Episode XII: A New Delusion

Week 12 - 2.12.09 - 3.12.09

With my rapping alter-ego, M.C. Keating out of the picture, i can now give a serious account of my musical week!

On Wednesday, i got an earlier bus into Perth so that i could be ready for our practice gig with the Beatles band. But as to nobodys suprise, the practise gigs were cancelled! On top of this, our drummer had suspected swine flu, so we couldnt even practice as a band! Our lead guitarist was a no show too, so the practise was scrapped. Instead, i made my way to the practise rooms where i worked on my two pieces for first study. As i had a recording to do today, i felt the need for some extra practise. The pieces went well, although we only had time to do one recording! I was then told that Kevin Murray was to be away next week, so my next lesson would be in 2010! Woop! This gives me loads of time to perfect my pieces and to impress simon...i mean...Kevin!
I then went to go and practice with my own band, New Delusion. With the recording on friday, a last minute run through was essential. With working with Greensmith, i feel that i have displayed 'teacher-istic' qualities to guide him through the songs that the previous line up had written. I had to show him the drum parts and ultimatly what i wanted to do with the song. I also had to correct him and praise him when he got it right. With drums not being my first instrument, this gave me a massive confidence boost! We then had musical composition class where we were meant to be practising our Beatles songs, but our band was missing from this morning. Since i had been up since 6 this morning, i decided to take ir easy and head to ASDA for some well earned munch!

Thursday was quite a useful day at college. Again i got an early bus in so i could revise in the library for my Music Theory exam. I got a lot of revision done and felt confident entering the exam! It went well, but i was too slow at working everything out, and therefore ran out of time at the end. Even though i didnt complete the paper, i felt that i had done well. We then had session skills which was honestly a waste of time. The pieces that we are given week after week are either reggae or soul and consist of a three chord guitar part, which gets repeated throughout the song. Our band always gets bored and lashed out on some well known rock and rap numbers. We then had DAW where my piece is coming along nicely. I just need to add an outro to my track, then bounce it down. I am really enjoying DAW at the moment, and i am now realising the full potential of computer based music making and recording!

On friday came the recording! We were recording in Glasgow in LOFI studios, the same place where EAT DR APE had recorded their ep. The recording went well, yet i felt really rushed. We had 4 hours for one song, which might sound alot, but the time went really quickly! By the end, i only had 15 minutes to do all of the vocals for the track! Nightmare! I felt alot of pressure playing both the Rhythm and the Lead guitar parts on top of the vocals. I tried to negotiate with the sound engineers for more time, as they took an hour to set up, but i had no luck. The final copy came out ok, yet i feel it could have been better for the £70 i paid for. It was a good experience and i'm so glad to have my own music recorded.

Have a listen and let me know what you think!

The song is called 'Liquid'

www.myspace.com/newdelusion

Alex