Hello and Happy New Year,

Resolutions for getting up earlier, practising every day and other general ideals of betterment are still vaguely being adhered to.  We’ve been keeping a bit shy of each other for the last month or so; taking a bit of a break from writing and rehearsing and seeing what a little perspective can bring to the general mix.

I bought and am loving a Deluxe Memory Man second hand which broke and then magically fixed itself again a few weeks later.  Michael is beavering away on his new passion for mixing and general studio nerdery and the rhythm brothers are doing whatever it is they do in that strange little world of theirs.

The video for I’ll Wait For Sound we shot with the Tisch New York Film school is up now and we’d like to say a huge thanks to all the students and extras who worked completely for free on the whole thing.  I think they did a stunning job.

On an unrelated matter here is a version of Lovebuzz from Nirvana’s debut Bleach.  It was done for the 2oth anniversary of the release of the album for Cork’s 96Fm last December.  In tribute to the overall sound of the album, production level, sound quality and general togetherness was kept to a minimum.

Eoin

[podcast]http://www.directormusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/lovebuzz-master-1.mp3[/podcast]

Director – Lovebuzz To Download Rightclick and press Save As

Thank You ever so much for all those people who came to Whelans. Here are a few shots from the show! (more…)

Heya all. We spent most of last Thursday shooting a video for “Play Pretend”. It involved wind, rain, darkness, cars, lights, people fighting, fake blood…not strictly in that order and much much more…Hopefully it should be all edited and online in a couple of weeks Thanks to all those actors/crew who braved the elements to help us out. Here are some pics.

You can read an interview here with the design company who did the art direction for “I’ll Wait For Sound”…(note interview is mostly about U2)

CLICK HERE

Well, we have a chance for a bit of a breather after the last two weeks of shows and radio and instores and all such things. We would very much like to thank everyone who has been buying the album and coming to the gigs. The album went in at no. 11 which we were all delighted with – it’s a bit of a scary time out there for sales of anything.

We’ve been legging it all over the place doing promo bits and pieces. Michael had some underwear thrown at him on TG4 doing some sort of quiz. There was a bit of a panic when they realised they didn’t have a talker as Gaeilge as I usually do the Irish bits and pieces but I got to give it a go when we went out to the lovely Spidil to play Sing It Without A Tune on the Síle show. The sheer panic that comes over me as I’m trying to remember how to commuicate basic phrases while a camera is running will never leave me. It’s like trying to do the Leaving again. Must resist urge to use the phrase ar nós na gaoithe.

We rolled up to Tower Records to do an instore on the day of release. We didn’t feel we quite nailed the performance trying to balance the full band with the small set up so we switched to a more relaxed set up for the following days in Galway and Limerick. Michael abandoned his guitar and we dialled back the volume to make it a little more informal and we felt everyone enjoyed it a lot more.

Backstage at The Olympia – Fm 104 Show

Backstage in Nass – note we don’t actually get to stay in rooms like this. Travelodge all the way baby.

Tuning up for Ian Dempsey

The man himself

Cyprus Avenue know how to do a cuppa – kettle, cup, tea-bag, spoon – they go all the way.

Hey, haven’t posted something since Christmas. Been working away finishing off the record. Myself and Michael flew over to London for mixing in January. It was possibly the coldest weather I’ve ever experienced in my limited travelling repertoire. We stayed with our good friend Ronan and became reaquianted with the wonder of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and the weirdness of Twin Peaks.

We travelled down on the train every day to Bluebell Sound in Kent, home to the charming Barny who has done a wonderful job gathering together the various guitars, bass, drums and warbly bits that make up the songs. A mastering deadline looms next week so at this very moment I’m listening to two ever so slightly different mixes of Sing It Without A Tune wondering if the snare should be a little bit louder or a little bit quieter.

A deadline of mastering for next week is a good thing. We’ve been listening to mixes now for too long. There’s an online diary by an anonymous/fictitious engineer about the process of making an album. It’s been around for a while and is mildly entertaining although probably not true. You can read it here: http://www.mixerman.net/. It’s obviously written by someone who has made a number of albums and one of the things he articulates well is the condition of hyper-sensitivity.

‘Hyper-sensitivity is the function of one’s brain being so aware and sensitive to minute changes that you are beyond any kind of “real-world” standards of listening. It is the exact opposite of over-saturation. This temporary condition can make differences that are normally nearly impossible for the human ear to detect seem like enormously drastic changes. Although this condition is generally less debilitating than over-saturation, it can cause the wasting of inordinate amounts of time, as this phenomenon will cause one to endlessly make adjustments that seem to make a big difference but, in reality, make no difference whatsoever.’

A common example of this will be playing a mix to someone for them to enjoy and take in followed by playing them an ‘alternate’ mix of the song. You’ll ask them, “which do you prefer?” “They’re the same aren’t they?” is often the reply.

“Well, the backing vocals are a little louder on the second one. Did you notice that?”

“No. They sounded exactly the same”

The album is almost done. Whether the snare is turned up a little louder or not is probably going to make absolutely no difference to anyone else listening. If I notice that the guitar drifts into the background for a second here, probably nobody else will. It’s the big picture people take in. We’re really happy with how the album sounds and how all the songs turned out. Hopefully it will surprise a few people.

All that’s left to worry about is the track order. That does matter quite a lot so back to the grindstone. More news to follow…

Eoin

Hey

First off thanks to everyone who came down to the shows in Limerick, Greystones, Dublin, Kill and Mullingar. It was great to get back out and play live again. You never really know how the new songs will go especially when they are brand new to the audience. Playing new tunes is always a learning curve, from how many to play in the set, where in the set to play them, down to logistically how to recreate live the sounds & layers on the album.

The bulk of mixing of the album will take place this week, and the rest before the end of the year. We will soon have a real sense of how the finished article will sound.

After that we got trackorder, title and Artwork, then we are ready to rock.

A Merry Christmas to you all & a Happy New Year

R.

D I R E C T O R

A very big thank you to everyone who came to Cyprus Avenue last Friday for what was our first gig in nine months or so.  I was ridiculously nervous in a way I haven’t been for any gig in the last three years or so.  I couldn’t understand it and felt really sick all the way to Cork and before the show.  It had been so long since I was nervous before a show that I thought I was really coming down with something but then was completely fine afterwards.  A couple of stupendous blunders on my part aside it was great to be back playing again.  And getting to play some of the new songs (again, some horrrible opening chord howlers) was such a thrill.

I hope anyone who was there enjoyed it and we’ll be doing a few more shows before Christmas.  Just have to banish those nerves for the next one.

Eoin

American TV how we love you. A constant comfort when weary workers return after a long day of recording – tired, battered but always with the knowledge that sweet lady boob tube USA is on hand to ease the pain.Residents and visitors to America will already be familiar with the ad breaks every eight minutes or so (doing it straight after the opening credits is really pushing it – the theme song does not count as entertainment), the little man who appears in the corner of the screen all the time to tell you what’s on next, the not very funny Jay Leno, and best of all running one programme straight into the next as the credits for the first one scroll by in a little box.

Hey folks

We have about 2 weeks left in our studio session. Drums are down, bass is down, guitars are mostly down, Piano/keys ditto, vocals are currently being recorded. There are lots of little things still to do, and it is the little things that can make a record special. We will mix the album over here with Brad, so we are aiming to get everything recorded in the next 5 days at most, then onto mixing.

It’s a fun time in America, presidential election time and financial meltdown are certainly an interesting backdrop to recording the album.

I’ve put up a second and third video blog from the sessions on Youtube and indeed here on the myspace.

Number 2 can be found at

and Number 3 is at

They should both be up on the myspace page also…

Hope you enjoy.

Rowan