I told you it was a dull post.

I really do mean ‘knocked up’ : ten minutes, 4 clips (which I’ve used before, naughty me)

Enjoy

So.. finally , due to my phone being shit, took some piccies of how the studio’s coming on with Julia’s phone……

We have the old lovely green 80s garage door.. replaced by brick and glass block window. Dead chuffed with how that’s turned out.. on paper it should work, but you never know til it’s up. The entire wall around the window will be rendered, and the whole wall will end up white / off white..including the brickwork around where the door was. A lovely light went up at the apex today too.

There’s a picture of the long outside wall with the door and little window in…. that wasn’t there a few weeks back. That wall will be painted .. probably off white. Not sure about the door colour: it’s a 1940′s one.. when I stripped it, there was a lovely green from years ago.. maybe it’s a nice nod to it’s past to paint it that colour again… I need to get new glass for it though, as it’s cracked.

Inside, the stud wall and views of each wall.. not particularly thrilling to look at, but am pleased I managed to get everything straight! Theres a 10cm gap before the wood studs: they’re 10cm deep too: it means I’ve lost, with plasterboard, nearly half a meter wide and long.. but the air gap, then the 10 cm Rockwool slab (next job) in the studs will give superior sound insulation, so worth the trade off.

Super Dad replaced the consumer power box with something that will take the massive amount of double power sockets, and today we did all the first fix stuff ready for me to put the Rockwool slab in.

I included some drawings , too…. not to scale (!) but I needed to solidify where the power points were, so I drew them with vague measurements.

What I’ll be left with after plasterboard and skimming is a room about 2 metres wide and 4 and a half meters long: so it really isn’t big enough to waste any space: and I won’t be alone in there, either: the window end will have a worktop for Julia Wifey: she’s going to be doing her ceramics / jewellery making in there. To the right of her will be the reclaimed sink.. we plumbed that in today temporarily.. its an old caretakers Armitage Shanks sink… ebay bargain: used to be in Birmingham’s tax office apparently. 4 or 500 quid new… 20 quid on Ebay: happy to be recycling it.. it’s lovely.

As well as the wife, there’s going to be a kids space.. Julia has a pair of old school desks from when she was a toddler.. theyll go to the left of her worktop. .. then the piano.. then my side : other than a nice deep work top, I don’t quite know how my end will , erm, end up: speaker positions are set, space for a monitor down the line.. other than that, I have lots to fit in.. drum machines, guitars, amps, I want my vinyl in there, my god just loads… so very very careful thought’s needed so it can hold everything neatly.

I won’t use any boothing this time: at my last place I had a vocal/amp booth. Don’t want any of that: there’s the room at a push, but open plan’s the feeling I’m after.

So, that’s that: Rockwool next, then plasterboarding, skimming, flooring ,sorting new glass for the door, painting, floorboards in the ceiling, buying lights (we’ve chosen them.. thats for another time though)

In all, it’s turning out to be the space I’ve had in my mind for ages.. can’t wait.

Studio conversion is going on still.. electric first fix should be done by friday, water pipe plumbed in by then too for the sink. Light points marked out.Lights chosen (but no money to buy them!) Need to buy Rockwool and Soundbloc plasterboard next. Having trouble finalising in my head where the storage and shelves will go……. frustrating as I need to make sure the supports are in place now to fix to. So.. coming con. I have a full day on friday to get on with it. Sorry , still no piccies, but will sort that over the next week for my own sake.

Other stuff… Free Control EP I mixed with Seamus Paul was launched on saturday night at the Guildhall in Leicester.. a lovely old place. I played there years ago with my old band. Great night.

Recorded some vocals for Hannah Brine’s stuff. Still a way to go, but that’s coming on. Bass to redo, guitar to add, lots of bvs to do.

Finished the Lamb remix I started.

by the way… am selling a Behringer 1952 Tube Composer compressor, an Alesis Photon X25 MIDI keys/audio interface, a Roland u 110 and an Akai s2000 .. all in the name of studio conversions, so if you want any of these lovely items, mail me. x

Did a couple of remixes

The James Blake one reached over 70,000 views and I got some nice comments. The I Am In Love one ended up on the B Side of the band’s single.

One I did at the tail end of 2010 has just been released by She Makes War (: it’s free, here )

Highlights of mixing included One Cure for Man tracks.. proper indie.. and Free Control’s EP (with Paul Wong.. great to work there again after many years ), out soon.

Finally released the waa album and got nice radio play from Steve Lamacq

I remixed a track from it, too

TV music got used worldwide, including loads of Masterchef shows.

Albums I enjoyed most.. Wild Beasts, Lykke Li, Lanterns of the Lake

Gigs… Wild Beasts, Lykke Li and Morrissey.Lana Del Ray was a bit disappointing, but looking forwards to the album.

Music remains at the heart of what I am.. dying to finish my studio so I have a proper place to work. Also on the boil is a remix for Shortwave Fade and finishing tracks for Hannah Brine. And the ‘biggy’ project I’ve been banging on about for years. More on that over the next few months.

Also.. trying to record a handful of Rise and Demise tracks.. written for flipping ever.. no plans, just getting them recorded is enough. Got a few started. We will see.

Happy New Year!

Certainly objects of desire. Used a few and once you get used to the lack of top end you realise they sound special…….

Other news, with a bit of a back story, the Free Control mastering has been sent my way rather than who it was originally going to go to. So I’ll start that tomorrow.

Mastered another Edgy Productions play, and did some super quick recording of some live drums for the Hannah Brine track’s I’m producing… and I mean super-quick: single passes through two tracks or hats, snare, toms and ride: then to Logic for editing: not intending for them to replace the programming I’m doing.. just add some human swing.

Best news is the progress of the studio build. Two days of Super Gary saw the garage door removed, bricked up and some stud walling done. Hope to finish the studding before the 9th Jan. Will post piccies when I can get em off my (shit) phone