They are a set of four free plugins from Plugin Alliance - an M-pressor, a passive EQ, a M/S tool and a Hi/Lo pass filter. I set about downloading them and trying them out on my existing pieces. Now, for anyone who is up on all their plugins this is probably old news, but for me it was great as I often spend the majority of my time in the composing/arranging phase of creating music and tend to (stupidly) overlook the mixing stage – and by doing so, miss out on the wonders that a good plugin can bring.

Don’t get me wrong I am aware of a lot of plugins and their function but these were ones I often overlooked. They all added clarity, separation and warmth to my mixes. These are all things I strive (and struggle) to achieve easily. Now, rather than me show you exactly what they have done for me I would just strongly recommend that you check them out as they are well worth the time it takes to register.

Not only is there the additional panic of having to buy and new HD, but also the old but terrifying worry of “was it all backed up before it broke!?!?”

I sure hope so, and if it is, I am going to become a whizz at backing up my material in more ways than one. And if it isn’t… well I don’t even want to contemplate it… Fingers Crossed Eh!?

As a composer for visuals this is so much fun, you can just be free and let any idea come into play. The idea for this was, what would the music be for a gnome at work? Lots of them running around very busy in their workshop, probably making sweets and toys of some kind. Lots of bright colours, lots of movement, and very quirky.

This is what I came up with. I wanted it to be fun, playful, childish and of course have lots of little percussive elements.

I would love to see some visual interpretations of this piece!

This is in part I think because most of my work is done to spec or for a client of some description, so I will always be trying to second guess what they will think, thereby overriding my own creative intuition. This is a big problem. My reaction to this is to start writing some pieces that write themselves – I choose any sound I like, play in something I like and keep going, trying my best to just let myself “play”. I became a musician for that freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want and this is what I plan to reconnect with.

As important as it is for me to be able to do good work to a brief I think it is even more important to remain faithful to my own creative drive.

So…I had a play…here it is

This got me thinking about the fact that every year we hear the same Christmas songs played over and over again, to the point of overkill. So I thought, what would I do if I were to play a Christmas song?

I had this question jumping around my brain for a couple of weeks, until one grey November morning it hit me – I would do them as jaunty, acoustic interpretations. I love a track that is layered with un-quantized, raw, acoustic instruments, as they have such amazing character to them. So that is what I decided to do. Luckily I have quite an extensive collection of instruments at my disposal for this so that wasn’t an issue. However, what songs can I cover without infringing copyright…of course the public domain. I compiled a list of some 10 tracks that I considered to be staples of my annual festive fill and set about preparing myself for this great project.

I have currently started three pieces that I am very happy with; my bicycle wheel (spinning it makes a great noise!) has even made quite a prominent appearance in these tracks – awesome! I’ll keep you updated on their progress.