I had already put new plans for our photoshoot in motion, but it was good to hear from Stephen today to apologize and confirm that he couldn't possibly get time away from the hospital to do the photo shoot for us this weekend. I told him that it was fine, but we were sorry that we couldn't work with him and we'd be okay to work something else out.
We have done away with the idea of doing it indoors at all on my girlfriend, Devin's, advice and instead have decided to do it this Sunday at Delamere Forest, making the most of the forecast morning sunshine. Georgie, my sister and our synth player/backing vocalist, will be doing our clown make-up and Hollie, our lead singer, has bought a load of balloons for us to use. Hopefully we will be able to get some really effective shots. I have a lot of confidence in both Devin and Georgie's abilities, so I'm sure we wont have too much trouble.
I'm pleased with the way that I was quick to instigate a new plan and pleased at everyone else's willingness to change the shooting day. It is always awkward making business decisions around family issues such as the illness of Stephen's daughter, but he is a professional and we have both expressed our interest in working together on another project in the future.
Thursday 31 March 2011
Wednesday 30 March 2011
All clouds...
I just got off the phone with Tinge Krishnan, the director my Uncle had put me in touch with. I sent her a Facebook message just over a week and a half ago and was expecting to have to just cold call her, until she sent me a text 20 minutes ago asking me to ring her whenever I wanted.
I jumped at the opportunity and rang her almost immediately. She said that she had quickly read my Facebook message despite being very busy and would be pleased to help me out. According to her, I'm best to get working on a film music and sound design portfolio, which is something I had planned to do as soon as my University work is finished. She also said that she would be happy for me to come and act as runner on the set of her next shoot, which is possibly for an advert in May, and that if I emailed her my CV she would pass it on to the sound designers who worked on her feature film, 'Junkhearts', in the hope that they might give me some work experience.
All in all it was great hearing from her, she seemed really nice and willing to help me out, and more importantly genuine. I'm glad I went ahead and rang her. I really feel like I have a good ability to make and seize opportunities and will look to continue this in to the future. The phonecall has more than made up for what happened yesterday and so, with renewed positivity, I soldier on with the final mix for 'In Heaven' in preparation for the EP Launch in 5 days time.
I jumped at the opportunity and rang her almost immediately. She said that she had quickly read my Facebook message despite being very busy and would be pleased to help me out. According to her, I'm best to get working on a film music and sound design portfolio, which is something I had planned to do as soon as my University work is finished. She also said that she would be happy for me to come and act as runner on the set of her next shoot, which is possibly for an advert in May, and that if I emailed her my CV she would pass it on to the sound designers who worked on her feature film, 'Junkhearts', in the hope that they might give me some work experience.
All in all it was great hearing from her, she seemed really nice and willing to help me out, and more importantly genuine. I'm glad I went ahead and rang her. I really feel like I have a good ability to make and seize opportunities and will look to continue this in to the future. The phonecall has more than made up for what happened yesterday and so, with renewed positivity, I soldier on with the final mix for 'In Heaven' in preparation for the EP Launch in 5 days time.
One day, I will look back and laugh...
Sometimes I wonder if more things happen like they did yesterday, I might one day have enough material to write a rather entertaining book.
We had our meeting with Stuart Howatson yesterday, who I had been communicating with via email regarding a gig he had offered Jeanie in the Radiator at the Silverstone Grand Prix in July. The meeting was full of fantastic news. He worked as part of the Mercedes F1 team and was also in charge of a company which organised their corporate events. We sat and talked with him for over two hours, during which he offered us two high profile gigs including the Silverstone one and a black tie event which would be taking place a few days beforehand. Each gig would earn the band between £5,000-£7,500 and we would get transported to and from the venues. It would be a big opportunity for all of us to play for a highly influential audience and he was willing to give the opportunity to a talented unsigned band as opposed to the usual mainstream acts they would book.
All sounded fantastic and we left the meeting elated. He had even offered to sort us out with a venue for and transport to an EP Launch after-party, as several venues around Manchester owed him favours. When I arrived home my dad was thrilled for us and encouraged me to check out how high up he was in the F1 team. His name and picture did indeed come up on Google.
Unfortunately, this was the article that contained them: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/01/12/get-used-to-that-view-115875-21960485/
It turns out that Stuart has just recently got out of prison, having been jailed last year for Fraud, convincing his family and friends that he was a police officer for years. He had also pleaded guilty to downloading indecent images of children and it seems that, upon his release, he has immediately started a new lie, conning people again. He got us good.
He had mentioned being in touch with comedian Stephen K Amos. I can only deduce that he did this to us, not for any monetary gain, but for the cheap thrill of meeting a 'celebrity' in our ex-Hollyoaks actress lead singer and to be a man with power for a few hours in our company. Judging by Stuart's twitter feed, he had planned to do the same with Stephen K Amos and a host of other, more accessible, British 'celebrities'.
I have therefore spent this morning getting in touch with Stephen K Amos' manager, Mercedes-Benz, Odder bar (which Stuart had booked the whole top floor of for our 'Afterparty') and the police. Long story short, everyone is now aware and I have resisted the urge to take any action against him personally. At the end of the day, he wasted a whole afternoon of EP mixing as far as I'm concerned, and the professional thing to do is to make sure that he wastes no more of it.
This experience did initially leave me feeling quite shaken and confused. But it would be detrimental to me and to my work to think much more about it. I have put it out of my mind and started concentrating on the EP Launch, my major project, once more. Although I always organise any meetings in a public place, in future I will also make sure that I try to further research anyone I speak to via email or otherwise not face-to-face.
At least the time I sat in a gig meeting with a paedophile con-man will make a great anecdote or, indeed, chapter of a book one day.
We had our meeting with Stuart Howatson yesterday, who I had been communicating with via email regarding a gig he had offered Jeanie in the Radiator at the Silverstone Grand Prix in July. The meeting was full of fantastic news. He worked as part of the Mercedes F1 team and was also in charge of a company which organised their corporate events. We sat and talked with him for over two hours, during which he offered us two high profile gigs including the Silverstone one and a black tie event which would be taking place a few days beforehand. Each gig would earn the band between £5,000-£7,500 and we would get transported to and from the venues. It would be a big opportunity for all of us to play for a highly influential audience and he was willing to give the opportunity to a talented unsigned band as opposed to the usual mainstream acts they would book.
All sounded fantastic and we left the meeting elated. He had even offered to sort us out with a venue for and transport to an EP Launch after-party, as several venues around Manchester owed him favours. When I arrived home my dad was thrilled for us and encouraged me to check out how high up he was in the F1 team. His name and picture did indeed come up on Google.
Unfortunately, this was the article that contained them: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/01/12/get-used-to-that-view-115875-21960485/
It turns out that Stuart has just recently got out of prison, having been jailed last year for Fraud, convincing his family and friends that he was a police officer for years. He had also pleaded guilty to downloading indecent images of children and it seems that, upon his release, he has immediately started a new lie, conning people again. He got us good.
He had mentioned being in touch with comedian Stephen K Amos. I can only deduce that he did this to us, not for any monetary gain, but for the cheap thrill of meeting a 'celebrity' in our ex-Hollyoaks actress lead singer and to be a man with power for a few hours in our company. Judging by Stuart's twitter feed, he had planned to do the same with Stephen K Amos and a host of other, more accessible, British 'celebrities'.
I have therefore spent this morning getting in touch with Stephen K Amos' manager, Mercedes-Benz, Odder bar (which Stuart had booked the whole top floor of for our 'Afterparty') and the police. Long story short, everyone is now aware and I have resisted the urge to take any action against him personally. At the end of the day, he wasted a whole afternoon of EP mixing as far as I'm concerned, and the professional thing to do is to make sure that he wastes no more of it.
This experience did initially leave me feeling quite shaken and confused. But it would be detrimental to me and to my work to think much more about it. I have put it out of my mind and started concentrating on the EP Launch, my major project, once more. Although I always organise any meetings in a public place, in future I will also make sure that I try to further research anyone I speak to via email or otherwise not face-to-face.
At least the time I sat in a gig meeting with a paedophile con-man will make a great anecdote or, indeed, chapter of a book one day.
Saturday 26 March 2011
Bad news...
I woke up this morning at 8:30am for the photoshoot with Stephen and the rest of Jeanie in the Radiator, only to get some bad news. Stephen had texted me late in the night to tell me that his daughter had been taken to hospital very ill yesterday and he wasn't yet sure if he would be able to get away to do the photoshoot. To be honest, I couldn't do anything but send a text back wishing his daughter all the best for a full recovery and assume we wouldn't be shooting today at all.
These kinds of situations are difficult, because obviously Stephen's family need him and none of us would argue that for a second, but at the same time we have a deadline to meet and so it was up to me to get my business head on and sort something out. Fortunately, my girlfriend happens to be a very good photographer so it didn't take much to find a replacement. However, we would have to possibly find a new location, as Stephen had planned the shoot to take place this morning at Sound Control in Manchester, but with even less time to sort something out, it is doubtful that they will have the time to accommodate us once more.
Stephen is still hopeful that he might be free next week to rearrange, but that is the last weekend possible to get this done so I'm reluctant to take the chance. I also don't want to put any pressure on him, but I will see what he says midweek.
I know I can adapt things to ensure our deadline is met. The only time things haven't worked out for me in the past have been when I have taken too big a risk on similar decisions. And so, though I will see what unfolds over the next few days, I have 'plan B' very much in motion.
These kinds of situations are difficult, because obviously Stephen's family need him and none of us would argue that for a second, but at the same time we have a deadline to meet and so it was up to me to get my business head on and sort something out. Fortunately, my girlfriend happens to be a very good photographer so it didn't take much to find a replacement. However, we would have to possibly find a new location, as Stephen had planned the shoot to take place this morning at Sound Control in Manchester, but with even less time to sort something out, it is doubtful that they will have the time to accommodate us once more.
Stephen is still hopeful that he might be free next week to rearrange, but that is the last weekend possible to get this done so I'm reluctant to take the chance. I also don't want to put any pressure on him, but I will see what he says midweek.
I know I can adapt things to ensure our deadline is met. The only time things haven't worked out for me in the past have been when I have taken too big a risk on similar decisions. And so, though I will see what unfolds over the next few days, I have 'plan B' very much in motion.
Friday 25 March 2011
Limited Edition Jeanie in the Radiator EP USB Wristbands...
Our USBs arrived in the post today and they look great. After almost a week of Facebook messages back and forth between band members and collaborators, we came to a logo design we could all agree upon and it looks great.
Although it is a lengthy process, Facebook is perfect for these discussions as everyone can work on ideas and post them in to one big message, without us having to take too much time out of our busy schedules. I have included a photo of the finished product as well as the process we went through to finally get there.
Although it is a lengthy process, Facebook is perfect for these discussions as everyone can work on ideas and post them in to one big message, without us having to take too much time out of our busy schedules. I have included a photo of the finished product as well as the process we went through to finally get there.
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Finally.
Friday 18 March 2011
Photoshoots and a great opportunity...
I met with Stephen Campbell yesterday regarding organising a photoshoot with him before the EP Launch. We got some good ideas together roughly based on a creepy clown/balloon theme that ought to get us some great colourful and quirky photos. He also seemed keen to incorporate some ideas he had had for awhile in to the shoot and I said we were up for a bit of experimentation with interesting shots. We've agreed on March 26th as a shoot date and he has said that we will be able to use Sound Control (oh, how the memories come flooding back...) as a venue for it, free of charge. It's good to see things starting to come together and feel the weight of the April 5th event start lift off my shoulders a bit.
On another good note, I have pretty much finished two out of three of the Jeanie in the Radiator EP tracks. There will be no let up getting the other one done, but it is all progress.
I also got an email today which was a bit of exciting news. A company wants to book Jeanie in the Radiator for a corporate event in July. It's all supposed to be pretty confidential, but it looks like a really good opportunity. We're meeting with one of the organisers on March 29th so I'll look forward to finding out more details then. At least it might put some money towards a summer holiday...I think I'll be needing one after the stress of this Launch.
On another good note, I have pretty much finished two out of three of the Jeanie in the Radiator EP tracks. There will be no let up getting the other one done, but it is all progress.
I also got an email today which was a bit of exciting news. A company wants to book Jeanie in the Radiator for a corporate event in July. It's all supposed to be pretty confidential, but it looks like a really good opportunity. We're meeting with one of the organisers on March 29th so I'll look forward to finding out more details then. At least it might put some money towards a summer holiday...I think I'll be needing one after the stress of this Launch.
Sunday 13 March 2011
Live engineering...
I was in the studio today with Aaron 'AKFX' Kara, my friend and classmate, who is launching his upcoming rap EP along with an online video featuring himself and his band performing live in the Futureworks SSL studio which is what we were filming and recording today. It is the first time he has gotten such a big band together to play his songs and it sounded fantastic. He asked me a few weeks ago if I could engineer the session, and although I have been busy with my own production I'm really glad I agreed.
We were recording Aaron on vocals as well as an electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drumkit, keyboards and a violinist, all live with no overdubs. It was similar to our Soapworks Sessions in that sense, except that now I was behind the recording desk as opposed to performing and it was a lot of fun. The band were obviously well rehearsed and I was mixing on the way in to Protools so Aaron would have a live, balanced recording to work with from the offset.
It was another test of my engineering and production skills and I really enjoyed the spontaneity of the live recording. Although Aaron will be mixing the tracks post-production, it was a lot of fun and great experience to mix a live band on the way in to Protools, and Aaron agreed that Mazzie, who was engineering with me, and I had done a great job. Another one for the CV for sure.
We were recording Aaron on vocals as well as an electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drumkit, keyboards and a violinist, all live with no overdubs. It was similar to our Soapworks Sessions in that sense, except that now I was behind the recording desk as opposed to performing and it was a lot of fun. The band were obviously well rehearsed and I was mixing on the way in to Protools so Aaron would have a live, balanced recording to work with from the offset.
It was another test of my engineering and production skills and I really enjoyed the spontaneity of the live recording. Although Aaron will be mixing the tracks post-production, it was a lot of fun and great experience to mix a live band on the way in to Protools, and Aaron agreed that Mazzie, who was engineering with me, and I had done a great job. Another one for the CV for sure.
©AKFXmusic
Thursday 3 March 2011
Broadening horizons...
I've been looking recently at branching out from the Music Production side of things in to Film Audio as well. I have never been one to put all my eggs in one basket and since I have always been at least as fanatical about film as I have been about music, it is definitely an avenue I would look at going down.
I have just come back from a short trip to Edinburgh where I was staying with my uncle for a few days. He has put me in touch, through facebook, with a director called Tinge Krishnan who he knows. Googling her reveals that she has not only directed a music video for Dido, but won a BAFTA for her short film 'Shadowscan', and is currently in the post-production stage of her debut feature film 'Junkhearts' which is due for release this year. She said that she'd be happy to speak to me and has passed on her mobile number.
I'm not great at calls so I will probably send her a facebook message tomorrow and see if I might get some insight in to a career in the Film industry. If I could gain some work experience through her or some of her contacts that would be great. So fingers crossed for a reply. If not. My awkward phone demeanor will have to be put to the test!
Tuesday 1 March 2011
EP Launch...
Beatbullyz support slot behind us, I have now turned my full attention towards my Major Project, the Jeanie in the Radiator EP Launch.
Over the last few weeks things have started to develop a lot quicker. I have booked the venue, Nexus Art Cafe, and have got to give in my deposit in the next few weeks. It is a great space with a relaxed atmosphere, lots of comfy chairs and a nice cafe service with a decent stage which will be perfect for a JITR acoustic set.
As far as the event itself is concerned, I was originally planning a 'Jeanie in the Radiator showcase'. I would have an acoustic performance by the band as well as an extended play of the record, small photography exhibition and video installation to tie in with the band's music. However, it has changed slightly with the news that Swansea Love Story have had to cancel their March EP Launch as their venue cancelled the event. I have used this to my advantage and offered them to play with us and share our EP Launch so that now I will be presenting two pieces of work I have produced to an audience at the event.
The running order will be something like:
Over the last few weeks things have started to develop a lot quicker. I have booked the venue, Nexus Art Cafe, and have got to give in my deposit in the next few weeks. It is a great space with a relaxed atmosphere, lots of comfy chairs and a nice cafe service with a decent stage which will be perfect for a JITR acoustic set.
As far as the event itself is concerned, I was originally planning a 'Jeanie in the Radiator showcase'. I would have an acoustic performance by the band as well as an extended play of the record, small photography exhibition and video installation to tie in with the band's music. However, it has changed slightly with the news that Swansea Love Story have had to cancel their March EP Launch as their venue cancelled the event. I have used this to my advantage and offered them to play with us and share our EP Launch so that now I will be presenting two pieces of work I have produced to an audience at the event.
The running order will be something like:
- Swansea Love Story 30 minute set
- Break to give people time to enjoy cafe and photography exhibit.
- Video installation along with playing of the Jeanie in the Radiator EP.
- Jeanie in the Radiator 30 minute acoustic set.
We are also getting custom USB wristbands made for the event with our logo on them. I'll load our EP on to the wristbands and have planned it so that we will give a free USB wristband to the first 40 people at the door and after that, we will be selling them for about £3. It is costing us quite a lot for the USBs but hopefully people will see them as a bit of a one off limited item, as well as getting the music they will be getting a souvenir of the event; and we will make our money back.
I'm meeting with the photographer who will be putting together a small display for the Launch in the next few days to organise a photoshoot. But so far all is going well, if a little slowly. I am confident everything will get done, it is just going to be a bit of a rush and push towards the end....as these things always are.
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