Soho

What a night! They had a goodbye bash for me last night and went out to a jazz club in Soho. Excellent music. Drank far to omuch beer and then wine and then beer again and so am very hung over today. More at another time I think. Wish me a speedy recovery.

A new beginning?

I am coming to the end of a contract (mgmt consultancy) at the end of next week. I am really looking forward to it, as I should then have time to concentrate a little more on music and tidying the house. I have been commuting to London (mostly) for 19 months now and had forgotten how soul-destroying commuting can be.

On the plus side, received some very positive feedback on the songs posted on MySpace today. Now need to turn that into gigs!!

Music on-line

I have at last created a Facebook and MySpace profle and uploaded 3 tracks to MySpace. When I was a boy, My Destiny and Out of Reach. Go and have a listen and let me know what you think.

I am lonely on there however, so come and be my friend.

Mixing a school production

Today I am prepping a mix for a recording I made of a school show. I recorded the dress rehearsal as well as the two performances, using my Neumann mics and the quality is great (as you would expect). As I was performing too (on bass) I just had to set it up and let it run – there doesn’t appear to be any clipping (digital distortion). The speech levels are rather low, so I am cutting these chunks out and will normalise them up to an acceptable level.

I recorded with the two mics about 5m apart at about 8ft directed to hit the stage at just below head height, towards the PA n one side and the PA/orchestra on the other. I should get the chance to start mixing tonight.
On the running front I have completed three short runs since the ankle felt strong enough. They have been hard work and slow, but then I have put on nearly a stone in weight – I hope to reduce this over 3 months back to where I was… Wish me luck (but not pasties).

A long aniticipated return

After 11 weeks of frustrating inactivity due to an ankle injury, I finally took my first steps back running (well jogging) at the weekend. At the end of a two week holiday in the English Lake District (and having done some cycling - from Runcorn to Gretna in three stages as part of a longer term project) I ran 2 miles. "Running" is flattering really, as I felt heavy, ungainly and slow. In fact I felt like I was waddling. I went slowly, watched my heart rate and even managed a bit of a hill, but you know, it felt so good - I came back with a pain in my knee. My knee hurt. My breath was short and rather laboured. My feet felt like they had been pummelled with a wooden mallet. And why did that feel so good? I had no reaction from my ankle. It just worked.