BLOG-O-RAMAS

Congrats to Richard G. Benoit who mastered the Francophone Album Of The Year (Andrea Lindsay). Richard had also mastered another nominee, Kirsten Jones’ Mad Mile that was up for the Engineering award (Denis Tougas). Unfortunately, Denis did not get the award, but I was happy to have been a part of such a tasty record and I enjoyed the nomination in a second banana way as I recorded some of the overdubs here at Slaughterhouse 754. There’s a little pat on my back.

Here’s a taste of our co-write that made it on Mad Mile. This clip is a rough cut with the reference audio (a little hissy to say the least), hope they put the cleaner and juicier final mix by next week.

Kirsten Jones – Save Your Love

The score 1 – 0 for me. Last week, the contestant tried stealing a trombone along with my volume of Walt Whitman. Thanks to the trombone being so awkward to take through the door while carrying a bag of my books (Walt Whitman being the heaviest) they lost their point when they were stopped before leaving the building.

Anyone else nutty enough to try?

The Josiah record is in mid wrap-up. Hard to believe, I know, but Richard G. Benoit has mastered the tracks and sequenced them. I did receive a phone call from J. about possibly redoing the chorus to one of the songs. Not sure if he’ll go the distance with that one, but I may be spending a couple of hours working on it further before the week is out.

In the middle of mixing Thundermonks right now. The Outbred Inlaws are getting their CD mastered this week and then it’s Hear, Comes The Cavalry on the bench to be mixed.

Richard recommended that I put up mirrors so I can keep my eye on my clients while I work. Is that going too far?

Thanks for the mail. The Triops is doing fine. A little buttery right now. Apparently you don’t have to restrict it to pellet food. Tiny bits of vegetable matter or even something like… shrimp, for example. Kind of like sitting down at a restaurant to eat monkey, if you ask me, but hell, they’d eat each other given the chance. To be clear, the Triops is really small. A. gave him a little piece of shrimp. Unfortunately, it was left over from our meal and had been marinated in a delicious butter/ garlic sauce. Great for us, but in the morning I did see the oily globs floating on the surface of his tank – tray more like it. For a moment I thought, yikes, I should change the water, poor…guy-thingy, but then I smartened up and thought, if he goes out in a buttery mess, so be it. Should the Earth be invaded by crustacean beings from the outer regions of our galaxy and round us up for a butter/ garlic marinade then my only response can be, “figures.”

Onto more pressing matters. As I have never owned a Hammond organ until about a year ago, I didn’t realize that it would require an annual “oiling” – but hey, it does! And I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that I could use any old oil. But no, Hammonds only use Hammond oil. I ordered mine from St. Catharines, ON. And so, now it is oiled, both in the motor funnels and the generator. You would think that the bearing “squealing” would be done, but no, apparently it’s a slow ooze into the mechanical workings and can take up to 2 weeks to get to the necessary parts. 2 weeks! Your next guess would probably be right on the money. The friggin’ Hammond must have been designed by a watch maker!

Bingo. Celebrate with a half-price dish of battered shell fish at any conveniently located Red Lobster.

Busy, yes. Approaching the end of the Hear, Comes The Cavalry record, ready to pick up where we left off on the Expos project and just started the Thundermonks this past weekend. Picked up some new gear, rehearsing with Kirsten Jones and playing shows with Prince Perry (again!), scheduling around construction elsewhere in our building, trying to plan some sort of vacation this summer, and busy raising a lone triops. What?

This.

And to be a little clearer.

People ask me questions all the time.

Mitch, did I sing in tune?

Mitch, did I play in time?

Mitch,do you think this is a hit song?

Mitch, what do you want in your tea?

Well, recently I was asked something that I CAN answer. What have you been reading? Let me tell you, I rounded off a great year consuming literature with The Book Of Negroes. After that I kicked off the New Year with Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters. Believe it or not, very different books. Recently finished Midnight Cowboy – I like reading about hustling now and then, but what do I do to match last year’s War And Peace marathon? Pulled out the big guns and started Gone With The Wind. I’m sure it could block a bullet if need be. I keep very close to my chest. Every book has a lip, the starter’s hump. How many pages? For me it’s usually about 30 – 75. If I can make it just over then I have no problem tearing through to the end. Not quite there with Magaret Mitchell’s epic. Right now it’s mostly giving me some exercise.

On the music front… finished off 2 weeks of Expos tracking. Will continue to sort through the takes to prepare for the next sessions in February. Some of them will be off on tour with The Cavaliers followed by an Expos Tour. Busy.

I’m coming closer to mixing time with Hear, Comes The Cavalry. Ooop, Josiah is here. Later.