{"id":279,"date":"2003-02-18T10:03:17","date_gmt":"2003-02-18T17:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/?p=279"},"modified":"2003-02-18T10:03:17","modified_gmt":"2003-02-18T17:03:17","slug":"cutting-edge-circa-1969","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/cutting-edge-circa-1969\/","title":{"rendered":"CUTTING EDGE CIRCA 1969"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part 9 of 18 serialised by Nuance<\/u>, New Straits Times<\/a><\/p>\n

20th October 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

I spent the first day of overdubs driving around town like a mad man again. <\/p>\n

First, I went to test the rented Fender Rhodes keyboard. It was in a fair enough condition, although some keys were dodgy and it seemed to be slightly out of tune. But it is usable. Shrug.<\/p>\n

Then I collected the Vox AC30 guitar amp. I carted it back to the studio only to find that one or more of the valves were busted and it was not quiet enough to use for recording. Argh. We spent a whole afternoon trying to revive it but in vain. This resulted in another frantic round of phone calls. As it turned out, the owner has another amp up for rent, a brand new Ampeg. It\u00c3\u00ads not a classic but it’s good. <\/p>\n

Still, being a rather stubborn mule, I made more calls by way of a last ditch effort to get a Vox. I finally got hold of a gentleman who lives in Tanjung Malim. He has a vintage AC15 (the 30’s little brother) for rent. It’s a bit of a drive to Kedah, but it was good news nevertheless. Well, it was good news until he said the tremolo feature in his amp has been removed. Damn. It is the Vox tremolo sound that I am so in love with. <\/p>\n

Sigh. <\/p>\n

So it was that I settled for the Ampeg. No choice. This capitulation was followed by another cross-town trip to exchange the Vox for the Ampeg. I\u00c3\u00adm very tired of making phone calls to strangers groveling for help. This charging across town nonsense is also exhausting. It hadn’t been a good day. I wished I could just concentrate on the music.<\/p>\n

To make things worse, I think I’m coming down with flu, as is Ronan. This is bad. Lots of Vitamin C, liquids and sleep needed. As a concession to the frailties of the human body, we skipped our usual after session dinner and retreated to our respective homes and hotel rooms armed with enough medication to stock a small pharmacy and lots of takeaway food. I watched a little tv while I ate and was asleep on the sofa by 1am. <\/p>\n

21st October 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ronan<\/a> continues to do a great job. But I’ve begun to worry that the radio songs sound too ‘generic Top-40’. Okay, it\u00c3\u00ads not a bad thing because it will help sell the record, but then I am not convinced that we have to have a generic sound to get onto radio. Besides. I’m an indie grunt – so I am allowed to believe that music comes first, not radio format.<\/p>\n

I guess the thing that worries me most is that one of the songs, ‘Arms Of Marianne’, seems to have lost its urgency. The song was very difficult to write simply because I wanted it to be not just catchy but also euphoric and urgent. What we have on tape right now is nice, but it is neither urgent nor euphoric. <\/p>\n

I tell myself that there is nothing to worry about. The worst that can happen is that we\u00c3\u00add get a record with nine quirky songs and two ‘generic Top-40’ numbers. There are worse things in life. Anyway, I may be over-reacting. The songs have not been mixed and it\u00c3\u00ads difficult to tell what the finished article will be like. The inclusion of the Rhodes later will also no doubt make things less generic. <\/p>\n

22nd October 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ronan and I managed to keep the bugs at bay, and I actually got to play guitar today. These are parts that I can do in my sleep – so it went okay. I had a brief chat with Ronan about my concerns with the radio songs. He assured me that there was nothing to worry about. I felt a little better. <\/p>\n

After the session we collected the Fender Rhodes we rented. The thing weighed a tonne and it took three of us just to carry it from living room to back of car. Still, between Ronan’s harmonium and the Rhodes, we should have enough ammunition to paint an interesting soundscape.<\/p>\n

23rd October 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n

We tried recording the Rhodes in the studio today. Alas, it took us an hour just to iron out a small glitch. Still, when it was fixed, it sounded amazing. I played some simple parts on it. It sweetened and deepened the overall sound without drawing attention to itself. Very nice indeed. We’ll definitely be using more of it. Playing keyboard was fun for me too. The last time I did it was years ago. I now harbour the thought of buying myself one so I’d get to practice and write on a different instrument. Perhaps when I am less broke. <\/p>\n

One thing about our sessions I haven’t mentioned before is that the record is a digital-free zone. Everything used in the sessions, from recorders to instruments, is analogue. It is as if we are making a record in 1969 – before the world went digital on us. The record will sound like nothing that’s been done for years. It will be well recorded, but it will definitely have a distinctly analogue sound. Ronan said that this fact is well worth publicising as it is so rare nowadays to have an entirely analogue record. Therefore, I am heeding his advice and am telling you now that my record will be mostly, if not entirely, analogue – with little or no digital gear, no synthesizers, no preservatives – all natural goodness. <\/p>\n

Be nice and go buy 10 copies when it comes out. Please.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 9 of 18 serialised by Nuance, New Straits Times 20th October 2002 I spent the first day of overdubs driving around town like a mad man again. First, I went to test the rented Fender Rhodes keyboard. It was in a fair enough condition, although some keys were dodgy and it seemed to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peteteo.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}