#3 Nostalgia for teenage listening
OK, it’s been a busy month since last I blogged. Too busy for blogging - however I was booked too early for an event today so here I sit typing with a glorious hour of unexpected free time to kill.
I’m gonna keep it briefer than last month’s sprawling Homerian epic and talk a bit about what I’m up to on the sound front.
For the last fortnight I’ve been working on a project involving Government and a bank - it was the production of 13 short online promotional videos that I did the location voice recording for and then the final audio edits, mixes and masters. Turned out alright. Everyone working together online, apart from the first day recording various government ministers and bankers, I worked from home. No drama. As it should be!
I also FINALLY got the instrument recordings finished for the latest batch of Mick Joyce songs - this had been held up for quite a while. The final vocal recordings happen this weekend and next week. And then….oh, lots of audio editing. Snip, snip, slice slice, shuffle shuffle. I’m also in the latter stages of producing another EP for a singer songwriter. Even with his impeccable tuning and time, there’s quite a bit of lining up of layers of stacked vocals just to get the extra 10%. But I enjoy that sort of thing, and having tools like Synchro Arts Revoice make the job much quicker than using elastic audio or the like.
Recording drums for the new Sonic Gypsies EP
Recording for the new Mick Joyce EP - Mick has a go on my Alembic bass
Recording Luca Lettieri in my home studio
I’ve also got a film scoring project for the next month about to drop in the inbox so hopefully I’ll be finished that for the next blog.
In between all that - live mixing gigs, events, wedding showcase...all good. I've also been catching up with some of my former fellow students from Windmill Lane.
It does take one’s mind off the impending apocalypse.
Another recent distraction for me has been the 10 albums ….well I was going to say “craze” but it’s hardly that. Let’s just call it a “thing”. The 10 albums thing. I got nominated to post, once a day for 10 days, the cover of an album that had a big impact on me back in the day and that I still listen to now and then. To be honest, the list is smaller than I thought. My listening tastes have changed a lot over the years, so I listen to very little of what I listened to 20 years ago. Of course, the whole medium of music listen has changed far beyond what any of us imagined back then, except for perhaps the most far-sighted or lucky of futurologists.
I’d say most of my listening is done with Spotify over phone or laptop, streaming to bluetooth speaker or via Sony MDR headphones, or even just over laptop speakers or laptop hardwired to the home Sony music system. However, I still have some time, a few times a month, to listen to vinyl. However, much of it is background to work or reading for work, or reference fior mixes that I’m working on. Rarely, just a few times a year do I experience the exquisite luxury that is listening to music with my full attention, purely for entertainment, with no other distractions. Maybe with a glass of wine or something stronger just to relax that little bit more. I’m fortunate to have friends who also value this sort of listening. There’s occasionally a communal meet up where everyone takes a turn to add their song to the Spotify queue, or even the annual communal vinyl playing over a nice Bowers and Wilkins system. Although I do tend to hijack these events with Gentle Giant albums. But that’s another topic for another blog.
I do often marvel at how much time I must have spent in my teenage years listening to the same albums over and over again, reading and listening to the radio and playing tapes late into the night, and not even be wrecked tired at school the next day.
Anyway, for my facebook 10 albums, this is what I picked. I restricted it to one album per band ( how could I pick JUST ONE Rush album)? I didn’t overthink it, but then again I was a bit spoilt for choice. Here’s my list, plus a few that almost made the list….maybe they should have made the list! So, hopefully, you’ll see something you love too….or maybe something that you’ve never heard of before. In which case, I envy you the thrill of that first listen!
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare
Rush - Moving Pictures
Gentle Giant - The Power and the glory
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Iron maiden - Killers
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
Tool - Lateralus
Pink Floyd - Wish you were here
Faith No More - King for a Day, Fool for a lifetime
Honourable Mentions:
Yes - Fragile
Chris Squire - Fish out of Water
Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children
Paul Simon - Graceland
So many others…but that’s all for now.