Cosmograf - Studio Blog

Step into Christmas

2011-12-21T08:12:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas once again and this time last year I was wading through drum tracks and getting stuck into mixing for WAHDID. An awful lot has happened since then, and there's been some stonking reviews including some great coverage in Classic Rock Presents Prog. Since the release on F2 Records, I've been busy with interviews, articles and radio shows too, and I'm finally getting the feeling the album has really put me on the prog map at last. It's been a stonking year for prog all round with some amazing releases.

It's time to move on though and I've got the urge to write the next one. The ideas are flowing and I've already got the bare bones of about 4 new tracks. I'm already talking to two exciting and well known guest musos in the prog community, and if it comes off it's going to be very exciting.

As well as writing a new album I'm trying to resurrect an old one. Many folk have enquired about my first album 'Freed from the Anguish' and how they can get hold of it. It was never actually released as a CD but sold for a while as a digital download, and the truth is after the mammoth increase in production standard in WAHDID, I wanted to bury it as I didn't feel it was representative of my output anymore. Hence it was made unavailable and can't currently be purchased. The good news is it will return in slightly different form as an EP. I've taken the best tracks and I'm busy re-recording, and remixing, these for a release hopefully in the first quarter of 2012. Included in these will be reworked versions of 'Please Save Me' and 'Falling Down' which will be renamed 'Freed from the Anguish'. The theme of the EP is a characteristically melancholy piece about a man facing battle on D-Day and his thoughts about those he's left behind. Graeme 'Twig' Bell has also kindly agreed to undertake digital scribbling duties for the cover.

Since WAHDID was released I decided to invest in some more studio gear and I'm now the proud owner of a 8 core Mac Pro running ProTools 9. There's also a much needed mic upgrade on the way, although the most essential piece of equipment will be my portable heater which I'm going to have to work remotely if there's any chance of me leaving the warm house for the studio during the winter months.

In the meantime I'm intending to enjoy Christmas and spend some more time with the family. Have a good one folks and here's to another amazing year for prog in 2012.

Will the last recording musician to leave, please turn out the lights

2011-10-13T06:18:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged for a while and have been quite busy with various Cosmograf stuff, interviews press etc. for WAHDID. The album has been very well received by the critics and more importantly prog fans so far and I've been really pleased with the feedback especially some of the European reviews which despite the language difference seem to have nailed the true essence and meaning of the album in a nutshell.

On a less positive note, I was doing my usual tour around Google this morning, searching for Cosmograf related links, and found the album is now littered over just about every single illegal music download site on the internet. I did wonder why CD sales from the website had come to a standstill in the last couple of days and now I know why. The irony of this isn't lost on me, bearing in mind that I have recently been seen on Facebook arguing that download culture may not be all bad for new musicians. Sadly it's looking pretty bad from where I'm standing now, and I may have to concede the point. Time will tell what impact it has on the record company sales long term, but at this stage, it's helping to justify my decision in signing to a record company.

To those of you that actually put your hand in your pocket and bought the CD I truly thank you. Your generosity and moral fortitude means that I actually just about scraped enough to recover the recording costs, which means there's a good chance I can come to terms with writing off financially, the ridiculous amount of time taken to write and record the album. This means there's a good chance there will be another album arriving in the future.

How anybody does this for a living is beyond me but you certainly have my utmost respect. Let's hope there are enough recording musicians left in this genre who can afford to keep making the music. Sadly, I fear many yet, will fall by the wayside.

Selling your CD or your soul

2011-07-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

There's been much discussion on the internet in recent times about the merits or otherwise of self-releasing your record or signing with a record company. Most aspiring musicians probably won't have the luxury of that choice, in which case the only way you are going to get your music heard is by self releasing it and either uploading to the likes of Bandcamp or getting the CDs printed and distributing them yourself.

Never believing I'd actually get any record company interest with this album, I initially decided to self release it, inspired in part by the wonderful self promotion, music sharing model that Matt Stevens is currently following to good effect. In order to build an audience for his material, Matt even goes so far as to encourage his listeners to upload his music to torrent sites, the very enemy of the traditionally minded musician. This is a brave new world indeed.

So I printed the CDs for WAHDID, produced audio samplers, put videos on Youtube, free track download on the website, advertised it on Facebook and then sat back and waited to be deluged in the rush by all those prog fans wowed by the prospect of Bob Dalton, Steve Thorne and all the other great guests playing on the album.

Guess what folks?

I barely raised a ripple of interest. So what do we conclude. 1)The album is crap?, 2)Prog fans don't like new acts? or that 3)I didn't spend enough time schmoozing the right people and spreading the word?

Well based on the fact that I ended up with serious interest from 3 record companies, and the great initial feedback, I'm inclined to think the album wasn't a stinker. The jury is still out on point 2), and 3), yep, guilty as charged.

Self release is great, you get no interference, you get full creative control, and you get to keep all the money. The big big problem is you will need to sacrifice every waking hour, sending off promos, posting endless updates on Facebook, Twitter 'till your friends unfriend you for spamming them, not to mention the costs in printing, packing and posting of all those CDs.

But guess what there are tens of thousands in the world doing exactly what you are doing too. You need to know the right people, you need to know how to get them interested in what you have, and you need a whole lot of effort....and that's the reason I've handed the job over to a professional. I've handed over the bulk of the revenue too, but it's not about money for me. I can earn far more for less effort in the day job, but what I really really want is for people to hear my music, just a little recognition, a little virtual pat on the back from as many people as possible to say, 'really enjoyed that album'.

When Age Has Done Its Duty will be out on F2 Records later in August.

When Mastering has Done its Duty

2011-06-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

I read on Facebook a few weeks ago that mixing your own album was a surefire route to insanity. They were right. I went through the mill last week and have also been on the steepest learning curve since picking up Pro Tools for the first time about 18months ago.

The mixing was done, then it was off to Aubitt for Rob Aubrey to weave his mastering magic on it. Well that was the plan, but I quickly learned that mastering also stands for lets see how your mix stands up to the kind of pro standard that Rob puts together on Big Big Train records. The answer was OK , but could do better! So I went away armed with a list of problems and remixed, came back, remaster, problems found, went away and came back.......several times.

Rob thought the end section to On Which We Stand was great but needed a bit more drama. He went delving off into his sample bank and within 10minutes had grafted in a set of Moog Taurus bass pedal samples all in perfect time and tune, like Mike Rutherford had stepped into the session to accompany Simon Rogers spine tingling solo. I've since dubbed it the 'voice of God'.

Two weeks later and we're finally done. It's now twice the record it was when I first took it to Rob, and now I have twice the knowledge too. It's painful when people start picking holes in your mix but it's so worth borrowing the ears of those who have the experience like Rob and also Lee Abraham who told me from Day 1, 'make it the best it can be'. That means no deadlines and 'it's not finished til it's finished

Graeme Bell delivered the artwork last week and it looks great. Graeme's really making a name for himself as a top Digital Artist, and I hope he goes from strength to strength.

Anyway all done, off to the duplicators and release date will be announced in a few days time.

BRIT Prog, it's the future, I've tasted it.

2011-05-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

I'm sat here copying the final mixes to a USB stick ready for mastering tomorrow at Aubitt Studios with Rob Aubrey. When Age has Done its Duty has taken 18months of my life in agonising over writing, recording, mixing, production and it's all condensed here on a tiny bit of silicon chip encapsulated in green plastic.

To be honest, looking back, I can hardly believe how far this has come.

WAHDID came about after the unearthing of family history following a death of my Great Aunt who brought up my Mum in rural Shropshire. I was asked to read at the funeral and I wrote a piece that contained the line, 'When Age has Done its Duty, our bodies, weak become'. This was the lightbulb moment, and the start of the concept album.

Some of the music had been written months before. In fact the classical guitar parts on 'On which we Stand' were rattling around my head, and the house to the annoyance of the family, for months before. A large part of the reading I made in a packed church in Cleobury North Shropshire also made it's way into the lyrics on the same track along with the great writing input from Simon Rogers who weaved the beautiful 12 string and Ebow parts into it.

I think a new trend is developing in Prog currently. BRIT Prog. At the vanguard of this is Big Big Train. Their wonderful album 'The Underfall Yard' was a big inspiration for me with it's quintessentially English themes, and musical feel. Tinyfish, Also Eden, and Sean Filkins amongst others are all producing the most wonderfully British music at the moment and it all tells wonderful stories, expands the imagination and tickles our nostalgia bones. I'm proud to consider this album is very much part of the same genre.

I really hope people give it a go.

The ever moving deadline

2011-03-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

"I love deadlines, I like the whooshing noise they make as they fly by."

Well the plan to get the record out by February has failed, and it won't be out in March either. April maybe, but I'm going to have to go some.

Due to work commitments, general malaise and lack of motivation, I'm not getting nearly enough studio time to bring this project home. The sheer task of getting this album mixed and sounding great has turned into a monster effort and there's much still to do. I'm quietly excited though, by how it's sounding. Several of the tracks are sounding fairly immense with Bob Dalton's drums in the mix. It's amazing how adding the real drums cements everything together. The artwork is also looking most awesome courtesy of Graeme 'Twig' Bell.

I'm 100% happy with what I've written, that's been the easy bit, but much less so with my own performances and production which I'm constantly re-recording or adjusting the mix in order to improve things.

I've had the music rattling around my head now for 14months or so which feels like a huge chunk of my life, although in album making terms really isn't that long. Secretly I'm rather scared what will happen when it get's released. I'd be gutted if the album failed to make any impact but these things take years to reach consciousness.

More soon.

It's Christmas and I hear drums

2010-12-19T11:13:00.000-08:00

Well I find myself once again, facing the Xmas season wondering where the year went, and what a year it's been both professionally and musically.

End of Ecclesia continues to attract interest and positive review which I'm grateful for, but I'm here to say I doubt I'll produce another album in that mode. Producing an album solely on your own where you play every instrument is a self indulgence. It's perfectly acceptable, but if you expect a lot of folk to buy into it you are always going to have an uphill battle. EOE also had a few production shortcomings which won't be making a reappearance in any other material I release.

From the outset, 'When Age has Done It's Duty' has been very different. Lee Abraham keeps telling me 'make it the best album it can be' and I'm doing my best to fulfil that. Absolute top production from word go, real acoustic drums, topline artwork courtesy of Twig and a smattering of very talented musicians (Simon Rogers, Steve Thorne, Steve Dunn, Huw Lloyd Jones, Lee Abraham, Bob Dalton, Dave Ware + a few more to come) to bring these ideas to reality. Don't worry there's still plenty of yours truly on the album but there was certain stuff I was incapable of doing or needed a different style or direction.

So last week I fulfilled a bit of a lifetime ambition of working in a proper professional recording studio with a well known engineer and top line drummer. I'm still getting my head around the results as we speak. Steve Thorne who did the vocals for me on 'When Age...' suggested I use Bob Dalton from It Bites for the bulk of the drum work who was available for session work following It Bite's hiatus. The session was booked with Rob Aubrey at his incredible Aubitt Studios.

The results were a little surprising in a very good way. Talking to Bob before the sessions it was a pleasant surprise that we shared a great love of 70s drummers, in particular the work of John Bonham. I really wanted to capture some of that on the new record, and 'Into this World' really provided an opportunity for Bob to let rip with those triplets. His fills were incredible on ITW,.... and bloody loud. When I got the stuff back and played it back on my system , I couldn't stop grinning. Hairs on back of neck didn't cover it., I was giggling like a school girl.

Bob told me he had a blast working on the album, and I think people are going to be surprised how different his style is compared to his normal duties with It Bites.

So now I'm in the midst of comping drum tracks, editing and mixing. I'm hoping to get the record out in February 2011.

Merry Xmas!

Rob

New beginnings

2010-09-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

It's been sometime since my last blog update so apologies for the mammoth post. I thought it was about time to release a few more details about the new album and some of the guests that will be playing.

To bring you up to date, 'End of Ecclesia' has slowly been tickling the prog world's conscisousness since it's release in November last year. Have to say I haven't been killed in the rush sales wise and I think I learned a hard lesson about publicity.

There were some great reviews from the press and those that really matter went out of their way to tell me how good they thought it was. I must admit though I hit a bad patch earlier in the year and actually considered giving up recording. I couldn't get my head around the sheer number of man hours putting an album together and the tiny reward and recognition that comes at the end of it.

After I'd thrown my toys out of the pram, and received much support from fellow progheads, I realised I was looking at things the wrong way. Making music and albums is a joyous experience, and ultimately it's should be for yourself. You have to be selfish about it. It's for you, it's prog, and 90% of the population (including my wife) think it's self indulgent, too long, too complicated and a bit up itself.

Thankfully the last 10% of the sane ones are some of the nicest people I've met and do incredible things for their music, as well as having some of the most unrecognised blinding talents. It's these folk that convinced me to 'Keep calm and carry on'.

One such inspiration is Lee Abraham. A big man in Prog in more than one sense and an absolute gent. I've been spending a bit of time with Lee over the last 6 months and he's been more than generous in sharing his prodigious knowledge of high end production as well as his rather exceptional contacts list. It was Lee who provided constructive inspiration for my own garden studio, just like his but more than that he's taken great interest in my music and in particular allowing me to steal some of his production secrets. His album Black and White lays testament to what an armed and dangerous low budget producer can pull together in terms of top drawer talent, songwriting skill and the sort of production values that Sony would pay millions for.

When you sit at the helm with Lee he hears stuff that I can't. Timing errors, pitch problems etc. It's like Jedi training.

The biggest lesson Lee taught me was 'Don't try and do it all yourself'. I was on a mission with 'End of Ecclesia '. Apart from the excellent contribution on 'The Dark that follows the Light' from my long time friend Steve Dunn, I'd decided early on that I would write, play every instrument including drums, sing and produce the whole thing even doing the artwork myself. I managed it, but ultimately things could have been better in a number of areas. I learned at this point that sometimes you have to step back , recognise your limitations and 'phone a friend'. This has been the new approach for the latest album and it's already paying dividends.

When Age has Done it's Duty

I really like the idea of concept albums and the freedom they give writing wise. You don't even have to keep the music in the same genre because somehow that common thread is keeping it all together.

The original idea for the new album was in fact to make a 3 track EP. Talking to both Steve Thorne and Graeme Bell I realised that it made more sense to push for a whole album's worth of material in order to do both the concept justice and to make enough impact.

The first track I worked on was 'When Age has Done it's duty'. The inspiration came from a recent death in the family which caused some rather interesting family history to be unearthed as well as a visit back to a tiny village called Cleobury North in Shropshire where I spent a lot of time with Great Uncles and Aunties as a kid. The central theme of the Ageing process dominates the album, Birth, youth, trials of adulthood, then ageing, frailty and ultimately death. Cheery stuff eh? Dark themes produce wonderful albums, ask Roger Waters.

Mixed in with this lot are some childhood memories of the area and the people. Lee suggested hiring Steve Thorne for some vocal work as he'd made a great contribution to Black &White. Steve is a real character whose previous collabs read like a who's who of rock and prog. He was rather flatteringly, hugely impressed with the demo I sent him. His resulting vocals are amazing, totally bringing the track to life. This one had to be big and dramatic being the title track. I also contacted a Voice artist in the form of Tom O Bedlam who allowed me to use his dramatic reading of the famous poem 'Growing Old' by Matthew Arnold which provides the chilling introductory monologue.

At this point my good friend Steve Dunn pointed me in the rather artistic direction of Graeme Bell also known as 'Twig'. Graeme had been working on the rather incredible artwork and concept of Also Eden's new EP, 'Differences as Light' , and was incredibly generous in offering to assist with my album. Talking with Graeme helped to cement the concept. We agonised for a while over names but it was staring us in the face. Graeme liked the title track idea of 'when Age has done it s duty' (WAHDID ) and it's stuck. When you get Graeme to do your artwork, he doesn't just disappear then come back with a design, he wants to see the lyrics, hear the music, interview and generally immerse himself in what you are trying to say. It works so well. Just take a look at Differences as Light, there's a whole raft of hidden meaning, connection to the lyrics etc. etc. This is what Prog art is about. I'm really looking forward to seeing the final results of his labours on WAHDID but from what I've seen so far I'm going to have no worries.

Next up is 'White Light Awaits' . I'd long been hankering to do a heavy guitar track with dropped tuning. This is what happens when you spend too long listening to Porcupine Tree!

I'd experimented quite a bit with Drop C but was having all sorts of issues with tuning stability and getting a good sound with my gear. Enter Mr Abraham again who came round one evening armed with 6 string bass, Drop C tuned guitar and Line 6 pod. He then proceeded to despatch 2 pristine Drop C guitar tracks and a bass line to boot, all in under an hour. He even had time to set up a draft mix. True Pro! So Lee guests on this track which concludes the album.

Also featuring on this track is an old friend from college days, Dave Ware. Dave was a top metal drummer and used to be in the Portsmouth based band Tarrasque, who managed to get quite a bit of airplay on MTV in the early 90s. They almost made the big time while the rest of us were struggling to find our creative grooves. These days Dave can be found recording in his own studio where he's managed to fit in a very well equipped live drum recording facility. He's also become a very capable multi-instrumentalist and superb song writer. Check out his work on www.daveware.co.uk and his new Facebook page.

Next up is my oldest friend, Steve Dunn. I've known Steve now for about 26 years and it was he who got me listening to Hendrix and Purple in the school breaks while the music of the day was supposed to be Culture Club, and Duran Duran. Steve always had my recommended listening list ready. Hendrix, then Purps, Sabbath, Gary Moore, then UFO, Yngwie, Satch and a host of others. Post 16 I can't remember a time being with Steve where he either wasn't either playing guitar or listening to it. We were in three bands together, the last one 'Cry of Love' reached the heady heights of a few Porstmouth pub gigs before we retreated into obscurity. Steve had some wilderness years like myself where we did careers, kids etc. but he came back to music with avengence. I was thrilled when I caught up with him again thanks to Facebook and found him bassing for Also Eden and teaching guitar for a living. A lifelong learning advocate, when he has a spare 5mins he's also found studying for his next qualification!

Steve did an amazing co writing job on 'The Dark the Follows the Light' on End of Ecclesia also playing all guitars and bass on the track. This time round he's added his bass rumblings to 'Blacksmith's Hammer' where he took the track and gave it a completely different feel which I couldn't get to with my own attempts.

Then we have 'On Which we Stand'. I'd almost abandoned this track because I couldn't link the beginning and end section with anything creative. Enter Simon Rogers, Also Eden's guitarist. I gave Simon virtually nothing to work with and said 'Be as creative as you want'. I wasn't expecting the results. With nothing more than a couple of emails he'd written a staggering 12 string guitar ensemble that was very reminiscent of early Genesis. A few emails later and I'd added 3 vocal parts, keyboards, and Simon and contributed a very unique 'Ebow' ensemble. This is going to be a very special track for vintage Prog fans and I'm very happy to share writing credits with Si on this one.

I'm currently in the midst of completing writing on 'Into this World' which opens the album and also have one more new track to write. Watch out for a few more special guests which I hope I can sign up soon!

Expected release will be early December, hopefully.

Released into the wilderness

2009-11-19T08:31:00.000-08:00

Well the release day is finally here, 19th November 2009. The CD has just come back from the duplicators, not without a bit of drama either. The master got lost in the post, then was found, then the CDs arrived here only to find that 22 of them had no music on them!!

As a result I've got very limited quantities to sell currently, not that I'm expecting to be killed in the rush.
It's just a great feeling to finally get it out there. 8 months in the making, blood sweat and tears and all that.

Big thanks for all the help and encouragement along the way, particularly to my good mate, Steve Dunn whose constant words of encouragement and musical talents on 'The Dark that follows the Light' have made this all happen.

The CD is available for sale on www.cosmograf.co.uk and will be available for Preview and MP3 download very soon!!.

Mix, master, mix, master!

2009-10-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

Well lots has been happening this month, not least of which some serious upset on the day job front which has thrown me into a bit of a spin. Big life changing decisions afoot but hopefully all for the good in the long term.

I've been busy on the CD artwork and have managed to complete everything for the 4 page cover. The original front cover design was tweaked a little as it occurred to me that lush green fields looked more akin to Daniel O' Donnell's latest release than something from a progressive rock artist.
It's now much more Black Sabbath than Danny Boy which is where it should be to match the music.

At the beginning of the month I got to finally spend some time with my old friend Steve Dunn as he kindly invited me up to Gloucester for the Summers End prog festival, with no less than Steve Hackett headlining. We were both a bit dazed when at the end of his incredible set, he hung around and chatted to us. We got some great photos, one even sneaked on to the back cover of the album.

Music wise it's been a bit of battle in the mixing and mastering department. Lee Abraham was very kind in offering some very good advice in the use of filters. "Filters, filters and more filters" he said. It was a bit of revelation last weekend when I realised that the resonant bass freqencies were stopping the other instruments being clear in the mix. Some filtering tamed the bass and allowed the other frequencies some more space. Certainly works, and you can now hear the individal bass notes being played rather than the continuous drone of low frequency.

Unfortunately it's been a real back and forth act between mixing and mastering. You mix it all up, but mastering reveals some problems you couldn't hear before so you have to go back. Worse still is when mastering reveals some playing errors or vocal problem that you have no option to go back and re-record.

It's all there though I think. I've been listening on as many different systems and headphones as I can. The Master CD was burned last night and I'll be critically listening to this over the next few days to make sure everything is A OK. Fingers crossed.

Next Step, Duplication and Release!

I'm King Hennery the 8th I am

2009-09-25T03:24:00.000-07:00

I can sort of see the chink of light at the end of the album producing tunnel. I very nearly have 10 finished tracks. It was 9 last week, but I had an unexpected flash of inspiration whilst laid up with the flu.

Whilst messing around with the most excellent Spotify, I found myself checking out a certain Mr Blackmore's Renaissance widdlings on 'Under a Violet Moon'. A seed was sown, so to speak and I found myself spending the next 10hours going Renaissance minstrel crazy.

By the end of the evening I'd not only taught myself to play a scale on my daughter's long discarded Descant recorder, I'd recorded my own version of Pastimes with Good Company complete with haunting cathedral rhubarb, recorder harmony, and blackmore'esqe nylon strung tinkerings. He was a good writer, that Henry VIII, it's a banging toon, and also serves as the perfect preamble to In the Sea as it also starts off in Dm. So there we have it. In the Sea, now becomes 'Return to the Sea' Part 1 and 2.

Here's the running order:

1. Who will you Serve
2. Sins of the Father
3. Evolution Railroad
4. A Day on the Moon
5. Return to the Sea -Part.1 (Pastime with Good Company)
6. Return to the Sea -Part.2 (Forget the Earth)
7. Flowers in my Hair
8. La Iglesia
9. Ministry of Failure
10. The Dark that Follows the Light

I'm hoping to finish recording tonight then onto mixing. Maybe I'll be ready for release end of October?

Long time no Recording

2009-09-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well it's been over a month since my last update.

I'd like to say a lot has been happening on the album front but it hasn't. Holidays, a mega DIY project , and general malaise has resulted in slow progress.

Tools were picked up again last Sunday where I got to spend a whole day recording and mixing. Loads got done, a lot of stuff that was looking impossible to finish like the stringing together of the 10min prog rock epic ' The Dark that follows the Light' into a coherent track. The fine guitar work of my good friend Steve Dunn (Also Eden) is sounding fabulous, the vocals are larely done bar a short phrase and we are nearly there with this one.

Some drumming problems were fixed on 'Heard you were going' and I even managed to get 'Who will you serve' in the bag, after a titanic battle with a mix of 4/4 5/4 and 6/8 time in the same track.

The good news is I'm done writing for this album!! 9 tracks written and recorded. On now to last few overdubs and mixing.

Oh and the DIY project is going to be a brand new sound proof recording studio, at the bottom of the garden.

Work in progress (left).

It's going to cost a small fortune and hopefully be done by Xmas.

Artwork, and CD distribution options also to be explored next

So much to do, so little time.

P.S. Almost forgot to say 'A Day on the Moon' was broadcast on Radio Caroline on the 20th August 2009 on Tim Charles Magic Carpet Ride show. What a thrill getting airplay alongside one my great guitar heroes Ritchie Blackmore with a Blackmore's Night track being played just before mine!.

One step forward and two back

2009-08-03T02:42:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks. 'A Day on the Moon' was released on YouTube a few weeks ago.

I also got to spend some time mixing in the studio with Lee Abraham, formerly bassman with Galahad and producer of prog rock material including his own acclaimed album 'Black and White' www.leeabraham.co.uk .

The short time spent with Lee was very educational and he certainly added some smoothness and commercial perzazz to 'A Day on the Moon' which was sadly lacking. You can listen to both versions at www.cosmograf.co.uk/music.php . Lee commented that I should really consider getting some real drum tracks done rather than using my trusty Roland TD20 kit. This has caused much thinking. In real terms, if I was making a commercial record with the budget that goes with it then it wouldn't be an issue to a hire a real drummer in, but I think much of the enjoyment I get from doing the drums myself would be lost. I think I'm probably prepared to sacrifice some of the sound quality to maintain that control over the music , just on this album anyway. Ultimately, it's the way to go for sure and I need to find a drummer who'd like to take this stuff on, maybe even to a few live gigs.

As an interim measure I've revised the drum setup to output 8 discrete channels so it at least gives you more to play with EQ and timing wise in the mixing process.

Our time spent mixing also highlighted a number of issues for improvement including recording vocals with way too much gain and perhaps using mic'd up guitars rather than DI to the recording interface. All this of course has caused a major issue though in that, it's highly likely I'm going to have to re-record a lot of stuff I've already done. We'll have to see whether the results justify the extra hassle. I'm looking forward to working with Lee again soon but need to spend a little time practising what I've learned.

I was thrilled when my good mate Steve Dunn (Also Eden) agreed to guest on one of the tracks, 'The Dark that follows the Light'. I've not worked with Steve for about 18 years and it's great to kick off the songwriting partnership again, if only remotely across the internet.

I threw a few keyboard tracks together and emailed them into the ether, and Steve weaved some prog magic across the top. It's sounding very dark, like a John Carpenter soundtrack. Lots still to do but I think it's going to be good.

Another track written in a day last week was 'Ministry of Failure'. Simple Piano and a few nice harmonies with a characteristically dour theme.

I reckon I have 50mins of music written now so enough for the album.

Overall recording progress so far:

- La Iglesia - Done
- Sins of the Father - Done
- In the Sea - Done
- Evolution Railroad - Done
- A Day on the Moon - Done
- Ministry of Failure -Done
- Heard you were Going (San Francisco) (WORKING TITLE)
- Who will you serve - More song writing/recording to do on this
- The Dark that follows the Light - More song writing/recording to do on this

To the Moon and Back

2009-07-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

Time for another update.

The new album is shaping up in odd directions. I had planned this to be another concept album but I'm finding my current inspiration for tunesmithery is taking me all over the place. In the last couple of weeks, I've also managed to pen two fairly commercial sounding tracks which are really on the boundaries of what can be considered Prog. For one they are both too short at a radio friendly 3minutes each. Rather than try and remain a purist I think it's better to get this stuff out there.

'To the Moon and Back' was one of those magical song writing moments where you get hit by a chord phrase in your head. An hour later and I'd worked the whole song out. 8 hours later and it was recorded. I wish they could all be this quick.! I also got to borrow a gorgeous Ovation 12 string electroacoustic which sounds fabulous and takes centre stage on the track. The original idea came out of watching all the media coverage on the 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landings. I saw a piece on Neil Armstrong and how the vision of the earth from the moon had altered his life completely, maybe not necessarily in a good way.

'Heard you were going' is a bit of a dour pastiche of 'San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)' by Scott McKenzie written by John Phillips of The Mamas and Papas fame. Again I'm not sure it should be on this album, on account it sounds a little too 'Country Rock ' but it's cynicism should be fitting with the album's dark theme.

'The Dark that follows the Light' is going to be a full on Prog epic . I've promised myself it must be at least 15min long and will have some wierd and wonderful Jon Anderson 'lyrical nonsense' themes. Much work to do here.

Overall recording progress so far:

- La Iglesia - Done
- Sins of the Father - Done
- In the Sea - Done
- Evolution Railroad - Done
- To the Moon and Back - Done
- Heard you were Going (San Francisco) (WORKING TITLE)
- Who will you serve - More song writing/recording to do on this
- The Dark that follows the Light - More song writing/recording to do on this

Return of the Epiphone Dot.

2009-06-26T02:44:00.000-07:00

Progress on the album has been slow over the past few weeks, mainly due to the recent good weather meaning that more time has been spent trying to get our garden in shape. I have way too many projects on the go.

My MIDI keyboard also died a death a few weeks ago and it's taken me this long to get it fixed, which has delayed some of the keyboard tracks.

In the meantime, in desperation for some inspiration I picked up my old 12 string, threw some open chord janglings together. Em, C, G, A. A couple of hours later and I had the basis of a new track. Hoorah, writer's block is removed. Really pleased with how this is sounding. It's a like a cross between an Oasis track and Green Day. Very different to my usual stuff and not very prog like. Much more commercial which is good and bad.. In the process of recording the last two tracks, I seem to have developed a vocal style which I'm quite enjoying. This album is going to sound very vocally different to the last. Bit more hard edged and a touch more gravelly. The danger of course is lapsing into a Joe Cocker impersonation but I suppose there could be bigger crosses to bear.

As well as having fun with the singing I've rediscovered the joy of a guitar I haven't played for about 2 years or so, namely my Epiphone Dot. This grumpy instrument refuses to stay in tune for more than 20mins at a time but when it's finally in the zone, it sounds fabulous. It's the only electric I've played where you can happily play open string chordings with an overdriven sound and don't get lost in the mush.

I've given it a starring role in the this latest track. Also making a return is the sound of the Hammond courtesy of NI's amazing B4 II. I've got the modulation wheel to trigger the virtual 'Leslie' and it's all sounding very Jon Lord.

So onwards and upwards.... I hope to have this one cracked by the weekend. I think I need about 3 more tracks to complete the album.

I'm also thinking about posting up one of the tracks on here to give a taste of what's coming........

A tribute to Ken Oakley - D Day veteran

2009-06-04T07:50:00.000-07:00

65 years ago on Saturday, my dad's cousin, Ken Oakley, stormed the beaches of Normandy as part of Royal Naval Commando assault at D-Day. Sadly, he passed away in October 2007, a smashing bloke and fondly remembered by our family. It's chilling to think that this very day 65 years ago he was camped out in the woods at Cowplain, ready to embark from Portsmouth for D- Day, probably within throwing distance of where my daughter goes to school.

It was Ken's experience that subconsciously inspired me to write the concept album 'Freed from the Anguish', http://www.cosmograf.co.uk/.

The album is dedicated to all those brave souls who died that day and a celebration of the good lives that the survivors went on to lead.

You can read Ken's story here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/56/a2654156.shtml and here; http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/Ken%20Oakley/4/ken_oakley.htm

It's all going too well.....

2009-05-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

I'm a born cynicyst and have a bad feeling about saying this but the album is shaping up rather nicely. A most productive recording session last Friday resulted in the completion of 'In the Sea'. If ever there was a track to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat, this was it. The intro classical piano just sounded daft on its own and I was desperately trying to find a way to contemporise it (if thats a word?~) and stop it sounding so dry. The solution was found in messing around with Waves RVerb where I dialled in a supersize cavern effect. Plug in a dry Strat and mess around with some fluttery surf guitar style picking, fading in and out, and it all came together. The overall track is a little 'lightweight' for my tastes but I think it will sit OK with the other material. The vocals were also a lot of fun, and the acquisition of my new 'popper stopper' has done an awful lot to remove those nasty plosives, and allow you to 'get into the mic'.

I'm pretty well through Evolution Railroad too, and have found a route through the song writing process. The song is in three parts. 1st part is a Bluegrass ditty with two steel acoustics panned left and right. 2nd is the Hendrixy, Saxon chord sequence seen on the drumming vid published on Facebook. The 3rd part is a balls out Sabbathesque section., complete with some 'devil like intervals'. Tony Iommi would love it, ....or want royalties. I found a wicked freight train sample that links the sections together and it all sounds great so far.

Vocals and other essentials to come but hopefully not too far away from being in the can.

As a footnote I took the long overdue precaution of backing everything up. The thought of losing everything at this stage is pretty scary.

Status report and cracking Cheeze

2009-05-18T04:03:00.000-07:00

Quick progress report. Got a few hours in over the weekend. 'In the Sea' now has all the guide tracks. It took ages getting the right drum sound and eventually settled on a fairly vintage sounding Ludwig kit from the amazing Master Picks expansion for the TD20. I've found some nice keyboard noises to go with the Piano intro, namely 'The Cheeze Machine' which is a classic 70's string synth emulator. It produces nice Richard Wright style ensembles (Think Shine On....). This song started as a Muse style epic, but the vocals have killed the similarity. I'm slightly worried it now sounds a 'musical theatre' which would be an appalling prospect. Lots still to do on this one, so much for getting it finished quickly. The finished track will be over 7mins long though which is prog rock record length for me.

Overall progress so far:

La Iglesia - Complete, bar mixing, mastering
Sins of the Father - complete bar remix and replace lost sample (Cubase ate it!!)
In the Sea - Song written, guide tracks down, needs final performances and mixing.
Evolution Railroad - More song writing to do on this,
Who will you serve - More song writing to do on this

Three new ideas but nothing finished.

2009-05-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

After a long lay off seeking inspiration, I seem to have ended up in the middle of writing three tracks at once. I'm not that keen on working this way as the danger is nothing will get finished.

The first, 'Evolution Railroad' is featuring a bluegrass style opening which I've been messing around with months. Then it filters into some hendrix' style chordings. I spent a good few hours trying to get some Hammond on there, loads of problems with MIDI latency in Cubase and it became a real pain. Now it's got ceremoniously stuck and no idea what to do with it. I'll have to come back this track later.

This weekend I've found a lot of time to write, being laid up a bit after my arm operation. After Also Eden's inspiring lesson in 'unusual' time sigs, I promised myself I'd try my hand. I've ended up grafting the choral piece I was working on into a 5/4 time section then into 4/4 bridge. Lots of work still to do on this but the idea is there. It will be entitled 'Who will you serve'.

Yesterday I found a superb Piano modelling VST called Pianoteq which has caused some serious amount of inspiration.

I ended up recording about 4 mins worth of classical piano that quickly morphed into a Matthew Bellamy style neoclassical piece. Lots of fun and even got some vocals down. I'm hoping this will get finished quickly.

One major problem I need to resolve is releasing some CPU power. All my VST's and effects are hogging the PC and there's nothing left to record with. Audio dropouts everywhere. I think I need to run all the VSTS on another machine.

Sins of the Father

2009-03-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Next track in the can, I think. I say I think, because I've had major issues with timing on this one, and I'm still not convinced. I've done this several times now, leaving a track thinking its all perfect only to come back to it a few hours later, to find the timing all over the shop. I can heartily recommend leaving your work and coming back to it as, it seems particularly with audio that familiarity breeds contempt.

The problems started when I took the bold decision to record the drum track first. Enter Bonhamesque sounding 1964 Ludwig kit from Master Picks, all good, BUT when you put down a drum track in isolation you have no idea how you are going to structure the song around it. I had to get some guitars in there quick, Page-esque vintage Brit with my LesPaul (There's a pattern forming here?). The drum track was recorded again with the extra guitar prompting and then I did a cut and paste marathon stitching stuff back and forth. The end result was good but with some misalignments with the tempo track. I struggled on. Bass, then various lead lines etc. The similarity with anything Led Zep was killed with some scary choral samples and of course when I started singing......

Fun track to work on but hope it still sounds OK in the cold light of day.

Its just a name

2009-03-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

For the second album I thought I'd break with tradition and come up with the artwork and name before substantially completing the music. This new tactic seems to be working as it's got me thinking more about the album concept and where I want to go with the music.

A few hours in Photoshop later, here it is: 'End of Ecclesia'.

The concept is dark, belief, grief, fear, sin. All that 'good' stuff. Lots of etheral pads, choir voices, and heavy guitars. Think Yes meets Black Sabbath.

First track finished

2009-03-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with this Spanish guitar riff for about 8months and I've finally got to do something useful with it. It's played on my nylon string Raimundo Classical which I've had since aged 15. Have to say it sounds bloody awesome with D'addario Classical strings. I also made a marvelous discovery that Waves X noise filter banishes all the nasty background hiss and hum from the mic. Brilliant.

NI's B4II gets wheeled out for some serious tonewheel action along with the incredible Guitar Rig 2. I worked out how to remotely run the 'virtual' leslie during playing which gives the Hammond a live feel during recordings. 4fronts Truepianos also makes a fleeting appearance.

The first track is complete I've christened it La Iglesia ('The Church' in Spanish). Straight instrumental with the church bell sample from Freesound project taking centre stage. The guitar solo is unashamedly Yngwie inspired although without his speed, agility or knowledge of the fretboard.

Preparation, preparation, preparation

2009-03-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

Its a been a massive uphill struggle to get the home studio ready to record the second album. Somewhere during post mastering 'Freed from Anguish', Cubase SX threw a massive wobbly resulting in major PC clear out, defrag, and reinstallation of Cubase along with all the VSTs. It's been worth it though despite still suffering with hideous audio drop outs during playback with mutliple effects/VSTs.

Since the first and second album I've managed to acquire 2 or 3 new guitars, a Line 6 Pocket Pod and the Waves Bundle which all want to make an appearance on the new album.

I still can't help thinking that this process would be so much slicker if I had an engineer on hand who could run SX rather than me spending 10mins recording and 10hours fiddling with software. I'm hoping the productivity ratios will improve this time around......