Ektopia

Our minds are saturated by hundreds of commercial messages every day and this is what If You Can’t Switch Off… is all about. This tune was originally written and recorded (badly!) about 2 years ago. I recently re-recorded it and changed a couple of bits.

Geek stuff for those that care: Nothing much to say here really, I used the same kit as I normally use including Battery for the drums using a customised pop kit this time for the extra projection that the tight toms gave. One problem that I encountered was that I couldn’t get the backwards guitar bit in the middle 8 to sound half as good as the original version so I simply cut and pasted the nasty original bit into this version. I guess I should also mention that after mastering it to a wave file I converted it to mp3 using a program called Cdex. It’s a freeware CD ripper with loads of neat functions. Anyway, here ’s the tune…version 2.1, hope you enjoy it

204 seconds (3.2 meg)

The Creatures In My Head isn’t going to appeal to everyone but it’s definitely worth a good look. The host, Andrew Bell, creates a bizarre cartoon creature every day and uploads it for our pleasure. To date there are more than 200 to look (and laugh) at.

Here’s a tune called Fine: Song For Emma that I wrote and recorded (and then re-wrote and re-recorded!) for Emma for putting up with me over the last couple of years (not that it’s been that hard for her ;-)

Geek stuff for anyone that cares: A small change in to my normal technique for this one. I used Native Instruments Battery for the drums with a customised rock kit! I also I used my lovely Ibanez 12-string acoustic during the choruses and a funky little shaker that Em got me. The rest was recorded as normal - Rode microphone, Ibanez RG550 (The Yellow Heavy Metal Guitar!), Behringer V-Amp with the V2 upgrade, Aria Pro II bass and Cakewalk Sonar. The original mix for version 2 was mixed down at a friend’s (Dave) home studio to see if I could get a better sound using custom monitoring equipment (which I haven’t got) but the vocals were way too loud so I remixed it back @ home and this is the end result, V2.2. Hope you like it

209 seconds (3.3 meg)