The current “front-runner” concept, is for me to do what I always had in mind to do after both FAWM 2013, and 50/90 last summer, but never got around to it: to take the “best” 10-12 songs from my output during both those songwriting challenges, and rework them where needed (new/revised music/lyrics; re-record parts which require improvement; remixing; etc.), into more of a “proper” album of songs instead of a batch of hastily-dashed-down demos (which, to be honest, the 50/90 and FAWM material is).

I suppose the “model” from my perspective, is an album like “Aerial Pandemonium Ballet”, Harry Nilsson‘s 1971 collection of radical re-fashionings of his 1967-68 output. For that album, Nilsson pretty well did what I described above—he took a selection of tracks from his first two albums (“Pandemonium Shadow Show” (1967) and “Aerial Ballet” (1968)), and added new vocals to some, whilst remixing and re-editing others. The results didn’t please all his fans, but I think at least some of the APB tracks improved on the originals (“One”, to my ears, has a more pleasing mix than the 1968 version).

I have a shortlist of songs from 50/90 2012 and FAWM 2013 that I would want to work on, and have been experimenting with a couple already, such as this complete remake of “Out Of The Clouds” from 50/90:

That said, however, I am in two minds as to whether to spend time working on new versions of “old” material, even though I think the better songs would benefit from being presented less sloppily. Other ideas I have thought of for my next writing/recording project include an EP (or even a full album) with a loose uniting theme of “summer” (and I even have a working title for it which I wouldn’t like to waste!), and a set of new songs which I mostly haven’t written yet.

Of course, I could work on some or all the above over time, but I know two things:

• whatever option(s) I choose, I want to record at least one collection of songs in 2013 which isn’t a set of hastily-dashed-off demos—I want the performances to sound as good as I can make them, and to take time to do this; and
• due to other commitments, I don’t have a great deal of time to spend on recording at the moment, so whatever I work on, I’d like it to “count”.

My current thinking, is to work on some of the “remake” material—perhaps four-to-six songs—and see how they turn out. If I think it’s “working”, I would then turn to the four-or-so remaining songs on the shortlist, and aim to complete an album from them. Some songs would be complete re-recordings; others would probably be the 50/90 or FAWM originals with some re-recording of parts (esp. vocals), whilst still others might simply need a proper remix.

In the midst of all this, I would still like to go ahead with the “summer songs” concept, even if it only turns out to be an EP or “mini-album” in the end. (Perhaps I’m thinking too much about all this, and should just get on with the recording…!)

(By the way, or anyone wondering: I think it’s very unlikely that I’ll participate in 50/90 this year, purely because I feel I can’t devote the sustained level of time and commitment it demanded in 2012. I have no regrets about taking part then (indeed, I wouldn’t have the songs I wrote during 50/90, if I hadn’t participated), and will probably be back for FAWM in 2014, but I’m afraid 50/90 this year will have to do without me. Besides, I really want to do some “proper” recording in 2013, and I’ll need the time for that!)

So, if anyone has thoughts on any of the above, please feel free to drop me a line here or via my Twitter feed, and I’ll do my best to engage…

Please feel free to look around, perhaps at my information page for “Lifecourses”, which can be found in the “My Music” section (understandably). On the other hand: if you’d just like to go straight to the album’s page at Bandcamp: it’s that-a-way…

For the curious: “Lifecourses” is a collection of largely acoustic guitar-based instrumental pieces, with a leavening of elements of folk, prog-rock and electronica. It should be of particular interest to fans of artists such as Anthony Phillips, Mike Oldfield, Phil Keaggy, Daniel Lanois and Bill Frisell.

Thanks again for your interest, and I hope you enjoy the album!

If you fancy a soundtrack to this story, incidentally, I recommend my mini-album “Rosewood” (2001), which was recorded entirely on the setup I described in that last paragraph…

For me, SoundFonts were the “virtual instruments” of their time—I was years away from a Mac with Logic Pro on it (and still hadn’t met my wife at that point, but wouldn’t have to wait much longer for that), so SFs provided the main way for me to expand my home studio’s sonic palette beyond the guitar front. I even built a few SoundFonts of my own, a rather time-consuming process which if nothing else, should tell you I was still single at the time

The above setup survived well into the 2000s, and was eventually superseded when our household was joined by an iMac, which is still giving us sterling service to this day. Although my wife and I are now using Logic Pro for much of our music production, and we have many more virtual AU instruments to play with, I still occasionally make use of SoundFonts, having loaded my entire collection into Logic’s EXS24 sampler instrument (to whomever added SF support to EXS24: thank you!). In particular, the ARP String Ensemble and Mellotron SoundFonts from Sonic Implants (now SONiVOX) are still very usable, and as you’re about to read, they just received yet another lease of life…

As you may know if you’ve been reading other posts of mine, over the past year or so I have been getting into using Apple iOS devices—first a fourth-generation iPod Touch, and more recently an iPhone 4S—for serious music recording and production. It might surprise you that this is an entirely serious proposition—my most recent album “Homecooked” was recorded completely on the iPhone (two songs on the iPod), albeit mixed and mastered in Logic. I have been building up my collection of instrument, sequencing and recording apps on the iPhone (and some hardware accessories), so I can carry a pretty comprehensive recording and sequencing “rig” wherever I go.

Most of the instrument apps (software synthesisers, rhythm machines, etc.) I have bought for the iPhone, support the Audiobus app for routing virtual audio between compatible apps (so, for instance, a rhythm machine app like FunkBox can be recorded into a track in, say, Multitrack DAW). A few of “my” apps are not yet “on the bus”, including one of my favourites, the wheezily-authentic Mellotron virtual instrument Super Manetron (though at time of writing, the developer say Audiobus support is on the way).

Bismark bs-16i on the iPhone

However, a few weeks ago Audiobus announced that the latest iOS app (at the time) to add AB support, was one I hadn’t heard of. Bismark bs-16i. Written, like Super Manetron, by a (different) developer in Japan, bs-16i is an instrument app with similar features to other iOS software synths like Sunrizer and Magellan (CoreMIDI, Audiobus, etc.), but its sound source is different… yes, it’s an iOS SoundFont player.

At £5.99 in the UK, bs-16i s a little pricier than most of its iOS instrument app cousins, so I only got around to deciding to “cough up” for it this week. However, my early impressions of it—so far, by loading some of my treasured old SoundFont banks into it—are very positive, and I’d like to write a dedicated review of bs-16i here once I’ve had the opportunity to really put the app through its paces.

In the meantime, suffice it to say I wasn’t expecting to renew my acquaintance with my old SoundFont “friends” at this point in my musical life, and especially not on an iPhone (!). That said, I think it’s more than likely that I’ll want to record with the app before long (and not just a “technology demo” to show off what bs-16i can do), which in my book is quite a tribute.

Now, let’s go and check out those free SoundFont libraries I keep reading about…

In the year 2013, you’ll be able to buy polyphonic synthesisers and other electronic instruments that can use any sound-generation technique you can think of (sample-based, digital/analogue, modelling, etc.). These synths will sound as good as any of the ones you can try out at your local music store… and each one will  cost about the same as a cappuccino down at Starbucks. (Unless, you’re lucky enough to get wind of a special sale, in which case you might even be able to get it for free.)

This is mainly possible, because these instruments are not physical objects. They are computer programs, and you’ll be able to run them on computers which are basically a touchscreen. Some of these computers are small enough to fit in your pocket… in fact, I have one here [produces an iPhone] with seven synths, two drum machines, one organ, two Mellotrons and two eight-track multitrack recorders (one of which I could turn into a 16-track if I cough up another coffee’s-worth of cash). Oh, and I can make phone calls with it… er, younger-me, what are you doing lying down there…

…because I suspect my 1998 self would faint in shock. If only because he’s just seen his fifteen-years-older mirror-image.

Either that, or I’ve just bored him unconscious.

Cover of “Homecooked”

Yes, ladies and gents, I bring you my latest album release: “Homecooked: Songs From FAWM 2013″ It collects together the 14 songs I wrote and recorded during the 2013 February Album Writing Month challenge last month—the recordings have all been remixed and generally “buffed up” for this release, and one (“An Anniversary Song”) is presented here in a new recorded version, so I am not simply shovelling the “raw” demos into this album (as if anyone thought that… ).

“Homecooked” is a download from Bandcamp—for various reasons, I have no plans to release an “official” CD of it, though if you would really prefer a shiny disc with the album on it, please drop me a line and we’ll work out a way you can buy a CD-R version from me. (I wish the old MP3.com “Digital Automatic Music” system was still around sometimes!)

I gave considerable thought to how I should price this album. Whilst the tracks on it could justifiably be called “demos” (in the sense that they are home-recorded), I did put considerable time and effort into writing, recording and (for this album) remixing the recordings, and I feel this should be reflected in some way in a price. On the other hand, I would like to give some discretion over to you, the potential purchaser, and Bandcamp provides some handy means to this end.

So here’s the deal: “Homecooked”—all 14 songs and nearly 40 minutes of it—can be downloaded in its entirety from Bandcamp, for the princely sum of £2 (in other words, less than most of Starbucks’ beverages, and for the most part, rather less sugary). However, if you feel you would like to support my music further (and even increase the possibility of me being able to invest in more sophisticated recording projects), you can choose to pay more at the time of purchase—I promise I will put any such windfall towards improving the sound of the next project!

You can preview and/or purchase the album at the “Homecooked” page at Bandcamp—hope you enjoy it as much as I did cooking it

Quickly Seriously, FAWM flew by this year, or perhaps it was all the other activities vying for my time and energy during the month! Still, it all feels like it went past in a bit of a blur, and I’m looking at the fourteen songs I submitted, wondering where on earth they all came from…

Compositionally, I think my songs have been a bit more serious (or at least, there have been fewer obviously humorous compositions) than 50/90 last year, particularly in the second half or so. I’m not quite certain why this should be; I don’t think I felt especially glum, though perhaps a largely grey February in England may have lowered the mood a bit.

It’s not that the songs were miserable or negative in my view—just somewhat on the “contemplative” side. I think my mood is often influenced by the weather, so perhaps a cold, grey month may have fed into my FAWM output. That said, there is still humour and even light to be found, even amidst the fog!

Style-wise, I see some continuity from my participation in the 2013 50/90 Challenge, in that I came up with songs in quite a few different genres:

• rock-ish (“Back On The Bus”, “Being Your Film”);
• pastiche synth-pop (“The Future (Isn’t What It Used To Be)“, “In The Corner At Parties“, “Nearly Run“);
• guitalele/ukulele-based numbers (“St Ives State Of Mind“, “Fiction“, “A Shady Spot“);
• “straight” solo guitar songs (“Before The War“, “Quick Song“, “With Snowdrops“, “An Anniversary Song“)
• dreamy, almost “ambient” pieces (“Alaska“, “Away With The Tide“)

On the technical side, I’m largely pleased by the results of my experiment, to record as much of the FAWM demos as possible on iOS devices (mostly, an iPhone 4S). Most were “tracked” entirely on an iDevice, with only a couple of songs receiving additional synth overdubs in Logic Pro on the Mac—however, the songs were all mixed, edited and mastered in Logic and/or Audacity.

I’m also pretty impressed with the state of iOS music software (apps) and hardware in early 2013. On the iThing app front, special mentions should go to:

• Audiobus (audio-routing app, for “piping” audio between compatible apps—e.g. output of a synth app into a recording app)
• Multitrack DAW and Garageband (multitrack recorders—MDAW in particular works brilliantly with Audiobus, at least on the iPhone 4S)
• FunkBox (vintage-themed programmable drum machine—I used this for lots of loops in songs)
• JamUp Pro XT (guitar/bass amp/FX-modelling suite—most of the electric guitars and bass went through this)

The two recording interfaces I used with the iPhone—TASCAM’s iU2 audio/MIDI box, and iM2 stereo condenser microphone—both acquitted themselves well, and I think with these two and the iPhone, I have a very usable portable recording setup.

So what next? I’m currently remixing the FAWM recordings, and hope to make them available as a download album in March, probably via my Bandcamp site. I’d also like to rework my best songs from the past year or two and re-record them as a proper album this year, though what “proper” will mean, will depend on what resources I can call upon. (Translated: unless I come by some more moolah, it’ll be another solo effort )

So, thanks to all of you for listening (and encouraging/commenting where you did!), and I’ll let you know when the album is available.

At time of writing, believe it or not, I am keeping up with the schedule! To listen to my output and read more about it, please visit my artist page at the FAWM site.

I haven’t got around to doing much reworking/re-recording of the better songs from 50/90 (beyond writing extra verses for a couple of them, and some experiments in the studio), but it’s on my “copious free time” list.

In the meantime, I’ll have to set the old aside for a bit, as in two weeks from now, it’s time for… FAWM 2013! February Album Writing Month is the “parent project” which spawned 50/90—whereas the latter required fifty songs in ninety days, the aim of FAWM is to pen 14 songs in 28 days. If you like: to use a sporting metaphor, FAWM is the 400m to 50/90′s 1500m

From 50/90, I know I can keep up the songwriting pace over a shorter period, and am pretty confident I can reach the target. I developed my song-generating “workflow” during 50/90, and since that time I have acquired a couple of new additions to my mobile recording kit, which I’ll be relying on quite heavily to make demos wherever I get the opportunity. (I also hope the technical quality of my FAWM demos will be an improvement over the 50/90 ones, which were recorded on a couple of different setups—now, I should be able to use the same “rig” for everything.)

As with 50/90, I’ll be updating my FAWM artist page (not yet available, as the FAWM site isn’t open yet at time of writing) on a regular basis, and you’ll be able to follow me on Twitter and like my Facebook page to keep up with my progress. I may even post here at intervals, if I can somehow find time between writing songs!

Stay tuned for more news as it breaks…

Anyway, just to wish you all the very best for the New Year ahead, and may it exceed your very expectations

(Oh, and watch this space—and/or follow me on Twitter—to hear the latest about my next planned creative project… coming soon!)