FRAIL AUTUMN UPDATE: ONE OF THOSE LONG UNREADABLE BLOGS…BORN FROM 02.30 INSOMNIA AND NEEDING TO TIRE OUT THE BRAIN.

I thought it was a good idea to get my mind straight on the music project. It’s been a very busy year outside of the music and the emphasis on following through this amazing adventure has to be typed down to bring a force and energy to stay focused. I have been flying solo on this project. What happens with self-motivation? It becomes a struggle that needs an inner strength which can be really difficult to carry on with purpose and to realise an achieved status. I loved being in a band. I was never a solo performer. So being alone in all this adventure is a very strange affair. I write in a journal to reflect usually. Settle with treasured fountain pens and simply write down thoughts that help enormously to refocus tasks and aims. I realised a few days ago that I haven’t done the journal sabbatical for months now. So I am typing one now, as I have typed out some others this year, to help me build confidence. WordPress blogs have, it seems, replaced pen and ink.

This blog is for my own purpose I suppose. If you want to read alongside, you’re very welcome. Some of us bloggers do find a gentle catharsis in writing our thoughts. Others who look at one’s blogs, either read or part read and say ‘I like that’……or ‘No thanks, too much here’. Do we care? Well….I don’t necessarily. Nice for the readers’ feedback, because it gives a warm glow. But not hungry for the feedback, because I know that inherently, the blog is the crux to giving myself positive thinking. A way of feathery word dusting away the collective conundrum collective mind dust that can build over months.

So…..After self guiltily buying another few equipment pieces needed for home recording my songs, I began to think about the costs since last April. Of course, before April there has been an outlay to actually get back into playing bass guitar again. It all started from a phone call last October 2023. Asked to reform a three piece 1970s band I was in. This for a one off festival gig. After agreeing and having to find a bass guitar and appropriate amplifier, it was back to being a committed musician again.

Since dropping full time musician status back in 1983, where I was earnestly involved with it as a career, I held onto my Eko dreadnought acoustic guitar to carry on writing songs. And also, to generally keep my hand in playing. I sold my beautiful Fender Jazz 1960s guitar back in 1983. Never to pick up a bass again. Until November 2023.

My wife said, back in November, we had to go to Newtown for some shopping. Strange as it is an 80 mile round trip drive. She said it was a while since we went to Newtown. I hadn’t thought she was so fond of the place. But of course, there is a fabulous musical instrument shop there that sells very many new and second hand guitars amongst other instrument choices too. The strangest of strange happening was that a Fender Jazz bass guitar, that sat amongst other bass guitars, was near as near exactly the same as my old one. A re-issued model, exactly the same non-colour blond, but near as near as to what I had back in the 1970/80s.

A bunch of equipment bought. Please tap on individual photos to enlarge.

Because of my Aphantasia, I have no visual memory of that bass other than my WP black and white avatar photograph with myself holding it. Holding this early 2000s close as close to near perfect visual equivalent had me emotionally wrecked. I was holding a part of my history it seemed. My wife said I had to buy it. She could see I was close to tears probably. I bought a Fender Rumble amplifier/speaker combination a week later.

In the loft/attic I had two electric guitars I had been given over time. A Vintage make SG, a Tanglewood Falcon Stratocaster. Recently I have now further acquired a Hohner Les Paul L75 electric guitar, a Guild D25 Cherry acoustic guitar, a charity shop bought Eko 1960s acoustic guitar exactly like my first Eko acoustic bought in the early 1970s and a variety of percussion instruments. I had ethnic djembe and Indian drums for playing in a drum and dance workshop which a couple of Social Services work colleagues and myself ran.

Suddenly it felt I could be a one man band! Not a great musician at all. But a keen trier.

Of course, the initial start of all this, the festival gig which was supposed to be in July this year (2024), never actually happened. The drummer and guitarist couldn’t commit due to busy lives. I completely understood, but then felt completely lost up a creek without a paddle. What could I do! I had begun writing songs in earnest again since around Christmas last year. I had very many song ideas bizz bozz buzzing around my brain anyway from tunes dropping into my mind over the decades. Once a songwriter…….

Record them! Lightbulb moment. On what? Reality bites moment. The iPad and get a decent microphone. So I did. But technology moving quickly Apple iPad changed its format. My old slow as slow iPad with little storage had the old lightning adapter. The same as my Shure MV88 expensive little recently purchased microphone. A new competent iPad bought by my wife as a gift had a USB-C adapter and no way to connect the MV88. No converter existed.

So……new equipment need. It then got ‘monetary outlay’ silly. Expensive and silly. Pensioner on a budget silly. An Apple Mac M2 computer with a whole bunch of external technology equipment inclusions to create a basic, but hopefully effective, home recording studio. I have used the system from last April and bought the add ons as required. Always looking for decent deals money wise. I began to record songs. They have been experimental excursions. A technophobe learning to be a bit better at this arena of technological conundrums. As experiments they are passable. But not worthy of keeping as finished songs. So, I have to re-record a lot of old and new song ideas and hopefully produce a bunch of 12 really decent results for release early January to April/May next year. Even if simply to justify the outlay. But mainly to ease my soul.

It’s a fantastic retirement project to be honest. And one that has certainly been challenging mentally. But a hoot emotionally. Really fantastic vibes in writing songs again. Songs with considered outcomes and not just playfully strumming and singing ditty tunes like I have been for decades.

EQUIPMENT UP TO DATE:

1). AKAI Professional MPK Mini Plus – 37 mini Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with 8 MPC Pads, Sequencer, MIDI/CV/Gate I/O, and Music Production Software

2). Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO Studio Headphones – 250 Ohm

3). Apple 2023 Mac mini desktop computer with Apple M2 Pro chip with 10‑core CPU and 16‑core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD storage, Gigabit Ethernet. Works with iPhone/iPad

4). Apple Studio Display – Standard glass – Tilt-adjustable stand

5). XTUGA USB Audio Interface for PC,Interface for Recording Music Computer Recording Audio Interface XLR with 3.55m Microphone Jack, USB Sound Card for Recording Studio, Ultra-low Latency Plug&Play, Q-12

6). Pre-Sonus Eris E4.5, Studio Monitor Speakers, Pair, 4.5 Inch, 2-Way, High-Definition Multimedia

7). M-Audio M-Track Solo – USB Audio Interface for Recording, Streaming and Podcasting with XLR, Line and DI Inputs, Plus a Software Suite Included

8). TONOR Dynamic Microphone Preamp Booster, Professional Mic Voice Amplifier Preamplifier, Ultra-Clean Gain for Broadcast Podcast Gaming Streaming Recordings Studio Singing TA20

9). Crucial X6 2TB Portable SSD – Up to 800MB/s – PC and Mac – USB 3.2 USB-C External Solid State Drive – CT2000X6SSD9 – Black

10). Microphones = All Shure. Two Condenser Microphones. MV88 and MV5. The 1970s built in the USA Dynamic Microphone Shure SM58.

11). Yamaha DD66 digital drum machine….. . .

Which required:

a). YAMAHA HH60 Hi Hat drum pedal with spikes.

b). YAMAHA KP65 Electronic drum kick tower bass drum pad trigger with spikes.

c). Premier Olympic Single Bass Drum Kick Pedal / Hardware #MK65

d). YAMAHA UX16 USB MIDI Interface Cable

12). Connecting equipment leads upon leads upon leads. And then…..Upon more leads!

13). ALTO ZMX52 Mixer.