week 14 - Interviewed by BBC Radio Suffolk!

hi there guys and this is my 14th week at noise solution and today i was interviewed live by  BBC radio Suffolk the whole interview went at a reasonable pace and went very well. was i nervous yes but only a little,  as I'm a radio presenter myself i soon picked up alot of confidence and tips during the session.

i also performed on the piano live on BBC radio Suffolk which i thoroughly enjoyed and "I think my tutors jealous".

here's the interview, I play near the end of it.

Photo's of BBC Suffolk coming to Noise Solution and interviewing Freddy

also today i had a little practice with my Maggie may song that I'm currently performing by rod Stewart.  By putting the structure of the song together me and my tutor are able to fully understand the song by writing the versus, solo etc on the chord sheet. i have had a really good day today probably one of which i haven't had in a while maybe that might have something to do with Christmas being round the corner but apart from that I've learnt alot from being interviewed and i hope this will be a couple of skills i will keep with me for future uses take care guys and ill see you next week 

week 13

Freddy Blogging

Freddy said he was fed up of the photo's only being of him and said he should take one of me to see how I felt about it

hello there music addicts and this is my 13 week on my course this week i had some practice learning Maggie may from rod Stewart as this is my 70s music project piece. the reason why i chose this song as my 70 piece is because it was something that i have never heard of and i hadn't played before which i thought would be more of a challenge for me as i didn't know the song. As for the other songs i had performed they were simple to me because they were songs and artists that i had heard off and listened to. today during practice i had learnt many different pattens and ways to play different songs this was something i struggled with because i knew how to play chords as well as root notes but after awhile remembering all this is hard to remember when performing.  what i mean to say is that when you know how to play chords, trying to keep one hand playing a root note while the other is on a chord and then keeping in time with the band your playing with its alot to think about. So the consequence is to hit the wrong chord or root note. so the solution is to have the patients and to keep practicing.



This is the song that I'm doing a cover version of. Maggie may Rod Stewart and the Faces


Here's a clip of Freddy working on the chords with me (Simon)

Week 12 mixing and mastering 60s track

hi there guys this is my 12 week of blogging madness and this week we were EQing and mixing down our track. which consisted of of balancing frequencies and compressing sounds but before any of that we tided up the track by taking out all of the unnecessary sounds i.e. like me putting my lovely cuppa tea down on the organ say or me praising my self up at the end of the track. we soon tidyed up the track and added the effects and eventually came to mixing our second masterpiece of work down. one of the main effects we played and installed into the piece was reverb a special effect that most musical artists would have used and still do use to make their voices be heard in a room when Elvis started doing this they had to build chambers that so that sound could bounce around the walls to create the reverb this carried on in till the early seventy's where after, this way of reaveb life musicians started to create and discover other ways to create their reverb nowadays we use state of the art technology to create this. i must say EQing is not the most exciting part of creating and performing music but must be done to get the best sound quality personally i think its quite dull as there's allot to learn about the topic which puts me off theres alot science involved and its alot to take in but all in all i didn't mind just takes time and understanding.


Heres the finished song




we also started looking at Maggie May - here are the chords and words

A G D
Wake up Maggie I think I've got something to say to you

A G D
It's late September and I real____ly should be back at school

G D G A
I know I keep you amused, but I feel I"m being used

Em F#m Em D/F#
Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried any more

Em A Em A
You led me away from home just to save you from being alone

Em A D
You stole my heart and that's what really hurts


A G D
The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age

A G D
But that don't worry me none in my eyes you're everything

G D G A
I laugh at all of your jokes, my love you didn't need to coax

Em F#m Em
Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried any more

Em A Em A
You led me away from home just to save you from being alone

Em A D
You stole my soul and that's a pain I can do without


A G D
All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand

A G D
But you turned into a lover and mother what a lover you wore me out

G D G A
All you did was wreck my bed and in the morning kick me in the head

Em F#m Em D
Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried any more

Em A Em A
You led me away from home ‘cause you didn't want to be alone




Em A D
You stole my heart I couldn't leave you if I tried


INSTRUMENTAL BREAK: Em, A, D, G, Em, G, G/A, D

A G D
I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school

A G D
Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool

G D G A
Or find myself a Rock and Roll band that needs a helping hand

Em F#m Em D/F#
Oh Maggie I wish I'd never seen your face

Em A Em A
You made a first class fool out of me, but I'm as blind as a fool can be

Em A D
You stole my heart but I love you anyway


INSTRUMENTAL BREAK:

D Em G D
Maggie I wish I'd never seen your face

D Em G D
I'll get back home one of these days

60's recording

60s recording styles


My 60s Research
I went through the net and there wasn't much about 60s recording techniques or styles but i did find this info that i found was quite interesting so give it a read.
60s Music
In the 60s rock'n'roll became pop. Pop music changed with the rest of society. At the beginning of the sixties, it seemed that pop music might become just another form of family entertainment, but by the end of the sixties, it was a way of life.
Before the Beatles
Music at the beginning of the 60s was a sanitised commercial version of mid fifties American rock'n'roll. By then, Billy Haley was out of the picture and Elvis was as much a movie star as a rock'n'roll singer.
In Britain, the melodic sounds of Cliff Richard and Adam Faith competed with the Everly Brothers from the US for the top spot in the music charts. There were young stars like Helen Shapiro, who started her career with four top 3 hits. The favourite dance, the Twist, was enjoyed by the middle aged as well as the young. The rebellious origins of rock'n'roll seemed to be no more than a passing fad. Pop music still played on the juke boxes in the coffee bars of the early 60s. However, many teenagers looked to jazz as a form of rebellion.
Pretty simple. Mostly hand-made boards (usually with Daven pots and 3" Bakalite knobs), Ampex 350's, Stephens, and Scully 280 tape decks, RCA ribbons, Neumann condensers, and EV dynamics, mostly room reverb, or a live chamber - not much else. Playback speakers were either Altecs or UREI, amps were usually McIntosh MC60's, or the old Altec 100 watters.

At least that's how it was in Los Angeles in the early 60's.

Motorhead Gig

As part of my silver arts award i was to go to a consert and remeber what happend on the night. well it was cold for a start and the gig was being held at the cambridge corn excange. the band i was to see was "Motorhead" which in my opinion was very good and i throughly enjoyed the experience.  i only saw one of the two support bands and forgot what the other one of them was called but the other was named micheal monroe it was awesome the way the lead singer was stoned out of his mind and he had litrilly climbed his way to my box which was located the second one from the front of the excange. then soon after motorhead took to the stage and rocked out compleatly people at the front were moshing so hard you couldn't see the guy who was standing there originally stuck in the middle of it all lol it was a fantastic night and the trip home took an hour there and back to where i live nr sudbury. i would recommend anyone who is madly passionate about heavey metal to take the pilgrimage and see them every year because they are absolutely mind blowing. so theres my story also as part of the project i was to collect some evidance of the gig so i bring back the stuff i.e. (the tickets) and you should see me holding them i posted it on the blog for u guys to see. i hope ive inspired u to go and see them and i hoped you've enjoyed my story thanks fred plz leave comments as that would be superb : )

Week 11 24/11/10 Motor Head review

hi there guys this is my week 11 and today i was to record the vocals but before we did we had a Little conversation about a gig i went to the previous night. i had gone to a motorhead live performance and it was night to remember it had everything a rock gig would ever need, well what do u expect its motorhead the vibe was fantastic and the whole audience was just buzzing and moshing to the sound of Lemmy kilmisters guitar. well that was the other night but today like i say we were  recording down the vocals firstly i set up three separate mics which came with different quality's of recording sound. i had tested all three and soon after listening to the performances i decided that the most expensive one recorded the best sound. the things id learnt from having a verity of choice with mics was that each type of mic has a separate recording level and i felt great that id learnt this as if id chosen and ordinary mic it might not have sounded to good so it was good to test different mics. the vocal recordings went brilliantly though i soon found that my voice wasn't to good high pitched so i lowed my tone and it went really well i found that it took funnily enough less takes than my last piece so i know I'm improving in my work to become a successful musician this made me feel extremely positive in my work and hopefully EQing will be a blast. apart from that the day went according to plan.

here's the unprocessed vocal and backing track before editing



Photos of the day

Week 10

My mum was in this week to watch (right)

This week we tried again to record house of the rising sun. Before we started I was excited when we set up the mics. I was determined to get it done today because last week put me down and I wanted to get back up again and play properly without any mistakes. However I soon learnt that halfway through the song I'd forget where I was and end up playing the wrong chords making me feel disappointed with myself. I know I can play the piece but I struggle to do when recording. When recording I feel nervous and shaken up feel like I don't want to let the other band members down.  When I think about recording hound dog I realise that it was easier because the piece only consisted of three chords and it was just about playing them in time. Now with house of the rising sun there are more chords and I have to change the playing style as we go through and I have to remember the structure.

Thinking about it though I have come a long way since I started learning my piano chords and have done considerably well with the house of the rising Sun as it's at a totally different level to stuff I've done before.

while performing the piece after two weeks i have realised where i struggle now.  every time i get halfway through the song i tend to forget where I'm at and while trying keep in time with the other members of the band i end up playing the wrong chords doing so puts me off and it gets me down i feel that i need to build my confidence when performing ether that or I've met my match.

(later on in the session we did another take, having had a break and this time Freddy nailed it!...Simon)

i found that i hadn't met my match and that it was lack of confidence and that nerves had gotten the better of me i had been practicing for the weeks i wasn't in the studio but at home. so after finale finishing the perfect piece i felt great and relived however music is still a passion of mine and it wont get the better of me i will come across difficulty's in my arts award but its about realised what they are and trying to overcome the lack of confidence

heres a clip of todays work

Week 9

hi guys this is my 9th week on my music through the ages project on the genera the 60s while I've been at home I've had some practice  and of course enjoying it. This morning we started to set up the studio by micing up the drums and the organ also this morning as part of the process of setting up the studio i also learnt how to set up mics to balance the sound accordingly.

today we were intending to record the session but i felt tired and sluggish so my playing skills were not up to scratch for this week however we did spend some time structuring the studio ready for recording hopefully next week if possible. this made me feel a little disappointed because i thought even me being tired wouldn't effect my playing skill but i soon learnt it does. fingers crossed next week goes well!

Week 8

Hi there guys this week on my silver arts award i started by showing my tutor how id worked hard in practicing the chords for my piece "house of the rising sun" by the Animals i felt very proud of the practice i had done as this always helps me to acheve my musical goals we also looked at the lyrics. me and my tutor had also discussed how far i have come since i started the course.

I also did some practicing on 'House of the rising sun' with my tutor and played around with some Solos after looking at the animals on youtube. I felt that the Solos were a little to experienced for me and decided to stick with the solos that I have already created. I've learnt that if you make things too fancy to begin with it wont work, you need to know the foundations first. Chords come first fancy stuff after.

We also had a little practice in the studio and discussed homework around looking at 60's recording techniques.

freddy practicing

Gary Numan - My Arts hero

My music through the age’s project hero is Gary Numan

Bio about gary numan

His real name is not gary numan his real name is Gary Anthony James Webb or most artists knew him Gazza.

Gary Numan was born, Gary Anthony James Webb in Hammersmith, London on 8th of March 1958. His first job was working as a dispatch boy with a courier company at Heathrow where his father worked as a bus driver. His first band was Mean Street who only used him because he had a lot of music gear. He later joined The Lasers where he met Paul Gardiner who he later formed Tubeway Army with. The first album (Tubeway Army) was recorded with Gary, Paul and Gary's uncle (Jess Lidyard) on drums. It was while recording this album that Gary discovered a synthesizer in a recording studio which was being used by his recording company - Beggars Banquet. It was this discovery which prompted Gary to start making music using synths.. His first hit - Are 'friends' electric was released in 1979 and reached no. 1 in the British charts. This was followed by Cars which also reached no. 1. Today, 30 years after his first record release, Gary Numan is still recording studio albums and performing live. Has performed with Chris Slade. Lead singer with Tube way Army.

Gary numan also preformed with one other than my favourite modern syth pop artists little boots as picture shows them both together.

The reason why i like Gary numan is because of his music style techniques this is very similar to the same sort of stuff that i do at the music studio i use to create most of my tracks.

I enjoyed and was mostly inspired by his music and it wasn’t too long before i got into the eighties and liked other such syth pop artists such as kajagoogoo and human league and many others.

The eighties has inspired me too see the old style art of performing and compare what techniqes and eqipment they would have used in the modern era. I'm interested in comparing what limitations they had then. 

I read that Gary Numan first discovered a synthesizer when working in a studio with Tubeway Army. He said that this opened his mind to a new way of working with music and went on to release Cars.

Even though gary Numan Had Asperger Syndrome it just goes to shown anyone with disablitys can still make some cracking cool tunes which is one of the reasons why i admire him. It gives me a positive attitude outlook on music. My favorite songs of his are 'Cars' and 'Are friends electric' because he has used synths in inspirational way and he was one of the first to do it. 

he is also an atheist and doesn't believe in religion.

week 7

This week at the studio i was practicing the chords for my sixty’s piece "house of the rising sun" by The Animals on the piano and the organ they have at the studio.  My tutor wasn’t in this week so he had somebody to hold the fort while he was away touring like u do when ur a musician. I felt that i had learnt a lot with this guy who was filling in for my tutor. My tutor had introduced me before to him during the earlier sessions and i knew he would be a useful asset to my training to help me finish my practicing for the song however once we started writing down the actual lyrics and understanding the song we played it over and over again in till i eventually managed to nail the piece of music however there is still more practice to be done with remembering the notes for the track when we record our music takes and this is what i shall do at home with my midi keyboard and amp.    




the original piece of lyrics that we first posted wernt correct however me and the other lad filling in took a listen to the lyrics and found out that some of the words were not correct so we looked at the fist piece of lyrics and changed them. Below are the correct lyrics  

HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN (LYRICS)

Am          C           D     F

There is a house in New Orleans

Am              C        E7

They call the Rising Sun

Am                    C         D                 F

And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

Am           E            Am          E7

And God I know I'm one

My mother was a tailor

She sewed my new bluejeans

My father was a gamblin' man

Down in New Orleans

Now the only thing a gambler needs

Is a suitcase and trunk

And the only time he's satisfied

Is when he's drunk

------ SOLO ------  (ROLLED NOTES)

Oh mother tell your children

Not to do what I have done

Spend your lives in sin and misery

In the House of the Rising Sun

Well, I got one foot on the platform

The other foot on the train

I'm goin' back to New Orleans

To wear that ball and chain

Well, there is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun

And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

And God I know I'm one

------ OUTRO ------

Week 6 Choosing a 60s song

"we had a discussion about what song we wanted to do in the 60's. I had some ideas about a band called budgie who did a song called bread fan but I found out it was recorded in 1971 - I liked it because there was lots of effects and effects and panning in the speaker which was cool sometimes. We started looking at youtube at some possibilities. We looked at  the Kinks, The Beach boys. I learnt that the beach boys had been very influenced in their studio work by the beatles (Sargent peppers). I didn't want to do those tracks though because theyt weren't enough of a challenge and didn't really interest mre that much. I suggested the Animals and we looked at 'House of the rising sun' ot grabbed me because there was lots of organ playing. I  found that 60s stuff is more relaxed and passive than the 50s stuff weve been doing. It'll certainly be a different ride"

here are the chords and words and a clip of me playing it for the first time

freddy practicing

House of the rising sun

Am    C        D          F
There is a house in New Orleans,
Am        C      E7
They call the "Rising Sun",
Am       C       D           F
It's been the ruin of many a poor girl, (boys?)
Am     E        Am    E7
And God, I know, I'm one.

My mother was a tailor,
She sewed those new blue jeans,
my husbend he's a gambling man,
(drinks) down in New Orleans.

My husbend in a gambler,
He goes from town to town,
The only time, he's satisfied, is when
He drinks his liquor down.

Oh, mother, tell your children
Not to do what I have done -
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of Rising Sun

One foot on the platform,
The other's on the train,
I'm going back to New Orleans,
to wear that ball and chain.

Going back to New Orleans,
My race is almost run,
I'm going to spend the rest of my life,
Beneath that "Rising Sun".

Week 5-recording the vocals

This week me and my tutor recorded down the vocals which were fairly easy as i knew the lyrics off by heart but it took several takes before we got down a fantastic take afterwards we played around with and added some affects that being we used compressions reverbs and EQs however still we were limited down to 2 tracks as in the 50s.  Finally after mixing everything down together it was time to get our record by any means necessary. Unfortunately we didn't have a record scratcher but who would? So we saved it to a memory stick to try and burn it on a cd however i got home and tried but it wouldn't let me so on my next session i will see if i can get my record scratched to a cd. The session went really well and i thurally enjoyed singing "hound dog" it was a privilege to sing one of the kings greatest rock en roll hits it was nice basic and so simple to sing. So if you happen to do the fifties as any music project id recommend some Elvis?  Also as well as patting myself on the back for working hard towards the project I'd like to thank my tutor and the studio owner for putting their input in the song and i would be honoured to play with them again for our future hits so thanks guys. I believe that ive learnt an awful lot of history of music from this project and i can't wait in till we start our next project THE 60S!         

Week 4 - tidying up backing track

last week on the 50s track for  which we did a cover version of elvis hound dog we saved the track we recorded onto the computer. This wasn't what would happen in the 50's but we did it for a couple of reasons. Being firstly we'd needed to be able to put it on a CD or tape and we'd needed to be able to take it to other places to edit or mix - this is because there are problems with travel and I might not be able to make it to the studio so we might have to move. We played around with EQ's that means that we can effect different frequencies. You can alter sound to make it more clear to listen to and balanced. I started to use the original 50s method using a mixing desk but it was difficult to understand EQ this way so we used a computer because you could see visually how you effected the track.  After we Eq'd we had to balance the instruments on different tracks so they sounded good together. This was because we could only use two to three tracks (because thats what they had in the 50's) so we had to edit or record those three tracks down to one track (mix them together) so we could have a track free to put the vocals on.

I  enjoyed starting to understand how EQ's worked but I still struggle to get it completely - we need to work on it more. I was getting to a point where I could understand it but it then slipped away from me. I wanted to do it but couldn't understand it. When I thought I was close it turned out I wasn't. It was a little frustrating.

The whole day went really well - it got the track mixed down ready for the vocals.

3rd week - recording 50's track

This week on my silver arts award my next task was to record myself playing the organ in a band doing a cover of Elvis hound dog.  they would have usually scratched their music to records in the 50s however we were limited to what equipment we had so we used tape this was not easy as we had to arrange the studio and mic's to certain positions to get the right levels eventually we managed to get the levels done which took at least 40 min's to get the right sound quality yet again technology strikes  as we were only able to use at least two or three mic's  a 50s studio didn't have a lot of mics that were available for usage so we did the best of what we had.  learning from this experience helped me to clearly understand what the 50s were really like. it was a fun and enjoyable and i would a recommend trying the 50s if your practicing music it was a laugh! And i don't think i could have done it with out the good old help from my mentor who played the drums and the studio owner who played the bass so thumbs up to yer both! we eventually managed over the course of two hours to complete the piece of music however one thing still remains the vocals im hoping they'll go well also im thinking of maybe doing some backing vocals as well as some clicks and claps. i think things went according to plan i had had expected that me and the rest of the team would have to do some sort studio arrangement with the mics and other things such as studio sound barriers and stands, amps anything a 50s sound studio would have needed.  the day was very busy the the vibe was great there was ideas going around left right and center but we focused on the main target ahead the completion of the music for the song. it took at least three takes because some of us weren't ether ready or we got out of time or just played some wrong notes but we decided on a take and eventually we completed it.

2nd Week

2nd Week Review on my silver arts award and what i have learned from it:

Ok so this week to start the music through the ages project. I started concentrating on the 50s and i will progress through the four decades in a six week period where i shall accomplish my set criteria’s i.e. planning, researching, practising, recording and then eventually editing in the restriction of my eras. This week i chose a track performed by Elvis Presley track named “hound dog”. During this week Me and my silver arts award music tutor who i would say is fairly experienced in a wide variety of musical instruments, took a look at the piece of music that we are doing a cover version for my arts award and structured it on to a A2 sized note pad so we would have a clear idea of how perform it. With a little persuasion and help from the studio owner who is also experienced in a range of music quality’s we asked if he would play the bass for us in the project as my tutor will be playing the drums and me the groovy church organ a good mix of blues and Rock en roll.

One of my tasks of the week of researching the 50s was to find out about the music in the 50s and the history of it! So this is some info i found:
     

1949 The first demonstration of the transistor by Shockley, Britain and Bardeen caused a revolution in recording equipment design and performance parameters, and was to have the same effect on domestic equipment. With the release by RCA of the first 7 inch diameter, 45 rpm microgroove discs, a short lived and good tempered battle to establish a new standard, 10 inch (or 12 inch) diameter records at 33.33 rpm or 7 inch (or larger) diameter records at 45rpm, commenced. In the event, both existed happily side by side each serving a particular purpose.

---

1952 Cinerama presented multi sound track replay to the public for the first time. This stimulated public interest in the possibility of stereo recordings and research was stepped up.

---

1950 The record companies generally adopted the new standards with the vast improvements in sound quality. Production of the 78rpm shellac disc began to be discontinued.

---

1954 The companies began to provide the equipment for stereo recording in major studios. The possibility of recording right hand and left hand signals simultaneously on separate tracks on quarter inch magnetic tape had already been demonstrated and some of the major problems inherent in transferring both signals to one groove of a disc had been solved by Baumann in 1930.

---

1956 Stereo LPs became available and new releases were issued in both mono (monaural) and stereo (stereophonic) versions. The Philips original cast recordings of My Fair Lady was one of the first million seller LPs together with Van Cliburn playing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto.

---

I have chosen music to be one of my educational courses because i enjoy listening and practising it and i would love to learn more while being accredited and recognized for it so this is something i will surely continue to pursue for sometime in the near future aswell as now.

I would say if i was going to describe my positive skills in music it would be to listen and respect other people’s views in music genres and ideas and to be patient and work open minded alongside different musicians.

My negative skills in music i would say is that i try to rush and combine things which i am not familiarised with first and so i end up jumbling my music during playthroughs. I need to practice with a few combined notes to do with around the information provided in a track to make a good rhythm. Then hopefully i should be ok?     

Photo's of Freddy in the studio - recording his 50's track 'Houndog'

Here are some photo's taken of Freddy whilst he prepares to record his 50's track, in one take! straight to tape! Unfortunately there are none of us playing as I was drumming at the time and it's quite tricky to drum and take photo's at the same time.....Simon Arts Award Mentor.

our plan for Arts award

Music through the Ages  Initial plan written on the 8^th September 2010

Aim: To research and create different pieces of music from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s using (within practical limits) the technology of that era.

Progress to be written and reflected on in online blog

http://freddyssilveraward.blogspot.com/

Our rough plan is to spend 4 weeks on each decade, researching, practising and recording.

This will take 16 weeks.

This takes us up to November/Dec

We aim to do our gig review in November

And to start planning our sharing sessions (possibly a radio broadcast?) in December.

Music planning week by week

50s	Studio	Homework	Outcome
Week 1 8/9/10	Planning, Arts award,  Timetabled	Look into music of the 50s, Online blog	Blog set up
Week 2	Record 50s piece	On line Blog	Successfully recorded/stressful! But eventually done.
Week 3	overdubs	On line Blog
Week 4	Mix – chooses next piece	On line Blog

60s	Studio	Homework	Outcome
Week 1	Taken a look At the sixtys	Online blogger	Chose a song By the animals
Week 2	practice	Online blogger Research Practice at home to ready the piece	Learnt the structure of the song to play confidently
Week 3	record	Blog
Week 4	mix	Blog

70s	Studio	Homework
Week 1	Plan	Blog
Week 2	practice	Blog
Week 3	record	Blog
Week 4	mix	Blog

80s	Studio	Homework
Week 1	Start thinking about radio show to share our project.	Blog
Week 2	practice	Blog
Week 3	Record	Blog
Week 4	Mix	Blog