Birdy

This week Birdy released her self titled debut album.  Its been a pretty amazing two years since meeting her and starting to help develop her incredible talent and I see a very bright future for this somewhat special teenage songwriter.

One of the things I love most about her recordings is how honest they are.  Without A Word - the only original track on this first album is basically a live recording!  She played and sung simultaneously, its all one take and we did no editing.  It hit the public pretty much exactly the same way it would if you were to see it live.  Thats pretty unusual, almost unheard of in music that charts these days.  Check it out below.

While Birdy has a huge number of original tracks, many of which we have recorded over the years the debut album displays her eclectic music taste and maturity as an arranger - taking underground classics, some held in very high esteem by their respective followings and making them her own.

Its a very brave thing to take a song that people already know, love and relate to and change everything but the lyrics to make it your own, and sometimes harder to pull of then just starting from scratch.

With a talent that seems to have simply grown with her since birth and the diligent, respectful demeanour she has developed as an artist in such a short career I can't wait to see what comes next and will feel privileged to be a part of it.

Grab a copy of the album and see what you think :)

The Royal Wedding

So I was lucky enough to somehow get myself involved with the biggest media event in the world this April.  I spent 6 days at Buckingham 'Buckerz' Palace setting up a TV studio as well as camera positions at 6 other locations around central London.

My main position on the day - not bad!

I was employed by CTV - a major Canadian broadcaster who brought 450 of their own people over but were also looking for local crews.  Canadians are nice.  I have heard this from many different sources but until this week had only met 2 myself, but I can now say having met lots of Canadians - that they are indeed nice :)

One of the most interesting things about the whole event was the gradual building buzz across the city during the week preceding.  It seems that the wedding was a much bigger deal for the international media and spectators than for the British.  Probably 50% of the street campers that appeared across the week had flown in from their home countries specifically to be in London for the day.  With an estimated TV audience of 2 Billion people its pretty amazing how much attention the monarchy can still command, unless it was just one big episode of reality TV.

I learned quite a bit about the broadcast world, specifically with regards to lighting.  My primary role on the day was in prime position at Australia gate opposite the palace 'babysitting' the lighting.  The anchors in the studio would chop between short dialogues with the various presenters at the 6 locations at the director's request so we had to stay in place during the whole broadcast ready to go at any moment.  With the director in our ears we had a bit of warning at least.  

The footage from inside the abbey was provided to all the broadcasters on a pool feed which everyone was able to tap into, so during the service we basically left it to the feed and had lunch!  Ironic that the apex of the event was everyones break.

Around a million people made their way towards the palace for 'the kiss' which was scheduled to be the last appearance by the couple, though they were seen leaving in a convertible with the number plate 'Just Married'  After that it rapidly grew into a nice festival vibe with some of the best weather we have had in London during April in 100 years.

The Australians next door to us had some nice TV moments created by the gradually increasing crowd of Australian revellers behind their presenters who, after being joined by none other than Rolf Harris would bust into a chorus of "Tie Me Kangaroo Down' whenever they were on air.  That was awesome.

The couple chillin' in our studio...

The media centre (the big green building opposite the palace) became quite a celeb hub on the 28th and 29th with all the presenters and guests arriving.  The studio next door to us housed E! which was presented by Sharon Osborne, Piers Morgan and Dermot O'Leary so we ran into them a lot and actually managed to get Piers to join us in our studio for an interview.

Definitely my favourite encounters were the lookalike couple from the T-Mobile add.  I consider that level of genius viral advertising to be a form of art in itself and I think I was more star struck by meeting them than I would be the actual couple!  I also discovered via Twitter that Fearne Cotton was there with BBC Radio and managed to get a chance to chat about her massively positive influence in launching one of our studio clients - Birdy into the UK singles charts.  She is doing amazingly at No. 19 this week after 11 weeks in the chart!  So it was nice to say thanks for that, she even asked me to say hi to Birdy from her.

Overall it was a great week, working outside in such weather was invaluable and it was nice to be at the bottom of the responsibility chain for once!  To sign off here is a little video I took from my privileged location at the palace just after the kiss.... it got quite busy.

The Red Diamond Dragon Club...

...are a new band mostly based in Brighton. A nine piece outfit in which I play a few things, mostly a synth and a sampler.

After a few months of open rehearsals, to which we encouraged any and all our friends who harboured an interest in making or playing music to come, things have started to solidify quite quickly and suddenly we have a gig!

Built on the age old format of Drums, Bass, Guitar & Keys the band also benefits from the relatively unconventional combination of Synthesiser, Sampler, Flute, Violin and Accordion. The resulting sound is so far being called 'Electro-Folk' There is singing too which is very good at making what we play become songs.

We will be playing at Hector's House in Brighton on the 22nd as part of a Brighton Uni 'Stop The Cuts' fundraiser. Its going to be exciting for all of us especially given than a big chunk of the band have never played on stage before. That was always the intention.

At a recent rehearsal we made a very rough demo recording of an original track, recorded live in the practice room as a single performance.  Click the link to have a listen and see what you think.  We plan to get into the studio sometime this year for a proper EP.  For now our website is here.

Lots of Free Time...

So after many months of working crazy hours 7 days a week I have found myself in this strange twilight zone of Christmas time where there is no work to do.  Over the last couple of years I have watched my time killing interests (xbox and the like) dissolve away as a result of having no free time and so now when I do have free time I get bored really quickly.  Thats that down side of enjoying what you are supposed to call work :)

However!  I totally saw this potential boredom coming and have designed a little project to keep my brain (and hands) occupied - all focussed around a sampler I purchased a few weeks ago.  The basic premise is that you can assign sounds to buttons and when you push the buttons, those sounds happen.  If you get a bit clever though, you can set it up in such a way that with a little practice you can play entire pieces of music triggering all the sounds live!

I have some ideas about what to do with this once its a bit more together as you will see that some of the patterns are complex enough to suffer a little on timing!  But I have only been messing around with it for the last week or so.

Im looking forward to seeing how it might come together...

Just me messing around with some potential pieces for an upcoming live act.

A Very Good Year

It always seemed like a monumentus step - starting a blog. Its been a challenge to come up with a way to get started because I feel like it should be something more than just a first entry. The reason I decided to start doing this is that I do seem to find myself doing lots of interesting things that would be worth writing down at least, or even may be of interest to other people living in the whole music thing.

This year I feel like I have found the trajectory upon which I should focus my energy. There is a very natural kind of effort that occurs when everything is in harmony between an artist and their producer and I want to cultivate that and see what it brings.

I have met some amazing people over the last 12 months and together we have created some seriously good stuff. The thing I think I love the most, is seeing something so tangible and accessible as music grow from the interaction between two minds.

Anyway, to end the year and start off my new blog, here's a few highlights from my 2010 in vaguely chronological order:

Philanthropy's long awaited new album 'Burst' - released at midnight Jan 1st. The culmination of everything that band has been over the years and a very special project for everyone envolved.

Recording Aimèe Mackenzie both live and in the studio. I love her voice and her approach to song writing. For a bit I forgot how much I love her voice, then I saw her at Farnham Festival and was suddenly reminded. That cover of 'With or Without You' was something else.

Working with isle of wright star Holly Kirby on her debut album 'A Woman You Don't Know' This girl is something special and an absolute delight to work with and record. Its been amazing to watch all her fans react to its release and see the buzz grow around its release and its great to see her doing so well.

Meeting and working with the 'human bouncy ball' that is Kate Fletcher. Such great music to work on and always a hilarious time in the studio. That Macdonalds event will be remembered for a long time ;) You know who you are!

Save You by Jenni Boyce... Nuff said.

All the Rosa Boxall sessions be it writing, recording, production or mixing. There's some amazing music coming out of this project and I can't wait to watch her explode when the time is right.

Assisting in Editing/Mixing 12 tracks for Craig David. I came across a performance of 'Hypnotic' in series 1 of 'Live From Abbey Road' which made me realise just how talented that guy actually is but working on his material was amazing. There are some massive tunes in his repertoire and even now tracks like 'Rewind' retain that same screaming vitality that made them the hits they were. Freaking ridiculous band too.

Meeting Birdie and hearing her ridiculous talent. 'Guardian Angel' still blows my mind.

The Rock Choir Tour in June/July. There's possibly only two other people in the world who will really know what the whole ride was like! So many amazing shows, such an odd existence day to day. The whole thing was topped off with the Hammersmith Apollo album launch, that balloon moment from which still makes me smile.

Days and days in the studio with Dan Rumsey and crew creating epic shiz. Cant wait to see the album finished.

Rich Lown's 'Time For Us All' EP. There is something about the working with him and his band that just makes everything feel good. Amazing songs, so many talented people and the general motivation of just creating something great.

Bestival 2010 - spent mostly with my friend Liberty 'the plebs!?' Martin and one of my favourite artists - Emmy The Great making a video for water aid. All thanks to Holly Kirby for allowing me the honour of joining her on stage playing guitar for her set on the Sunday. Finally getting to see Katie Holmes rock it with Pro Green while drinking wine backstage at the big top. Way too many awesome memories to write here. Robin Moss and Dan Schreiber ensured there was never a dull moment!

Meeting The Hunterzzz at such a special time in their career and helping them to create a really cool debut EP. Thanks again to Angus for the whole student ID thing ;)

River Studios! There is nothing I can say to describe the insane experience it has been and continues to be. Anyone who has joined us for any part of the struggle will understand. Still partly under construction but becoming more and more amazing everyday. It really is something special and is going to be a very, very cool place to work. Loving seeing everyone come to the building for the first time and be blown away.

So thats it so far! Now that I have got started I will probably continue with some less words posts. Anytime something interesting is happening. Thanks for reading :) Let see what happens....

Olli.