AFTER a leisurely breakfast at Alastair and Karen’s we jump in the car to Glasgow, stopping at a Yodel pick-up point in Helensburgh to drop off a couple of DrinkMate cylinders for pickup.
Next stop Ikea where I wanna find monitor stand to raise the monitor in the studio a bit. Needless to say Margaret picks up a few extra bits and bobs.
Then onto Costco – where we have a snack after picking up some supplies – and Tesco. We have pals from the ‘States coming to stay tomorrow (Sunday).
It’s later than we expect when we get home. I prepare a pork loin with a rub and a bacon weave ready for the smoker tomorrow then spend a little time in the studio, then the office before I spot a message from our US pals.
Their travel pains are scuppered as they didn’t realise the trains they need to get here don’t run on Sundays…so they’re not coming. We rearrange their visit for a couple weeks’ time.
Back in the house I make some fresh pasta and follow up later by using it for a simple cherry tomato, garlic and basil pasta dish.
I’ve made it a couple times before, but this is the best yet, partly due to me making the pasta a little thicker and more al dente.
Karen puts a message on the table before putting all the charcuterie on the board 🙂
I’M about to head to the studio when I get a message from a local film guy I met last weekend.
He has a film premiering in Copenhagen next week and wondered if I can make some ‘spurtle’ pins. Long story.
I delay going to the studio for an hour or so while I make a prototype, get a test cast done and finished and send him a photo.
In the studio I get another couple of songs down then spit a message from John saying he likes the spurtle. I suggest he drops by to see it ‘for real’.
He does and we have a coffee, plan a short run of shuttle pins then he heads off and we go to Helensburgh where we’re spending the night with our pals Alastair and Karen.
ONCE I get the decks cleared with routine stuff there’s an online meeting about a local community project.
The wind and weather forecast is good for the rest of the day so I decide on a quick pre-lunch paddle.
When I get to the bay, though, it’s a lot windier and choppier than I expect so I only venture as far as the island, do a couple of quick livestreams then paddle back for lunch.
After lunch I finish cutting back some of the trees then get back to work in the studio.
By close of play I feel I’ve made some progress on the recordings. Watch this space….
Setting up the video camera via my phone to capture one of the recording sessions…
AFTER an early guitar session with one of my online students I get back to album recording.
I’ve finally got a setup that I think is gonna work OK and let me record live – ie: guitar/banjo and vocals at the same time.
The instrument scratch tracks I already have down are OK, but overdubbing vocals never really sounds the same. The feel is completely different.
Mid-afternoon I take a break and take the wee chainsaw out to trim some trees that have shot up over the last year.
I need to do it before they start to bud which could be anytime in the next week or two.
When the chainsaw battery needs to go back on charge I fix the security light on the side of the house.…and then missed a 2pm Zoom meeting. Aaaaargh.
I’d set it up but then one of the participants did same and wanted to ‘stick with’ their scheduled meet…when I deleted mine it took it out the diary and I didn’t think to check the ‘new’ meeting had been entered.
I email everyone and offer my apologies then nip out for a quick walk before my 6pm guitar student rocks up.
He’s away just before Betty arrives for dinner and we have a grand evening catching up.
A LOVELY day when I get up to get my sourdough in the oven. I need to get some photos at the hydro turbine house and this might be a good day.
Still nice when I hit the studio for a Zoom session with one of my guitar students but once I’m done and head back to the house for a coffee it’s overcast and grey 🙁
Back in the studio I record some scratch tracks for tracks I’m thinking of including on the new album.
After lunch it’s brightened up a little so I get Margaret to drive me to the closest point up the farm track and I walk across the fields to the turbine house.
By good luck fellow director Roger is on-site and the place is open so I grab some internal images for the ‘content bank’ then take some pix of the exterior and location.
Alas too windy for the drone so I don’t bother trekking up tot he intake and enjoy the walk home.
Betty’s in having a coffee with Margaret when I get back. I say hello, grab a coffee and go back to the studio to work on the album tracks.
There’s a hydro society information session at the hall I need to go to then we get back home and have dinner.
STRAIGHT into the studio to get some computer and software updates done…I need to make sure the new Mac in the studio is at least able to handle tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream.
There’s two new bits of audio hardware from Softube in the studio – Console 1 mkIII and Fader mkIII – but I hadn;t been able to get them integrated properly.
A couple of posts in relevant Facebook groups threw up some suggestions and I manage to get everything working properly thanks to the advice 🙂
I’d hoped to get a walk after my later afternoon guitar student but livestream prep takes a little longer than I expect then I have an online seminar with Help Musicians.
I get everything working just in time for the livestream then back to the house for beef, butternut squash and ancho chilli.
Salt & chilli tofu at Boba Bakes before I go to see the film
I SPEND the morning in the studio trying to sort out the transfer of stuff from one Mac to another.
Louise comes to pick me up just after 1pm – I’m cadging a lift into Glasgow to for this evening’s premier of our pal Martyn’s Make it to Munich film.
We pick up film producer John Archer in Drymen then carry on into Glasgow.
I spend the afternoon catching up on stuff in town then stop at Boba Bakes in Cambridge Street for salt & chilli tofu before I go round the GFT for the film.
After bumping into various folks I know I get to my seat and enjoy the film.
There’s a stop off at the State Bar for the ‘afternoon party then Louise takes us home dropping John off then myself just after midnight.
FEELING like shit today – deffo picked up the lurgy…but no time to wallow in self-pity.
It’s the last day of my 30-day Kickstarter campaign and although we smashed it in under two weeks, I wanna do a final call for folks to grab exclusive backer-only rewards.
I make a quick video and edit it into various formats before posting round my socials.
Rather than send the same video out to my email list, I edit up Still Friends form Temperance on Wednesday night. I don’t wanna continually be asking folks for stuff – I offer up an exclusive video it makes things a little less ‘one way’. I do, of course, mention the last chance to grab the exclusive Kickstarter rewards!
All that takes me to mid-afternoon then I start trying to rewire the studio. Some stuff’s not working the way it should….
