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The Paul Lestock Arrow G5 that I purchased earlier this year was bankrolled by a very generous supporter. [The purchase amount was repaid recently when we sold our house in England.] This person wished to remain anonymous but I sensed s/he wanted a sort of wink/nod to his/her largess.
I asked this person if s/he would like me to write a tune as a Thank You. I got a ‘Yes’ and a request for a waltz.
So later this month I’ll be in England getting a version of a tune called White Flower Waltz in the can, played mostly on the Arrow G5.
Will be sharing the results with you when we’re happy with the mixes.
Hugs,
Daniel -
Just back from the UK.
Got hung up in Calais in the middle of a petrol price protest (say that 3 times fast), which delayed my arrival by 90 mins. Got home after 3am. And now I have a heavy cold too.
But! But! Buut! I got 2 songs in the can and a 3rd mostly finished. The aforementioned White Flower Waltz, and a cool version of and Irish traditional called The Parting Glass. A third song, another trad -this one American- called The Vacant Chair, got started on Sunday evening.
Instrumentation for the WFW is Arrow G5, JBovier EMC5, Telecaster, SCGC Dreadnought, harmonium, and Dulcetone.
Instrumentation for The Parting Glass is Harmonium, Telecaster with tremolo, and Marxophone along with the vocal by me.
Instrumentation for The Vacant Chair: Big ol’ strummy SCGC dread rhythm track, with bass, harmonium , and a vocal track. There’ll be a mandolin track and 1 or 2 more vocal tracks.
Hugs,
Daniel
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I don’t know how the pros do it. Probably the luxury of more time.
I sent 2 more days in the studio in England last week. A day (Saturday) in the studio followed by a trip home is fairly brutal. The day starts at 8 as usual with the kids. In the studio by 10am, in the car by 6pm, on the boat (or train) by 10:30pm. Cross the channel and 2+ hours drive home.
This time we got home Sunday at 3am. Let me tell you, I was wrung out the next day. Fell asleep in front of my in-laws.
Of the 11 songs/tunes going on the CD, I got 5 sorted. Or thought I had, until I listened to them. I need to re-sing one, and edit another. Sometimes a bass line on a keyboard is too heavy and you need a bass.
So it’ll take another day or 2 get everything completed. But on the plus side, these tracks are getting better for the attention to detail rather than worse from nit-picking.
When you hear something you’ve done and say to yourself, “Hey, that’s pretty cool.” You’re going in the right direction.
But I think this will be my last CD unless there’s a reason to do another one. They’re expensive and time consuming to record. You knock yourself out doing the best work you possibly can, and then 99% of the listening public goes, “meh. what’s on TV?” or “That’s nice. Have you heard Richard Thompson’s new one?”
And you know what? RT in his 70s is still gigging and recording because there’s no money in back catalogs anymore! Dinosaurs on the road sucking up all the money in the system because they can’t rely on revenue from the sales of CDs.
LPs are not going to save the industry. Only paying artists and composers a decent royalty for ANY type of airplay will have a positive impact.
Stop listening through Spotify, Pandora, and Apple Music’s streaming service! Buy the damn music or there will be no more new music except that shit you hear on top 40 radio, designed to be as puerile as possible. A 2 line verse and 14 iterations of the chorus. Can you handle that for the rest of your life?
Sorry for the rant…
🙂
Daniel
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Daniel,
Well said. We have now done 3 CDs and sold a total of a couple of hundred units…..will never recoup costs, let alone make a profit.
The time, energy and creative juices are never recouped.
BUT…having said that,the LOVE and the PRIDE of creation of music is satisfying.
We always try to support our friends who produce memories through music….let us know when you are ready to release the CD and we will purchase a copy…….Dee’s CDs can be purchased on her Facebook page !!!!
PS:….DON”T do your own editing……Dee always wants to redo EVERY song. -
Thanks guys! I’ll let you all know when the CDs drop. I haven’t the slightest idea what the cover will be yet.
Chris Pepper (proprietor of Saltwell, producer, musician, engineer) and I do the editing together. He always suggests time saving fixes. We work well together. I try to keep the overall project goal in mind, and he works on the day-to-day or song oriented end.
Daniel
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Afternoon Jadies and Lentilmen,
Friday we’re taking a trip from L’Aisne and crossing the Channel to visit Cambridgeshire. I’ve booked 2 days in at Saltwell Studio, and my lovely wife does not want me to try to drive the whole thing alone.
So… Another new original to record and some overdubs & mixing to get sorted. The original is called After All, and is a break up song. (8 years, another marriage, 2 kids, and 2 countries after the fact I’m singing about my divorce. Go figure.) I’ve got to talk to Chris about the recording of Santiano I did in Laon as well. (Some challenges there I think.
After All will definitely be the last song under consideration for the ‘new’ album.
Hugs!
Daniel
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Oh! BTW. I have an idea for the CD cover… Check out a few photos from an open air sculpture called Constellation de la Douleur (Constellation of Pain) on the Chemin des Dames…
The album will, I think, be called Windrush and carry an image like one of these photos. It will wrap from back to front, so that when you open the cover up you can see something of a panorama.
Daniel
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OK. Well I think we have all the material recorded. The album will have 10 to 13 songs. I’m really happy with the new material and the new sound. It ain’t folk anymore. Not sure what it is… Yacht Rock maybe? 🙂
The new song is called After All, and has 2 different e-mandos (solid body and hollow body) 2 different acoustic guitars (my ‘posh’ SCGC as Chris calls it and his beat up baby Taylor), my E-Squier, Fender P bass, drums, harmonium, and dulcitone. Though I’m not sure all 9 instruments will make it to the final mix.
Once the mixes are complete I’ll start popping stuff over to my Soundcloud page, and give you links.
We did some overdubs and mix work on other songs as well: Parting Glass (Irish traditional), Being a Boy (original), Vacant Chair (American trad), C’est Noyé (cover), Living the Dream (original), Tout ce qui fais toi (original)
Four others, Unexpectedly (orig), White Flower Waltz (orig. instrumental), Windrush (orig. instrumental), and Blackberry Blossom (trad instrumental) need a little tweaking maybe. Then we’ll be done.
Blackberry Blossom may end up on the cutting room floor.
I’ve recorded a version of Hugh Aufray’s Santiano, but it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the material, My Christmas song from 2017, A Bit of Magic, could be dropped in but maybe I’ll just leave it a single.
Thinking with my fingers…
Daniel -
Now you just have to decide what order to but the songs…..makes a BIG difference Ya know .
Looking forward to hearing it Daniel.
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Thanks Zorro,
I agonised over that with the first CD. It took me several days to settle on a running order, and I think it’s the best order those tunes could have been run in. The order makes for a good, listenable album experience. But no one wants those anymore, present company excepted.
For the second one, I tried to pay more attention to first impressions, while still providing a good listenable album experience.
This one has pretty diverse material going form trad folk to pop with a bit of country thrown in. It has guitars, mandolins (acoustic and electric versions of both), octave mandolin, mandola, stand-up bass, electric bass, drums, Marxophone, Dulcitone, harmonium, toy piano (sampled so that it plays in tune), handclaps, shakers, and tambourine. Not all of these instruments are on all the tracks. Getting it all to flow, especially if I include Blackberry Blossom (which would be a third instrumental track), will be the goal.
I’m hoping I can spend some time promoting this CD. And then tour behind it.
🙂
Daniel
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