Tuesday 27 December 2016

A week recording in Lanzarote

It seemed like a great idea - and it should have been. But I reckoned without my weak constitution and dormant man-flu...

We took a bunch of gear.


And with all that battery power it allowed us out on the cliffs around Papagayo beach, contending with the bright sunshine, squinting, drinking gin and tonic and smoking locally-acquired weed.




We got lots of audio. I have yet to check it all out but it followed a pattern of me doing predictable stuff on the electribe and Tim going berserk on his Volca FM. I imagine some editing is going to be necessary if we want normality but I suspect we don't. :)

Was a stupid idea for me to fly to a completely different island then rely on 2 buses and a ferry. Not sure what I was thinking there. Still, live and learn! Back to continue fighting cold while feeling guilty I have yet to start work. Also sorting out my pension which should make next year a different year to this one. Watch this space...

New camera seems very good even if I wasn't really doing a great job with it.




The skies were gorgeous and I stupidly forgot my binoculars!



Oh and the free ad campaign seems to have got me some book sales - in a single day I sol 15 of one title, which is a record. Possibly bodes well for 2017, we'll see. Maybe it's a clever ploy from Amazon to make me invest in advertising. Which is possibly not as wise as trying (again) to find an editor.




Yes, I really didn't look well... but tried (heroically) to keep up.

Loads of people have suddenly died - George Michael, Richard Adams, Carrie Fisher - so that's 2016 having a last burst of venom before 2017 brings us nuclear holocaust. Ho ho fucking ho!

Sunday 4 December 2016

Exoplanets 3

Got a couple of reviews off so far this week, short ones and easy to write cos they're about good stuff. New module arrived that's also good so my life continues to be easy.

I sent back a CD I ordered (Albedo 0.39) which was meant to have been remastered by Vangelis. Think I made a mistake because the replacement arrived and it still sounds, well, not how you'd imagine a remaster to sound. At all. I'll import into Wavelab and check it out but it's significantly quieter than any of this other albums, including the fab Beaubourg remaster. If necessary I'll sort it out myself but it suggests I should have read the label carefully before assuming they cocked up!

I have a new track to make for the 'abstract' collection. If I don't get time there are some Headshock moments I can use but after playing Beaubourg for several days now, I feel inspired to sit down and just rattle something off.

Having thoughts again about selling a few things including the CS30, Dark Time and maybe Morpheus which I haven't had time to use. Frankly, I'd rather have the forthcoming Rossum Morpheus filter.


Got my Prodigy out, treated it to Space reverb, discovered territory even a sync-mofidied Minimoog doesn't go. Excellent day except Pat away. Beer, pizza, this

https://soundcloud.com/smokyfrog/orgone-ornotgone





I did a new track. I think we now have Exo3.

Update - we do! Picko mastered it too, which is well cool of him. Means it's had proper ears listen, which I value.
https://paulnagle.bandcamp.com/album/exoplanets-volume-3


It also turns out that even a Minimoog with sync doesn't negate the need for a Prodigy. Hey ho. Got it out again, SH-101 tucked away. For now.