just a note that the stevelawson.net server seems to be down – no mail, no website, so nothing right now, and I can’t log in to cpanel to see what’s happening (cos, obviously, it’s on the same server…) – normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. Until then, here’s some music…
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I’m in the middle of doing what’s often referred to as a ‘remote session’ – an artist or producer sends a MP3 of a master track to a musician to get that musician to record their parts in their home studio. They then send high res WAV or AIFF files back via FTP or burnt to CD in the post, and everyone’s happy. The benefits of this system are obvious – it means that projects that couldn’t afford to either hire big studios or fly musicians around the world are able to get the musicians they really want to play on it, and the musician doesn’t have to leave home, and has access to all their favourite gear, records into their program of choice and can spend some time experimenting in a way that would probably scare the producer if they were to do it in a studio.
This project (the LeeSun session I referred to here yesterday) is a particularly fun one because I get to play ‘bass’ bass and then do all the other StevieStuff on top – I REALLY enjoy playing normal bass, and am rather good at it, and these days I don’t get asked all that often to play normal bass (this coming month I’ve got a fair bit of it, what with playing with Sarah Masen and Monk at Greenbelt), so to get to do that stuff and then overdub ebow loveliness and crazy big slide guitar parts, tremolo baritone guitar-esque stuff and fretless melodies is a real joy.
The other recent change in what I’ve been doing work-wise has been house concerts – as mentioned before, these are gigs in people’s living rooms, conservatories, gardens, even garages for lovely audiences of music lovers and supporters of the arts. Sometimes is just a gig, sometimes is a garden party, sometimes it’s a charity thing… Whichever, they are really enjoyable shows, pay much better than trying to play in a pub or most little music clubs and invariably result in a better time for audience and musician. All Good Nothing Bad.
It really is a cottage industry – small-scale, mobile, flexible, personal, enjoyable, creative and all built on relationships between real people for the mutual benefit of all concerned. Like the teaching I’ve been doing for so long, it’s my dream job because I get to meet so many fascinating and wonderful people, play great music, learn loads about music myself from the whole process and somehow in the middle of it all actually pay the bills… I am blessed.
I guess I ought to add at this point, that I’m available for all of the above – playing on records, playing in your house, or teaching you bass… just drop me an email and we’ll get the process started on any of those! :o)
But for now, I’ve got LeeSun’s songs to finish off…
Some mashups, don’t quite work. With others, you’re just amazed you didn’t think of it yourself… this one is sublime – Eminem, Benny Hill, a perfect match!
Thanks to Mike @ Moot for the link… :o)
After collecting my car this morning, most of today has been spent recording. Having turned the living room into a remote studio, I spent the day recording tracks for an album by LeeSun – a lovely quirky singer/songwriter from Leeds. She initially invited me to go and record with her in Canada back in June, but it was slap bang in the middle of my US tour with L, so sadly I couldn’t do it (how much fun would that have been??), but I offered to do the tracks remotely when she got back, so that’s what I’m doing, in my lil’ studio here. It’s a fun way to work, being engineer and tea-boy as well as musician, and it means I can quickly do multiple versions of a line and send them over to be checked out. This evening I was able to send some MP3 roughs of what I’d been up to over to LeeSun and chat via MSN about what she wanted – very useful. The wonders of the internet. Fortunately, she really likes what I’ve done with the songs – they’re lovely songs, and right up my street – so we’ll go ahead with the rest of the album.
I’m hoping to do more of this kind of work – it’s a great way to be involved in projects that normally couldn’t afford to a) get me to where the recording is happening or b) even afford time in a big studio anyway. This way, I can do it in my studio in a way that suits the budget of the artist/producer, and everyone’s happy. Good for keeping my carbon footprint down as well, i guess, not driving to studios all over the place…
If you’re reading this and you’ve got a project you want me to play on, please do send me an email with some details about the project and you’re budget, and we’ll sort something out.
One of my favourite blogs to read is Bananie.com – Bananie is a lovely friend in Austin TX, great blogger and one of those people whose love and concern for lil’ hanimals means she can’t turn down a lost kitten or puppy (hence the reason their house looks like a deleted scene from Dr Doolittle).
Anyway, given that the US doesn’t have anything like the kind of affordable sensible pet insurance that we do in the UK, she’s just about all spent up on protecting helpless cats and kittens, and they currently have this tiny fella, Phineas, who has ringworm (AKA athlete’s foot, hardly fatal, but definitely needs treating) and a heart condition, which as usual is unspecified until lots of v. expensive tests have been done, but will kill him if it’s not treated soon… if you’re moved by the little guy’s plight, head over to bananie.com and drop a couple of cyber-squidz in the paypal donation bucket to help out with his medical bills… no pressure, I just know that some of y’all who read this are animal lovers and will quite possibly want to help out a fellow gentle soul in her quest to turn their house in to a cat ‘n’ dog focussed Ark…
I so need to visit the Onion more often… I was given the heads up to this story by the lovely and wonderful Bananie, and currently have tears in my eyes…
New Starbucks Opens In Rest Room Of Existing Starbucks.
Gawd bless ’em.
So Mum and I went down to see my lovely Grandparents in the tin-box-on-wheels, a little later than planned due to road closures (pointless detail for the benefit of The Cheat – he panics if he doesn’t get the full picture). Lovely day spent with Les Gramps, then mum and I set off to Gipsy Hill in South London for me to play at Freedom Of Expression II – the second of the nights that Tim Eveleigh is now running (the first being the one in Croydon that I’ve played a few times, and the third being one i’m playing soonish… need to add that to the gig calendar).
Anyway, once again, I gave Google Maps directions far too much benefit of the doubt, and we got hopefully lost in that bit of South London that has towns called things like Pratt’s Bottom and Badger’s Arse or something…. So it took us about 45 minutes longer than it should’ve to get there.
But when we did, all was good – the lovely Cara Winter was on stage as we got there, sounding great as always, was followed by the also-great Gaz Twist, followed by me. The sound was great, the new strings were a little disconcerting (I change the strings on my fretless every 2 years or so, so new strings feel VERY odd to start with…) but I played OK, talked rubbish, and a fun time was had by all.
This morning my car was ready to be picked up, so I took the tin-box back, paid the £369 that could’ve been so much more if what they did hadn’t got it through, and got into my own car… shit, this thing’s easy to drive!!! Only after the tin box did I really get the full contrast. I remember what it felt like when I first got it, after 10 years of knackered diesel fiestas… yummmm.
And onto today magazine columns to be written, albums to be recorded, stuff to be packed. The life of the itinerant solo bassist…
Should’ve mentioned this before, but I’m being a bit slack of late with this stuff…
Anyway, my gig tonight in South London is being webcast – come back here about 10 to 10.30pm, and hopefully this embedded link will be featuring me playing lovely music…
Where were we? Are yes, I was car-less in Barnet… well, I rang the garage who were sorting my car out for its MOT – T & H Motors in Barnet (020 8449 2672) – to ask if they knew of a place I could rent a car for tonight and tomorrow (given that I was going to lose teaching revenue and then not be able to go and see the lovely gramps tomorrow), and the response was that they had a car they’d lend me. Very nice indeed ‘it looks terrible but it’s very reliable’ i was told. And indeed, it doesn’t look like much.
But the big shock was driving it – you forget what cars used to be like, in the days before power steering, power assisted breaks, automatic choke and all the general comfort of any car made in the last 10-15 years. All cars used to be like this! It reminds me just how fortunate I am to have the Rover, even if it is about to cost me £££ to get it through it’s MOT, it’s a lovely car, comfortable, nice to drive, and all thanks to the delightful and wonderful Lovely G and Lovely J. Thanks!
Anyway, cars have come a long way in a relatively short space of time, so if you’re not driving around in a late 70s/early 80s tin can, say a small prayer of thanks to the Gods of Motoring (or Clarkson if you like) that car makers discovered comfort.
So tomorrow, my lil’ mum and I will be off to Sussex in said tin can, and then to my gig tomorrow night in south london… hang on, where the hell is my gig tomorrow night? I think i’d better find out…
Oh, the point of this – of course, it’s the wonder of being lent a car by T & H Motors – fabulous people, great mechanics (the specialise in Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar etc…) and nice enough to lend a car to a long term customer… I’ve been taking my cars there for almost a decade, and they’ve had a few grand out of me in business by now (given that I had the big end go on one car, the head gasket on another and numerous other disasters along the way… :o) But now my loyalty to them is paying off in more ways than just great service, as I get lent the car. If you’re in North London and need a mechanic, call them on the number at the top, they’re the best.
Well, i’ve found somewhere to live… the relevant info will be sent to those of you that need to know in the near future. Great news is it’s not only sharing with lovely friends, but the landlords are lovely friends, so no piling money into the pockets of some price-hiking property magnate for me. :o)
On the down side, my car has just failed its MOT, and it’ll be tomorrow lunch time before I know whether the £140 + VAT repairs will actually get it through, and if they don’t, it’ll be a lot more than that… bugger.
And i’ve got to get to St Alban’s tonight to teach… actually, no, I need to cancel my lesson in St Alban’s tonight, as it was going to be tight timing-wise even with a car. Without, I’ve got no chance… So that’s another £60 that the MOT has cost me, though it’ll be moved rather than scrapped altogether… ho hum…
What’s more of a problem is I’m meant to be taking my lovely mum to see my lovely (and 97 year old) Grandad and my equally lovely (and only slightly younger) nan tomorrow… ideas on a e-card… Ahh, shit, I’ve also got a gig tomorrow night… balls. This is going to require some planning. OK, less blogging more planning.
Oh, and on top of all that, I’m days and days late on my column for Bass Guitar Magazine and have an album’s worth of bass tracks to record for an album by a fab singer from Leeds (more on that as it unfolds) – I did some last night, which sound good, but there’s lots to be done, in between overspending on the car, moving house, getting to East Sussex to see lovely old peoples, paying my tax bill (forgot about that bit) writing articles and teaching…
So not busy at all then.
