When I started this blog, it was for the express purpose of chronicling the making of Fantasy Bridge, from sorting out the material, through recording, to it’s final release. Since then I’ve posted a few other entries regarding the post launch activities, up to the release on iTunes last week. So really, apart from sharing reviews with you and letting you know when the album appears in other retail channels, the story of the making of Fantasy Bridge is at an end.

But as I have hinted in the past, there is lots more music to come. Things I already have written, things I want to write, and things that want to be written! So with that in mind this post forms a new start. It’s the day I start talking about ALBUM NUMBER 2.

It doesn’t have an official name yet… I think I know what I want to call it, I have a huge, part written 20 minute prog epic, that will form the backbone of the project, and a couple of other songs that are quite well developed, but I want to leave it a while so I can develop some of the other musical ideas before making the final decision.

So once again we’re back into making-of-mode. There will, I’m sure, be more news on Fantasy Bridge to share with you as time goes on, and I’ll post about those as they happen, but in the meantime…

… Here we go again!

Well folks, it’s been a few weeks since my last entry, and possibly longer since any updates to the main site.  So I’m here to announce two things:

First up is I have now installed a mailing list on the website.  Signing up for this will a) get you all the latest news, and will be the only place that freebies and special offers will be announced, and b) will allow you to snag two free MP3 downloads that will only be available vie the mailing list. There will be the Radio Edit of Don’t Give Up on Love, and the title track Fantasy Bridge.

You can sign up for the mailing list here

Secondly, I have now made the whole album available to stream.  Yes, you can listen to everything, in it’s entirety! I’ve installed a proper music player widget on the multimedia page, which is secure, in that it streams without the possibility of downloading the media files, because, as it turns out the free  XFPF player allowed downloads all to easily. But the new player means that I have made the whole album accessible to stream from higher quality 256Kb/s MP3s,rather than the 128Kb/S extracts that were there previously. Enjoy!

Finally (for now), I’ve added a few easy to see social media links at the top of the homepage.  You can directly get to the RSS feed of this blog, my Twitter feed and my Facebook Page at the click of a mouse. Go and follow/like.

Well that’s it for now. There is more to come very soon.

So, now I’ve announced the official launch date as 3rd June, I decided it was time to reveal the album cover.

And here it is. Fantasy Bridge.

It is of course only half of the actual image, since, as the regular readers wil know, the cover is a digipak gatefold design.

The design itself was created using Carrara Pro, a 3D modelling and landscape design application.  It’s a big image with a lot of detail – The seascape is a transparent solid that interacts with the ambient light as water, so rendering took hours!

Anyway, I am really happy with the final image.  I think it really captures the vibe I had in mind for the album and the project as a whole.

In other news, I’ve also updated the website main page with the same picture and I’ve begun construction on the Fantasy Bridge ‘Shop’ page too, but this won’t be live until the 3rd June. (By which time I hope to have sorted out creating the Paypal payment widgets, making sure they work, and so on).

Stay tuned for more release info.

Things in Fantasy Bridge Land are moving apace!

I have the PMCD master disk, plus  safety copy back from John Cornfield – and as I have already posted, he has done an amazing job of mastering. I have all but finished the last revisions to the artwork, the official EAN barcode has been acquired and the album has been registered as a product with PPL.  So the whole package should be ready to be sent to the CD manufacturer by the end of next week. (Although that might be delayed by another week as I have a day-job business trip to Singapore next week). So although we will be somewhat at the mercy of the CD plant schedule, a release date of the last week of April looks pretty likely. I will of course let you know.  I’ve also created this rather fun Fantasy Bridge banner ad, which also now graces the front page of this very website, and will also be on the Myspace page, Soundclick and, when we get to it the Facebook page.

Following CD release I will be deciding on the digital release schedule – and indeed the distributor for that release, but I expect iTunes and Amazon releases to follow at the end of May.

As always… Watch this space

We are nearly there.

The completion of the Fantasy Bridge project is finally within view.

I now have candidate final mixes ready for all 10 tracks, and next week I will be playing them through for a mate of mine who in a previous existence worked-in/ran/engineered for a few rather well known studios (and has the gold records on his wall to show for it!)

He has kindly agreed to give a critical ear to the mixes and give me his expert and unbiassed opinion.

I will then make any revisions to the mixes incorporating his feedback (assuming it’s not: start again!) and then it will be mastering time.

The same friend has suggested one of his old business buddies as a possible candidate to master the album. (On this I will say no more, apart from to say that if it comes off it will be huge!)

In other news I have been speaking to Paul (the drummer) and upon commenting that I was really hoping to find a company that could do digipak CD packaging with a gatefold artwork, he mentioned that his son’s drum teacher has just released an album with digipak packaging, and they used a local company to do their packaging.  Paul is going to find out more. I will keep you informed.

I have completed a first draft of the artwork, that I think will work really well, so I am hoping that will all pan out. My only concern is the limited space for credits, etc.  There probably won’t be a booklet with the CD. My thought is that I will have a dedicated page on this site showing all the credits, liner notes, lyrics, etc in both HTML and PDF format if people want to download and print them.

Then I have  the PRS/MCPS registration and the PPL membership stuff to sort out to ensure that the right codes are allocated, and any play royalties (ever hopeful) come back to yours truly.

And then finally I have to choose an electronic distribution company to sign with to get the album up on iTunes, Amazon, etc.

So, basically, lots of admin type stuff still to do, but the end is definitely now in sight.

And then I will have to see if I can sell a few copies.

First of all, welcome to the new version of the blog!  Yes we have moved from the iWeb blog to a brand new WordPress blog.  I had been unhappy with some of the limitations the iWeb blog put on the page, for instance, unless you had the blog hosted on MobileMe you couldn’t have comments, and you had to create entries locally on your development platform and then upload the whole thing.  The WordPress version in contrast is a proper grown-up blog with comments, a side bar, style templates and so on. And I can edit or add entries from anywhere I have a web connection, and not just from the MacBook where I have the rest of the site.

In Fantasy Bridge land, Together on the Shores of Time has come together splendidly.  The instrumental tracking is complete.  The choruses and instrumental are epic, and the verses provide a quiet acoustic guitar led contrast.  I might see if I can find a willing volunteer to replace my guitar part with a real one.

It’s getting close to having to do a serious vocal tracking session, so if time permits this week, I’ll be setting up to record vocals again.

Enough prevaricating! It’s time to make an album.

This year has been a roller-coaster for me. Diagnosed with testicular cancer in March. An operation in April, Chemotherapy in May, followed by a reasonably optimistic ‘all clear’ in June. Going from ‘very scared’ in March (that’s the waiting for medical results kind of scared rather than the people are shooting kind of scared… much worse, because the shooting kind tends to be fairly short lived!) to ‘completely elated’ in June. Well, you get the idea.

One of the things this whole experience has done for me is give me the impetus to GET STUFF DONE. Take life by the scruff of the neck and LIVE IT.

So as a musician, I’ve always wanted to make an album – well probably several… And sell some copies too, but one step at a time, right?

Most of the Fantasy Bridge ideas go back a very long way. The title track, for instance existed in some form or another back in the 1970s, and for years was the opening number when I played in the band Spirit Level.

The album is partly a pastiche of 1970s style progressive rock music, with a reasonably healthy dose of 21st century technology. The production, for instance will be unashamedly modern. I intend using keyboard sounds that are a mixture of classic and cutting-edge. It will be recorded ‘In-the-box’ direct to computer. I hope to engage with a number of collaborators , guest musicians and artists. It won’t be a one man band affair.

Anyway, there are 8 songs that sort of fit together around the Fantasy Bridge idea, and I have versions of them kicking around on demo CDs, as MP3s on the net, or sat on my aging computer. So I’ve put together a running order, burned them all to a CD taken another listen and decided the whole lot need re-recording.

And so I’ve decided to try and put down in words for posterity, and of course anyone who wants to read it, a ‘making-of’ blog.

And this gentle reader, is it.