Yesterday evening I experienced the worst feeling possible for someone producing music, the loss of files!
Since last summer I've been making lots of percussion noises using the various virtual modular synths I have, but mostly the Arturia Moog Modular and the ARP 2600. This process involves creating sequences of simple percussive sounds and applying changes to the sound over time. You then end up with a sequence with a sound that evolves through time, I then save this as an audio file. I take this audio file into the Propeller Head ReCycle software and create slices of all the various sounds, these can then be saved as separate audio files. The next step involves classifying the sounds which is a manual process but usually I will name a set, noise snares, noise hits, zaps, pings, kicks etc. I then load these various sounds into Logics' EXS-24 sampler and create a drum map which automatically apply's each sample to a different key on the keyboard. These are then saved as kits.
For me these sounds create what I feel is a uniqueness to our 'sound', I've been guilty in the past of using many of the same samples/noises for our songs but with this album I'm really trying to define a new and hopefully different style. As you can imagine these sounds have become the building blocks to this project.
After my Mac upgrade at the end of last year I took the main drive from my old machine and installed this as a spare drive into the new MacPro. For months I've been meaning to clean this drive up and use it as a back-up drive rather than the main place where all the new ideas are kept. Obviously I back this up regularly to a number of other drives, one networked drive and two Lacie FW drives. These are kept in various places to ensure I will never loose anything. At the end of Wednesdays session I decided to clean my drive and make this my main work disc. I copied what I thought were the important Logic files to a temporary space, formatted the old drive and tested that Logic loaded everything correctly, it did so I was happy and went to bed.
Yesterday I opened up Logic to work on a new idea and found that EXS-24 couldn't find any of my samples, the ideas I have worked on so far all worked OK, this was because Logic saves as an option all the instruments to a local project folder. However my 13 odd ideas only used a very small selection of the samples I had created. I'd lost probably 7, 000 of my samples and couldn't figure out why. After trawling through the Logic user forum there were some issues raised to Logic loosing file path references, this could explain why I had lost my samples. I searched my various drives to try and find these, I had thought these were saved into Logics' ESX-24 instrument samples, but I could only find the included library sounds. It then dawned on me that they were obviously somewhere within the drive I had formatted the previous night. I started to feel sick to the stomach at the prospect of loosing my collection.
I had used DiscWarrior before to recover files from a work drive, this worked but I found it was hit and miss plus you have to know what you are looking for as the drive will have millions of files that can possibly be recovered. I found via a very useful link on the Logic user forum a piece of software called ProManager3 by Redmatica (http://www.redmatica.com/Redmatica/ProManager3.html) I purchased this and is successfully found the EXS patches, it then told me what files were missing, the file path and the files name. This was useful and confirmed I had indeed deleted the samples from within the Library folder on my previous drive. So now I have the 7,000 file names that I needed DiscWarrior to search for. I created a simple AppleScript using Automator to export the file names and get Disc Warrior to search for. So far so good.
After about 30 minutes it was looking good and had identified possible matches for file names. It recognised them as audio files and gave me the option to recover them which I started to do. Another 45 minutes later it had recovered all files, but the Mac wasn't recognising them as the correct format and nothing seemed to open them as audio files. Again the sick feeling returned which was made worse by the prospect that I had been feeling optimistic for the past hour.
After more trawling through the web I came across a command line piece of software called Switch (http://www.nch.com.au/switch/plus.html) that allowed batch audio file conversion. My dilemma was what format had I saved these files in, I was pretty sure they were WAVs, so I selected a conversion from .raw to .wav. Another 20 minutes later I had restored 7,000 files. I opened a few of the files and indeed they were back.
However the EXS still wasn't able to find the files :-(, I used the ProManager3 software again to try and restore the links between the patches and samples, it was then I noticed in the file path of the missing files all of my original samples were actually saved as .aiff. So I ran the batch conversion again and then ProManager3. After six hours I had finally restored my precious samples. PHEW.
Moral of this story, don't work on complex things at the end of an evening session when you are tired and make sure you back-up the right things in the first place.
If this ever happens to you, you know who to ask. My rates are reasonable :-)
Friday, 29 January 2010
Thursday, 21 January 2010
#3 DEMOS
I'm at that stage where I really want to post some of the demos but at the same time want to hold them back so there is an element of surprise for you. I think when we have a few more finished tracks I will post the ideas where they came from.
We will however be releasing a single sometime in April containing 2 new tracks and a cover version from a band some of you will be familiar with. I'm not sure if this will be a physical release or just digital as the costs for doing a single on CD are quite expensive. If we do it as physical CD we will only press 100 - 200 so it will be a very ltd edition.
We also have a name for the album which is a first, normally it's something we think about very last minute but I had a dream that the album was called this particular title so hopefully that's an omen.
We are also shooting a video for the single so lots to get on with...
We will however be releasing a single sometime in April containing 2 new tracks and a cover version from a band some of you will be familiar with. I'm not sure if this will be a physical release or just digital as the costs for doing a single on CD are quite expensive. If we do it as physical CD we will only press 100 - 200 so it will be a very ltd edition.
We also have a name for the album which is a first, normally it's something we think about very last minute but I had a dream that the album was called this particular title so hopefully that's an omen.
We are also shooting a video for the single so lots to get on with...
Saturday, 2 January 2010
HNY 2010
Well it's all over again far too quick. I do get a little depressed after Christmas especially with the prospect of a dark, cold and gloomy month ahead. This Christmas as been slightly pants as I've had the flu, hopefully of the swine kind so I get it out of the way. I hav only started to feel OK today.
For a long time New Year always meant Skiing as traditionally we would go away on Jan 1st. Hopefully when my daughter is old enough that tradition will start again.
So to the music... We'll be reconvening again on the 16th to work on the next few songs, I'm pretty pleased with how it's all going especially the sounds I'm coming up with. We really want to continue with the momentum we've been gathering so hopefully #3 shouldn't take too long.
There are a few albums I'm looking forward to already this year. Goldfrapp, Hot Chip & Hurts. Can't wait for those.
Matt
For a long time New Year always meant Skiing as traditionally we would go away on Jan 1st. Hopefully when my daughter is old enough that tradition will start again.
So to the music... We'll be reconvening again on the 16th to work on the next few songs, I'm pretty pleased with how it's all going especially the sounds I'm coming up with. We really want to continue with the momentum we've been gathering so hopefully #3 shouldn't take too long.
There are a few albums I'm looking forward to already this year. Goldfrapp, Hot Chip & Hurts. Can't wait for those.
Matt
Monday, 21 December 2009
Monday, 23 November 2009
EY'S MEMORY LOSS
I've received a number of emails over the past few weeks asking about EY and the main question is why don't NK get mentioned anymore. I've discussed this with a few people but after the latest email I thought I would finally write this post.
It was down to EY that many of you reading this found NK and for that I am grateful. We had a glowing review from Rob Windle (Orac) when 53 D N came out and we began to chat regularly and meet-up to discuss electro things.
As we were putting the finishing touches to WIRED: I spoke to Rob about advertising on his site and we agreed upon a fee of £130 per month for an ad to appear on the EY site, these were to run over three months. Previously we had spent a similar amount with Google adwords and Facebook advertising which really helped push the sales of our first album. At that point Rob wasn't selling any kind of advertising on his site and all of the various banners and links were there for free.
When Rob heard WIRED: for the first time he asked if it could be the first EY release. Rob suggested that instead of paying for the ads he would get a split of sales originating from his site in return for promotion, I was happy with this. He asked for the money to be paid upfront as an advance, I paid him in a couple of instalments even though at that point we hadn't actually sold any copies.
The advert went live on the site in April and there were a few mentions of WIRED: within the blog. As soon as we started to sell copies of WIRED: Rob was emailing regularly asking for an update on sales and did I have an estimate of how much he would be getting. I did say to him that I had already paid him in advance but still he kept asking the question.
In June following an EY site update I noticed our ad had disappeared from the site, I was about to head off on holiday so didn't really have a chance to question this. Rob had said that the ad could run all the way up until the Kajagoogoo tour so I was a little confused about this.
Returning back from holiday I had a few more emails from him asking when he'd be getting more money from me. At that point I asked the question about why the ad had disappeared. I started to question the relationship and asked what had EY done to help promote WIRED? Apart from a few mentions there had not been a review of the album and very few mentions. Little Boots, La Roux & Marsheaux all had fairly prominent exposure on the site at this point but of course none of these artists paid for that.
A label is supposed to support an artist by promoting it at every opportunity, this didn't really happen. At the album launch which was an EY event, all Rob really did was book the venue. I did all of the promotion and even ended up paying the other artists, I also gave Rob a split of ticket sales and our merchandise.
It became apparent that Rob was only interested in getting money from me, as a last ditch attempt from him he promised a glowing review of WIRED: and after that would I send him some money? Of course the review never came and within a week, all mentions of Northern Kind disappeared from the site as if we had never existed.
It's a shame because I thought of Rob as a mate, obviously we shared a love of the same music and both felt an EY label was a good idea. I'm not sure what changed his opinion of me and NK, I feel pretty stupid now though especially as I have the EY logo plastered on the WIRED: sleeve and CD.
We learn and move on...
Matt
PS Snippets of the demos with Sarah's vocals will be on the Forum this week, been having some Mac problems but a new shiny machine is heading my way.
It was down to EY that many of you reading this found NK and for that I am grateful. We had a glowing review from Rob Windle (Orac) when 53 D N came out and we began to chat regularly and meet-up to discuss electro things.
As we were putting the finishing touches to WIRED: I spoke to Rob about advertising on his site and we agreed upon a fee of £130 per month for an ad to appear on the EY site, these were to run over three months. Previously we had spent a similar amount with Google adwords and Facebook advertising which really helped push the sales of our first album. At that point Rob wasn't selling any kind of advertising on his site and all of the various banners and links were there for free.
When Rob heard WIRED: for the first time he asked if it could be the first EY release. Rob suggested that instead of paying for the ads he would get a split of sales originating from his site in return for promotion, I was happy with this. He asked for the money to be paid upfront as an advance, I paid him in a couple of instalments even though at that point we hadn't actually sold any copies.
The advert went live on the site in April and there were a few mentions of WIRED: within the blog. As soon as we started to sell copies of WIRED: Rob was emailing regularly asking for an update on sales and did I have an estimate of how much he would be getting. I did say to him that I had already paid him in advance but still he kept asking the question.
In June following an EY site update I noticed our ad had disappeared from the site, I was about to head off on holiday so didn't really have a chance to question this. Rob had said that the ad could run all the way up until the Kajagoogoo tour so I was a little confused about this.
Returning back from holiday I had a few more emails from him asking when he'd be getting more money from me. At that point I asked the question about why the ad had disappeared. I started to question the relationship and asked what had EY done to help promote WIRED? Apart from a few mentions there had not been a review of the album and very few mentions. Little Boots, La Roux & Marsheaux all had fairly prominent exposure on the site at this point but of course none of these artists paid for that.
A label is supposed to support an artist by promoting it at every opportunity, this didn't really happen. At the album launch which was an EY event, all Rob really did was book the venue. I did all of the promotion and even ended up paying the other artists, I also gave Rob a split of ticket sales and our merchandise.
It became apparent that Rob was only interested in getting money from me, as a last ditch attempt from him he promised a glowing review of WIRED: and after that would I send him some money? Of course the review never came and within a week, all mentions of Northern Kind disappeared from the site as if we had never existed.
It's a shame because I thought of Rob as a mate, obviously we shared a love of the same music and both felt an EY label was a good idea. I'm not sure what changed his opinion of me and NK, I feel pretty stupid now though especially as I have the EY logo plastered on the WIRED: sleeve and CD.
We learn and move on...
Matt
PS Snippets of the demos with Sarah's vocals will be on the Forum this week, been having some Mac problems but a new shiny machine is heading my way.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
NORMAL SERVICE WILL RESUME
OMG - I have never been so busy in my entire life. I suppose I can't complain with the state of our economy and with so many people being out of work. Nonetheless I have been busy, and that has meant the music has suffered. SInce our great weekend three weeks putting vocals to the first tracks of #3 I literally haven't been anywhere near the studio. I would have hoped to have at least a track finished by now.
Meeting Limahl tomorrow for a catch-up. Then as of this weekend normal routine will resume and I will be cracking on with the music.
I also have a pressing remix to complete and we might even stick a freebie track out before Christmas, perhaps a cover of something?!?!
Turrah for now.
Matt
P.S WIRED: is now out on Spotify, so time to kiss those iTunes royalties and CD's sales goodbye.
Meeting Limahl tomorrow for a catch-up. Then as of this weekend normal routine will resume and I will be cracking on with the music.
I also have a pressing remix to complete and we might even stick a freebie track out before Christmas, perhaps a cover of something?!?!
Turrah for now.
Matt
P.S WIRED: is now out on Spotify, so time to kiss those iTunes royalties and CD's sales goodbye.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
THE LAST THREE
Swansea.
First we had the morning after, urgh! The breakfast at the Premier Inn just about hit the blood stream as I started to drive back but I didn't get that much sleep. Fortunately the drive to Leicester is less than 30 minutes.
My mum had stayed over to look after our daughter and for some strange reason I had said that I would cook Sunday lunch. Once home I had about 2 1/2 hours to do the lunch and get ready for the drive to Swansea. I think the food did the trick as I started to feel much better.
The drive to Swansea was hideously long but we arrived on time, the venue, Sin City was a real dump and a vert apt name, The first thing I noticed was the smell and how sticky the floors were. The Goo sound guys had set my gear up so we had a quick sound check. Paul and Andy the promoters were there and were quite apologetic about how few people were going to be there.
We went on at 8pm and I actually got a few boos only because they thought we were Kajagoogoo as we walked on. They soon warmed to us though, especially after Sarah announced it's quality not quantity that counts, that got a few laughs.
We shared a dressing room with the Kaja guys so had a few laughs at the shapes Steve was throwing, obviously his tartan trousers were giving him punk legs. Brian the manager is quite a serious guy but the guys were managing to get him smiling as they were pretending to be Diva's. Nick asked him to take the set list down but as he reached for it Nick said "oh dear I've dropped it" when he bent down Nick lifted his kilt so poor old Brian got to witness the same as me from the previous night.
We left pretty early after the show and decided to get some food, we drove around Swansea centre for half an hour looking for somewhere suitable. We had both imagined eating nice fish 'n' chips at the seaside but it appears Swansea isn't really that sort of place.
Music kept me awake on the drive back, Sarah discovered some new music Rex The Dogs album - 'The Rex the Dog Show' so this was blasted through my cars system.
London
As already well hinted at, this was a skin of your teeth moment.
I'm pretty good with check lists and I was already to go, I'd texted Sarah and said pick you up at 3pm, she replied make it 3.30. So I'd got myself ready to go for 3pm and sat on the sofa and decided to check my emails with a bit of time to spare. At 3.20 I set off to get Sarah. An hour and twenty minutes later we were at Watford when for some reason it dawned on me my laptop was still at home. Looking at the clock it was 4.50pm, I did a quick turn around at the next junction and started to head back to Leicester. We called Brian the manager to tell him our dilemma, he didn't sound too pleased but that was because all of the the Goo gear was stuck in a broken down van on the other side of London. I called Zoë to see if she could grab my laptop and meet us on route, we managed to meet her at junction 20, only one junction away from Leicester but it still saved us a precious 30 minutes.
The drive back to London was frantic and we made it to the venue at 7.45pm (we were on at 8.00pm) The Kajagoogoo guys gave us a cheers and we were helped in Wout / Ben and the promoter Paul. The stage set-up was even more buttock clenching as my Apex keyboard stand decided to jam so that meant stick a few bits on the floor. I don't think a pre-gig drive and set-up has ever gone so badly.
Sarah's first glimpse of the stage and venue was when she walked on, but still the set went OK and we got a good reception. A big thanks to Ben for selling the merchandise, we did quite well.
There was a small party afterwards for guests and we met a couple of friends of Limahl who really liked the set, they worked for Gaydar radio and will be playing some of our tracks.
Southampton
Everything was checked at least ten times before we set off today, never making that mistake again.
We arrived on time for 5pm and had a quick look around the venue. We decided to stay and get ready at the venue rather than heading back to the hotel. Again we shared a dressing room with the Kaja guys which was good being the last night.
Tonight had to be the night that my remote starting of the set didn't work, it had worked perfectly for every other show but decided to fail on the last night, in-fact it was actually the master volume that had been turned down which was odd. Sarah put this down to a spooky experience as her mobile had also lost it's charge!
Sarah was pretty nervous as her dad was in attendance tonight, the first time he'd ever seen her perform. But the set went well and as always it was over far too soon.
After the Goo set we had a good old drink and chat with the guys and they invited us to play with them in December. We've also had offers from Nick and Steve to play guitar and bass on our next album so you never know we may have those guys on stage with us in the future.
I had been quite sceptical as to how much I would enjoy the tour but I have to say I had a great time. What was also good was meeting lots of new people that gave us some great feedback and comments and more importantly bought out CDs.
Roll on Bedsitland.
First we had the morning after, urgh! The breakfast at the Premier Inn just about hit the blood stream as I started to drive back but I didn't get that much sleep. Fortunately the drive to Leicester is less than 30 minutes.
My mum had stayed over to look after our daughter and for some strange reason I had said that I would cook Sunday lunch. Once home I had about 2 1/2 hours to do the lunch and get ready for the drive to Swansea. I think the food did the trick as I started to feel much better.
The drive to Swansea was hideously long but we arrived on time, the venue, Sin City was a real dump and a vert apt name, The first thing I noticed was the smell and how sticky the floors were. The Goo sound guys had set my gear up so we had a quick sound check. Paul and Andy the promoters were there and were quite apologetic about how few people were going to be there.
We went on at 8pm and I actually got a few boos only because they thought we were Kajagoogoo as we walked on. They soon warmed to us though, especially after Sarah announced it's quality not quantity that counts, that got a few laughs.
We shared a dressing room with the Kaja guys so had a few laughs at the shapes Steve was throwing, obviously his tartan trousers were giving him punk legs. Brian the manager is quite a serious guy but the guys were managing to get him smiling as they were pretending to be Diva's. Nick asked him to take the set list down but as he reached for it Nick said "oh dear I've dropped it" when he bent down Nick lifted his kilt so poor old Brian got to witness the same as me from the previous night.
We left pretty early after the show and decided to get some food, we drove around Swansea centre for half an hour looking for somewhere suitable. We had both imagined eating nice fish 'n' chips at the seaside but it appears Swansea isn't really that sort of place.
Music kept me awake on the drive back, Sarah discovered some new music Rex The Dogs album - 'The Rex the Dog Show' so this was blasted through my cars system.
London
As already well hinted at, this was a skin of your teeth moment.
I'm pretty good with check lists and I was already to go, I'd texted Sarah and said pick you up at 3pm, she replied make it 3.30. So I'd got myself ready to go for 3pm and sat on the sofa and decided to check my emails with a bit of time to spare. At 3.20 I set off to get Sarah. An hour and twenty minutes later we were at Watford when for some reason it dawned on me my laptop was still at home. Looking at the clock it was 4.50pm, I did a quick turn around at the next junction and started to head back to Leicester. We called Brian the manager to tell him our dilemma, he didn't sound too pleased but that was because all of the the Goo gear was stuck in a broken down van on the other side of London. I called Zoë to see if she could grab my laptop and meet us on route, we managed to meet her at junction 20, only one junction away from Leicester but it still saved us a precious 30 minutes.
The drive back to London was frantic and we made it to the venue at 7.45pm (we were on at 8.00pm) The Kajagoogoo guys gave us a cheers and we were helped in Wout / Ben and the promoter Paul. The stage set-up was even more buttock clenching as my Apex keyboard stand decided to jam so that meant stick a few bits on the floor. I don't think a pre-gig drive and set-up has ever gone so badly.
Sarah's first glimpse of the stage and venue was when she walked on, but still the set went OK and we got a good reception. A big thanks to Ben for selling the merchandise, we did quite well.
There was a small party afterwards for guests and we met a couple of friends of Limahl who really liked the set, they worked for Gaydar radio and will be playing some of our tracks.
Southampton
Everything was checked at least ten times before we set off today, never making that mistake again.
We arrived on time for 5pm and had a quick look around the venue. We decided to stay and get ready at the venue rather than heading back to the hotel. Again we shared a dressing room with the Kaja guys which was good being the last night.
Tonight had to be the night that my remote starting of the set didn't work, it had worked perfectly for every other show but decided to fail on the last night, in-fact it was actually the master volume that had been turned down which was odd. Sarah put this down to a spooky experience as her mobile had also lost it's charge!
Sarah was pretty nervous as her dad was in attendance tonight, the first time he'd ever seen her perform. But the set went well and as always it was over far too soon.
After the Goo set we had a good old drink and chat with the guys and they invited us to play with them in December. We've also had offers from Nick and Steve to play guitar and bass on our next album so you never know we may have those guys on stage with us in the future.
I had been quite sceptical as to how much I would enjoy the tour but I have to say I had a great time. What was also good was meeting lots of new people that gave us some great feedback and comments and more importantly bought out CDs.
Roll on Bedsitland.
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