21 March 2012
A severely hecticated day! Woke up later than I wanted after late session listening to mixes and then chill out that had me slightly staggering toward the Zed room around 2am.
Woke up to a desert as the plumber had shut off the water to start on the horrendously expensive copper pipe loom.No shower and in dressing gown to welcome Liam the engineer for a stereo recording listening session.Coffee discovered after finding water source from sink in outside toilet which is still plumbed into the old house next door.First shit bullet hit soon after when news came that the said toilet was blocked after overuse from the weekend recording session and early morning ablutions from tradesmen who are now a platoon.From then on I’ve been ricocheting like a superball.Unloading logs delivered by Hutch,signing “Script” vinyls and posters, decisions on lights, window placements, positioning of “white” appliances, the movement of the last remaining terracotta pots unbroken from 2 hard winters that contain the climbing plants hugging the wall where the window is to be slapped through, trying to sort out Polish visit and arranging sending of audio material from coal mine to Z Gora and throughout all, listening to the mixes that are sprinkled with crackles,pops,buzzes, wild fluctuating recording levels, bum notes and misplaced vocals all of which we can only press the delete button as they are unsaveable.
I have to be ruthless as there’s too many options but it’s frustrating having a song fall apart when it starts off so positively .Liam and I both mimic steering an out of control car on some of the songs like Incubus that always seem to go off the road and into the “duck pond” at well known sections just when you think you are on the “motorway” after the “A” and “B” roads that took us out of the “Field” where the performances begin.
Breaking away from the control room to make kitchen decisions helps with the disappointments that can grind you down after a couple of hours but I am still finding gems in the mass of desk recordings that will be back ups to the multi tracks I still have to investigate. I have to listen to the Calum sessions tonight and still have to write the plenary speech for the “gig” at the SEC on Friday.
Meanwhile the plumber plumbs in soft solder smoke, the electrician weaves the wires, the hammers drive in the nails and the drills sing,the Zeist gig sounds promising, the sun shines outside the office window and Wullie is unblocking the toilet at 4.It’s still short of 3pm.
There was a sandstorm in Dubai yesterday.