BELIEVE it or not, I'm up before the kids so I'm ready for an early Zoom session with a new guitar student.
The session goes well then I have breakfast before another online lesson. Magi and Joel bring the dog, Rosie, for the kids to look after for an hour or two and they go a walk up to Manse Bay.
I have a video blog to edit so I can spin it into tonight's Wildcats' livestream and a few other bits and bobs to get done in the studio.
It's a nice day out there – Margaret's taken the kids swimming and I've managed to get on top of things by the time they get back so get the kids out on the paddle board for a wee while.
When we get back Margaret's lost the house key. Mmmmm...I manage to get a window open (don't ask how!) and Aaron climbs in and unlock the door. The kids have some dinner and Catriona comes to collect them...when she's leaving Margaret spots the lost house key outside on the ground. Phew!
After a few computer hassles I manage to get set up for the Wildcats' livestream and all goes fine...no clusterfucks - technical or otherwise!
RADIO show day, so I get to the studio and get my prep done for tonight.
I take a break and help Margaret finish the painting of the end wall of the house and then clean the canopy over our patio doors. The canopy has seen better days and I'd really like to do something better – either build something or put in a louvered pergola.
Back in the studio I get the final prep done for the radio show then do a quick livestream to promote it.
I mess with a song in the garden then go back to the studio and see if I can work out how to get some 'session players' in Logic Pro to help flesh out the sound and see if my ideas might work. I've fallen at this hurdle often over previous weeks but a bit of deeper online research gives me some ideas how to do it better.
The radio show goes out at 7pm and is done by 9pm – just in time to tune into Billy's livestream and make dinner before Catriona and Will arrive to drop the kids off of for the night.
Margaret decides to paint the end wall of the house
AFTER breakfast Betty starts packing her stuff to back home – I hit the studio to get some prep done for the radio show.
Although my radio show doesn’t go out live, it’s also not really a ‘pre-record’ – although it seemed a strange way to do things at first the station’s playout system is a good to reproduce a program and I quite like the way it all works. Bottom line, though, is that I need to have all my songs in a row. I get busy.
I have a late lunch in the garden then help Margaret out a little bit– she’s decided to paint the end wall of the house.
After some time working on guitar stuff in the studio I go out for a nice long walk then back home and back to the guitar 🙂
THERE'S some tax and national insurance stuff to be sorted out so I get logged into my account and. deal with it. Good to get it out the way as it's been popping up on the to-do list and kept getting re-scheduled.
In the studio get another song form the XS Fest edited then move to the office to pack posters and get them sent off for various upcoming shows. I realized a while back it's a lot cheaper – and better – to roll through posters up for voting rather than send them in large A3 card-backed envelopes. The posters are on good quality card stock tho', so don't roll that easily...and not tight enough to go in a poster tube. The tubes are great for one or two posters, but not a whole batch!
There's some pork and turkey thigh mince in the fridge needing made into breakfast patties – still few days to go before the 'use by' date but we need 'em for tomorrow's breakfast so a batch is duly knocked up and the extras put in the freezer.
Margaret needs some forms picked up at the post office in Balloch so I go post everything off, get the forms and some shopping and drop off some other posters for the Kilmaronock Old Kirk fundraiser on the way home.
Back home I get the final video edited form my set at XS Fest and then start pulling together all the other video clips from the trip to start editing up a video blog. Hopefully I'll gets 'em time over the weekend to finish it.
Meantime, there's some more new music to check out for possible inclusion on Sunday's radio show....amongst it I find some promo for an 80-year-old Aboriginal lady blues player who's about to tour the UK and Ireland. Fascinating stuff...and some tracks are perfect for my show 🙂
Dinner's almost ready when I go back to the house. I'd hoped to get out for a walk earlier and now I'm almost out of time...I manage to get out for a quick wander.
AFTER breakfast I finally – I think – get the email sending debacle sorted. Been a bit of a job!
There's loads of admin stuff to be done in the studio and I just get finished when Fiona roils up...the sun's broken through and we're going for a paddle. I take the drone and we get some video clips.
It's well after 2pm when we get back – Fiona goes to check in guests at the B&B and Margaret, Betty and I have a late lunch in the garden.
I have a 4pm meeting on Zoom that lasts just over an hour then I tackle the European shipping cost changes to the merch store on this site as well as my West Highland Way Gifts and Love Balmaha sites. Royal Mail is now charging an upfront customs fee of £3 per item going to Europe. Thank you again, Brexit!
Once that's out the way I get busy with editing some video from the XSFest...I need to get two remaining songs edited so I can move on and edit up a vlog of the trip and contain some clips from the tracks already edited.
A NINE o'clock session with a Zoom guitar student is followed immediately by an in-person lesson.
Once they're all done I deal with the day-to-day routine stuff in the studio then do a little prep for Sunday's radio show – I go through submitted music and start gathering other stuff for my playlist.
After lunch I prep the beef for tonight's Vietnamese beef and make some scallion oil garnish. The beef can marinade in the fridge 'til I light some charcoal later.
Back in the studio I sort some audio interface/software issues and mess with some recording ideas. I still can't get Logic's 'session players' to work in any meaningful way so I stick to guitar and work on new material.
My afternoon student cancels – and won't be back 'til after the summer holidays....maybe just as well as the the email debacle continues – for some reason we can send emails from all our accounts...but replies to incoming emails won't send. Somehow they seem to be using the old outgoing. mail server details rather than the new ones that are in the settings. Weird. I spend the next three hours trying to solve the problem.
When Margaret gets back from her community trust meeting I get the charcoal lit and we all have dinner then Margaret and Betty watch the second half of the football while I get on with some other work.
MARGARET’S off early to Edinburgh to meet Les and get her hair done. I’m not long finished breakfast when Betty arrives – she’s coming to stay for a few days while some work’s getting done in her house.
We have a coffee and she heads out and I hit the studio.
One of my regular guitar students is coming earlier during the holidays and is done by lunchtime.
Betty’s and sit in the garden with her book and after I’ve had lunch and re[potted some basil out the hydroponics and into a grobag I get back to the studio.
There’s video to edit then I need to work on recording some song ideas…keen to try Logic Pro and see if the ‘session’ drums, bass and keyboards can help me flesh out some ideas. Can;t get it to work the way I want tho’…and somehow can’t get the audio interface to work with Logic.
I get a walk up the lochside before my late afternoon guitar students arrives then once all’s done head back to the start and make some wild garlic pasta dough. I’ve just got it mixed and the first kneading done when Margaret gets back and has some shopping to be put away.
FIRST job of the day is uploading the audio file of last night’s radio show to my Mixcloud then posting the playlist around my socials and stuff.
I manage to get that all done before a session with one of my online guitar students.
The email debacle continues and I think I have most of it sorted now…albeit there’s still down odd things happening. Hopefully it’ll settle over the next few days.
There’s a bunch of stuff to sort for tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream – and video to be edited form last weekend’s show at the XSFest.
I’m pretty much done in town for a walk up the lochside before the livestream…
I film a teaser for tonight's radio show and a wee bit of the new guitar idea...
AN UNEXPECTEDLY nice day (actually, I don't know what I expected!) and we have breakfast out in the garden.
The email debacle caused by changing the website DNS records to point to a new host is needing some attention and tales a good few hours that I hadn't bargained for.
Betty and her pal Liz – who's visiting from Aberdeenshire – are coming along for dinner later so I prep some mince for smash burgers then take a trip to the shop to get some other supplies.
In the studio I finish all the prep for tonight's Dave Arcari's Deep Blues show on Rock.Scot then make a wee teaser video for the show. While I'm at it I film a clip to use in a reel featuring some of the new guitar ideas.
When Betty and Liz arrive I get some charcoal going and make the burgers...all turns out pretty good 🙁
UP EARLY(-ish!) to get the dough for my weekend rolls made up and sit up in bed drinking coffee, dealing with emails and my socials while dough rests and proves. Then it goes in the oven….and out to cool on a rack.
By the time I’m out the shower and salt with some other routine stuff the rolls have cooled enough and we have breakfast even though it’s now closer to lunch time!
I spend some time in the studio going through a load of music submissions and messaging some folks to let them know I’m planning to play their track on tomorrow’s (Sunday)Dave Arcari’s Deep Blues show on Rock.Scot. Then I start gathering a bunch of other tracks that I might play. This is possibly the most time-consuming part of producing the show.
In between times I notice that some emails haven;I sent from my phone…and the annoying that these were up in sent from haven’t received any mail today. Mmmmm…I know I pointed the nameservers for all my websites to a new host but that shouldn’t affect the email service at the orginal company. Or should it? I’ll investigate later.
