album update

everything is going in the right direction... I have the right number of songs for an album, mostly recorded, some sounding fabulous, some sounding like they need tweaking, i have the artwork ready, I have solved my technical problems with turning them into mp3's for your delectation, now I just need to do a few more vocals and some mixing and perhaps get an expert to tweak some bits and make it all sound beautiful and my first proper album will be finished.  January still an ambitious target, but it's ambitious targets that stretch us and make us achieve things (well make me achieve things).

everyone else is going out and having fun, I am recording
everyone else is watching eastenders, I am recording

you get the idea

the next question is, when I have world domination will I be bored... and wonder what else there is?

website also in progress, incorporating this blog and other things all in one place.  your one stop adam smith shop.  at least when i die no-one will be able to accuse me of not being productive.

hope all are well, a week off at christmas seems to have reinvigorated me and a couple of days off for new year will probably do the same. 

I'm sure my comedic and wonderful blog entries will resurface once I've got this thing done but right now it's all eyes on the end goal and no eyes observing the absurdities of my world.  I'm sure you understand

--
Adam Smith

visit http://www.adamsmithmusic.co.uk

When to delete facebook friends (throwing stuff out)

Gone are the halcyon days when if you lost touch with someone you genuinely had no idea what they were up to until you chanced into them in the frozen food aisle at spar.  What have you been up to?  has been replaced with "I saw your photos with your boyfriend and your 3 sisters that I didn't know you had, how's your job (that you didn't tell me about), I heard you lost your stapler" etc etc.

 

Social networking - an interesting phenomenon - a sort of periscope on everyone's lives that you've ever met (well sort of).  Ever find yourself snooping on someone's page?  Did you have a look at how they were doing, poke around in their photos?  Have a look at who they were friends with? 

 

Did you send them a message?  Or just move on?  Like a kind of social information locust.  That's how I feel sometimes.. quite often I look at how many friends I have on facebook (it's about 290) and I think... who are these people?  Do I know who these people are?  Could I name three interesting facts about them?  No, at least I can't until I break into their published lives and learn it by scouting around on their page for 10 seconds.

 

Don't recoil, you know you've done it too.

 

I seem to be friends on facebook with about 50 people I went to school and university with.  And above a slight curiousity about whether or not they are president of their own software corporation (not bill gates, I'm only 28); or have married grace kelly, I am not really interested in talking to them....

 

being a musician (albeit one on the upward slope of popularity shall we say) I have lots of friends on facebook who I have cajoled into signing my mailing list at a gig, and who I am trying to shepherd into being part of the groundswell of fame and fortune as it builds.  So I don't mind genuinely really not knowing a lot of my facebook friends, it's part of the territory.  It's the people who I used to know and who I haven't spoken to in years, I don't have their phone number and I wouldn't ring it if I did - these are ones whose presence on my friend list vexes me (yes, it vexes me)

Or even worse when you are doing your locusting... you find out that someone you used to be involved with is now involved with someone else!  And you're still single!  How could this happen to me!

 

Don't worry, there's always the "remove from friends" button at the bottom left if you get cross - it's magic (trust me).  Just be careful as you can find yourself in the situation where you wish to restore someone to your friends list (been there too) - there's an awkward moment.  And being removed from someone's facebook friends seems to have become the cardinal insult!

 

Anyway adam's pre-new year message is this.  I am going to stop pretending I am in touch with people because I comment occasionally on their status update saying that they just hoovered the lounge.  I am going to use something called my mobile phone. 

 

No... the "call" button!  Texting is so 2007.

 

In the spirit of deleting people, I found two whole bags of stuff worth throwing out one evening a couple of weeks ago.  Try it.. it feels great!  Having a tiny room it also makes a huge difference.

 

Album still in progress.. on schedule for January 09 (2 months late). 

 

Adam

Adam + lack of sleep = MISERY!!!

My my wasn't I a fun fellow in that last post.  Don't read it!  Cover your eyes!  ArrrrrrgghhghghhhhhhhH!

Ok so I have a slightly artistic temperament.  You still love it, don't deny it!

The mighty steve bland is contributing some mighty piano (I would go so far as to say hearty) to a couple of the tracks on the album.  This means it will be extra nourishing for your ears.

I also need a lady vocalist (as I asked one and she let me down - you know who you are!) to help me on a song that is written partly from the perspective of a girl.   so all volunteers welcome (yes you need to be a proper vocalist..)

Artwork is in the bag (and has been for a while) - i'm getting there..... also getting there on the website - where this blog will soon live...

it's non stop for me - you're all watching telly and going out to the pub, I'm at home with headphones on typing furiously or doing overdubs and programming parts. 

The things I do for art.  i hope you lot appreciate it!  I expect you to promote this album to everyone you know when you hear it!  ALthough I'm sure you will as it will be quite special (modesty isn't in my lexicon)
--
Adam Smith

visit http://www.adamsmithmusic.co.uk

Album delayed till January

I'm sorry folks, I just can't do a half-assed job on this thing so I am going to keep working on it up until my christmas break and then get a pro to do some mixing and stuff so that it's beautiful.

What I have sounds great... it's just not... finished.

I am very tired today.  The angst that is waking me up in the night is still waking me up in the night.  That doesn't put me in a good state to deal with life or with the people around me. 

When all my darkness comes out on MP3 what then?  Perhaps a 12 month holiday somewhere away from people..

I feel sometimes as though I have spent my life being disappointed by people... high expectations are not a fruitful thing to have I suppose.  I'm off for a meal and bed. 

New website under development - when it is finished this blog will cease to exist (yes I keep chopping and changing but this will be the main website and will contain blog as well as listening bits and proper comment ability and membership and all the bells and whistles and everything.. and it will have a proper website address too.  So that is something to be positive about.

Goes back to the sleeping pills....

--
Adam Smith

visit http://www.adamsmithmusic.co.uk

Mini update - Adam's week of recording

Hi all

Yes despite my promises I was painfully silent last week when I promised exciting updates on how my recording was going.  As it turns out, moving your PC into the lounge away from the wireless internet dooberry (technical term) means you (a) don't really have much internetty access (I guessed) and (b) didn't want to use the computer in the evening after spending 8 hours on it recording during the day.

Also I don't believe my housemates who generously approved my lounge-based home recording plans would have been desperately excited about the prospect of me sitting typing out stuff when they were trying to watch Eastenders. 

So anyway it was an interesting 40 hours of recording - some raging successes musically speaking, some painful agonies during which I nearly threw my guitar across the room and took up hard drugs (only joking about the drugs).   To say with hindsight that trying to record an album in 5 days was a slighly ambitious undertaking would be a slightly (deliberate repetition) understated statement. I don't even know if that statement makes sense.

So I can't chat for hours but I will say that I got some great stuff done - we should have at least 11 tracks maybe 12 - the arrangements are nice and interesting, the vocals are partly done, partly not, and I am seriously looking at spending some money getting it professionally mixed (since I'll be asking you lot to spend some money buying it).  The downside of the mixing bit is it might not be ready before Christmas - but hey at least when it is ready it will be extra cool rather than a bit of a strangely mixed ear-sore. 

Very excited about how things are sounding so far and will endeavour to keep you updated as I go.



--
Adam Smith

visit http://www.adamsmithmusic.co.uk