Well it would be fair to say "Sean's a silly bugger", An old client has engaged me to write some additional functionality to a software package... in my spare time. YEAH RIGHT! So I've been doing my 45 hours a week at my day job, 20 hours a week on this extra assignment and sweet bugger all on the album. Maybe I just don't have the endless energy I had 10 years ago. Back then, getting 4 hours sleep, several nights on end was do-able (I won't say easy). Now... forget it!
Okay, I can hear you thinking "I'll kick in a couple of bucks for Sean's walking frame and a box of 'No-Doze'", and thank you, my kids have already raised enough funds for the frame and I already drink enough Caffeine to turn a corpse into an insomniac.
Well the album hasn't been entirely static. Pete Generous has been recording drums for the last month and has cut a stunning 6 tracks of drums
So if you're interested in the comparison between real drums and sequenced drums, take a listen to my rough mix "Livin' Life's Beat (With Pete Generous)" below and compare it the version of "Livin' Life's Beat" straight underneath it.
I've ramped up the number of hours I'm spending on the album to at least 12 a week. It doesn't sound like much, but considering I'm out of the house 55 hours a week for my day gig, I'm pretty happy with the time I'm finding.
The exciting thing about the album at the moment is that Pete Generous is recording/re-recording drums for the entire album. Pete (see my Facebook friends) is a session drummer from Springfield, Missouri, who also tours with legendary country musician Roy Clark. Pete already plays on many of the songs, but is currently recording/re-recording everything, so we can get a consistant sound across the CD. Pete's studio is as big a small house, unlike my own studio, which is as big as a small bathroom (or large toilet lol).
Nine songs are well progressed for the CD. The 10th song is written in the sense I can strum it out on the guitar and sing jibberish words to it. I'll get onto it in a couple of weeks. I've dropped 4 other songs from the CD; three of them were slow and one of them an angry recollection of a relationship failure from a long time ago.
Although there is still a lot of work to do, I'm confident of having a top quality product available before the year is out.
The River - New Song
Current mood: bouncy
Category: Music
Hi all
I've finished recording song number 7 for the album. It's called "The River". It's a fresh recording of song originally written in 1989. That makes me feel OLD. Never-the-less, I like the song and hope you do to. Song number 8 is currently with good friend Pete Generous and should be up here in a few weeks. Song number 9 is also underway.
Yes... only a few months to go.
If you've got 5 minutes free, please take a listen. You can also download it straight from the ReverbNation widget below.
I'm almost totally recovered from a bit of a cold. Okay, Okay, you don't wanna hear me doing the miserable sick male thing and complain about how near death I was. I was the last in my group at work, and my kids, to get sick. They all had it. My work colleagues were falling like flies. Most of them are male, so they were invariably near death. I was seriously contemplating calling the minister in to read the last rites.
Well, with all this sickness going on around me, I got incredibly cocky. I told everyone I was impervious, and even made the point of wearing my Superman underpants to work, 2 out of 3 days (YES they were washed in-between wears!). Needless to say I got sick; I thought I was going to die, and, contemplated calling the reverend. I found God, wished I could be stronger, and woke up a woman.
On a side note, I think I am far more sexy in the blue and red than Christopher Reeve ever was (bless his soul), even thought my son assures me I have single handed ruined the entire superman franchise and look like a freak in the blue and red. That little &^$.
I’ve just posted my latest song "Livin’ Life’s Beat", which is a funky, upbeat and uplifiting song. If you’ve got a few minutes free, please take a listen. You can also download the song using the player on my profile.
March was a busy month. I spent a week in Sydney with work, then a week in Darwin for a holiday. All this was great for soothing the soul and adding some variety to life, but impacted on my songwriting schedule. I’ve almost finished a funky number called "Living Life’s Beat", which I anticipate having up here next week.
In the meantime, I’ve re-recorded parts of the song ’You’. I found it a little stagnent, so rerecorded bass, vocals and backing vocals. Much Happier! . The new version is posted here, so if you can find a spare 4 minutes, please take a listen.
January was an exciting and productive month. I finally completed building my recording studio. It hangs off the garage and is away from the house making it impossible for me to hear anyone yell 'DAAADDDD' from inside. I've even got the crew to understand that Monday and Wednesday nights are recording nights and the rules are:
1.I don't cook Monday or Wednesday
2.Music starts at 7pm
3.I am interruptible if there is a fire or someone is in a life threatening situation.
So far it has worked, and in 2 weeks I have almost completed a funky new song that sits somewhere between Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Gloria Estefan. Hopefully I'll get it finished in the next 2 weeks and post it here for listening/downloading.
I started a new job on St Kilda Road 3 weeks ago and love it. Basically, I'm building corporate intranet websites. The job is excellent.
I've decided to get back to riding my bicycle to work again on Monday. It will be quicker than the tram or car and do me the world of good. Given that, I've resurrected the spandex and I'm raring to go. If you see a guy on a red bike with a yellow jersey and black spandex pants, somewhere between Preston and South Melbourne, you have a one in ten thousand chance it's me. Feel free to yell out 'Hey Sean!', but bear in mind you probably have the wrong guy. You'll know it's me if I turn around, wave, swerve to my right, and am collected by a passing car.
I have a work function in Coolum in a couple of weekends and have booked a week away to Darwin in March. 2008 has been outstanding, but then again I try to ensure most years are memorable for good things. If you haven't figured it out, I am the eternal optimist! I find the positive in even the worst situations. I figure life is very, very, short, so with that in mind I strive to be 'happy, most of the time'!
I hope everyone has an awesome February. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone: regardless of your relationship status.
Sean’s Blog - January 2008
Current mood: happy
Category: Music
Well the New Year started out in style. I could hear the countdown on the radio as I was standing in the shower with shampoo in my hair. I was completely oblivious of the time. I eventually headed into the lounge room to watch the fireworks on TV, but found the telecast uninspiring so I ducked out into the back yard to listen to various illegal fireworks being let off around the neighbourhood. I waited around for a while and when I didn't hear any ambulances I figured the local kids had successfully managed to keep their fingers attached to their hands.
I've been building a studio in the garage for 4 months now. With such a long construction time, you'd think the studio would be palatial, but really, it's about the size of a small bedroom. The pathetic 4 month build time is really a reflection on the fact I am a builder's nightmare and that time has been scarce. I started building a frame with a hand saw. After sawing numerous crooked studs and batons I took the unprecedented step of heading out to Bunning's to buy a circular saw. And here I was concerned about the neighbourhood kids blowing off their fingers with fireworks. Holly cow... I own this mean looking, incredibly noisy wood slicing machine. Well, I can successfully report that all eleven fingers are still attached!
After taking 5 weeks to frame the room, I plastered it, painted it, and put this self levelling concrete slush on the very uneven slab the previous owner had laid. The self levelling concrete kind of puddles and, believe it or not is fairly flat. Problem was that the first of the 40 degree (107 Fahrenheit) days we got here in Melbourne and the self levelling concrete cracked.... everywhere. Now the nice level floor looks like a spider web and I'm thinking 'hey carpet is going over the top of it anyway, so maybe just leave it'. In the back of my mind I know I'm going to have to fix it somehow.
As to the music, not much has been done in the previous 4 weeks. I started re-mixing Pride and have come to the conclusion that I want a female voice to sing a high Oooooohh at the end. Great! Now I've got to get a female to come in and do ONE Ooooooh. I'd better find some more female backing parts in other songs, to make it worth getting someone in.
I shipped the song 'You' off to my good buddy Ken Hallam to record some electric guitar. The song is kind of lacking something at the moment, but I think it has potential, even though it's kind of 'country' and a bit of a departure from the genre of the other material.
Some guy from Doors Plus is coming over on January 18th to install a door on the studio and a whole lot of acoustic tiles are on their way. The only thing left then will be the electrician. Do you think you can find an electrician who is either not on holiday, or can fit you into their schedule between the fifty thousand air conditioning installations they have lined up? Hmmmm! Fortunately I have a buddy who might slot me in.
I'm looking into setting up a real website, in addition to MySpace. I bothers me no end that the sounds quality of music on MySpace is really poor. Whenever you upload a song, MySpace reformats it and in the process, degrades the sound. Other websites don't do this. I need to set up a site where people can download my songs, and album, in pristine quality. Hey, I'm a software developer by trade (yes, that's my day gig) so that will be easy, and there is absolutely no way I will lose my fingers in the process. So, the web site is very doable, but somehow I need to slot in the time to put it together. Time! So very scarce!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Hopefully I can get into the studio in the next 2-3 weeks, then start steamrolling through the next 5-6 songs.
Sean
Currently
reading
:
Pandora’s Star
By
Peter F. Hamilton
Release date: 25 January, 2005
bouncy
cheerful
amused
. The new version is posted here, so if you can find a spare 4 minutes, please take a listen.
productive
happy
