Such a lot going on right now. Feeling dizzy with it all...
Regular readers of this journal may have noticed a slight difference to its layout. This, I think, is all to the better and has created a simpler but clearer look. It has also made it easier for me to type new entries, taking into consideration my rapidly deteriorating eyesight.
But, as I said, there's a lot going on. Jon Wallinger, (the man who helps keep my website in order,) called over today to explain how the new journal entries look and work. A slight learning curve needed from me, but nothing too difficult or too steep.
Whist Jon was here, I copied several videos I've made to a memory stick for him to take home and upload to the website for my fans to enjoy. Some good stuff amongst them.
One of these is an hour long video showing old and rare photographs of the history of my birthplace, (Wakefield,) which is accompanied by various, (and many,) tracks from my albums. It's a fascinating glimpse into the past and titled 'Wakefield Via Time Machine.'
I continue to work on creating the images that will form the packaging for the epic 'Auditoria' triple album which will be released in December. This is a slow, careful process, even though the images are quite simple. The subtleties of it are important: colours, layout, text, etc, need to match and harmonise. It's not quite there yet and there may be changes and additions but I'm sure we'll end up with something that works eventually.
All these things really matter to me. Sometimes it's hard to achieve my vision within the constraints that are available. My 'infrastructure', as it were, is very much 'cottage industry' and dictated by budget and available resources. But, with perseverance and the generous help of friends, things materialise.
One recent obstacle was the possible, and probable, unavailability of my sound engineer, John Spence, being unable to mix the live sound at the 'Plectronica' event on December 1st due to a medical procedure . This was a serious worry as John has mixed the live sound for me over several years now and knows my music intimately and how the various components should be balanced.
Finding someone to 'dep' for him was never going to be easy. But I know that John has been struggling with a knee problem for a long while now and desperately needs surgery to sort it out. I wish him well and hope that the operation makes life more bearable for him.
As a first choice substitute we thought of Ian Thorpe as being the right man for the job. Ian has mixed some of my 'Nelsonica' events in the past and took good care of my 2004 'Be Bop Deluxe And Beyond' tour back then. But enquiries to Ian's availability revealed that he was on the road touring at that time and couldn't do it. Which left us with a quandary.
Thankfully, a solution has been found in that one of the tech people at the venue has been enlisted to take over the mixing duties should John be incapacited at the time of the event. One of the plus points of this is that he is totally conversant with the venue's digital mixing desk, which is far better than a sound engineer coming in with no prior experience of the technology. There is, of course, the fact that my material is somewhat idiosyncratic and needs a lot of careful attention in terms of its finer balance and tonality, etc...but, fingers crossed, if it comes down to this alternative approach, I may have a better chance of achieving the sound I need than bringing in a total stranger.
Now, I think I need a break. It's getting late and I've been sitting here in front of this computer far too long today. Not healthy. Time to switch off.
