Category: blog
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The Rarest Birds by Alison Moyet
Yesterday (3rd June 17) Graham Norton played The Rarest Birds, another song from Alison Moyet’s new album Other, on his BBC Radio 2 show. The lyric video is linked above. The song was written by Alison, Sean McGhee and myself.
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Dyads and Triads – are your chords “Too Jazzy”?
Something that I picked up from working with great singers was that harmony is there to support the song and the singer. When I first worked with Alison Moyet in 2002, I had been playing a lot of jazz, so my natural impulse was to fill out harmony with three-, four- or five-note voicings. Alison…
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Reaper for Live Playback – updated Videos, Feb 2017
Here’s an updated playlist of videos outlining a method of using Reaper for live playback (backing tracks) on stage. There are five videos: Import Template: multi-channel routing for your audio interface and setup for midi program change. Import Audio: how to import multiple tracks to your playback session Import Audio Custom Actions: explanation of the…
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Baby Loss Awareness Week (9-15th Oct 2016) My experience.
It’s Baby Loss Awareness week (9-15th Oct), and bereaved parents are being encouraged to speak up and help break the silence around baby loss. I am a bereaved father. I would like to share something of my experience. *trigger warning – baby loss* In January 2014, we went into hospital expecting to give birth to…
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Hard Times – Part Three: Personal Challenges
Here is the third and final instalment of my blog about enduring and overcoming “Hard Times”. I didn’t want it all to be from my perspective, so I asked around for some input from friends and colleagues. The following shows my questions in bold, their responses in italics, and my thoughts in plain text. If…
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Hard Times – Part 02: Working With Difficult Clients
I wanted to write a piece about enduring and overcoming “Hard Times”, but I didn’t want it all to be from my perspective, so I asked around for some input from friends and colleagues. The following shows my questions in bold, their responses in italics, and my thoughts in plain text. If it sounds like…
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Hard Times – Part One: When There’s No Work…
I wanted to write a piece about enduring and overcoming “Hard Times”, but I didn’t want it all to be from my perspective, so I asked around for some input from friends and colleagues. The following shows my questions in bold, their responses in italics, and my thoughts in plain text. If it sounds like…
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DO WHAT YOU LOVE, DO IT EVERY DAY, NEVER GIVE UP
To some people this may seem impossible. Or maybe one of these things is possible, but not all of them. I agree. Some days I look at a statement like this and think – “that’s just not possible”. But the point is, what else is worth striving towards? Part of the problem that I have…
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What I Pack for Local Gigs / International Tours
Sometimes I tour with roadies/technicians who look after all the gear for the band. Sometimes I do a local gig where I am responsible for bringing all my own gear. I thought I’d write a breakdown of the two different scenarios. It’s mostly relevant to keyboard players, but there may be some crossover for other…
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Everything I Know About Being on Tour
Here are some thoughts on touring, based on my experience touring with Scissor Sisters, Alison Moyet, Marina and the Diamonds and others. My first proper “tour” was in 2000 with a band called Alpha (if you don’t know it, look up their album “The Impossible Thrill”). In 2002 I toured with Alison Moyet, followed by…
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Everything I Know About Being A Session Musician
Someone asked me for some advice about finding work as a session musician. My reply is printed below. It’s a personal response, so may not apply to everyone, but I hope it is useful to some… FINDING WORK It’s hard to advise on finding work, as that’s always a mysterious process. The best thing to…
John Garden 