Despite my heavy cold, I travelled to Willerby and Fairview studio to master the backing tracks for 'Plectronica' this afternoon. The sneezing had subsided a little but I felt just as bad this morning, a rough voice and a head which seems to be constantly producing endless supplies of goo.
I perked up a little at the prospect of spending a few hours at Fairview with my pal, mastering engineer, John Spence. I decided to take my recently acquired Eastwood/Backlund 'Rockerbox' guitar over to show John, who seemed to be mightily impressed with it.
Part way through copying the new backing tracks from my DAT cassettes to Fairview's mastering computer we hit a problem. The Fairview DAT machine suddenly stopped reading the track locate idents and would no longer play the tracks. After trying various remedies, we had to give up. Luckily I'd brought the draft assembly CDRs with me and we were able to take the required tracks from them.
Back at home, I put the DAT cassette that had been problematic at Fairview into my home studio DAT machine and it played without any problems so I think there's a fault with the Fairview machine which, hopefully, can be sorted out for future use.
Of course, DAT tapes are considered somewhat 'old tech' now, (though it seems like only yesterday they were the latest thing.) Much of my studio operates on equipment I've used successfully for many years and I'm not keen to go down the stereotypical computer software route to achieve my recordings. There's something about the gear I'm using that feels 'right' and intuitive. It's old-school to a degree I suppose, but I like how it doesn't get in the way of the music with too much technological head-scratching. It's a musical way of working which encourages a free flow of ideas and gets quick results. Basically, it suits me just fine.
Now, as the night comes in, my cold symptoms intensify and I'm wilting a little. Tomorrow I really need to get more artwork finished. Besides the drawings I have a mask to decorate and two plates. I'll also have the task of signing 250 copies of the 'Auditoria' triple album as soon as they're delivered from the manufacturers.
Enough typing for tonight...
