Guestbook

<span style="font-family: times; font-size: 12px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">1. TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.&nbsp;<br /><br />I'm a multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer, specialising in studio and production. I've worked as a session musician and sound engineer, as well as playing (usually bass) in a variety of different bands, from rock to folk via a Queen Tribute band. I'm now concentrating on a solo career and am working on 3 CDs. 1 will be a mixture of genres and styles, 1 a straight forward rock album and the last will contain all my early material.&nbsp;<br /><br />2. WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE?&nbsp;<br /><br />There is no straight answer to this. Many things inspire me: it could be a chord progression that I'm toying with; may be a riff; could even be something somebody said. In the early days, I guess like a lot of musos, I would only listen to my favourite bands, but in recent years, I've learnt to appreciate all music. I'm a fan of the old cliche: "There's only two types of music, good music and bad music". If it's good music, I just listen to it and enjoy it. If it's bad music, I try to break it down and analyse why I think it's bad, so when I come down to do my own music, I don't make the same mistake, so it's all relevant material.&nbsp;<br /><br />3. DO YOU MAKE DEMOS?&nbsp;<br /><br />Yes, I do. I make two, one using "Sibelius", which is a fab notation software, where I notate the score for all the parts so I can get a rough idea of how it would sound when I record it for real. I also make one in "Cubase", where I record all the guitar, bass, keyboard parts to a simple drum track, which I then replace with a more interesting one. It's very important that the drum track is correct, otherwise the song, in my view, won't gel. This is something I've learnt when doing sessions and when playing in bands. "GOOD DAY BAD DAY", from the "MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE" album, is a good example of that. The opening hi-hat and then the toms and snare coming in with a syncopated rhythm, help gave the song a feel of despair, I think. Certainly, it's the most interesting drum track I've done to date.&nbsp;<br /><br />4. YOU'VE MENTIONED "CUBASE" AND "SIBELUS". DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER FAVOURITE SOFTWARE?&nbsp;<br /><br />"Cubase" and "Sibelius" are my two favourite pieces of software, though I do also use "Cool Edit Pro" - now called "Adobe Audition" I think. "Sibelius" allows me to try out things before commiting them to the CD. This is particularly true of "ALONE" from the "ROOTS" album. I wanted to put in a sitar somewhere and thought that decending riff would suit it, so I transcribed the guitar part and then added the sitar, played it back and sure enough, it suited the song perfectly. Another example is "THE OPEN ROAD", also from the "ROOTS" album. I knew I wanted a bass synth in there, but I couldn't decide what it was going to play. In the original draft, I suppose, I had it playing in octaves with a semi-quaver staccato fashion, but I was never entirely happy with it as it seemed to be playing against the bass riff. So I had it double tracking the bass but with the same semi-quaver, staccato octave rhythm, and as you will hear, it drives the song along, which given the material, it needs!!&nbsp;<br /><br />5. MANY PEOPLE SAY USING COMPUTERS TAKE THE LIFE OUT OF A PIECE OF MUSIC. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THAT?&nbsp;<br /><br />I can understand why people would say that. After all, there has been some great music produced without computers. However, I'm of the opinion that computers, despite their somewhat mechanical approach to recording, perhaps, they can also save the life of a piece of music. For instance, before I started using them, when I made a mistake, I would have to go back and redo the whole thing, or drop in an overdub. Now with computers, you can still drop in with an overdub but you can cut up the wave form so it fits snugly in. After all, you can make a mistake at a gig, and it's forgotten. But, if you make a mistake in the studio, and nobody notices it until you're mixing, that small mistake will stand out ten times bigger, and will grow on each repeated listening. So, no, I don't think computers take the life out of music. Plus, the added bonus is, that there is so much good software out these days, that even new musos can record stuff in their bedrooms or whatever. They no longer have to spend their hard enough money in a professional studio. It also gives them creative freedom and allows them, in the same way it allowed me, to record the music that I want to record. Musos have got to be true to themselves, unless of course, you're being paid to be a session musician!!&nbsp;<br /><br />6. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO RECORD A SOLO ALBUM? OR THREE?!&nbsp;<br /><br />Well, I had written all these songs, about 30 in total, and had no outlet for them. I tried many times to form or join a band, but each time I thought it was heading somewhere, the band would either fizzle out or I'd get replaced. So I thought I would take the plunge and record everything myself. That way, I can (a) get my music out there, (b) have total control over it and (c) not have to put up with arguments between members. The only thing against me is that I don't sing. Well, I can't. I try and try and try, but I just can't hit the right notes. Whether that's a lack of confidence (which I doubt as I love gigging) or whether it's just that I'm tone deaf, I don't know. So I'm currently looking for a vocalist. I do go to a lot of open mic nights and I attempt to sing my songs. One time, I remember this so vividly, I was told that my guitar work is great but my singing's crap!! How true!!!!!!!!!&nbsp;<br /><br />7. TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR GEAR.&nbsp;<br /><br />Okay, my main electric guitar is a replica of Brian May's Red Special, which I had built in 2000, by a luthier called Hugh Manson. It is played through my pedalboard (Boss Equaliser into an Ibanez Tubescreamer into a Marshall Chorus into a Boss Acoustic Simulator [live use only] into a Boss Digital Delay into a Boss Compression/Sustainer pedal) and into a Vox AC30 (what else?!) with Greenback speakers. My 4-string bass is an Ernie Ball Stringray. I play this through an SWR rig - Super Redhead with an Interstellar Overdrive pre-amp and a Goliath III 4 ohm extention cabinet. I also use a Freshman electro-acoustic, an Indie 12-string acoustic (equipped with pick-up), a Rogue 8-string bass (4 courses of 2) which I used on "SING" from the "WELCOME TO MY WORLD" CD, a Crafter 8-string mandolin, an unbranded nylon-strung Classical guitar and a Yamaha DJX Keyboard, which was given to me as a free gift by one of my collaborators as a thank you.&nbsp;<br /><br />8. DO YOU HAVE ANY ENDORSEMENTS?&nbsp;<br /><br />No, not as yet, though I would happily endorse Manson Guitars, SWR, Vox and Rotosound strings. Main reason being that I've used these for years and am still very happy with them, so why change?!</span>