Last weekend was spent totally over caffeinated in Red Bull’s perfectly equipped studios (just off perhaps the best named street in London, More London)
I was there working with super-producer kidkanevil (AKA Gerard) and Rob, his WhizzKid Modular Synth friend. 80 channels (mainly of cello), two days and a lot of Red Bull later, we finished “mod synth vs cello… fight” It was so much fun and, actually, one of the best sessions I’ve been a part of for a long time – I’m really looking forward to hearing the track when we go back to mix it fully in mid September!
Following this and a few announcements, I ended up staying and working in the CelloCave™ for a few more days – it’s all for the good, and with pre-production for the new album starting in earnest as soon as possible (it’s actually started…) and a number of other projects looming, it’s nice to be able to get a grasp on them properly before it goes completely mental from mid September.
The next deadline to fall is actually a recently added thing, new as of last night. Commissioned in the pub. Don’t worry, it’s nothing silly. Well, maybe it is…
Gabriel Prokofiev, composer, DJ and brains-in-chief of Nonclassical, is in town for a premiere tonight and a club night on Saturday, and we met for beers and such. It was a jolly affair, which ultimately turned to discussing extended cello techniques, recorders, compressors and laptops (the usual pub chat). Did you know there are, like, a million different kinds of recorder? I was aware of the usual prep school ones, the descant, the alto… but The Great Bass? He sounds like a very distinguished kind of recorderly aristocrat; poised, superior, but ultimately useless. I mean, what’s that range all about? It goes one octave below middle C!
Is that it?
Anyway it appears that his label, Nonclassical, have recorded a piece for contemporary recorder ensemble and would like to to be remixed as a companion track on the album. This is something they do, and the people that have contributed across their back catalogue (which is now distributed by Naxos) is a sparkly, twinkly who’s who list of audio trouble makers: 