (I don't have a problem, honest), he told me that Napoleon was once quoted as saying "There are no obstacles, only the objective". Now, even if the little Corsican fellow never uttered these words, I think they sum up my new attitude perfectly. Besides, any 5ft 2in dude who can wear one of those Tricorn hats and get away with it, must be worth listening to....


Peas 'n' Fluff and a Hippy New Year to all.


Mick

"Put it away, Plectrum"

Seasons Greeetings Ladies and Germs

This week I took a train down to the coast. A very rare occurrence for me, in that I am seldom tempted out from "behind the wheel of a large automobile" (Talking Heads anyone?), but, as I was going to have a small glass of sherry at my destination I decided to let the train take the strain.

For the journey I took along my trusty iPod and having recently loaded the L.E.O. Alpacas Orgling album (check it out here http://www.myspace.com/bleuleo) I thought this would be a serious opportunity to geek out on all things related to the Stereo field. For the Non- musos out there this relates to the "Eureka" moment of my childhood when I first placed a a pair of ridiculously large Headphones atop of my tiny swede and realised that some instruments/voices seemed to be kind of off centre or, even stranger, moving from one side of my head to the other. To simplify, imagine you have on a pair of the previously mentioned, "Tony Blackburn", style, large Heaphones (curly lead optional). Basically, after all the parts of a song are recorded they are placed (or Panned, if you're Bob Clearmountain) either in the centre (top of your head or 12 o'clock ), Hard Left (your left Ear or 9 o'clock) or Hard Right (your Right Ear or 3 o'clock). This is how the Stereo field is created. If you are really geeky you will realise that some parts are actually panned in between these points and this is where my childhood Archimedes moment kicked in.

Ever since I first got a multitrack recorder, I have always been blown away by how much you can change the dynamic of a song by moving one instrument from the centre of the mix to the left or right side of the mix. All this just by twisting the mixing desk pan control from one side to the other. This is also probably the main reason I have never finished recording an album and why, realising that I am entering into the world of double entendres, Knob Twiddling is my downfall. I can see why Brian Wilson made everyone in the studio wear Firemens Helmets while they recorded "Mrs O'Learys Cow (Fire)" - the Studio is just one great, big adventure playground for Musicians.

Coming back in where this thread started, The L.E.O. record is a kind of tribute to Jeff Lynne's mighty E.L.O., but, more songs written and recorded in the style of ELO, rather than a straight a cover version tribute. Over the course of a 1.5 hour train journey, I blissed out to the fantastic songs and over obsessed to the clever tricks in the Stereo mix. My fellow passengers were completely unaware that, all the while, I had been sitting there with one thing on my mind - "Twiddling my Knob".

Peas and Fluff 'n' Christmas stuff

Mick

Never a Dull Moment

Greetings Ladies and Germs

Well, I am about to embark upon a Atlantic Crossing. Well, not me actually, but, rather one of my songs. For said song, or at least the makings of, will be Sailing across stormy waters bound for Philadelphia. The recipient will be a fantastically talented individual (let's just call him Winnie Cooper for now) who has agreed to play a few games of Pro Tools chess. For the non Muso's this translates as I send him a rough demo of my song, he pours magic "Phil Spector" fairy dust over it, sends it back to me and I try to outdo him knowing all the while that I'm gonna get four-move checkmated by him every time.

Now, being honest, I am both excited and worried in equal measures regarding this new venture. I have never been one of those "Songwriters workshop" type of writers, so this is a real departure for me, but, this guy has given me a Reason to Believe. And if Winnie really can turn my pile of musical Debris into a Long player, then this should really be the First Step towards the Shape of Things to come.


I should really apologise for the lame-ass attempt at humour, but, it's Friday, the eggnog has been flowing and any excuse to get Rod Stewart references into a post works for me. I was only Joking, Ahem............


Peas and Fluff

Mick

Here is the News, I mean Muse.........

Greetings Ladles and Germs

As Jimmy Greaves used to say, "Songwriting is a funny old game". Much has been said on the subject and among my favourite theories is the one whereby the Songwriter is basically a Antenna and Songs are simply signals floating around in the ether waiting to be tuned in (turned on, dropped out?). Now that is, indeed, a lovely image of the Songwriter sat with either a Pencil (true Artist), a Pen (struggling Musician) or a Laptop (Teenager) and grabbing these Tunes out of the sky and claiming them as their own. However, in reality (well, mine at least) it is more akin to staring blankly at four walls, praying for inspiration to beam you on the head, Newton -Apple style.

Inspiration comes in the strangest form and, presently, the Muse of yours truly is to be found within the pages of the mighty (mighty, spade and whitey) Facebook, of all places. No, Please wait, before you switch off - let me explain. On signing up to be a "Booker" (I have no idea if that is the correct term, but, I prefer it to "Fooker"), I hooked up with a lot of old school friends and someone had posted a school photo from 1975 and I got to wondering what curveballs life had thrown at those boys over the last 33 years. Well, before I knew it The Muse had turned on the Hot Tap and was filling up the Bath for me to hop in and soak it all up (you just don't get that kind of analogy in the Guardian). Some 3 weeks later I am 4 new songs to the good and, trust me, for someone who once took 10 years to complete a song, that is nothing short of an Elvis Costello-like output rate.

Today's show was brought to you by the Number 3 and the Letters J and Z.

N.B. Pronounced Zee if you are either
A: American
B: A Sesame street addict or
C: Under 13

Pronounced Zed if you are either
A: Quentin Tarantino
B: Frank Windsor or
C: Had no access to a TV in the 70's


Peas and Glove

Mick

Are we Taping this?

Greetings Ladies and Germs

As mentioned previously, back in the day, I recorded onto Analogue tape recorders (Reel to Reels, as my Dad calls them). The only other choice of affordable recording format available was cassette tape based Portastudios and while these were a great first step into the world of Multitrack recording the recording quality did get pretty noisy. Tape Hiss to be precise. Now, I recently unearthed the master tapes for the first ever recording session I did back in 1982. A few old friends/band members asked if I had a copy of said Demo tape, no names mentioned, but, for the sake of privacy laws, let's just call them Ray and Paul, Doh! As I still have an old Revox recorder in the cellar I thought it would be fun (perhaps not the best term to describe what eventually transpired) to transfer the master tapes into Pro Tools and make some MP3's to send to the guys. Now, the Revox is a lovely old machine, but, like any Vintage equipment it actually needs a service once in a while. Which in my case means service it once and we'll worry about the while later.

A few days later, I fired up the Revox and, Hey Presto, all the lights came on and it actually seemed to be working. I loaded the tape, set up the Mac and hit record - easy and ,indeed peasy. Next, came that moment of pure clarity (a bit like the line in Father Ted where he explains to Dougal why some cows are bigger than others "Some cows are near and Some cows are far away, Dougal") whereby I realised that there are rules to easy-peasy ness:

1: If it looks easy, it's not.
2: See Number 1 above.
3: There is no Number 3, but, 1 & 2 looked a bit lonely and I always preferred Trios to Duos.

So, imagine the fun I had trying unravel the tape that had wrapped itself around the Capstan (a spindle on the Revox and not Headwear for Hard drinking, Heavy gambling, ex-QPR players), it was quite the "Oh Merde" moment. The end result is that the master tapes now have a lovely loud "Pop" sound every 10 seconds or so when played.

The moral to this story is that "The Past" is called "The Past" for a reason. When you bring "The Past" into "The Future", they do not always result in a nice "Present".
Or, to put it more simply:

Don't fuck with "The Past".........



Best regrets,

Mick

Mellowed Ron?

Greetings Ladies and Germs

"What's a Mellotron?" I hear you ask. Well, for starters it's not Jeff Bridges bogarting a Joint. It is, of course, one of the earliest sampling keyboards produced way back in the 60's. Still not with me? Think of the intro to "Strawberry Fields Forever" - ah yes, now you 've got it. Well, those wobbly sounding Flutes at the beginning were played on the mighty Mellotron keyboard.

Now as any Beatles obsessed Musician will tell you, that sound is almost like the Holy Grail when it comes to wearing your influences on your sleeve (not quite sure where Jeff Beck wears his). So, with that requirement in mind I got to thinking that the Tron sound would sound really cool on the middle eight of my new song, "Hoxton Song". Armed with the new GForce M-Tron Pro software instrument, based on the Mellotron and it's many incarnations (Optigan, Birotron anyone?) I set about adding the hallowed flutes to the track - some 4 hours later it was all done, when I say 4 hours what I really mean is 1 hour to record the Mellotron parts and 3 hours wallowing in the majesty of tape based sampling. Now can I interest you in a small slice of Brass B revised, with perhaps a side of Chamberlin Harp Arpeggios? No? Perhaps Sir would prefer the Black Sabbath Choir instead?

Anyhoo, you can check out the song at http://www.myspace.com/mickeyterry and for those non-practising musicians in the audience, the middle eight of a song is the bit which is neither the verse or the chorus. It is also supposed to be eight bars in length, but, Hey, who's counting?


Best regrets,

Mick

Let the Recording commence...............

Greetings Ladies and Germs

So, after bathing in a Tsunami of nostalgia for the last few months - read as: Man finds old demo tapes, Man listens to old demo tapes, Man decides old demo tapes are not a quite the musical legacy he remembered, I have decided to resurrect my recording career and finally complete the long overdue, unfinished, lost, etc, etc, Debut album. This blog is intended to Diary the events leading up to, and including, the release of the Opus that I have heard in my head all these years.

Let's set the scene: After certain changes in lifestyle, i.e. The arrival of children, my Recording Studio has taken on an Incredible Shrinking Man-like quality and transformed itself into a combination of Pro Tools and a MacBook Pro. Now I, being an old analogue head, have to admit that while I will always miss the sight, sound and smell(!) of a (Please insert preferred Tape size here) Reel to Reel tape machine spinning away in the corner, I have rather enjoyed going over to the dark,digital side. Of course there are arguments for both sides ala'
Tape: Press record, song gets recorded.
Digital: Press record, press record again, press reboot (one for all you PC users out there).
Tape: Press record, Spend evening untangling tape from tape heads.
Digital: Press record, press save, press play on DVD and watch Sopranos boxed set for remainder of evening.

Now inbetween trying to find time to record the aforementioned LP, there is the little matter of actually writing the material for it. In true Blue Peter style there are already 5 songs "I prepared earlier", so that leaves a shortfall of 5 songs (or 2 songs if you're The Blue Nile). After the recent purchase of a full size Piano, new stuff seems to pouring out faster than a can of Hooch goes into a wino's belly and so the first twist to the long imagined opus is that rather than being the guitar driven, Power Pop extravaganza I had always yearned for, it appears to be heading into "Singer/Songwriter" territory. The absence of James Blunt references, either by comparison or rhyming slang, would be much appreciated. The arrogance of youth appears to have been replaced with, dare I say those terms, Maturity, Lived in quality, World Weary- yikes....... Taxi!!!!!!

Come with me now on a journey into sound.

Warm Wishes

Mick

And so, Dear Reader..........

Greetings Ladies and Germs

After lurking in various corners of cyberspace over the last decade, enough is enough. It's now time to publish the ramblings of what is now left of my addled brain. So, over the coming days, weeks, months and years (yeah, right!) there will be an outpouring, on a semi regular basis, of stuff that stimulates my psyche enough to commit it to text or, failing that, the late night ramblings of a drunken musician.

Let the fun begin.


Mick