Studio today!

Hooray, going into Bark Studios today with Brian to record some Reuters improvisations!

Ambient electronica

I have been trying to do some recording for some ambient electronica tracks but have fallen into difficulties. There is some weird buzzing, and I can't work out what's making it. Plus the levels are awful. What a to do! I hope Matt will help me sort it out. I feel really girly, but at least I had a go. I must be learning something about this recording business.

For some lovely ambient electronica you could always check out hibernate records. I really like the artists on their label and am enjoying the sample tracks on hibernate and on their sister label rural colours.

Plus Jonathan who runs the site is a very nice guy and has been very encouraging and helpful when I emailed him for tips on setting up a small label online. He calls his a 'micro-independent label'. I quite like that, it's intellectual but modest.

http://www.hibernate-recs.co.uk/

Studio update

Yes! Ended up being a good day in the studio. Used the old typewriter and recorded typing sounds to symbolise writers working for The Conversational. I like it. Wonder if Naomi will. We're going to mix our sound ideas at the weekend.

New song

I've begun a nice new song on the uke, a waltz. Really like it, it's very pretty. I wanted to write a song about angels as Frazey Ford did one on Late Junction, so I'm having a go. Bit more work to do and then I will post the lyrics. I practised it on the platform on the way home. Handy having your uke on you when you're going about.

The pic is of Frazey Ford from the Canadian folk trio the Be Good Tanyas doing some recording.

Welcome to the white house

On Saturday I rolled up at a little white house balancing on a rocky finger which points into the Atlantic towards America. I had come to this walker's paradise at the kind invitation of Kylyra Ameringer, performance poet extraordinaire and very generous host. Ky is amazing. Her hair is a beautiful and vibrant mixture of blonde and red, she is a beautiful woman and her voice is velvety, deep and rich. She and her brother are from Canada, I believe, but have settled in the sheep-munched farming rocks of West Cork, where she brings poets from different parts of Ireland and the UK together once a year for a delightful event, Poets Express.

On Saturday night we performed in the Bay View pub in the centre of town. I was in the acoustic room, playing my uke and singing alongside other musicians and poets. It was a great atmosphere ... thoughtful, reflective poems were read alongside the bawdy and in-yer-face songs of Dublin band the Lonely Schizophrenic whose tales about panda porn and STDs were well received. Eric the Anchorite, a locally based American poet, played host, organising the room, videoing the performers and elegantly kept the evening in order. He is himself a compelling poet, with a very composed delivery.

Back at Ky's house next day, her brother Tor efficiently set up a recording system in the lounge for the group of writers to make a podcast, some of which might be partially broadcast on County Sound, West Cork radio. It was part discussion, part performance. Poets talked about poetry and read pieces, I sang a couple of songs from Doodlebug Alley.

It must have been a lot of work to organise this event in such a remote location - so it's hats off and thank yous to our friends from Kilcrohane.