If you have been wondering what have those DTM fellows been up to, here is the answer. “A lot!”
“Where is the music then?” I here shouted from both sides of the pond.
Well, we have been battling technical issues which make raising the Titanic look as simple as pulling the plug on the North Atlantic (a wild exaggeration, but you catch my drift.)
In mid November, Eric's temporary “Fluffy Bunny Studios” reached the end of its natural life. The Bunny Master general burrowed his way out of his daughter's basement and - as we speak - is setting up the gear in new premises… After a 14 month home rebuild, Man Cave Studios will soon be operational again. Hooray!
Meanwhile, in London, Tresco Road Studios was beset by technical troubles beyond the patience of a saint. The 8 track recording system that I have used for many of our past tracks has finally expired. Prayers were said and wise words were spoken. “It has done you proud !” – Indeed. The curator of the Victoria & Albert museum caught wind of this and called to ask if they could display the corpse in their “obsolete recording gear” section.
Not one but two replacement recorders were purchased and returned as they both developed the same fault – jamming in record mode. The only way to turn the machine off was to unplug it, thus loosing the recordings that yours truly had spent blood, sweat and tears over. (Good name for a band !?) Time to try a different manufacturer's product, right?
Now our hero is struggling over a shiny new 20 track recorder. Yes! 20 tracks, count them… It is clearly intellectually superior to its operator and is proving a tricky nut to crack. But that's not all.
Several sessions were abandoned because of the discovery of a rogue vibration distorting playback when the note of “C” was played (That’s 130.813 Hertz if you want to know –and who doesn’t).
Could the fault be the monitor speakers? Surely not. 6 different guitars were tried to no avail. It still distorted. Visions of £ & $ appeared in front of my eyes in true Loony Tunes style.
Finally, after moving a wide variety of books, pictures, model cars, pots of pens and treasured mementos of a life in show business, a small tin toy London bus was found to be the culprit --vibrating whenever a “C” note was played. Remove the bus, remove the distortion! Simple but frustrating.
The key of the song we were working on? Of course, it’s C
The title of the song? “Hurry Up and wait“. How appropriate.
Art mimicking life? Life mimicking art ? You choose …
T.B.
Tresco Road Studios
Dec 1st, 2024