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