This was the first go at a band recording of Inside Out, with the original RDW line-up of me, Danny (guitar/vocal), Fraser (bass) and Neil on drums.

Inside Out - Run Don't Walk (First Line-Up)

This was the first recording of this track by me, Danny (guitar/vocal), Fraser (bass) and Neil (drums). I still think it's the best. Not on a technical level necessarily, and certainly not because of the over the top guitar trills and drum rolls, but because we all really believed in what we had in that song. It was a highlight of the live set and on this recording, there's a bit after the solo, just before the last chorus where it just "explodes!" - Never got that on the single!

Need Some Time - Run Don't Walk (First Line-up)

This was the first song we recorded in the line-up that became Run Don't Walk: me, Danny (guitar/vocal), Fraser (bass) and Neil (drums) in early 2007. We recorded it with the drums in my front room, Danny and Fraser in the dining room and me in the kitchen. I was running between the kitchen and the living room where the computer was in between takes and starting and stopping things. It was a crazy mess but we were all into it and came away with some nice recordings!

Images And Words - Run Don't Walk

Took a drum loop off a CD that cam with MusicTech magazine and chopped it up and put it through a distortion effect. Added some gritty organ-like keyboard sounds and that was it. Steady and repetitive, hence the title (the opening two words from an old REM song)

Steady Repetition

Mucking around with some Cubase noises and found this thing with a repetitive "chick-a-bokka" sound that was too good to resist. So I plonked some chords on a piano and a new choir synth, with some other zingy synth noises and threw some guitars on there, chopped up for the electro-dance vibe... and then put a tapped guitar solo that gave the track its name.

Tap N Slide

Kind of melodic piano/classical guitar thing, with some strings. I should have played the acoustic guitar with a gentler touch, there's too much percussiveness in there.

Makeeta's Theme

I wrote this on Friday night/Saturday morning and recorded it this afternoon (Sunday). Just guitar and vocal, trying to get a J Mascis vibe going.

Recorded into Cubase using my Martin 00-15 acoustic guitar tuned down to C, plugged in to one tube channel of my Presonus Firestudio Tube and a Red5 Audio RV10 condensor mic in the other tube channel. Did three "live" takes and made a couple of edits on the best one. UAD2 Compressor (1176AE), EQ (Neve 1073) and limiter (LA-2A Grey) and Cubase's Roomworks SE mixed at 1% for a bit of reverb. Mastered (=smashed to bits!) in Wavelab using UAD2 Ampex ATR-102, Precision Maximizer and Limiter.

Why D'You Stay?

Cover of Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight. This started off as a joke at work, where it was suggested we make covers of it. So one Saturday I recorded this. I got the drum pattern off a MIDI file and used Cubase's Groove Agent One to get the sounds. Guitars were recorded through Cubase's amp sims and I used my E-Bow for the swoopy noises. I tried to learn the bassline and then just ad libbed the rest! I recorded a bunch of vocals and then that was it. Pretty much everything apart from the bass was one take and as I'm not a fan of Phil Collins or the song I didn't really want to spend a lot of time on it anyway, plus it was only for a giggle. So, it is what it is. I hope you like it!

In The Air Tonight

I wrote and recorded this song in early January using my Zoom G3X guitar multi-effects, which I got as a late Christmas present! :) Apart from a bit of UAD2 compression and Cubase's REVelation reverb in the mix, the guitar and bass parts are all single takes straight out of the unit - a bit scratchy but with a few more tweaks it could be really useful. Other gear was the usual Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar, Hohner PJ bass and Red5 Audio RV10 vocal mic.

All That You Hide

This is a blast from the past. It was a song about being manipulated and controlled and breaking free of it. I think I wrote it some time in 2007 or 2008 maybe but we never got round to learning it in Run Don't Walk. I liked the twisty-turny time and key changes and I had just bought a choir synth VSTi  so was having some fun with that too. It's pretty old now, so I don't think it'll ever be played live.

Set In Stone

This is a clip I made whilst experimenting with some sounds for a possible new project that involves a bit of electronica

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