MUSIC DOWNLOADS ON NOISE TRADE

I suppose I should address the availability of my music on NOISE TRADE. I came across this site through a friend on Twitter who also has her music online with them. It seemed like a interesting premise so I thought, "Why not?" To download the tracks you only need to submit your information. There is no charge, it's basically a tipping system where you pay what you feel like, if you feel like. Obviously I'm not going to get rich this way, but that's not the objective; I just want to get my stuff heard.

SO SORRY, MY BAD: The first single off of the mother album RENDER was written as an apology for my fuck-ups in the past. This single version is actually an extended version whereas the album version is just under 3 minutes. I used to perform this live a lot with my former band and whenever we did we performed this extended version and never the shorter.

PRELUDE (NON-ALBUM TRACK): This was written for my friend Shannon's wedding. It was played just before they came down the aisle. I'd also written another piece entitled LOVE SONG that will hopefully turn up on here soon. It was just by a stoke of luck that this piece anticipates the next track because it wasn't planned.

MANCHESTER SKIES (NON-ALBUM TRACK): Written as a comment on sudden and fleeting fame.

WATCHING & WAITING (NON-ALBUM TRACK): A short piece written for someone who gives a care. Recorded live in one take with the backup vocals and additional keys added as an afterthought.

Hope you like it.

Harry

Hello 1987 and 1989

Just finished mixing and mastering one more song that was recorded today. Originally written and recorded initially in 1987 and again in 1989 "This Time" has been completely re-imagined for now and I'm very happy with the new direction. Having only one ear sometimes poses a problem when I'm mixing and bouncing tracks and I often have to stop, take the cans off, and have a little mental margarita in order to make sure what I'm hearing is correct. I'm burning a CD to listen to so I can decide whether or not to keep or dump the vocals. After a while listening fatigue can set in so I can't always be 100% certain that what's been put down isn't turd-like.

Recording in this old-fashioned way is very taxing and I finally remember why I loved recording the other way...TIME, everything would go much faster with being able to put everything down on hard disk whereas doing things live really takes time making sure everything is played correctly and if it's not you have to stop the entire take and start all over. I can always punch in but sometimes there's no clean in or out so it doesn't always work. When it's down on hard disk I can go to the exact spot in the song and delete and correct whatever's wrong. I could probably have done at least four songs today, but who's to complain? I'm just happy I got these two (actually three, but the third doesn't have a vocal on it yet so it's not finished) down. Hopefully this creative spark will continue tomorrow as I have to shut everything down now and get ready to do my exercising. Back to skinny!

Laters!

Har

Hello 1983!

Just finishing up a successful recording session! Got the vocal on the first take, which is truly something for me and the only problem I had was with the bass being too low but it turned out good since I wanted it to be felt rather than heard. This session came about quite spontaneously and I was greeted with a bit of bad news as my Yamaha SY-99 Workstation Keyboard has gone kaput! Undaunted I soldiered on and pulled out my other Yamaha and began recording the "old" way. With my SY-99 I could lay down drums, bass and keys on the hard disk and build from there either on the keyboard or on the master, which was the way I had come to record for the past 20 some odd years, well...with that keyboard awaiting repairs (I need a new internal battery for the wave card and it's uncertain whether the repair shop I called can do it or not) I'm going to have to resort to doing things the old way by actually recording everything directly onto tape (or rather, disc) and then build from there. It's going to be interesting doing things this OLD FASHIONED way and I'm anxious to re-visit my old Kawai Drum Machine to see if I can remember how the sucker works! I re-recorded a song from 1983 (Colours of Night) and it was so much fun reinterpreting it. I started at 10:30 AM and right now it's 1:24 PM and it's done. Finished. Mixed and Mastered. Ahhh, just like the old days. Maybe recording this way isn't so bad after all. I'm just grateful that I don't have to mic an acoustic piano. I actually started this project three years ago when I recorded the old Elvis Presley song "Always On My Mind" and wanted to record or re-record songs from my youth. "Colours of Night" is the first of the originals of mine that have been finished and "Dream of You" which was actually recorded with an over-produced orchestral track back in 1983 has been stripped down to just piano and voice. All told, I'm going to re-construct about 10 or so of my old songs and record some cover songs that I've loved for a long time. So glad that the voice is cooperating and I can't wait to let people hear my new (old) stuff!

Harry

Enter Spring...exit mental anguish!

So what is an "artiste" without a little anxiety? Did that sound pretentious? "Artiste"? Really? Only another songwriter/musician or writer could possible identify with having a mental block. With painters or clothes designers you're often dealing with something tangible and while I'm almost certain that it can be just as difficult to suss out inspiration, the idea of actually being able to mold and shape something physically seems much easier and attractive to me than having to "hear" something and then try to convey that in whatever form it chooses to manifest itself as. I do not mean to say that painters, designers, sculptors have it easier, not by any means! It just "seems" like it to me that their result is much more immediate than that of a songwriter or singer. We often have to wait for things to be recorded, perfected and then mixed and then released. When I was young I was incredibly prolific and wrote and recorded basically every day, now it's a bit harder and I'm uncertain as to whether it's age or just my being too difficult to please that's gotten in the way as of late. I'm actually looking into the prospect of recycling songs from my past, which wouldn't be such a bad thing considering that no one, other than good friends, have heard these old songs.

When I was young I hadn't really "lived" so books and films were the tools I used as a basis for inspiration. As I've grown older I've sort of abandoned this process and used my own life as inspiration; the current problem is that nothing really interesting is happening in my life other than a few passing moments so there isn't much in the well to be tapped. I am, however, powering through, pulling out old score sketches and re-working past works into a few things; I am working on writing a ballet in 12 movements and also writing new material for the next album which has taken forever to take shape but the main source of inspiration so far has been Joseph Conrad's "Nostromo". I am excited to have "some" direction at this point and am proceeding accordingly and with caution.

Mental anguish take a hike, this puppy is digging a new hole in the backyard!

Woof!

Harry

RENDER...re-rendered

Well, things are looking up for a change and I hope to have some really awesome news soon! I've been remixing and remastering my 2003 effort RENDER and have been enjoying the process of finally getting to remix some of the songs. Having been able to live with them for all these years has given me a lot of mixed feelings about the final mixes I did back in 03 so this opportunity to come back at the mixes that have always bothered me has been invigorating!

Heretofore vocals that were sometimes buried in the mix have been brought forward and the bass frequency on one track has been corrected. Other elements like backup vocals, keyboard fills and string samples that were either missing or buried on the original mixes have been brought forward and I can say that I'm quite pleased with the results. The majority of the songs haven't been remixed though...only three actually and one was re-transferred from the hard disk master that had some crosstalk interference on the original transfer. Remixed tracks include: SO SORRY, MY BAD, HOUSES ON FIRE, AND THE SKY FALLS and the one that was re-transferred is A HISTORY OF ME. The crosstalk and interference in the last track was very apparent due to the nature of the recording.

Everything has been archived digitally in 24 bit 1411 kbps and other transfers have been made in Apple Lossless Audio with a bit average of 700 kbps. Although compressed, the new transfers sound leagues better than the old 256 and 320 transfers, though most will only get to hear the 256 transfers. I will, however, be creating new 256 versions from the full bit rate master just to ensure that everything sounds as good as an mp3 can sound.

A few posts ago I had made comment about trying to fix things that are eight years old, and while I didn't have the time or energy back then to do it I'm so glad that I have found both.

Cheers!

Harry

Recording...

Going to make a serious effort to record tonight. Pulling the keyboards out and working on arrangements to put down at least three songs tonight, all of which are experimental in nature. I'm very interested in seeing where this will go and if they're keepers or dumpers. Who knows?

The Work Continues

Vocal exercises and that lot. Trying to get back into fighting shape and regain control of my voice. Only someone who has sung and has lost it will ever understand what I'm going through, so for anyone else who kind of thinks I'm making a big deal out of nothing, FUCK YOU!

Happy March 1!

P.S. - The Cubs still loves my struggling voice anyway so there!